Oasis To Release Deluxe Box Set Version of New Album Dig Out Your Soul
Published August 19, 2008
Oasis are set to release their first album in three years and, in the process, may be proving BC Magazine contributor and writer extraordinare Tom Johnson's prediction correct.
Dig Out Your Soul is the follow up to Oasis' 2005 release Don't Believe The Truth and will be released Oct. 7, preceded by first single "The Shock of The Lightning."
So, what does this have to do with Tom? There seems to be a growing trend in the music industry towards releasing new albums in multiple versions. I'm not just referring to varying formats such as CD, DVD, vinyl, and digital. I'm talking about packaging brand albums in standard and deluxe editions. I've noticed it. So has Tom. His theory is that the concept of the box set as we've come to know it may be ending and that these deluxe releases are part of what will take their place.
Bob Dylan, Radiohead, NIN, David Byrne and Brian Eno, and David Gilmour have all recently released albums in differing packages and Oasis is now getting in on the act. Are these deluxe editions worth the (often considerable) extra expense? That's not an easy question to answer as it varies wildly from set to set and depends largely on how big a fan you are of a given artist. Let's take a look at this Oasis package.
They're releasing a box set of the album that includes a 24-page hardback book, two CDs, one DVD, and four vinyl LPs. The first CD is the album proper. The second CD features remixes, one previously released song, and a couple previously unreleased songs. At least one of the remixes is slated to be a B-side to first single "The Shock of The Lightning" ("Falling Down," remixed by The Chemical Brothers). The DVD features a "Making Of" the album, a making of the video for "Lightning," and the video for "Lightning." The four vinyl LPs feature all the songs from the two CDs.
The price for this limited edition set? $99.99. So, is it worth it? As a new owner of a turntable, I'm pleased with the vinyl inclusion. I'm also pretty happy with the bonus CD as Oasis have long been one of the few bands whose B-sides often end up being worth a damn, although three remixes and a couple of alternate versions diminish the value of that bonus disc a little bit. The DVD is probably interesting watching... once. I can't imagine that being something I queue up regularly.
Still, two CD, one DVD, and four LP is a pretty solid offering. The $100 is a bit excessive and it's giving me a moment of pause but I'm an unapologetic Oasis fan, I like the first single, and I still kick myself for having not bought the Radiohead In Rainbows box. That set was about the same price and it didn't include a DVD. The idea of shelling out $100 for a new album is hard for even a fanboy like me to swallow, but I know how much I'll regret it if I don't.
Josh Hathaway is a Senior Editor for BC Magazine. He is formerly an award-winning journalist and broadcaster and publishes the BC Network site Confessions of a Fanboy.
- Oasis To Release Deluxe Box Set Version of New Album Dig Out Your Soul
- Published: August 19, 2008
- Type: News
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Adult Alternative, Music: Alternative Rock
- Writer: Josh Hathaway
- Josh Hathaway's BC Writer page
- Josh Hathaway's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Yeah, that's kind of where I am with it. Even the Eno & Byrne set seems to get to a point of a pretty steep jump. I'm likely to take the plunge on this because I'm that guy and I love Oasis, but this is a bit steep.
I love it when I'm right. ;-)
Too much lumping here. How many people are really going to be able to take advantage of the vinyl in this set? Maybe it is technically kind of a good deal when you consider other sets that are coming out, but the vinyl is sort of a throwaway for many people - as popular as vinyl seems to be right now, it's a small niche trend.
Who is this set aimed at? Vinyl purists or die-hard fans? I bristle at sets like this. Give fans the chance to buy the music they want, give collectors the chance to buy the big collector's editions if they want, but don't force both to buy the same thing because neither will be happy. Sell the vinyl at a reasonable price, sell the CDs and DVD in a reasonably priced "deluxe" set and I bet they'd see better sales of BOTH. Now they've priced this in the "collector" range and it will only sell a small amount because of that.
For me, the big draw of this particular set is the bonus CD. They say that this is the only chance you'll get to purchase these tracks, but how accurate is this statement? Won't these bonus tracks just end up as eventual b-sides to forthcoming singles from the album?
Also, is this the kind of set that will be worth quite a bit in a year or two?
I never buy these sets -- or any music, really -- for it's potential re-sale value. It's always about the music for me. I don't buy it if I don't think I'm going to want to keep it.
I'm 99% sure at least a couple of these songs are B-sides for "The Shock of the Lightning."
got a sneaky copy of this box set pricey is right but it has some great remixes and diff versions of tunes .....
the album is very very strong big statement coming may even be fit to lace definetly maybes boot its a smashing well thought out box set for a massive great album
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it doesn't seem like the pricing of box w/vinyl is nearly as excessive a jump as what they want to do with the Dylan album. still, it's not exactly cheap.