HW VOiceprint

[Doug Pearson]

On Thu, 17 May 2001 00:35:45 +0100, ANDREW GARIBALDI
<andygee at DIAL.PIPEX.COM> wrote:
>A customer of ours wanted everyone here to see the e.mail he's sending to
>Voiceprint about the free CD - agree or not, here it is.
>Andy Garibaldi.

Thanks for forwarding this.  I can mostly understand how someone would come
to feel this way (and hasn't it always been a favorite sport of Hawkwind
fans to complain about the band's label?), but ...

>------------------------
>Dear Sirs,
>
>Thank you for showing me once again how Hawkwind and its Record Labels
>(namely you) treats its fans - WITH UTTER CONTEMPT!

I wouldn't say that about the band, but this certainly isn't new news
regarding the band's labels over the years.  However, to be fair to the
labels, pretty much every label that HAS done "cheesy", "rip-off" stuff,
has also done really GOOD stuff, too (those that re-released 'Yuri Gagarin'
under different titles excepted, of course).

Sure, Flicknife has licensed a zillion compilations of the material
released on the label, that Dave/Hawks may or may not see money from, but
they also (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong on this, as this is pure
assumption!) paid the advance that allowed the band to record 'Chronicle of
the Black Sword' at Rockfield - it's VERY unprecedented for an independent
label to pay for an expensive, prestigious studio like that (even as a
recoupable advance - that's enough cash "out of the flow" to seriously risk
bankruptcy for most indies).  They also put out a nicely-packaged box set
with an exclusive interview LP (and no whining about having to buy the
whole box just to get the interview disc - those kind of things are for
only the hardkore kollektors anyway).

EBS may have screwed up on 'Distant Horizons', but the 'Business Trip'
and 'Love In Space' packages were utterly gorgeous (and they both *sound*
excellent).  They definitely deserve credit for those.

And would anyone on the list prefer that Voiceprint HADN'T released the
Weird series and Collectors' series on CD?  Not me!

>It can only be assumed that from the outset you had a CD in mind to press
>and send out to us fans.

Why would anyone assume this?  None of Voiceprint's literature ever said
free UNRELEASED or EXCLUSIVE CD, did it?  Sounds like (very) wishful
thinking to me.  (Actually, my suspicion all along was that the free CD was
going to be 'Hawkwind 97', since that's a Voiceprint release.  I can
certainly understand that if that was indeed the case, that Voiceprint
would have changed their mind once they got stuck with a run of "un-
sellable" copies of 'Spacebrock'.)

>It was Weird 108 we were expecting as this was missing from your commercial
>release schedule and includes tracks which have not been made available
>elsewhere on CD. It would also have given us the tracks from "Dawn Of"
>without Dave Brock's chat, and have completed our collections.

Yes, that would have been nice, but it's still just wishful thinking -
another assumption without actual basis.

>[snip]
>Under normal circumstances you would have had to have written this expense
>off, but you have been very opportunistic in ripping off your customers.

Waitaminit?!?  The label is ripping of its customers by sending them a FREE
CD?  THAT I just don't get.

>I will be very pleased to hear your comments on the above and how, and
>indeed if, you are prepared to see this as an opportunity to restore my
>faith in your organisation.

The only possible outcome I could foresee from this is that Voiceprint will
never again make a "free CD" offer.  Am I gonna have to write them a letter
thanking them for their Hawkwind program and telling them to ignore the
muttering in the peanut gallery?

Sorry, but this kind of whining strikes me as completely unfounded.  I can
see complaining about the sound quality of 'Glastonbury 90' (but I'm not!
I'm glad to have the recording!), or about labeling 'Spacebrock'
as "Hawkwind" rather than "Brock" (I'd suggest that the "file under
Hawkwind" sticker might make more sense, but hey - I can tell the
difference), or about the *major* problems with songwriting/personnel
credits (already did that!).  But complaining about a FREE GIFT!?!  Sheesh.

But enough of that; I'll try to offer some constructive commentary now.  As
long as we're in "wishful thinking" mode, here's what I'd like to see ...

Since the "original" Weird CD's seem to be going out of print, perhaps they
could be redone more efficiently:
* ALL the Hawkwind live '77 material (102/103/105) could be combined on a
single CD.
* ALL the Hawklords live AND studio material (104/102) could be combined on
a single CD.
* ALL the Dave Brock solo stuff (101/107) could be on a single CD.
* The pre-Hawkwind and early Hawkwind stuff (106/108), minus the already-
available tracks, could be on a single CD.
* Everything else (Watchfield, live '76, studio outtakes, Sonic Assassins -
101/103/105/etc.) could fit on a fifth CD.

That way, all the CD's would flow thematically much better (except maybe
the final one, which wouldn't be any worse in that respect than the
existing series), we (the fans/kollektors) would have to purchase fewer
CD's, and Voiceprint could conceivably fairly charge more (an extra £ per?)
for each CD.  Sounds to me like a winner for everyone ...

    -Doug (who has actually run a label)
     jasret at mindspring.com