BOC - 25th Aniversary suggestion

[Jason O'Broin]

Following up the recent posts about WOTT, a couple of things have
occurred to me:

* Only 2 years to the 25th Aniversary of the first album

* Sony are sitting on an excellent back catalogue; remastering has
  shown to be a commercial winner (eg. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin),
  and nostalga shifts CDs.

Therefore, I would suggest the following plan for a 25th Aniversary.

1. Complete remastering of ALL the studio albums (except Imaginos - I
   don't think it needs it) with updated artwork and liner notes
   The live albums are less important.  Filling up the CDs with any
   alternative takes or unreleased material from the same sessions
   would be excellent, but certainly not essential.
   (ref. LedZep, Floyd and DP In Rock 25th Aniversary edition).

2. An 'early years' single CD. This would comprise all of the SFG stuff,
   any SU stuff that is hanging around, the 1972 bootleg, and if there
   is any space left, add any early demos/outtakes that are hanging
   around for the early years. It would be good to have this remastered
   and have some good liner notes telling the story of the early days.
   Good opportunity to raid the archive for photos as well.
   (ref. Uriah Heep - early years (RPM 115) ))

3. A Singles A/B collection - the idea here to two fold - to give a
   reasonable representation of BOC's single output (using the single
   versions, not the album versions), and also to get some of the
   essential B sides out as well (eg. Flaming Telepaths live). It
   should definitely include the Imaginos A/Bs. Again, this should be
   a single CD. The singles output is probably greater than 80 mins, but
   with a bit of thought, the less important ones can be dropped.
   Again, good liner notes, remastering and photos are important here.
   (ref. Deep Purple - the New Singles A/B)

4. Dig out one or two of the best 'bootlegs', tidy them up and release
   them. Things like Nail You Down where good soundboard recordings
   exist. Prefereably this stuff would be somewhat orthoginal to the
   current live releases.
   (ref. Deep Purple - On the Wings of a Russian Foxbat,
         Deep Purple - Scandanavian Nights)

5. ... and to tie it all together, a new BOC album, launched as a
   25th Aniversary album and world tour.
   (ref. Deep Purple - The Battle Rages on)

The marketting idea would be to launch the remastered stuff in a blaze of
publicity, playing on the nostalga and remastered angles which generates
interest, all of which is used to increase interest in the band generally,
and in the new album and tour more importantly.

BOC are not just another band doing the clubs - they have a great untapped
back catalogue which Sony has access to at very little up-front cost. It
is worth appreciating that in places like the UK, CDs other than Imaginos,
AOF and CN are not especially easy to find or cheap. I suspect that unlike
DP, people are less likely to have upgraded their collections to CD.

Any one fancy passing this suggestion on to Eric on AOL?
Al - would you be interested in trying to push something like this forward
with Sony?

Jason
--
       Jason O'Broin - Development Engineer, ATM Adapter Group
Madge Networks, Sefton Park, Bells Hill, Stoke Poges, Slough SL2 4JS. UK
 Phone +44 1494 541258 Email: jobroin at madge.com or jobroin at madge.co.uk
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