In top 40 of greatest hits CDs and top 20 of Punk/New Wave CDs and only six left in stock.  *Still about 1,700 overall

Will be interesting to see how the new compilation fares.  Overall, the current Best of looks stronger, but I haven't heard either of the two new tracks.  

There doesn't appear to be a vinyl edition of the new compilation 

noelindublin wrote:

They could put out the two new tracks on vinyl, as in a single, without it being an official single, if you know what I mean. Just two new Rats songs with an a and b side to showcase their 'new' sound. Maybe sell it through the Rats website as a collectors item, limited edition?

That would be superb, but I doubt it would happen.  Never mind the website they could sell it here!

I certainly think vinyl versions of The Boomtown Rats and A Tonic For The Troops would be a nice move- the 180 gram job that most quality vinyl seems to be released and rerelased on. Well it is likely that the new Rats album will get a vinyl release- that's what any band worth their salt  seems to do nowadays.

It would be nice, but I don't think there would be enough demand to justify it.  If they did decide to do one album, it is most likely it would be the US Tonic where Can't Stop and Normal People were substituted by Joey and Mary.    Surfacing is more likely than the debut LP to get the 180g treatment as it has Mondays on it.  

 

noelindublin wrote:

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The reunion was called "the most pointless and uncalled-for comeback in musical history", by one user of Twitter. Another tweeted: "Leave it Geldof. You only had one song and that was a boring one".

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It's the same old story.  Apparently back in the late seventies everyone listened to The Clash and The Jam.  Though no one bought their records....   And the Rats were the Bay City Rollers of punk, yet got rave reviews for the first two albums in NME and were in the top three in the readers poll.

The thing is The Rats are the whipping boys because they are the ultimate one hit wonders.  That's the second of the two mega selling number one records.

The Rats ain't cool, which is fine by me.  I love them and as far as I'm concerned these guys can go and w@nk over their uber cool record collection.  I don't give a fcuk.

diffbrook wrote:

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Argee...... thats just a superb rant. I'm in a smiley mood as Brighton have just got a new manager and your rant has made my smile wider.

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It's the reinvention of the seventies from people who weren't even born.  I like pretty much all the main punk/new wave  bands of that era (except Gen X cos they were sh!t) and I don't really see why these cnuts who know fcuk all about the Rats think their views are worthwhile.    Fair enough if they actually heard more than Mondays,  but they ain't.  Otherwise they'd think differently.

ArrGee wrote:

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diffbrook wrote:

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Argee...... thats just a superb rant. I'm in a smiley mood as Brighton have just got a new manager and your rant has made my smile wider.

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It's the reinvention of the seventies from people who weren't even born.  I like pretty much all the main punk/new wave  bands of that era (except Gen X cos they were sh!t) and I don't really see why these cnuts who know fcuk all about the Rats think their views are worthwhile.    Fair enough if they actually heard more than Mondays,  but they ain't.  Otherwise they'd think differently.

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 Funny( or maybe not) but I've never seen the Boomtown  Rats or XTC or Magazine or Wire get an Uncut cover. In the nineties they were all for indie bands becoming mainstream, so they put Oasis on the cover of NME, alternating with Blur, so that bands that had big hits and audiences would be seen as important.The music papers were not interested in bands hiding their light under a bushel.

So it's a bit odd that the Rats should be to a certain degree, forgotten about. Maybe it's just the passage of time, but the music 'heritage industry' seems to deify certain acts, and lots of others, just as worthy are excluded from these 'clubs'. 

Anyway bands are rarely just objectively good. Most of us have strong emotional attachments, and feelings and memories about growing up and listening to certain bands. We tend to pick favourites , no doubt more exposure to other bands at a formative time might have meant a different set of attitudes.

It's not all gloom. A lot of the criticism comes from people who know very little about the Rats music. Which is their right, I suppose.

No Vinyl Release is a Real Bummer hope thay change that,as for the two new Tracks One was defo played for the encore at IOW and sounded Great,"BACK TO BOOMTOWN"...

Picture is one of the best tracks on TFAOS and would have been a number one after Mondays, if they had not run with Diamond Smiles.

Best b side for me is Real Different.

Just wrong that House on Fire & Graveyard are not listed too. Still most fans all have these in various different formats and the line has to be drawn somewhere I suppose.

Derek The Dane wrote:

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The new classic hits album now being released in September.

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 Yes, just seen this elsewhere....put back from 5th August to 9th September and now includes Charmed Lives

....any ideas why?

ok, I made the last bit up!

Not sure how The Beastie Boys and My Chemical Romance get into the 'punk' charts. With the rerelease of the greatest hits and upcoming October tour what chances of the Rats having a decent showing in the proper album charts? I'm not sure if greatest hits are included, or is it just new albums.

noelindublin wrote:

what chances of the Rats having a decent showing in the proper album charts? I'm not sure if greatest hits are included, or is it just new albums.

 A hits album does count (Grrr by the Stones is at 38 and Bowie, Queen, Bon Jovi and Bob Marley are in the fifties with others below that). With this level of interest given a handful of gigs, I suspect the new hits album will make the top 100.    Very difficult to know how it will fare as there haven't been any new hits CDs from any band of that era for a while.  There have been a few compilations, but they tend to be specialised.  With some decent promotion, it could probably break the top 40. 

http://www.officialcharts.com/albums-chart/

... and A Tonic for the Troops lurks in the lower regions.

• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,255 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #76 in Music > Indie > New Wave

ArrGee wrote:

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suss wrote:

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Glad it's selling well, for obvious reasons, but this release has really brought it home to me how shopping has changed. Put another way, I wasn't able to find one outlet in Croydon selling copies this week. HMV has gone. WHS and Sainsbury's have a few chart complilations if you're lucky, plus the usual £3 random old discs. No other outlets sell new CDs, in a town of 350,000!

No wonder it's selling well on Amazon. One of the few places you can find it I suspect.

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They have it at the Canary Wharf HMV, so I had a quick flick through the booklet and so on.  Downloaded Back To Boomtown, but as I have the other tracks about a dozen or more times, I didn't buy it.  Had it been on vinyl, I would have, but really not too worried about CDs aside from the little booklets. 

The last CD I got was a Dr. Feelgood one with the first four albums, a load of rarities and a DVD for a pound as it was for sale for £11 and I had a £10 voucher.  I'd have rather got the albums on LP, but they go for silly prices even in poor condition.

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/Dr-Feelgood/All-Through-The-City-With-Wilko-1974-1977-3-CDPlusDVD/product.html?product=E11213828

PS Did also get Arctic Monkeys single on CD for £1 as well in HMV.

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 Poundland (trades as Dealz in RoI) are selling loads of old cd's for 1.50 euros. Picket up two Supergrass cds In It For The Money and Supergrass for 3 euros.

Regularly come across cd's that would have been worth lots more, in charity shops. Kinda sad as it is usually a sign of someone moving on with their lives and you get an array of good to thrashy cd's left behind for charity. How many Oasis or Franz Ferdinand cd's have I seen going for 1 euro.

I get through a good amount of music from the library for free. Last really good album was Damon Albarns  solo/collaboration album Dr Dee. I like Hot Chip and have heard most of their albums via the library.

Glad it's selling well, for obvious reasons, but this release has really brought it home to me how shopping has changed. Put another way, I wasn't able to find one outlet in Croydon selling copies this week. HMV has gone. WHS and Sainsbury's have a few chart complilations if you're lucky, plus the usual £3 random old discs. No other outlets sell new CDs, in a town of 350,000!

No wonder it's selling well on Amazon. One of the few places you can find it I suspect.

suss wrote:

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Glad it's selling well, for obvious reasons, but this release has really brought it home to me how shopping has changed. Put another way, I wasn't able to find one outlet in Croydon selling copies this week. HMV has gone. WHS and Sainsbury's have a few chart complilations if you're lucky, plus the usual £3 random old discs. No other outlets sell new CDs, in a town of 350,000!

No wonder it's selling well on Amazon. One of the few places you can find it I suspect.

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They have it at the Canary Wharf HMV, so I had a quick flick through the booklet and so on.  Downloaded Back To Boomtown, but as I have the other tracks about a dozen or more times, I didn't buy it.  Had it been on vinyl, I would have, but really not too worried about CDs aside from the little booklets. 

The last CD I got was a Dr. Feelgood one with the first four albums, a load of rarities and a DVD for a pound as it was for sale for £11 and I had a £10 voucher.  I'd have rather got the albums on LP, but they go for silly prices even in poor condition.

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/Dr-Feelgood/All-Through-The-City-With-Wilko-1974-1977-3-CDPlusDVD/product.html?product=E11213828

PS Did also get Arctic Monkeys single on CD for £1 as well in HMV.

noelindublin wrote:

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Regularly come across cd's that would have been worth lots more, in charity shops. Kinda sad as it is usually a sign of someone moving on with their lives and you get an array of good to thrashy cd's left behind for charity. How many Oasis or Franz Ferdinand cd's have I seen going for 1 euro.

I get through a good amount of music from the library for free. Last really good album was Damon Albarns  solo/collaboration album Dr Dee. I like Hot Chip and have heard most of their albums via the library.

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I think a lot of people have ditched their CDs as they don't need them anymore.  My extensive collection, a few thousand, is spread throughout umpteen storage boxes and folders and when I finally get around to ripping them all in sufficient quality, most will be heading for the Oxfam store.    I ditched a couple of hundred DVDs at the weekend as I have no intention of ever watching them, and the kids have grown out of them.  Life is so much simplier with a Now TV subscription and Amazon AutoRip, which gives you the MP3s when you buy the vinyl.

As for free music, Spotify fits the bill.  It even has Back To Boomtown : Classic Rats Hits on it. A few artists aren't on it, but nothing too significant.  You can even dodge the spotify ads by selecting an album, letting it play while you are out . When you return disconnect from the internet and listen to all the songs at your pleasure.   Saves walking to the library.

noelindublin wrote:

Sometimes too much choice means you don't really listen to anything. Music is like an endless 'to do' list of stuff you might like, and you end up sampling lots but not being able to remember most of what you have been 'listening' to...

Interesting point.  They has a cassette store day at the weekend and despite my cynicism regarding one of the most unloved formats ever, there were a few points made in favour of the cassette that are very worthwhile.

1. If you are making a mix tape, you have to listen to the songs, so you are not going to just add any old rubbish in at the click of a button.
2. Limited capacity means you take the tape you want to listen to with you
3. You can't easily skip, so you listen to the whole album
4. Rewinding takes time, so you listen to both sides
5. No breaks when songs merge into each other

Recently rather than ripping albums into their tracks, I rip the whole album into a single MP3 which provides the following advantages

1. I can't easily skip, so I listen to the whole album
2. It only counts as one song on my Amazon cloud storage, so I can upload at least 10 times as much
3. I don't get any breaks when tracks merge into each other, this is especially important for live recording.

suss wrote:

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Didn't even make the top 50 in the huge Tesco near me, so I'm condemned to online order or a visit to London or Bromley/Sutton maybe. Unlike ArrGee I'm still resistant to download only. I need something physical.

Clash compilation is readily available in the supermarkets and their charts, but for me is way inferior to the Story of the Clash compilation that was out years ago.

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 I prefer physical.  It's just my physical is vinyl.  A few years ago a friend of mine was in a band and he said he had a demo disc for me.  I was so disappointed when it turned out to be a CD.  I'd expected a white label record at the very least.

As for the Clash, the vinyl box set is so tempting.  The only LP I have is Give 'em Enough Rope and that is not in the greatest condition.  I did have London Calling, but it disappeared at some point.  But the double disc London Calling and the three disc Sandinista are calling me.