I can understand the grim perception of people including myself, "moaning" about these reissues; but it's more an expression of frustration. It's certainly not like knocking things for the sake of it! And it's all a matter of opinion and personal taste. hat's what makes us humans and fans! It's a healthy debate and hopefully something of construct for any management reading. If we just sat around praising every last fragment of John's work, it would be a very boring place indeed.
It's more down to the annoyance that we're presented with the exciting prospect of "new" or unreleased tracks to savour, but to get them we are forced to re-buy albums we already own and wouldn't otherwise re-buy. Unless you beg, borrow or steal. And that's why I'm so frustrated that you can't choose to purchase the ones you want as MP3s. Maybe you'll be able to? But there comes a point when buying every release, every reissue, every remaster, compilation etc, just becomes ridiculous, especially for such recent material. Plus space and money might come into it too.
Do
Sideways and
From Trash really
need re-releasing and expanding, just 4 years later? Maybe John thought they did. If so, then was he unhappy with the original releases? (why release them in the first place?!). I have to admit, the booklet in
From Trash was always a bit disappointing. But the album itself remains one of my personal favourites. If it was down to short supply online and in the shops, then why not just re-press the albums, as they surely deserve to be out there, as we've said before.
If these are to be definitive releases and not something like gold dust in a couple of year's time, then, maybe they're the kind of 'filler' that you can come back to at a later date, in between albums or if John packs his synths up one day, without rushing on the pre-order button, in fear that they'll all go like hotcakes right away. For now I'll be taking Tux's advice and waiting in great anticipation for the Maths album next year.
As you say Core, each and every one of us have done and do our bit to make sure that other people know about John's music, in addition to our own purchase decisions. Just a couple of months ago I bought C&B for a friend's birthday. And I don't put a lot of time and effort into a fairly decent fan site just for a laugh.
Just one new CD of Unreleased & live tracks from 06-10 would have been absolutely superb, and purchased without a second thought. Shame!
Anyway, I'll shut up, before the molehills become even more mountainous! I've had my moan!