BWRG - a question about formats

[Matt Bielewicz]

Excuse me if this has been covered elsewhere - I have looked down the board, but can't see this *specific* topic covered anywhere...

Funnily enough, like many of us reading this board today, I'd like to buy Brian's new album before the day is out... However, I'm based in the UK, which somewhat limits my options.

So I went to Amazon's US site to see if they will sell it to me, and they will (how long it'll take to get here is another matter, but let's gloss over that). But... there are at least 2 CDs on offer. Actually, Amazon.com offers me *five* versions of the album. One is the vinyl, which I would ideally like but I'm not waiting another week for. Two are 'imports', presumably back from the UK or somewhere else in Europe, as they're not available until September. And then there are two versions of the US album, available today, but differently priced at $10.98 and $16.49 respectively.

Amazon being the useless pile of shibonglewick that it is, there is NOTHING to indicate what the differences in the two cost options are: just the same generic text description of BWRG in each case. And where, in the past, Brian's albums have sometimes come in a higher-priced edition with an extra DVD or something and a slip cover, as well as a cheaper, 'vanilla edition', the description of the contents of both versions of BWRG on Amazon says there's only one CD in each version. It could be wrong, of course - Amazon are notoriously lax when it comes to accurately describing the product they sell, in my experience - but it's making me wonder what they're charging an extra few dollars for with the more expensive version.

Anyone know what the differences are? I thought there was only one version of this album going on sale, with the exception of the autographed edition, which I don't care about, and which this can't be, as surely that's only available via the official BW site, and is long sold-out anyway?

Anyway, whatever. However I finally manage to get the album, I'm looking forward to it, as I've had a couple of quick listens to 'The Love In I Love You', but am otherwise completely 'unspoiled' for BWRG so far, and want to remain that way this time until I slide the CD into my player... it's nice to still have that feeling to look forward to for a new BW album, whatever the results turn out to be like. 'The Love In I Love You' was a bit too smooth and 'Grammy-worthy' for my taste, but that won't stop me - there's ALWAYS something I find interesting and diverting on a Brian album for me somewhere. And yes, I speak as much a fan of 'The Waltz' as I am of 'She Knows Me Too Well' 'You Still Believe In Me' or 'Heroes And Villains, Revised Version, Take One'...

MattB

[Ron]

Matt, personally I don't think there's a difference between the two albums.  I could be wrong though.

What I would do if I were in your situation is either

A. wait until you get it in the mail

or

B. download it, burn it, buy it, and then play the copy until you get the real one in the mail. 

[gsmile]

And then there are two versions of the US album, available today, but differently priced at $10.98 and $16.49 respectively.

My guess on these two similar US CDs is this:  the cheaper priced one is going to be a digi-pack version; this is what I saw when my local record store friend showed me a copy they had just got in their shipment last week.  The second, and higher priced version is probably a standard jewel case version of the same album.  For some reason lately, I've seen the digi-pack versions of certain new albums get replaced in stores with jewel case versions a year or so after the initial release.  Digi-pack's seem to be "limited time only" for some releases.  Perhaps this is what's happening here?

[Andrew G. Doe]

And then there are two versions of the US album, available today, but differently priced at $10.98 and $16.49 respectively.

My guess on these two similar US CDs is this:  the cheaper priced one is going to be a digi-pack version; this is what I saw when my local record store friend showed me a copy they had just got in their shipment last week.  The second, and higher priced version is probably a standard jewel case version of the same album.  For some reason lately, I've seen the digi-pack versions of certain new albums get replaced in stores with jewel case versions a year or so after the initial release.  Digi-pack's seem to be "limited time only" for some releases.  Perhaps this is what's happening here?

Just ordered the UK release from Play.com, and it's a digipak.

[Wirestone]

There is only one version of the album out in the U.S. as near as I can tell.

[Fun Is In]

The oddball 17 August release Amrican CD version with a different price is now "currently unvailable" and has no listed price.

[Matt Bielewicz]

Wow, so I guess the upshot of this is... I'm not the only one who's confused!

I assumed someone here might know the answer, but it seems no reason for the price difference has come to light... yet.

But here's the really stupid part... I ordered the more expensive one. I figured it was only a few dollars more, and that equates to still fewer pounds... so I went for it. I guess I just couldn't bear to miss out on a more interesting package... even though there was no evidence that it WAS any different. Colour me mug-shaped. A fool and his money... etc etc!

Now, as Stample says above, that version is currently listed as 'unavailable'. And I know that this now-unavailable one is definitely the version I ordered, because if I go to view the 'unavailable' version on Amazon, a message from the web site flashes up to tell me that I ordered that product yesterday.

Well, 'great', I might think. I've snuck in and got some limited edition version that now can't be bought by anyone else. But I don't think so. For one thing, as far as I can tell from everything I've read, and in accordance with what Wirestone says above, there IS only one, standard version of BWRG - at most it would seem that the only difference might be in the packaging: jewel case or digipak.

More of concern to me at the moment is the fact that, according to Amazon, whatever version it is that I've ordered hasn't shipped yet, even though it was supposed to go out yesterday.

So I'm wondering if there's been a screw-up at Amazon - maybe they had reason to believe at some point that there was going to be a higher-priced edition of the album available, and offered it for sale, but now it looks as though there isn't, so they've received orders (like mine) for something that doesn't exist. That would explain why they've now made that version 'unavailable', and would also explain why they haven't shipped me anything yet... because they can't.

Of course, there may yet be a benign end to this story... I'll keep you posted. And in the meantime, I'll try to contact Amazon (a quest in itself!) to find out what the flying moose ears is going on...!

MattB

[Matt Bielewicz]

The plot thickens! I've just had an automatically generated email from Amazon warning me that they're 'still trying to obtain this item' for me, and they don't know when they're going to be able to get it...

I may be totally wrong here, but I reckon Amazon thought there was going to be a 'de luxe' version of this album. They created a sales option for it, but then the packaging and retail plans changed. Now they can't get that version for me, because it doesn't exist.

That's a lot of supposition on my part, of course. I've emailed Amazon directly in a bid to find out more, and specifically to find out what, as they understand it, distinguishes the more expensive album from the cheaper one, but who knows what kind of reply I'll get, if any...!

MattB

[Ron]

After you bought that one, they probably went to figure out what the hell it is, then noticed it doesn't exist, and changed the listing to unavailable.  You're a very powerful man, my friend.  I'm going to have to remember not to make you angry. 

[MBE]

I'm just waiting for the vinyl like I always do. A week or two or even a month or two doesn't matter to me

[Matt Bielewicz]

Ah, g'dammit - I should have known. After taking several days to look into it, Amazon have now confirmed that the 'de luxe edition' of BWRG they were trying to sell me does not exist. Because of the way their site works, I now have to cancel my order for the non-existent album and re-order the one that *does* exist - ie. the same album that everyone else ordered on August 17th. Of course, that version is now back-ordered on Amazon, so I likely won't get the thing for several weeks. But like MBE... I can wait.

Sheesh. I'd love to know how it came about that they thought there would be a more expensive version of the album as well as the 'standard edition'. What a mess!

Oh well. It's not every day you have to cancel an order for something that doesn't exist anyway...

MattB

[Ron]

The album being back ordered on Amazon (I.E., they ran out and the record company hasn't gotten them enough copies yet) is frankly rediculous.  After all that hype about how they wanted it to be the next Susan Boyle album in terms of sales, they should have sent, oh, the world's largest cd store more copies.

[Runaways]

i'm a bit confused on what the confusion was.  i searched for the album.

http://www.amazon.com/Brian-Wilson-Reimagines-Gershwin/dp/B002RWKSII

here it is?  the mp3 ones are labeled at such.

[Ron]

Cliff Notes Version: He's not in the u.s.  He checked Amazon for the album.  There were several versions, including one that was more expensive.  He assumed it must be a special release, and orderd that one.  After fiddling around for a week, they finally informed him that the album doesn't exist, so he reordered the regular one.

If you search now they probably removed the listing that doesn't exist. 

[Matt Bielewicz]

Thanks Ron - yeah, your Cliff Notes version pretty much sums it all up, except that I *was* searching on the regular US Amazon web site, not any international site (the UK site doesn't have any version of BWRG available until September).

The weird more expensive version I ordered was under this link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VPC748

As you can see, it still leads somewhere, but now it's to a used version of the album that someone has already put up for sale on Amazon Marketplace. Before, it linked to a version of the album that showed all the same details as the regular one, but inexplicably cost $16.49 instead of $9.99...

MattB