Do we want musical immersion?

I want a decent version of the album if i don't already have it.

With a lot of the re-issues you find out why some of this stuff ended up on the cutting room floor. Like many extra DVD/BR discs they maybe get listened to/watched once.

A rule that you see more and more seems to be get a decent first issue version.

You may pay a premium but I bet they get listened to more.

What Wat didn't say was some of the outrageous prices charged for what is a single album at the end of the day. There are plenty of "box set" type re-issues give much more VFM.

It might be worth 'discovering' wat the contents of The Road To Red contains, before dismissing it as an exploitation of demo's and offcuts...

The Road To Red comprehensively captures the essence of King Crimson's US tour of 1974 and the process leading to one of the band's most important albums.
A total of 16 concerts are featured across 20 discs, with a new Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp stereo mix of the studio Red as the 21st CD. 
Commenting on the final live date on The Road To Red, Robert Fripp notes that this was the first gig, "Since the 1969 Crimson where the bottom of my spine registered 'out of this world' to the same degree."

Interested people can investigate here:-

https://www.burningshed.com/st...ltiproduct/313/3884/ 

All I say is as much I love Rush or Richard Thompson, I can't really say I'd want 20 CDs  of 16 of their gigs.

Money still seems to be the driving force here, judging by the price. 

Agree Howard. Take the recent Jethro Tull Aqualung box set with it's LP, CDs, DVD, Blu-ray and book all about the same album. I would buy the single LP but the rest is just expensive clutter and a waste of valuable shelf space. It's just a marketing ploy to make you pay 5 times or more for the same music. A right con IMO.

We got Mercedes, we got Porsche,  Ferrari and Rolls Royce, Yeah, we got choice!

Money is unlikely to be the driving force  for TRTR, as the release aimed at King Crimson fans. It won't sell that many copies worldwide and I don't think Robert Fripp will be writing any guides on how to make money as a musician. The major labels have shafted him and many others over the years.

As I am not a fan of Rush, Joe Bonamassa, Genesis, Spock's Beard, Dream Theater and many other musicians that don't spring to mind (Oh yeah, Bruce Springsteen), the money I'll save by not buying any of their music can go towards artists I do enjoy. King Crimson & Pink Floyd are two such joy's.

It's not a crime to be a fan

+1 Denis.

Hi Denis. with you all the way on Bruce Springsteen...... Enjoy the Crimson box.

Take Care Graham.

PS We will be in London Aug BH be good if we could meet up maybe for something to eat with K?

Denis,

We seem to be talking at cross purposes. The OP asked about 'immersion' in general and what ones you would buy. In general, I do think most are just a way of prizing more money out of the punter usually with the same music presented in different formats, a la Jethro Tull. With the King Crimson set I can see the attraction of the package to a dedicated Crimson fan. I remember seeing King Crimson in Exeter around 1969/70 so I can understand your interest. 

Steve

Hi Steve,

I understood the point that the OP was making. I agree with him that if an artist was just releasing multiple versions of the same songs, including demo's etc. it would be exploitation. My example shows that Red is not one of those and the Pink Floyd Immersion sets also fall into the non-exploitation category.

I'm sure there are plenty of examples of punter rip-off's, i.e. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue has been released so many times in countless formats I'd need a Cray Computer to add them up

ATB

Denis

It's pretty simple really - if it's a band or artist you really, really like, and you think the additional material has merit, then open the wallet & voila!  You will own it!  If it's a band you only have a passing interest in then no one is forcing anyone to buy it - and I agree that some are more blatantly commercial rip-offs than others.  Bruce may be milking it for all it's worth, but he's not at anyone's door with a weapon forcing people to buy something they already have or don't want.

Of course money is at least part of the motivation in all cases...even a guy like Fripp who has never been a huge commercial success isn't in it for charity.  (I'm sure likes food & shelter as much as the next guy.)  He is an artist, with some back logged "vault" material that he thinks will sell enough copies to warrant releasing the material for public consumption.  Of course it's not going platinum, and he knows that.  But it is a great thing for people that are really into King Crimson, and that will be the target consumer.

But wanting to make money is not a bad thing - it's the motivation for most products to be available to be purchased.  And when they don't make money they soon disappear.

If you want immersion but not in a box set, as individual CD's, there are plenty out there.  The most prominent ones that come to mind are:

1. Pearl Jam released a CD for just about every concert they had on one of their tours, if you waited long enough then you could purchase the recording for the concert you attended.
2. The Pixies, if you had a concert ticket it entitled you to a CD of that concert available immediately after the show ended.

Only difference with these two is they didn't box their tours up into a single multiple CD package.

For the die hard fan, these can be pinnacle of collecting  a bands music.

Not too different from some classical music and opera collectors who have several different renditions of the same piece, difference being however that it is usually not the same performers, but it still catalogues a progression in the interpretation and evolution of the performance of the material.  We are used to this for classical music so why should popular music compilations of a similar type be looked down upon?  It is a tried and proven process for selling items.

Food for thought anyway.

In answer to the OP's original question, I wouldn't buy any immersion editions that are currently available. Whilst I do love albums like DSOTM, Graceland, Rumours, Kind of Blue and others in a similar category, I haven't been tempted in the slightest to shell out for the bells-and-whistles versions. Why not? Partly price (you can take the boy out of the North but... you can complete this truism yourself) but, like others, simply a lack of interest. Producers et al. are paid to select the best from the sessions to go on the final album, and even though I'm usually interested in 'seeing underneath the bonnet' of various human endeavours, I'm quite happy to trust their instincts. On the occasions when I have listened to outtakes/demo versions from albums I enjoy, I haven't found it's enhanced my enjoyment of the main course, as it were. I do make an exception for whole songs which were left off the original release, often for running time reasons (rather than a lack of quality) in the pre-CD era, like Silver Springs on Rumours.

Having said that, I also do enjoy finding out about the background to the recording of albums I like, so the Classic Albums TV series from about a decade ago which were (are?) available on DVD is a particular pleasure. There are albums I like that I perhaps would be interested in immersion editions of, but they are so minority interest that it's never going to happen.

This thread has been quite 'classic rock' orientated so far. Are there any classical listeners out there who enjoy reissues with the equivalent on them, such as rehearsal recordings?