Special Reserve

[Don Cooper]

Easy,Tiger.

I concur wholeheartedly, Richard. The key word here is * Special *


Don

[Lena & Harry Smith]

The price of the book does appear steep at £49.99 and apart from the staunch fans, there will be many who are not remotely aware of how long or do not take into account the time taken to bring the book to fruition. Apart from this, we personally take in to consideration how fortunate we have been with the past items of merchandise that we have purchased, the majority of which have been from either very reasonable or in most cases very under priced.
To name a few, there was "An Evening With + DVD," "The Rare Monro." The Ultmate Performer , Matt At The BBC + DVD. some at ridiculously low prices and now "The Complete Singles" and "The Greatest" all at reduced prices on Amazon.
This is Special. we want it, so it's Swing and Roundabouts

[Michele Monro]

As a consumer I can quite understand how one looks at things from a different viewpoint but I have to say, knowing all the hard work Richard and I have put into the recent products, a lot of the items are completely underpriced. If one looks at the recent 'Matt at the BBC'. It was 18 years in the making and for me is one of the most satisfying items to bring torelease. I convinced EMI to release a two disc set, one of which was a DVD, not a disc that only plays on a computer but a genuine DVD that plays on all machines. At one point the BBC wanted £3,000 a minute for footage so it doesn't take a maths genius to work out the product would have cost in excess of £50,000 to produce. The saving grace was the five year contract EMI made with the BBC which gave us access to dad's previous television shows. I pushed for adding the maximum amount of footage on the disc, all adding to the cost. The Ted Heath sessions with dad took years to track down and then the re-mastering magic of Richard was added. We now have a quality disc that would normally never have seen the light of day. I also paid a large sum of money to the BBC to license unreleased photographs again adding to the cost of production.

After all that, if you search the internet you can purchase the 2 CD set for £5.98. That breaks my heart. If I had released the DVD as a stand alone item with Odeon Entertainment it would have retailed for at least £10.00. The Ted Heath sessions would then have sold on EMI for at least £5.98. And yet some people are still not happy. I may not be seen to contribute to the forum extensively but i do read every posting and I am aware of the discussions over the years on pricing structures.

The upshot of this of course is that in a rapidly shrinking market with record shops disappearing at an alarming rate, the record companies will make the decision ton future releases of all artists o trawl through their back catalogues and release a mass of 'greatest hits' and 'best of 'items. They won't bother re-mastering the tracks and will probably pull the artwork from an old album. The cost to them will be negligible. The customer will then lament the loss of the more unique quality products, but it will be too late.

I have spent the last four years trying to bring the book I wrote on my father's life to the shops. It took three years to write and after talks with Titan Publishing a price was set at £17.99. This is far cheaper than any other similar book on the market, that and the fact it is three times as large as any other book on the market, and the fact that it includes at least 100 photographs. It is frustrating then to note that it is already selling at a marked down price of £11.69 even before release.

The special edition is quite another thing. The decision was made not to give it to retail so it couldn't be slashed in price and if I had my way it would be retailing at £75.00. The special edition is just that. A very special item that Richard and I have spent years making a reality. It is a quality product, the slipcase was expensive to produce and is gorgeous and the books themselves are beautifully made not just the paper but the binding itself. The two books collectively have over 300 photographs. This is not like any other product. Then there is the matter of a special disc which includes 21 tracks that have never been released and will never be released as a disc. It includes extremely rare items which most fans would never have thought they would own and certainly would have paid a handsome price for on their own. The cost of obtaining these tracks let alone mastering them far exceeds the cover price of the set.

There are very few special editions on the market, mainly because the publisher doesn't want to pay the huge costs involved with producing the item. Book shops tend not to stock the product either, because it can get damaged and might sit on the shelves unsold. The Leona Lewis special edition is also £49.99 and includes a 304 page book and two prints signed by the artist. George Martin's Playback was a leather bound 327 page book with included a special disc (two of which are Matt Monro tracks) and sold for £234.00.

One doesn't question a limited work of art, it is only for the discerning collector, one either buys it and smiles contently that they own such a thing of beauty, or decide the item isn't for them. For those that just want to read the trade book there is always the library.

[Rmoore]

Special editions by their very nature are expensive - Look at Genesis publications who only make Special Editions

http://www.genesis-publications.com/browse

Look at their prices and you'll see this is actually very good value!

Richard

[Marian]

Richard,
I'm sure none of us would dream of underestimating the immense value of this combined work by both yourself and Michele.
We are only too aware of the blood, sweat and tears of the last three years, and know that the final result is a labour of love, especially on Michele's part. We know and understand what this dream means to her and how she has fought to produce it exactly as she wants it to be.
The monetary cost of the work is obviously beyond price and really shouldn't be an issue, but you can't change human nature that will always look for a bargain whenever possible.
Not all can afford a high price, but nevertheless shouldn't be excluded from owning and cherishing such a rare treasure.
No matter what price is paid, it doesn't mean we will value it any the less, nor appreciate any less the considerable amount of work that has gone into it.
This is a unique opportunity and we should make every effort to grab it with both hands.
Marian

[Don Cooper]

With you all the way, Michele. (Well, perhaps not the Leona Lewis/artist bit. )

A number of considerations occur:

I may not know much about Art.But I know what I like

What the market will bear

(Luxury Cruiser traversing Weymouth Town Harbour-I have the photos)

' Damn the expense ! '

I would contend the majority of contributors to this Forum are of an income or savings bracket to
follow the latter to the letter (Sorry,Keith.Nearly another poem there...)

[paul jh]

I think £49.99 is very reasonable. Like Don, I always compare to other entertainment options. I wanted to see Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway: $134; that's for three hours of entertainment! A local theatre's production of The Fantastiks: $77, basically the price of the Special Reserve, which will provide enjoyment for years and I will cherish for a lifetime.

[john]

Like Lena and Harry said, the cd's and dvd's that have been released over the past few years have been so reasonable, some ridiculously low for all the work that has gone into them. And especially the forthcoming 5 disc singles set, I still can't believe that HMV are advertising it at £8.99. So, it is swings and roundabouts really. On an odd accasion I have paid more than than that for a vinyl album.

[mariana44]

I guess I am not the only person on a very limited income, and I previously put a limit to how much I thought I could pay for this "Special Reserve"--and no matter the amount of work that has gone into it, which I know has been considerable, I have to work to a budget.

I set my limit at £50.00--so I am just delighted with Richard and Michele for making this "Special Reserve" affordable-even for me.

[maureen & harry]

To buy the Special Reserve will be a once in a lifetime opportunity as it offers so much for Matt's fans to treasure and for this reason we think that with all the behind the scenes work that writing and producing a book like this must entail, we feel sure that the book has been offered at the best possible price.

We followed the link on Richard's posting to Genesis Publications and the prices of some of the Biographies on there might be beyond a lot of people. It's well worth a look.

Maureen & Harry

[Glenn]

I am trying to find the ISBN number for the Special Reserve edition, so far without success.... can anyone help please?

#Framed citations, hung on every wall
Got a scrapbook full of quotes I can't recall at all#

[Rmoore]

As yet there probably isn't one available. We haven't even see a finished one ourselves yet!

The only place to buy it at the moment is through Titan at their 'Exclusives' site - Link on the Special Edition page of Matt Monro.com

Richard

[johnfoyle]

Titan e-mailed me today , Jan 29, to say my copy of the special edition has been 'shipped' - I can't wait!

[Marian]

I'm sure you will love it John.
I received a message too from Titan, even though I had collected my copy at the book launch, but on checking I was told that an automatic message is sent out when an order is completed. So please disregard this if you already have collected the book.
Marian

[johnfoyle]

The package arrived today. First impressions are good - this really does Matt justice. I've had a semi-distracted listen at work to the disc with the sessionography book - it's nice to hear Matt's voice with minimal accompaniment , really brings out the warmth in it. The lack of a index is a pity but I understand entirely Michelle's explanation that the expense involved just couldn't be allowed for.

More later!