|
|
|
Human Frailty Pty Ltd |
Liberation Records
Those of us who have lingered around the Internet as music lovers generally have a cynicism towards record companies. Record companies are seen as the baddies who rip our favourite artists off, put 'copy protection' on CD's so they will not play in our stereo's and threaten to sue us for sampling music over the Internet. Many a website creator has received threatening legal letters from their beloved artists record label for reproduction of lyrics, sound samples and other promotional activities. In the light of these more negative and highly publicised tiffs, I think it is important to acknowledge and appreciate the work of record companies that do the right thing. In relation to this website and to music fans in general, Liberation Records have gone well beyond the call of duty. Liberation Records got hold of the Hunters and Collectors back catalogue in early 2003 and have been responsible for the flurry of activity since that time. This page reviews the results of fan input into the decision process of Liberation Records releases. It is important to note that credit extends far beyond Liberation Records. Former Hunters and Collectors manager Michael Roberts and particularly organisational king Robert Miles (former Hunters band member) established the communication lines in the first place and have had roles in the planning and implementation of these projects. Remastered What's A Few Men? album The "What's A Few Men?" album was originally released in Australia and New Zealand in 1987. An Americanised version was made that dropped two tracks, added four tracks and remixed the remaining tracks. This album, "Fate", was eventually released in Australia around 1991 and "What's A Few Men?" ceased production. When Liberation got hold of the back catalogue and queried us, we recommended that "What's A Few Men?" be the base album to return to stores with the extra tracks only on "Fate" tacked on the end. Most fans (but not all) agreed with this suggestion. To our glee, Liberation ran with this format and it can now be found in stores across Australia. Natural Selection compilation album Fan perspectives resulted in the changing of a few tracks on this album. This album was released in one CD and limited edition two CD formats. In summary:
Natural Selection DVD After fan consultation it was decided that the favoured format by fans was to include all studio video's on this compilation. This was the format eventually decided upon by all parties involved. Following through, the release was exactly as planned and contained the rare original studio "Slab" and "Throw Your Arms Around Me" (1986) video clips that were missing from the old "Collected Works" video. Mutations The final Hunters and Collectors "Mutations" rarities disc includes every studio Hunters and Collectors b-side except "John Riley" and the ignorable "Who's On Left?". This format was heavily promoted by fans and was eventually accepted by the band and Liberation Records. No Copy Protection Partly a personal pursuit, I pushed to make sure copy protection was not used on Hunters and Collectors CD releases. Copy protection has not been used on any Hunters and Collectors releases to date. My vendetta against copy protection is because it stops CD's from being playable in many CD players and 'copy protected' CD's are still very easily copied. Liberation Records is not using copy protection anyway, I believe, but they have still implicitly respected music lovers by making this choice. Conclusion These experiences show a band, management and record company that care and consider the fan perspective. Naturally not everything we have pushed for has fallen our way, but fair is fair and you can not please all the people all the time. It is important that we credit record companies like Liberation Records, who combine being a business with a certain level of care of music and respect for fans. We highly recommend supporting Liberation Records by purchasing their products. The superb remasters of the early "Hunters and Collectors" and "Jaws Of Life" albums are a great places to start.
|
