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2008.06.29, 01:21 PM | #281 |
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Awesome, thank you for the work!
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2008.06.29, 10:07 PM | #282 |
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Thankyou Jonny!
I really appreciate your translation work () |
2008.06.30, 07:16 AM | #283 | |
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I don't think bands like Toe or Boris or Envy have any dillemas about which song is A-side or B-side, because they control the whole process. That panorama is not so different from the rest of the world. Most record labels impose on the artists their own choice of what songs constitute as A-sides or B-sides. And B-sides are typically the most adventurous songs, because this has been a common practise since the vynil days (which is why they are called.... B-SIDES!). In the end, it's not a bad thing to have albums that compile the b-sides. Many people would go bankrupt trying to collect all the singles from their favourite artists. Many record buyers act more as art collectors than "fans", buying singles only to bolster their prices on e-bay by resale. In the end, everyone is to blame. Major labels, especially in japan, artificially inflate cd prices, because they want to exploit the artist's recordings as much as possible, often giving them as less as possible. people who buy records also often inflate prices on resale. Fans also have a mentality of "exclusivity", which means they create an artificial hierarchy in which he who has the most obscure singles is the biggest fan, and that artificial hierarchical status gives them some solace or comfort when they hardly get credit from the society for anything else they might have done. And then, we add this to a situation when because of downloading, cd sales are on a decline. Result: we see cds being sold at an obscure shop at 5 yen a piece. We see a million unsold copies of Rudebox by Robbie Williams being trashed and used for road pavements in China. In the meantime, we see Radiohead giving their album for free, and selling a special ultra-costly edition with extra tracks. Nine inch nails sells 4 highly experimental cds, partly for free or 5 dollars, with an ultra-costly edition to boot. Sigur rós are doing the same thing with their new album. Einsturzende Neubauten have a subscription method in which fans hear new demos and discuss them, often encouraging the band to exploit certain ideas they might not have considered previously. The musical result of these discussions is then supplied to subscribers. In this panorama, A-sides and b-sides are becoming a diluted area. As for shiina ringo, she is still operating within a major label mentality, and I'm surprised so many b-sides actually made it to this release. It's not meant for "fans" in the collector's sense (they still have the original editions of the singles, and this does not dampen the value of their collection at all), but for more casual fans, the b-sides are in integral aspect of her overall career. She, more than most, used the b-side "slot area" to make several bold experiments like "Ringo Catalogue", for example. So, in reviewing her work, the B-sides must be an integral part of a compilation. There are many other Japanese artists who have not done anything worthwhile in their B-sides. The problem is, how much is this compilation gonna cost... but it's still easier than paying for all the indicidual singles by yourself. so, you have expressed concern about the "singles" culture being lost, and I understand that. However, in iTunes, people often only buy the tracks they want, and not really albums as a whole. In the meantime, artists are finding new ways to present the bolder B-side-type material to the audience, in ways that don't necessarily involve the singles format. B-sides are not really disappearing, but the singles format is. They will just find a new vehicle besides singles, where they can insert "riskier" songs. So, I don't think this compilation really "harms" the singles culture. It was already dying anyway, and this will not make much of a difference in my opinion. As for me, i still haven't decided if I will buy this release or not...
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2008.06.30, 10:11 AM | #284 | |
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Thanks so much! |
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2008.06.30, 06:38 PM | #285 | |
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2008.07.08, 08:52 AM | #286 |
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2008.07.08, 09:08 AM | #287 | |
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2008.07.08, 09:46 AM | #288 |
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Amazing! OMG she looks precious...
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2008.07.08, 10:23 AM | #289 |
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2008.07.08, 10:36 AM | #290 |
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It would seem the one benefit for old collectors, of all the B-Sides recently being compiled together, is that now there's finally a scorebook for the material. Looks like this focuses on the songs that got their own PVs, so there is a small amount of overlap between which songs are included in both of these books.
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