I’m as big a Joy Division fan as the next guy. Ok, maybe more than the next guy. All right, all right, a whole lot more than the next guy. But even I am going to be pretty effing hard-pressed to shell out $200 for a boxed set containing three measly records that I already own. Granted, those three particular records (Unknown Pleasures, Closer, and Still) happen to be three of my favorite records of all time, and 180 gram vinyl is, admittedly, tempting. But I’d still feel like I were taking it up the arse for such a ludicrous price. Does the ghost of Ian Curtis pop out of the box and perform fellatio whilst doing his signature dance? What exactly does one find inside this artfully drab packaging? The ethics of reissuing and repackaging the same old shit aside, how did Rhino come up with a $200 price tag for three slabs of vinyl? Sounds like somebody’s trying to take advantage of this whole Joy Division resurgence, thanks to that movie we may have mentioned a time or two.
Joy Division vinyl box set can be yours for…$200?
Posted September 18th, 2007 by eric
Tags: new release
4 responses so far ↓
1 K // Sep 18, 2007 at 4:58 pm
We clearly are a Joy Division obsessed lot.
2 Varjak // Sep 19, 2007 at 10:25 am
Good to hear I’m not the only one who thinks this is ridiculous.
Below is an email I sent off to Rhino a couple days ago and still have gotten no response.
Hello,
Having been a long time fan and collector of Factory records and Joy Division I was eagerly awaiting your Joy Division re-issues.
Imagine my surprise when I saw a box set of the vinyl. Sure I already own about six or seven copies of each album from different countries etc. But how about buying a nice box of 180gm pressed, freshly remastered editions. Sounds good…well actually it didn’t once I looked at the price.
Is there anything inside the Joy Division/Peter Saville box besides the three (four total) records? A book maybe?
It seems a bit excessive that the box alone is $115. I’m sure you must have left this detail out. Surely there is a hardcover book annotating the recording sessions or something?
Odd that individually you could buy all three albums for $85.94 but with a box it’s $115 more.
I understand limited editions and Rhino Handmade and such but isn’t this just outright gauging?
I bought an original reproduction of Peter Saville’s Fact 1 poster from Peter Saville a few years back. That wasn’t even as much and there were only 100 of those.
I’m totally disappointed in Rhino. Having been in the music business for over twenty years, and growing up with Rhino. Consistently you’ve put out the greatest collections, done the best work on reissues (the Echo and the Bunnymen CD’s sounded amazing!) but this appears to be a new low in the music business. Hopefully I’ll still “Go to Rhino Records” but my faith has diminished.
3 Eric Greenwood // Sep 20, 2007 at 9:18 am
any word back from rhino?
4 Alan Bryan // Sep 29, 2007 at 2:38 pm
well I bought the damn thing and I am confused about it. The small sticker on the box states that it contains 180g vinyl (True) and the Original Album Art (Totally False). My copies are like this. One album is white; one is black and one is grey. They album covers DO NOT HAVE ANY ARTWORK. They are totally blank and so are the labels on the discs. There is a one-sheet inside. Gold letters on jet black that lists the album tracks. and it says the box is “Edition of 3000” . it doesn’t tell you which number you have. Why are these blank? the individual LPs replicate the artwork . they were not advertised as Blank. I e-mailed Rhino about this.
Alan
Waldorf, MD