More incoming on Wounded Bird

[n/a20]

'80s artists recently added to the "Coming Soon" roster: Michael Sembello, Mondo Rock, Ministry, and Jude Cole (likely his debut). They're also listing Todd Rundgren and Utopia as separate artists, so that might also cover some '80s territory. Plenty of other new names there, too.

[ApolloZero]

Well one guy used to work at Oglio who does Wounded Bird and Oglio released alot of things i had suggested over the years and they have always wrote me back about my questions to them. I don't want to knock them either but during the last days of oglio, they started putting "remastered" on their releases. They are probably listening to fans to add extra material on the cds.. and they are probably fans themselves (himself)

[SomebodySomewhere]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Surly[/i]
<br>Hmmm...well, I'm not totally positive, since I don't own a copy of the single. However, I do own a copy of the commerical single for "Beat Down The Door," which has "One Of A Kind" as a b-side, and was released later that year. I used to run the singles department for the record store I worked at, and I remember stocking the "Beat Down The Door" single. Here's the info I have on their releases; perhaps it will be helpful for your friend's fansite:

"Victory Line" promo single (edit/LP version)
selection #886, released 3/28/86

"Victory Line" single ("Yesterday's News" on b-side)
released 4/28/86
Atco selection #99541

LP/cassette of album released 5/9/96
Atco 90513

"Hit You" promo single (edit and LP version)
selection #947, released 8/13/86

"Hit You" single ("One Of A Kind" on b-side)
released 8/25/86
Atco selection #99510

"Beat Down The Door" single (with "One Of A Kind" also on the b-side)
released 10/27/86
Atco selection #99495[/quote]

Thanks, Surly. I have no association with that website or the person who runs it, but I hope they see these posts.

I stand corrected on "Hit You," as I did kind of take the fansite's word for it -- although after looking in gemm, I'm wondering if the commercial version was Canadian-only? Because I wanted very badly to buy the single back in 1986 and was never able to so much as order it, never mind find it. Along the way, I did acquire two copies of the promo 7" you've got listed as "selection #947." They are both Atco 7-99510. (One copy has a radio station stamp date of August 21, 1986, so the release month is not in question.) However, both copies have the same version - the 3:35 edit - on both sides. The Hit You/One of a Kind 7" singles in gemm are both listed as being made in Canada, with an extra digit in the # - 7995107. Unless your store's #947 was some severely rare 12" I've certainly never seen, I'm not sure what to believe. I think the only thing we know for sure is that if Atco pressed commercial U.S. copies of that single, they sure didn't press very many!


On another note, I have no problems with Wounded Bird's mastering. They definitely don't deserve to be lumped in the same boat with Almacantmaster and Cherry Ded, because they do have the decency to acquire actual masters and don't make excuses for why they couldn't be bothered and/or couldn't afford to do so. What I have problems with are their refusal to sell to New York residents. (Which is stupid, because that sends New York residents over to places like CD Universe. Which sells them for less. Which gives the Bird less money.) The other is their disregard for liner notes. I have more than a few of their releases where they just slopped together some poor photocopy of the LP's innersleeve -- usually just one side of it -- and of course the lyrics have been shrunk down so much, they're completely unreadable. What's the point? Also wish they would leave back covers alone, instead of trying to "improve" them. It's kind of impossible to do that when they don't have anyone in their art department with any discernible talent.

--
<u>[b]YouTube Video of the Week[/b]</u>

Mondo Rock - "Come Said the Boy"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=A7VuZIaZuI0

[korova1]

I agree, really think WB has to be commended for at least getting the masters out there. Soooooooo much better than vinyl...

Hell, when it comes to Cherry Red I am afraid to buy anything else from 'em. Captain Oi is another annoyance. For example, in the last few years they put out some of the old Skids albums and tacked bonus tracks on them... the album sounded like the master fine and dady but some of the bonus tracks were clearly off crappy 7 inchers, etc. To make things worse, some of the b-sides mastered from vinyl were already on CD... so they didn't even think of burning the tracks off the old CD's!!!! Damn rascals.

I think they are all we've got right now to tell you the truth. If you are hoping for something like a "Belfegore" or a "Bongos" re-release... Wounded Bird is at least going to be trying. I've corresponded with them as well and they seem more than interested than anybody else out there right now... plus they've put out some really killer stuff in the past few years. Keep them coming!

[bigwavedave]

Even though the Wounded Bird reissues are plain as day, I do really appreciate that they're getting this stuff out. I do wonder how much money they save by skimping on liner notes, etc. They don't even use clear cd trays in order to display a bit more artwork.

All in all though, I will take a plain reissue over nothing any day of the week. I've picked up Holly And The Italians, Romeo Void, Translator, Aztec Camera, Marshall Crenshaw, KTP and a few others in recent years. Planning on checking out Polyrock next.

[Surly]

[quote][i]Originally posted by SomebodySomewhere[/i]
What I have problems with are their refusal to sell to New York residents. (Which is stupid, because that sends New York residents over to places like CD Universe. Which sells them for less. Which gives the Bird less money.)
[/quote]

I think the only reason for this is because they'd have to charge tax to New York residents since they are based in NY state. It's probably too much of a hassle to them. Their stuff is readily available on Amazon, as well as eBay, and they do use a distributor, so some stores (mainly indies) do stock some of their stuff. Also CD Universe as you mentioned. The only good thing about ordering direct from their website is that they offer their new releases on their site about a month before anyone else.

As for their remastering - my friend who is overseeing another reissue label tells me that all labels, except for Rhino, do their own remastering for these reissues on labels like Wounded Bird. If WB is putting out an album that has been on CD before, they usually just use the previous CD master. If it's vinyl-only, they usually give us a nice, flat master from the original tapes.

As far as bonus tracks are concerned, that also depends on the labels that WB is licensing from. A label like Rhino is known for being very artist-friendly, and will often require artist approval for bonus tracks, while a label like Sony will basically "give away the store." Universal will allow bonus tracks, but only tracks that have been released commercially previously. When a label like Wounded Bird licenses albums for reissue, they have to make a "guarantee" on each release; many companies will raise the guarantee if bonus tracks are added.

I'd like to see liner notes as well, but unless the guy running the label writes them personally, he'd have to pay someone else to do it. I've only written notes for releases on the labels I've worked for, but I believe they'd have to pay outside writers $300-$600 or more for notes. I'm not positive since I've never written any for an outside company (which would probably be considered a conflict of interest!)


"Words like conviction can turn into a sentence"

[bigwavedave]

Thanks Surly, you've answered a lot of questions I've had about reissue labels. It's great to hear how the biz works from an insider's perspective...keep it coming!