Fed Up With EMI? (Shadows At The BBC)

[captainhaddock]

Many apologies for going slightly away from OT. Following the release of 20 Golden Greats in 1977, The Shadows regained credibility as an important part of British musical history, I was proud to reveal that I was a fan. Subsequent releases , mostly on Polydor mainly served to lose that credibility. "The Skye Boat Song" and "Lilli Marlene" are not in the same league as "The Savage" or "Scotch on the Socks" . My local record store relegated the band from "British Rock and Roll" to "Easy Listening"

[donna plasky]

Hi, everyone. Since I cannot resist the opportunity to lodge a free complaint I hope this contribution is OK. I don't want to steer anyone off-topic, as Arpeggio's complaint is with EMI and regarding The Shadows at The BBC. Mine is different, and it relates more to Cliff than The Shads, but it is still EMI-related.

The time period of around 1975 to 1982, when I was a teenager, was about the only time that Cliff enjoyed any chart success in the US and it's when I became a fan. Cliff's records would be released on EMI America, which was a subsidiary of EMI Ltd. Cliff's LP's were very hard to find, but I found a store that carried them. At the time, there was no internet, or at least not for me anyhow. And, I never thought that 35 years later these albums would still matter to me, but they do.

It didn't bother me so much that EMI America would re-name the album titles and use different album cover art for the US releases of Cliff's albums; I am not an extreme collector, so that's not a problem. But what made me angry was that years later -- when I had access to the internet -- I would find out that EMI America omitted several songs on the US release of every Cliff album, and so I eventually ended up buying the UK releases so that I could have all the songs. It's not like they took a double-album and reduced it down to a single disc album -- that much I could understand. They just omitted songs for whatever reason. And, they edited "Spiderman" from Every Face...so as to reduce it from 6:50 down to 3:00 or so, which completely cut out Terry Britten's really great guitar solo. It would have still fit onto the vinyl record. I know because I have the UK release.

Well, thanks for listening. I'm glad Cliff moved to another record label.

Kind regards,
Donna

[StuartD]

HI

I wrote to EMI, (Amanda Wraggs), complaining about the remastering of the Me & My Shadows Album for CD. To miss off the guitar solo in I Love You So was totally pathetic and and was treating the customer with contempt. I pointed out the Bruce could have done the job and not the 'lack of knowledge' idiots who put it together. Remember that anyone buying this had already probably got the Vinyl version, so they were investing again. It was the 'early' days of CD's and they weren't cheap then at all. When you compared it to the Buddy Holly 'From the Original Master tapes' CD, it was a total joke and a sop to the fans wanting the stuff out on CD. EMI were so concerned with what I wrote that they didn't even bother to reply!!

Anyway I was fortunate to get an invite to the after show party at the Palladium following Hank's last solo gig- the avatar pic was taken there- and it was the night that Brian Matthew presented Hank and Brian with the award from Universal. There were a lot of people there, including Peter Vince and who should I be stood next to at the bar- none other than Miss Amanda Wraggs!! Complete with name tag. When I asked her why she hadn't replied to my letter she informed me that she probably wouldn't have seen it as complaints like mine never got to the executives in charge and unfortunately that's the way it is!!

I still haven't got the solo from I Love You So on CD and I probably won't bother now.

It's such a shame that label that was at the forefront of Rock n Roll just doesn't seem interested nowadays. Perhaps that's why they are speeding downhill fast.

Regards

Stuart

[John Boyd]

Stuart,
I think all that proves is that sadly, all EMI cares about is money - not music.
Cheers,
JB

[iefje]

HI

I wrote to EMI, (Amanda Wraggs), complaining about the remastering of the Me & My Shadows Album for CD. To miss off the guitar solo in I Love You So was totally pathetic and and was treating the customer with contempt.

"I Love You So" was released as such in stereo on the original stereo album, back in October, 1960.

[EJK]

Many apologies for going slightly away from OT. Following the release of 20 Golden Greats in 1977, The Shadows regained credibility as an important part of British musical history, I was proud to reveal that I was a fan. Subsequent releases , mostly on Polydor mainly served to lose that credibility. "The Skye Boat Song" and "Lilli Marlene" are not in the same league as "The Savage" or "Scotch on the Socks" . My local record store relegated the band from "British Rock and Roll" to "Easy Listening"

Spot on! The Shads have been in "Easy Listening" in Virgin (when it was on the go),HMV and Fopp for some time now whilst the likes of Herman's Hermits et al can be found in the "Rock" area. Obviously some sort of behind the scenes dictat going on and as you say it's a pity that a lot of the Poydor stuff saw the light of day which may be the reason for them being in the "relegated" area.

[alewis41]

HI

I wrote to EMI, (Amanda Wraggs), complaining about the remastering of the Me & My Shadows Album for CD. To miss off the guitar solo in I Love You So was totally pathetic and and was treating the customer with contempt. I pointed out the Bruce could have done the job and not the 'lack of knowledge' idiots who put it together. Remember that anyone buying this had already probably got the Vinyl version, so they were investing again. It was the 'early' days of CD's and they weren't cheap then at all. When you compared it to the Buddy Holly 'From the Original Master tapes' CD, it was a total joke and a sop to the fans wanting the stuff out on CD. EMI were so concerned with what I wrote that they didn't even bother to reply!!

Anyway I was fortunate to get an invite to the after show party at the Palladium following Hank's last solo gig- the avatar pic was taken there- and it was the night that Brian Matthew presented Hank and Brian with the award from Universal. There were a lot of people there, including Peter Vince and who should I be stood next to at the bar- none other than Miss Amanda Wraggs!! Complete with name tag. When I asked her why she hadn't replied to my letter she informed me that she probably wouldn't have seen it as complaints like mine never got to the executives in charge and unfortunately that's the way it is!!

I still haven't got the solo from I Love You So on CD and I probably won't bother now.

It's such a shame that label that was at the forefront of Rock n Roll just doesn't seem interested nowadays. Perhaps that's why they are speeding downhill fast.

Regards

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

Sorry I missed this when it was originally posted. What a great story! I think the See for Miles record label released the MWF albums on CD long before EMI got around to it.

I don't like anything from the Polydor years but I don't blame the Shads for that. They had tried to be contemporary with the MWF era but were rejected by the public. Those Polydor albums sold very well so it's natural that they would adjust accordingly.

Andrew

[JimN]

...what made me angry was that years later -- when I had access to the internet -- I would find out that EMI America omitted several songs on the US release of every Cliff album...

Capitol Records Syndrome.

Don't get an American Beatles fan started on it...

"Meet The Beatles"?
"The Beatles' Second Album"?
"Something New"?
"Beatles '65"?

I mean, what was wrong with:

"Please Please Me",
"With The Beatles",
"Hard Day's Night", and
"Beatles For Sale"?

The problem seems to be that EMI (UK) habitually issued fourteen (sometimes sixteen) tracks on "pop" albums, whereas American labels would rarely use more than twelve, and sometimes as few as ten. This policy was the reason for the butchery of UK albums when re-packaged for the USA market.

The Beatles themselves (famously) didn't like it either.

JN

PS: I bought the USA Capitol Records Beatles box set "The Capitol Albums Vol 1", because it contained all the tracks in stereo as well as in mono...

[Didier]

I bought the USA Capitol Records Beatles box set "The Capitol Albums Vol 1", because it contained all the tracks in stereo as well as in mono...

In the mid sixties, I bought two US Capitol releases : "Meet The Beatles" and "The Beatles' Second Album" from a Paris record shop (Lido Musique, on the Champs Elysées) which used to import US albums, this because they were labelled "stereo", but it was mock stereo with hardly any noticeable stereo effect and poor sound quality...
I stil have these records.

Didier

[iefje]

During the last three years, since 09-09-2009 (Number 9, Number 9, Number 9), I have been collecting the entire official catalogue of The Beatles. I have read about the 1960's American and Canadian albums and it seems that on most of these, the sound mix is markedly different from the original UK sound mixes and quite a few also feature alternative versions. Tracks with additional vocals or instrumentation, for instance. I'm not entirely sure, but the American CD collections from a few years back are not exact replica's of the original vinyl albums, regarding sound mixes and alternative versions, are they? Does anyone have a more complete picture on this subject, though it is quite off-topic?