Originally posted by Halloway:
Thinking about this some more, I'd be interested to know who conceived of and drove this project. I'm thinking Townsend Records. I get the feeling that they are positioning themselves as a source of limited and special editions, as well as being a general retail supplier.
Yes. In the booklet of
Impossible, which I have had in front of me all day but have been unable to listen to yet
, I note the following statement: "John Foxx official shop:
www.townsend-records.co.uk for rarities and limited editions."
Townsend has an emailing list of John Foxx diehards (like me!) who bitch and moan and grumble about reissues and rereleases and repackaging and repurposing . . . and then wind up ordering the product anyway. :rolleyes: There must be several hundred other names of similar people in the database – perhaps not a full 1,000, but a lot more people than would accidentally stumble into a record shop and say, "John Foxx? Why, yes, although I'm not at all familiar with his work, I think I'll purchase this curiosity based on its attractively stylish packaging alone."
If this box set is intended for anyone other than the initiated John Foxx fan, advertising it as a limited edition certainly suggests otherwise. I worked in record stores and have friends still in the industry and can assure you that newbies don't tend to grab limited editions, much less limited edition box sets. In a retail setting this would not be an impulse purchase, even when reasonably priced. Collectors and completists are the intended purchasers – oh, and potential eBay sellers!
