Rhino stuff, they've clammed up

[wetcamelfood]

Well, unfortunately, it’s not much, but FINALLY David McLees got back to me and here’s my notes of our call:

He said 6/24 was the planned release date for the first batch of reissues (FM (1975), “Rumours” & “Tusk).

He couldn’t/wouldn’t say what would be the extra tracks but he said they would NOT be “straight reissues” (with no bonus tracks) but they are yet to be agreed upon.

He said that FM agreed to let these reissues happen at this time as they felt as though it would not clash with the new album (how I don’t know, as this is what me and ChiliD had originally had suggested to him/them to do in the first place, I guess “they want the credit” for the idea of the reissues HELPING the SYW marketing etc. but whatever).

No dates have been set for further FM reissues but he said they were definitely going to do all of the WB/Reprise Mac albums, starting with the BN ones (so I guess we can assume “Mirage”, “Tango...” etc. will be after these three but he didn’t say that and/or when they would be).

When asked about the words “expanded reissues” in those ads that were seen about these reissues, he said “Tusk” would be 2 CD’s and the full “Sara” would be reinstated.

He said the “band members still need to agree” on “what they will allow” as the bonus tracks (but that to me, sounds reminiscent of The Knight saying the tracklisting for the limited edition of SYW “hasn’t been agreed upon yet” and we’ll have the SYW limited edition, complete with the as yet not agreed upon tracklisting, in our hands tomorrow morning so whatever).

He wants it to be known that he doesn’t work for Rhino (even though that was the letter head paper he used when he wrote to me) but for Warner Strategic Marketing.

So there, I’ve passed on everything I know and that was said about it all in the phone call. I had asked him to send me a follow up e mail/letter confirming everything that was said and he said he would. I realize that there is not much information here, I am disappointed too, but in case anyone doesn’t believe I ever spoke to him and/or am “holding out on you” in regards to further info on this, I will be glad to share a scan of the follow up e
mail/letter I get from him if you wish. I also have the e mail from him saying HE WOULD LET ME KNOW when things develop on the reissues (which he never did), it was dated February 25, 2002 which I can scan as well.

Sorry to come off as defensive (again) but I just feel embarrassed that I thought (obviously wrongly) that he would do what he said he wold do which was let me know closer the time based on what he said and he didn’t and has decided to not be forthcoming with info on this so I feel like I’ve been leading you
guys down the wrong path when that was not my intention, I had no control over how he was going to handle this (or not handle it as the case may be). Anyways, I hope any scrap of this will be of some use to someone here and if anyone has any ideas on anything that can be done further on this then do say so here, because I’m out of ideas on this. As per my usual ramblings though, I feel OK walking away from this knowing I tried everything I could think of to try and get them to listen in so far as getting the best FM reissues with extra stuff out there but have apparently been shut out, so fair enough, I won’t have to
think “What if I had tried (this)” because I must have tried it by now as I can’t think of anything else to try. If any of you do know of anything though, I’m open to ideas and sorry for the “lack of news” on this topic at the end of the day.

John

[DownOnRodeo]

Originally posted by wetcamelfood
He couldn’t/wouldn’t say what would be the extra tracks but he said they would NOT be “straight reissues” (with no bonus tracks) but they are yet to be agreed upon.

When asked about the words “expanded reissues” in those ads that were seen about these reissues, he said “Tusk” would be 2 CD’s and the full “Sara” would be reinstated.
tomorrow morning so whatever).

No, this is great news! Thanks for your tenacity John. Two CDs of Tusk - now we're talking . Who knows, it might even include a good dose of Tusk tour footage, which will be great for those like me who missed the boat by a generation for the Tusk and Mirage videos.
I hope it's more than just the dodgy old bootlegs we all have, but I'm sure it will be.

Originally posted by wetcamelfood

He wants it to be known that he doesn’t work for Rhino (even though that was the letter head paper he used when he wrote to me) but for Warner Strategic Marketing.

He might want to get a bit more strategic about his own marketing

[Street Angel]

Thank you for all the information and all the work you've done, John. Finally we have some confirmation.

And the reissues sound very promising. Of course I hope we finally get outtakes and demos as official releases on these CD's, but even if there were no rarities on the new CD versions at all, it is great to finally see the albums get the treatment they deserve. When you look at all the artists who have released decent remaster versions of their back catalogue, it is a shame (in comparison) how Mac CD's have been sold until now. And what great news that we can also look forward to getting Mirage and TITN as an improved re-release. Let's hope the other (non-BN) albums are going to be remastered as well!

[wetcamelfood]

Thanks (and you're welcome) guys.

Well, he did say ALL of the WB/Reprise stuff would be done and they were going to start with the BN stuff and since the first batch is to be FM (1975), "Rumours" & "Tusk", we're kind of left to assume by process of elimination that "Mirage", TITN etc. would be in the next batch (whenever that may be).

I know they were churning out the Chicago remasters pretty fast so hopefully they'll get through the whole WB FM catalog just as quick, I hope they don't use those cheezy cardboard sleeves like they did with the Chicago ones though as I know, the regular plastic jewel cases may be boring but they're more sturdy and will handle repeated plays, wear and tear etc. unlike the cardboard ones but fingers crossed anyways. Yeah, I do have faith that Rhino can do the Mac stuff justice once and for all.

John

[macfan 57]

Thanks, John. It's good to know for sure that this is going to happen. The 2 CD version of Tusk sounds VERY interesting. It even sounds like there may just be a chance that maybe the Bob Welch era albums could eventually be re-released with bonus tracks, too.

[wetcamelfood]

Originally posted by macfan 57
Thanks, John. It's good to know for sure that this is going to happen. The 2 CD version of Tusk sounds VERY interesting. It even sounds like there may just be a chance that maybe the Bob Welch era albums could eventually be re-released with bonus tracks, too.

Here's hoping it won't be TOO long before they get to the "non Rumours" FM CD's macfan.

John