The Dvd Vote

[wetcamelfood]

I know it's no secret that I've voted for option 2 and (just my humble opinion) I'm all for any option however, let's try to not be too quick to go for option one. I agree that there are many things on there that I would like (capitol center stuff etc.) but think about it. 8 performances of the 30 are from the already released Tusk doc, Mirage tape and The dance. that's nearly a third of the entire playing time devoted to stuff we either already have or can (relatively) easily get our hands on a good generation copy of. (that is buying stuff we already have). In these terms, think of the amount of wasted space. In looking over the signatures on the petiton so far, I see many people asking for live performances and some are requesting videos such as "Gypsy" & "Hold me", etc. Yes, there are those wishing that Mirage, Tusk, etc. would be re-released listed there in their comments too but one must reasonably assume that they mean the whole tapes and not just parts and if the docs options are chosen as the winners on the 27th, I'm all for getting the complete tusk doc out on disc etc. but as we can't use all of mirage right now for the HBO rights anyways, I personally don't see many people saying in their comments "I want parts from mirage, tusk doc, & the dance to take up a good portion of this release" Do you? We can't let this "even" songwriter thing (as I presume some peoples response to this would be that option 1 is more "even" than option 2) bother us either. (I know some object) but generally when I talk to fans about the Mirage tape for instance, look how many song Lindsey "has" on there, and this has never been a major problem for fans, that's just been brushed aside. Why? (not that I was bothered by it but if we need to compare to make points etc.) Any reasonable compilation is going to be uneven anyways. Many pepole have favorite members etc. but if you were picking the "best" what are you going to do, say "well this song is better but we can't use that because so and so didn't write it"?. This is sad that option 2 is a list I made which tried to encompass all of these fan politics so it isn't even really what I would choose myself if it was just me but I have to try and fight for it anyways here because I don't think option one is that good of an idea. I'm sorry but that's how I feel and I'm sure those of you with differing opinions will start your own threads as you have just as much rights as I do to do this here as this is what these fourms are for (or so I think anyways).

For the older fans (well, to all fans really), let's remember that this is what we have talked about for years... "Oh Warners must have all kinds of stuff in the vaults in pristine condition, wouldn't it be great if they released it someday" well, now, is that day (given we can get the signatures and it looks like we are making good progress as of this date), so let's get the stuff out in great condition that we have always waited for rather than say "no, instead let's not go with the stuff we have always wanted but couldnb't get good copies of for years and have a big portion of the release be stuff we already have." This just doesn't make much sense. Wasn't that the whole point of those "wouldn't it be great to get this released" conversations? This is why I like option two because it has live stuff that yes, we have seen before and it might not be consdiered the "best" which is an opinion anyways, not a "fact" but how many generations old are our present copies (if we have been able to get them at all)? In addition, we can't buy into the glossy prodution of the great sounding/looking but heavily overdubbed/refilmed/(whatever) trickery that has gone on with the previous "proper" releases and be lead to believe that those are genuinely the "best" (if we have to use opinion as fact here) performances at our disposal. Also, along the importance of sales, the videos would appeal to the general public more than strictly rare stuff (such seems to be the ideas behind options 3, 4 & 5) as much as I want all of that stuff too, I think it would be more wise to delve into doing those kinds of releases starting with release number two as it's of the most importance that a good working relationship between us and Ken's 5.1 Entertainment can be well and truly established fully before anything else and they can trust our ideas of sales possibilities on such items (that is, proving to them that we were right and this stuff would sell, etc.) so the future looks brighter in respect of following releases. (look at complete (at the date of release) music video compilations released by other artist such as Madonna, you can count the weeks those were at number one (or thereabouts) on the video charts and as we need this to sell, this would work for both fans and everyday buyers and be the best compromise for this all important first release.

For younger fans, as I've happily stated and offered elsewhere, if you don't have the mirage tape, tusk doc. etc. and/or you don't want to spend any money on ebay or whatever getting one. Send me an e mail/private message and I will gladly tape you what you need in it's entirety from my originals (so you can't get a better copy any other way (aside from having your own original which you don't/may not want to buy that is if you fall into this catagory of fans)) and send the tapes to you for free on your part (that is, I will pay for everything, postage, tape, etc.) so you can see them if this means we can go with less "already owned previously commercially released" footage on this release. Think about it, you will get those from me and different footage on the disc if you chose any of the other options and you would only have to pay for the DVD/VHS of Ken's when it's released and if we don't get the signatures, you'll still get free copies of what you don't already have that I will provide for you. Please consider this as an option. It's a "win/win" situation.

As of right now, it appears as though option one is far and away the leader. It's fine with me if everyone ignores this, It's just as I've been such a big fan for a long time (and will always be one just as I'm sure you are and will always be one), I just want to be able to grow old knowing that at least I tried this, and I won't always have to wonder "maybe if I had posted this, it would've made a difference...". I'm hoping, more than anything else right now that it does in fact make a difference but we'll see I guess.

John