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Sunday 7 November 2010

Best Buy Band on the Run extra DVD

If you buy the new remastered edition of "Band On The Run" at the American chain store "Best Buy", you get an extra DVD not available if you should happen to be such a miserable creature that you unfortunately live somewhere in the world where you don't just happen to have a "Best Buy" store to pop in and buy it from.
Contents:
1) "Band on the Run" 2010 EPK (8:31)
2) "Jet" (5:36)
3) "Mrs. Vandebilt" (5:13)
4) "Band on the Run" (5:36)

The three extra tracks are recent concert versions of these songs.
This tradition of favouritism of people in a single one of the world's countries heralds back to the releases of the japanese 2-disc version of "Flowers in the Dirt", the German 2-disc release "Off The Ground - The Complete Works" and the release of "Flaming Pie" in 1998, when customers at "Best Buy" in the USA got an extra CD featuring an episode of Paul McCartney's Oobujoobu radio show. For us die-hard collectors, all this means is that we have to go on ebay and buy it from an American at an inflated price. WogBlog hates this practice. It's funny that Concorde Records (and formerly Capitol/EMI with earlier releases) haven't realised that making a disc available in just one country (or chain store) is the best way to ensure that the disc will become a worldwide popular illegal upload and download on internet blogs and torrent sites.

Japan-only release, the 2-disc Flowers In The Dirt from 1989


Germany-only release, 1993

USA-only release, 1998

Spain-only release, 2005, the only disc that contains the song 'Whole Life' with Paul McCartney & Dave Stewart

USA-only release, 2005. A live version of "The Long and Winding Road" is exclusive to this disc.

15 comments:

Sara S. said...

I would be happy to pick it up for you at Best Buy and just charge you the price of the Cd and shipping

Sara S.

wogew said...

Thank you very much for your offer, Sara. It's funny that Concorde Records (and formerly Capitol/EMI with earlier releases) haven't realised that making a disc available in just one country (or chain store) is the best way to ensure that the disc will become a worldwide popular illegal upload and download on internet blogs and torrent sites...

BRAINWASHED said...

It's simple: You hate this practice because you do not live in America, live on the other side of the world and that's hard to get this stuff ... if you lived in America think differently.

wogew said...

Nah, the statement is valid anywhere. I'd hate it just as much if they made a McCartney disc available only in a Norwegian chain store. And I've never had any problems acquiring the earlier releases mentioned. Just like Sara offered in her comment, someone offered to get me the Oobujoobu disc from Best Buy at the week of the release in 1998. It's just that it takes a bit of effort. I happened to be in the USA when the "Motor of Love" CD from Lexus and the "Never Stop Doing What You Love" CD from Fidelity Investments were out, but neither the local Lexus dealer nor Fidelity office in Manhattan had them. Finally got them both from ebay after I got home to Norway, and cheap, too - after the first rush in demand had calmed down.

wardo said...

The three live songs are taken directly from the Good Evening New York City DVD; the other content is the Band On The Run EPK, which can be viewed online in a few places, including here:

http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/media/video/ttmgMTCUcvQE9XGwDq7rZDTfhU5Sb2ZK/

Brian Fried said...

Brainwashed: you have it wrong. The correct phrase should be "If you lived in America near a Best Buy that carried this stuff, you'd think differently." It's 3 hours to the nearest Best Buy from the border for me, and they never have the bonus discs that I am seeking — I always have to travel an additional 2-3 hours to get to the next store in the hopes that THEY have it.

And it's a shitty practice.

The new version of Band On The Run is available internationally. The only variant should have been the pre-order edition directly from Paul's website, which added two live cuts (slightly edited) from the 1979 Glasgow concert, because that was also available internationally.

But to have it unique to one chain in one country puts preference to one nation of fans over another — especially in these days of eBay merchandisers and few independents willing to import to compete against eBay and their ilk. It's bad relations.

Brian Fried said...

Wogew — you forgot one or two, and mixed them up a bit.

Nation-only releases go back to The Beatles. Singles (like the two from Memory Almost Full) and compilations such as Flowers In The Dirt: Special Edition and Off The Ground: The Complete Works just follow that tradition. In recent years, those releases have been purchasable directly from stores in those countries like HMV, Amazon, or digitally via iTunes.

Company-specific are a new thing. Paul's done three with Best Buy so far: the Oobu Joobu disc with Flaming Pie, a DVD of soundchecks for Back In The US, and now this one for Band On The Run.

These are worse for the collector because, traditionally, you'd be rushing out to buy the copy of the album in your country not knowing that the alternate version exists. I already had Flaming Pie when I sent a relative to buy me the extra disc, and the latter two were sold out by the time I learned about them and rushed south.

And let us not forget the free song via Rolling Stone magazine in the US only. I bought the special issue here in Canada — same every page! — but didn't get the code for the song and was denied it (though got the money reimbursed by the store because they'd complained to the supplier about it).

And Paul's also done two for his tour sponsors: Motor Of Love for Lexus, and Never Stop Doing What You Love for Fidelity Investments.

What sucks about these two sets of releases is, like the DJ promos beforehand (like Paul McCartney Rocks!) is that you need to have someone tell you they exist and have to find them on eBay/torrents where they may be much more expensive than the free or low cost they were for the US.

In all these latter three cases, it's often a chance for people in the US of A to make money off of fellow fans elsewhere in the world… and, more importantly, an encouragement not to buy the album anywhere but the US, even if it means making it appear that less people in your country want more Paul product than actually exist.

Kwai Chang said...

I am surrounded by BestBuy stores and I won't even go in them. The retail chain is nothing but a whitewashed caricature of the 'benevolent' despot model. The exclusive freebies offered by them are worthless stuff that serve only to dilute the original concept of the release. But that's not all. It is absolute proof that BestBuy sold their own dignity long ago...for the sake of a dollar, simply to provide themselves with a secure victory in an already-fixed fight. Does this indicate that they are music lovers in any way? Hardly! To make matters worse, the artist's integrity suffers when a new release is suddenly two different releases. When the business advantage is already unfairly in the hands of a monster, to pander to their cause will only insure doom for the artist and the consumer. If BestBuy is ever to deserves my business, then they need to stop trying to kill the music industry via profit-fixity. Please, folks, don't encourage these whores. They have done enough damage, already. Long live Amoeba(Hollywood)!

Brian Fried said...

Kwai, how does the additional material dilute the value of the original release when often it enhances it — like the McCartney Back In The US DVD with the "Matchbox" soundcheck or the Billy Joel Stranger bonus CD with five otherwise unavailable live cuts from that tour?

For that matter, do you feel the same way about the iTunes exclusives? or the pre-order bonus tracks done by artists through iTunes and/or their own website?

Personally, my problem with Best Buy here in Canada is that they used their size to muscle out most of the competition, and now no longer carry CDs because they don't have the sales value they once were (though they are in the flyers and available online).

Kwai Chang said...

Hello Brian Fried, and thanks for asking. Although I would not disagree with your last paragraph, I am more concerned with music remaining an art form, rather than crystalizing into pure commercialism. Why should a whore, such as BestBuy, be given such power or even be allowed to suggest such practices. Remember, how the advent of the cd was going to bring the price of music down, but instead, bonus tracks were added and the price went up? To me, this is the same game taken to the next level. I should have said that this practice actually dilutes the artist's integrity. For, I would have so much more respect and admiration for anyone...if they would just give BestBuy the finger, keep the original release as a standardized entity and then do the fancy stuff later and because they want to...not because a whore has asked them to. Keep the bonus tracks, lower the price, and yes, you're right...the term dilute is relative. I think that's all.

Unknown said...

Best Buy does this all the time with various items. There are about 5 to 10 put out and that's it. If you don't get it the first day, you're out of luck. I went to my local Best Buy and all the various McCartney cds were scooped up already. Knowing them, they probably only ordered 10 of each, anyway.

Well, at least I have that Motor of Love cd.

wogew said...

I didn't know about the Back In The US DVD, thanks for pointing it out to me. Now there's suddenly a gap in my collection until I find it...

zappafan said...

I called all the Best Buy stores in my area and none of them even heard about the bonus disc. There was no mention of it in the Sunday paper suppliment

I'm inclined to believe it was a rumour.

wogew said...

No, but it was available in limited quantities. They are starting to show up on ebay.

Cam Nhung Dinh said...

Thank you very much, Sara. I always love this music and try to collect all of it. Best Buy does this all the time with various items.