Simple Minds "Sparkle in the Rain" (March 2015)

[Failed Muso]

Never had to spend money to send back a faulty disc before. Glad I cancelled my order instead of assuming that they would send out replacements free of charge like other labels have done.

I hear Burning Shed are simply sending out replacements material to all those on their order books. A far more fair and sensible approach. When I eventually decide to buy this, I will buy from them as I'm pretty sure I'll get corrected product first time.

 

[rtbluray]

My Blu-Ray hasn't arrived yet, but when it does, I'm thinking of not even opening it and sending it straight back to amazon.

This is ridiculous…Thank goodness there's enough quality discs floating around out there ("Hand Cannot Erase", "Geese & The Ghost", AF SACDs, etc) to keep me occupied and grateful.

 

[Cheezmo]

I hear Burning Shed are simply sending out replacements material to all those on their order books. A far more fair and sensible approach. When I eventually decide to buy this, I will buy from them as I'm pretty sure I'll get corrected product first time.

It will be interesting to see if they are able to do that. If Universal's policy is that the defective ones get sent back, Burning Shed may have to adhere to that also. They may have just assumed that replacements would be available they way they have in the past without sending something back.

 

[Snood]

Well Snood got response from Universal Customer Service.........it was a we will pass this along to the label.

Now remember - Snood inquired about the Bluray Stand Alone

But about an hour half later got a response from the Label and here it is:

Hi Joe

Thanks for your email regarding the Simple Minds ‘Sparkle In The Rain’ box set, we are aware of the problems with the DVD rest assured this is being addressed as a matter of urgency.
We are in the process of reworking the DVD and will be sending out replacement versions as soon as possible
Please send your faulty DVD (And booklet which missed the last paragraph out) to the following address, with a return address for the replacement
Simple Minds Returns 5th Floor
UMC 364-366 Kensington High Street
London
W14 8NS
Thank you for your patience

Regards

Steve Hammonds


Snood again........Snood replied that my problem was not with the DVD boxset DVD but rather the Stand Alone Blu Ray not the Boxset DVD. Told him that me and many others have received faulty Blurays that have a stereo and surround mix problem defect and is well known online that this is a major problem. Asked if these Bluray discs will be replaced also


So Snood will let ya know what the reply to that is.........fingers crossed - good that the doing the Boxsets tho so far :banana:

 

[rtbluray]

So far this year, QC has really been lacking from Universal.

Before all of this, I really was for purchasing new surround discs from them, whether they be reissues of classic discs on HFPA or newer mixes that were just released.
I was disappointed with the Rick Wakeman releases since the audio quality was suspect, but I accepted them for what they were with the understanding that I would tread more carefully with releases like that in the future.
And now this…a 'mono' mix on both the DVD-A and Blu-Ray discs with no correct stereo remix out there AND we have to send the discs back to them in order to get the correct ones?!

Forget it. My Blu-Ray is remaining sealed, and I'm sending it back.
I'm also not going to buy anymore HFPA releases from them unless it's something truly extraordinary and error free.
I've cancelled my orders of "A Farewell to Kings", "Pet Sounds", "Let's Get It On", "Slippery When Wet", and "Signals", and I'm certainly not going to preorder "Southern Surroundings" after all of this.

I had always hoped that by buying these discs (even ones that were titles I already owned) it was a great way to send a message to major labels like this one that surround should be sold and that it would be bought by me with the hopes that it would inspire them to create new mixes and to finally release ones that had just been sitting in the vaults.

Well to quote Phil Collins, "I Don't Care Anymore"! Unless Universal release something truly extraordinary, like surround mixes of Roxy Music titles or "The Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears, I'm sitting on the sidelines when it comes to their releases.

In the meantime, I will continue to support QUALITY surround releases, especially the ones coming from Audio Fidelity.
Now I'm just waiting for May so I can enjoy "Minstrel in the Gallery", which will hopefully be an error free premium set like "A Passion Play" and "War Child" were.

Hope Springs eternal!

 

[dr. simple]

I admit I haven't been a part of this thread because I'm not particularly interested in this disc, so forgive me if this has been posted.

The Burning Shed site at the moment states, "We have been made aware of a fault on the Blu-Ray. A new disc is being made and we will start selling again once we receive replacements. If you have ordered this from us we will automatically send you a replacement Blu-Ray disc when we get them. You do not need to return anything". https://www.burningshed.com/store/artrock/product/119/6353/

 

[Drabs]

It's interesting that Universal are looking at replacing the disc and booklet, yet I think suppliers like burningshed are only replacing the discs. So, do we need to deal with Universal to obtain a corrected booklet?

 

[Perp]

So far this year, QC has really been lacking from Universal.

And now this…a 'mono' mix on both the DVD-A and Blu-Ray discs with no correct stereo remix out there AND we have to send the discs back to them in order to get the correct ones?!

Look at the bright side (not our Forum member and friend). At least, our defective discs that some of us get to keep are collector copies. Imagine, you get the recording in a mono version too...LOL!

Forget it. My Blu-Ray is remaining sealed, and I'm sending it back.
I'm also not going to buy anymore HFPA releases from them unless it's something truly extraordinary and error free.
I've cancelled my orders of "A Farewell to Kings", "Pet Sounds", "Let's Get It On", "Slippery When Wet", and "Signals", and I'm certainly not going to preorder "Southern Surroundings" after all of this.

Well to quote Phil Collins, "I Don't Care Anymore"! Unless Universal release something truly extraordinary, like surround mixes of Roxy Music titles or "The Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears, I'm sitting on the sidelines when it comes to their releases.

So, you canceled your pre-orders because of a defect but you'll take a chance on other stuff Universal releases if you just got to have them? I know quality control has not been good but, overall, it's not really THAT bad. I feel, when something happens like this and the company ends up spending more time and resources on problems, they'll eventually wake up and do something about it. Bottom line is Universal is making good issuing replacements and we should be thankful even though it's an inconvenience.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Look at the bright side (not our Forum member and friend). At least, our defective discs that some of us get to keep are collector copies. Imagine, you get the recording in a mono version too...LOL!




So, you canceled your pre-orders because of a defect but you'll take a chance on other stuff Universal releases if you just got to have them? I know quality control has not been good but, overall, it's not really THAT bad. I feel, when something happens like this and the company ends up spending more time and resources on problems, they'll eventually wake up and do something about it. Bottom line is Universal is making good issuing replacements and we should be thankful even though it's an inconvenience.

Some people are getting way too drama prone about these discs....some are mad because importcds made some mistakes on the distribution of pre-orders...so now they aren't going to do business with them...Trilogy has been delayed numerous times...again...some people are out on the ledge ready to jump...now some technical mistakes on this disc...again more falling on the sword by some...c'mon...this is just a hobby...I wonder how some of these people make it thru everyday life if they are losing it over some music releases...for those that keep eliminating every business that makes a mistake they are going to find themselves isolated from everything music related...given the overall demographic of this forum(mature)it's puzzling to me to see these type of meltdowns...

 

[rtbluray]

So, you canceled your pre-orders because of a defect but you'll take a chance on other stuff Universal releases if you just got to have them? I know quality control has not been good but, overall, it's not really THAT bad. I feel, when something happens like this and the company ends up spending more time and resources on problems, they'll eventually wake up and do something about it. Bottom line is Universal is making good issuing replacements and we should be thankful even though it's an inconvenience.

It's not just about the defective disc. That may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for me, but when I really thought about it, I knew the quality would be lacking from most of these other HFPA releases anyway, most I already own!
I have the Sector box sets, and the "Signals" 5.1 mix is particularly weak. "A Farewell to Kings" is OK, but again I already own it.
On "Pet Sounds" the DVD-A mix is apparently screwed up, and who knows at this point if the HFPA will be "correct" or the same thing that's already out there.
Like the above titles, I already have "Southern Surroundings", I don't really like Bon Jovi (plus we still don't know 100% if that disc will even have the surround mixes or not), and after all that, we're left with "Let's Get It On", which can already be purchased on DVD-A or SACD.

I had been repurchasing discs on HFPA that I already owned (like "Selling England by the Pound", "Fly by Night", and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road") with the hopes that my purchases would help lead to more releases, especially of new or unreleased surround mixes, but I'm not going to do that anymore.
I'll take their releases as they come once I know for sure there's quality in them.

And on a further note, if Universal had utilized Steven Wilson's stereo mix on the CD or if it was guaranteed that we would get replacements without having to take the time and effort to send anything back to them, then you wouldn't hear peep out of me. Like George Harrison once sang, "It's All Too Much".

 

[Perp]

"You can fool some of the people some of the time, and jerk the rest off!"


Robin Williams

 

[GOS]

Beer!

Oops...sorry...had a flashback....

 

[atrocity]

Some people are getting way too drama prone about these discs....

Thing is, even at a time like now when it feels as if we're getting a lot of new product, we're also getting a lot of errors and defects. It seems to me that as a percentage the error rate is truly shocking. I've got thousands of CDs and can probably count on one hand the number of them where I'd guess that what's on the disc was not strictly speaking what was intended.

But in our little high priced corner of the universe this issue with the Simple Minds discs is just one (or two, really, since it affects two formats) on a list that includes relatively few titles overall but a stunning number of issues. And I'm not talking about delays or misleading liner notes or questionable sources or anything at all other than Discs Containing Material Other Than What The Discs Were Intended To Contain.

And it's not like the problems are obscure or require specialized knowledge. A *child* should have been able to hear the glitches in "Thick as a Brick", just for one example. It's astonishing to me that a project like the Simple Minds box--high profile and high priced--could actually make it out into the wild before someone said "Hey, wait a minute...this is mono!" It would have cost maybe a day's pay if Universal had picked some lucky Simple Minds fan in the office to go off in a room with a nice system and check out the discs. Instead, it's going to cost them a ton--for all we know, their entire profit margin on the project--to fix this. And along the way they've (as we see in this thread) alienated customers and probably polluted the musical future due to the fact that a certain percentage of the defective discs will stay out there forever, winding up in some unsuspecting collector's library long after the opportunity to get a replacement has passed.

I could also easily imagine a future in which the record companies say "Well, we always seem to screw these up and never make as much money as we'd hoped because of that...so let's just stop doing them entirely."

 

[Snood]

Ok Snood got a reply from Steve the Universal record company guy again

Here it is:

Hi joe

Thanks for your e mail - yes the blu ray is being replaced as well

Steve

Sent from my iPhone


Snood again......Snood sent reply just to make sure of what to send back........Bluray itself or Bluray and inner sleeve/boooklet or the entire thing.........and if he needed proof of purchase. Me doubts he needs Proof of Purchase, since the disc itself is proof, but wanted to be sure.

Will update everybody soon........he sent last message from his iphone and it is about 9PM there in UK - so probably will not get a reply until Wednesday

but still koo news :banana:

 

[Franklin]

Time of Snood's post was about 7:40pm in the UK.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Thing is, even at a time like now when it feels as if we're getting a lot of new product, we're also getting a lot of errors and defects. It seems to me that as a percentage the error rate is truly shocking. I've got thousands of CDs and can probably count on one hand the number of them where I'd guess that what's on the disc was not strictly speaking what was intended.

But in our little high priced corner of the universe this issue with the Simple Minds discs is just one (or two, really, since it affects two formats) on a list that includes relatively few titles overall but a stunning number of issues. And I'm not talking about delays or misleading liner notes or questionable sources or anything at all other than Discs Containing Material Other Than What The Discs Were Intended To Contain.

And it's not like the problems are obscure or require specialized knowledge. A *child* should have been able to hear the glitches in "Thick as a Brick", just for one example. It's astonishing to me that a project like the Simple Minds box--high profile and high priced--could actually make it out into the wild before someone said "Hey, wait a minute...this is mono!" It would have cost maybe a day's pay if Universal had picked some lucky Simple Minds fan in the office to go off in a room with a nice system and check out the discs. Instead, it's going to cost them a ton--for all we know, their entire profit margin on the project--to fix this. And along the way they've (as we see in this thread) alienated customers and probably polluted the musical future due to the fact that a certain percentage of the defective discs will stay out there forever, winding up in some unsuspecting collector's library long after the opportunity to get a replacement has passed.

I could also easily imagine a future in which the record companies say "Well, we always seem to screw these up and never make as much money as we'd hoped because of that...so let's just stop doing them entirely."

There were plenty of mistakes on CD's...and obvious ones...but people's expectations or equipment didn't reveal the problems...but the bottom line is this...it's a hobby..if it's too much for someone to bear then maybe they can take up golf...they never make any mistakes in that hobby...bird watching...another safe pursuit...but remember it's recreation...not life and death...I haven't received my copy yet but I'm guessing that I will like it the way it is...one of the people I respect the most on here when it comes to disc evaluation is pleased with this disc...and I'm not interested in the stereo side...but even after this post people kept obsessing over some negative comments on another forum...some people cry and moan if 3 seconds of a song is missing on an entire album...some of the best surround discs that were ever produced have some detractors...that's just the way it is on forums..you can either spend your musical life complaining or realize that perfection is usually unattainable...I'm just happy to have these releases cause I hate golf and don't have the patience for bird watching...

 

[fredblue]

There were plenty of mistakes on CD's...and obvious ones...but people's expectations or equipment didn't reveal the problems...but the bottom line is this...it's a hobby..if it's too much for someone to bear then maybe they can take up golf...they never make any mistakes in that hobby...bird watching...another safe pursuit...but remember it's recreation...not life and death...I haven't received my copy yet but I'm guessing that I will like it the way it is...one of the people I respect the most on here when it comes to disc evaluation is pleased with this disc...and I'm not interested in the stereo side...but even after this post people kept obsessing over some negative comments on another forum...some people cry and moan if 3 seconds of a song is missing on an entire album...some of the best surround discs that were ever produced have some detractors...that's just the way it is on forums..you can either spend your musical life complaining or realize that perfection is usually unattainable...I'm just happy to have these releases cause I hate golf and don't have the patience for bird watching...

Golf = a good walk ruined

 

[fredblue]

Time of Snood's post was about 7:40pm in the UK.

How's that for customer service! :yikes

I don't get the sensation Universal UK are the useless articles some of their overseas compadres are.. now the HFPA lot across the Channel on the other hand.. hmm i dunno

 

[fredblue]

Ok Snood got a reply from Steve the Universal record company guy again

Here it is:

Hi joe

Thanks for your e mail - yes the blu ray is being replaced as well

Steve

Sent from my iPhone


Snood again......Snood sent reply just to make sure of what to send back........Bluray itself or Bluray and inner sleeve/boooklet or the entire thing.........and if he needed proof of purchase. Me doubts he needs Proof of Purchase, since the disc itself is proof, but wanted to be sure.

Will update everybody soon........he sent last message from his iphone and it is about 9PM there in UK - so probably will not get a reply until Wednesday

but still koo news :banana:

GO JOE GO!!! YOU'RE THE CRIMSON DYNAMO!!! :friday:

 

[fredblue]

Thing is, even at a time like now when it feels as if we're getting a lot of new product, we're also getting a lot of errors and defects. It seems to me that as a percentage the error rate is truly shocking. I've got thousands of CDs and can probably count on one hand the number of them where I'd guess that what's on the disc was not strictly speaking what was intended.

But in our little high priced corner of the universe this issue with the Simple Minds discs is just one (or two, really, since it affects two formats) on a list that includes relatively few titles overall but a stunning number of issues. And I'm not talking about delays or misleading liner notes or questionable sources or anything at all other than Discs Containing Material Other Than What The Discs Were Intended To Contain.

And it's not like the problems are obscure or require specialized knowledge. A *child* should have been able to hear the glitches in "Thick as a Brick", just for one example. It's astonishing to me that a project like the Simple Minds box--high profile and high priced--could actually make it out into the wild before someone said "Hey, wait a minute...this is mono!" It would have cost maybe a day's pay if Universal had picked some lucky Simple Minds fan in the office to go off in a room with a nice system and check out the discs. Instead, it's going to cost them a ton--for all we know, their entire profit margin on the project--to fix this. And along the way they've (as we see in this thread) alienated customers and probably polluted the musical future due to the fact that a certain percentage of the defective discs will stay out there forever, winding up in some unsuspecting collector's library long after the opportunity to get a replacement has passed.

I could also easily imagine a future in which the record companies say "Well, we always seem to screw these up and never make as much money as we'd hoped because of that...so let's just stop doing them entirely."

I miss the old DTS CDs.. they never had any pretensions to be anything other than great little surround-only discs.. since then we've had Universal Surround SACDs with atrocious sounding stereo, Warner DVD-A's with no dedicated stereo at all only downmixes of the surround... ah, progress ain't what it used to be