Elbow Unreleased debut album on island 1997 for sale on ebay

Hi guys just to let any of you know who are interested i am selling an original promo cd for the bands unreleased 10 track album from 1997 before they were dropped from island records, very very very rare piece of elbows history, so if your interested good luck bidding

Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=200269131197

or if anyone wants to make any offers i am open to that,

Thanks again everyone

wow, i want it:P

Good lord. I actually put some bids in and didn't hit the reserve. X_X But I need that. I want it anyway! If I don't win it, I'd quite like a digital copy off the winner!!

I imagine I won't be able to afford it right now. Is George Lassos the Moon officially released?

yeah it was on noisebox on anyday now ep i think

Thanks. I think I remember reading that now that you mention it. I'll have to try and get it.

SmilinSkullRing wrote:

I imagine I won't be able to afford it right now. Is George Lassos the Moon officially released?

There are two versions of GLTM, one from the Noisebox EP, which never had a commercial release, and one from the Any Day Now EP, which had a commercial release on Uglyman Records in 2001 (although I've no idea if it's available on iTunes, etc).

Like Jonny I'd certainly be interested to hear this album, if these genuinely are recordings which pre-date the Noisebox EP. Interesting that Suffer (the B-side of the Powder Blue single from 2001) is on there.

I expect this will fetch more than the measly 3 1/2 quid I've bid for it, though. Mind you, I'd be far more inclined to bid for it if it contained tracks I'd never heard before... can anyone confirm this is a genuine item... Craig?

Yeah, confirmation would be nice. Also agree about the tracks I've never heard making me more willing to bid. Although there is George... of course. I'll check out the EP if I can find it.

I must say according to that old interview Elbow did with Yahoo they might not be too amused, that someone's selling a record even they do not own


If you google "elbow" "interview" "yahoo" you might find the interview with a very young and still quite svelte looking Guy being not amused about the fact, that they've lost their first record because they would have to buy it back from the label!

TamedLamia wrote:

If you google "elbow" "interview" "yahoo" you might find the interview with a very young and still quite svelte looking Guy being not amused about the fact, that they've lost their first record because they would have to buy it back from the label!

Sorry, but I can't find it?

If there's a high reserve that hasn't been met yet and the boys have claimed that they wanted to buy it back from the label, I'm going to guess that it's highly likely it's one of them that is trying to win on eBay. I'd be surprised if it wasn't.

http://uk.music.yahoo.com/read/interview/12048582

I think it's more likely that they wanted to buy back the rights to the album, not the CD itself.

Because they couldn\t, they had to re-record the whole thing.

MagicalTrevor wrote:

http://uk.music.yahoo.com/read/interview/12048582

I think it's more likely that they wanted to buy back the rights to the album, not the CD itself.

Because they couldn\t, they had to re-record the whole thing.

yes, you're right. But I think it does not change the fact, that this ebay release is a bit strange...
I think I read a review or something where the writer said something like "if Universal might ever let that recording out they might have a very angry Guy Garvey banging on the door..."

Jones wrote:

TamedLamia wrote:

If you google "elbow" "interview" "yahoo" you might find the interview with a very young and still quite svelte looking Guy being not amused about the fact, that they've lost their first record because they would have to buy it back from the label!

Sorry, but I can't find it?

Couldn't copy the link before. Hope it works.
http://new.uk.music.yahoo.com/videos/Elbow/LAUNCH-Exclusive-Interview--2154745;_ylt=AhGvUEu.3mU.yY7ACywG9FW7ECYv

200/300 people a night... *sigh* to have caught them at that stage! Although i did see them at the begining of the leaders tour, so that was about 1,500 people... Ho-hum!!!! (Isn't bitter, really really isn't, just annoyed i didn't have the guts to drag my non music loving friends along to gigs until a few years ago, at least now i have an EPIC gig buddy and flat mate!)

I was having a discussion with another board member about this legitimacy of the unreleased debut album and we're on the path of finding it a possible fake. I have been looking through other promo/demo cds and have noticed some traits about this auctioned CD that is different from the rest:

- It is on a 74-minute CD-RW - most of the time on demos/promos, you cannot see that it is on a CD-RW but in the photo you can clearly see that it is.
- If it is a promo like they claim it is, then there should be an Island records logo instead of text only.

The only way this could have any form of legitimacy to it is if someone from the band confirms that the tracklisting on the eBay page is what it originally was back in 1997. Also, the confirmation of the existence of a 23 minute version of Scattered would be needed. Or the eBay seller could post some form of clips of each song so that we know it's the real thing and not a fake. Maybe I'm one of the few that find something off about this CD, but here's to hoping that it's the real deal and no one will end up ripped off with this.

the scattered track comes up as 23 minutes but doesnt play for that long, but i thought i should mention that, if it is possible and not illegal i would share these tracks with people if people want to hear the different versions, let e know thanks

also i do not sell fake cds, there is no point to me nor the buyers, i bought this from a legimate seller who garanteed its authenticity, i also did some research and found a similiar one for sale in the back catalogue of eil.com, please let me know if anyone has any questions and i can try and answer

I'm not finding it on eil.com at all? If you can supply some clips of the tracks, it would help and clips are not considered illegal as you are not supplying the entire song for free.

welsh_monkey wrote:

also i do not sell fake cds, there is no point to me nor the buyers, i bought this from a legimate seller who garanteed its authenticity, i also did some research and found a similiar one for sale in the back catalogue of eil.com, please let me know if anyone has any questions and i can try and answer

I'm interested to know what your answer is in regards to this CD clearly being a CD-RW underneath the label as is obvious by your photographs. Having purchased a few promo cds by Island Records in the past (I'm a collector of U2 promotional discs) some earlier ones are apparently printed on what would technically be called a CD-R (see http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=188933 for more information) but is nothing like one would get down at the shops, i.e. it is originally completely blank in appearance, and it is screenprinted with the name, tracklist and label information. This doesn't sit with what your CD presents as, i.e. a computer printed label stuck on top of a CD-RW that is available to the average customer at a computer store.

Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, Island Records prints its logo on all promotional CDs, so even if this was a rare promo, as you claim, it would normally have the the logo on it. I am willing to accept that perhaps they didn't put their logo on this one, but it would be very unusual. Copyright would also come in order of Island Records first and then Universal and not a combination of the two, but that is neither here nor there.

I realise that I may be expressing skepticism and subsequently may be proven wrong, but in the case where there is over 50 pounds at stake, I think it's prudent to proceed with caution, especially when this is something that no one else has seen before and there is no record of on eil.com. I would be very interested in hearing some clips from this and/or hearing from a bandmember as to the authenticity of this product, not just the word "another seller" that you purchased this CD from. If this is indeed a fake, either you have been severly ripped off or whoever is bidding on your item is going to be.

demonocracy wrote:

I'm interested to know what your answer is in regards to this CD clearly being a CD-RW underneath the label as is obvious by your photographs.

It's a CD-R not an RW - RWs weren't known to be particularly compatible with normal CD players or even some CD-ROM drives so for audio, CD-Rs were/are more typical.

Quote :

and it is screenprinted with the name, tracklist and label information. This doesn't sit with what your CD presents as, i.e. a computer printed label stuck on top of a CD-RW that is available to the average customer at a computer store.

Actually unbranded CD-Rs (and DVDs) are quite easy to get, just not at high street shops... Remember this promo dates back to 1998, when recordable CDs etc was still a relatively young technology. Printing the info directly onto the disc was still rare and a printed label was just as likely. The use of a branded CD-R is a bit unusual though because as demonocracy said, usually it's an unbranded CD under the label. 74 minute CD-Rs are rare these days so if it's a knock-off copy, then it wasn't made recently.

I'm prepared to believe this CD is genuine although a bit more than a previous seller's assurance would be good. The only real point I want to make is that this CD only really has value for completist collection purposes; as I posted in the music section, I think it has limited musical value. Alot of the tracks from these sessions do appear to have been released, so how much is it worth to hear the few that aren't?

Sure I'm interested to hear the 'original' versions at least once, but not sure that I'd want to pay £52+ for the privilege.

Bright Grey wrote:

demonocracy wrote:

I'm interested to know what your answer is in regards to this CD clearly being a CD-RW underneath the label as is obvious by your photographs.

It's a CD-R not an RW - RWs weren't known to be particularly compatible with normal CD players or even some CD-ROM drives so for audio, CD-Rs were/are more typical.

My apologies, I did mean a CD-R but I slipped up in re-editing my comment, sorry about that.

Quote :

Actually unbranded CD-Rs (and DVDs) are quite easy to get, just not at high street shops... Remember this promo dates back to 1998, when recordable CDs etc was still a relatively young technology. Printing the info directly onto the disc was still rare and a printed label was just as likely. The use of a branded CD-R is a bit unusual though because as demonocracy said, usually it's an unbranded CD under the label. 74 minute CD-Rs are rare these days so if it's a knock-off copy, then it wasn't made recently.

While recordable CD technology to the average consumer was still new at the time, I find it a little difficult to believe that a prominent label like Island Records would have been using comparatively amateur technology to produce such promos (even if they are rare) when as early as 1988 they were making CD promos which were much more professional looking and, once again, screenprinted on blank CD-Rs.

Another small flaw with this cd: Island Records was not under Universal Music Group in 1997. At the time, they were still under PolyGram International. It wasn't until late 1998 that the company was sold to Universal. This CD is either dated incorrectly or a compilation of EP versions from the EPs that were released around the time of the 2001 release of Asleep In The Back. Also, does anyone have clarification on when Elbow was signed/dropped from the label? There's a portion in their wikipedia page that claims the following:

Quote :

By 1997, they had changed their name a third time to Elbow, signed a deal with Island Records, and recorded their début album with producer Steve Osborne. However, when Island was bought out by major label Universal, the band was dropped in a mass cull and the album never released.

I'm having difficulty finding the right time they were signed and dropped from the label. Some sites claim 1997 and others claim 1998.

Can i also point out lassoed (SP?!) is spelt incorrectly?! Or at least different to any other version i've seen!

Quote :

Another small flaw with this cd: Island Records was not under Universal Music Group in 1997

The CD has no date - it's only the seller's description which only came from the internet... anyway the elbow website has the press releases for each album in the bio section and there are some dates there, in the discog and other internet sources:

May-June 1998 - Noisebox EP recorded
July/Aug/Sept (?) - Noisebox EP released
Sept 1998 - Elbow get into the final of the In The City music fest
Sept 1998 - Powder Blue first play on John Peel show
later in 1998 - Sign with Island and start writing and recording an album between France and Realworld in Bath
1999 - Elbow dropped from Island following the takeover by Universal
1999/2000 - EMI agree to sign Elbow, proposed contracts sent to lawyers etc, but bail on the deal before anything is signed
07/08/2000 - Newborn EP released on Uglyman Records
Sept 2000 - Second appearance at In The City
late 2000 - band sign with V2
Nov 2000 - finish recording tracks for album with V2 in Liverpool
23/01/2001 - Any Day Now EP released on Uglyman
23/04/2001 - Red released
07/05/2001 - Asleep in the Back finally released.

Quote :

I find it a little difficult to believe that a prominent label like Island Records would have been using comparatively amateur technology to produce such promos (even if they are rare)

In 1998 a printed label wasn't all that amateur. This wasn't a general promo sent to journalists etc, it could've come from a different dept within the record co. Again, I'm quite prepared to believe that this CD is genuine, just that the seller isn't able to provide much/any evidence of its provenance.

Quote :

when as early as 1988 they were making CD promos which were much more professional looking and, once again, screenprinted on blank CD-Rs.

CD-R technology didn't exist in 1988.

Quote :

Can i also point out lassoed (SP?!) is spelt incorrectly?! Or at least different to any other version i've seen!

It's only a spelling mistake - blame the numpty who typed out the tracklist for the CD label

Bright Grey wrote:

Quote :

Another small flaw with this cd: Island Records was not under Universal Music Group in 1997

The CD has no date - it's only the seller's description which only came from the internet...

You're missing the point, though. That CD has Universal on it, but Elbow was dropped from the label when Universal merged with Island Records, therefore it should not be on the CD and instead should have PolyGram International on it.

And according to numerous sources, CD-R was published in 1988.

The timeline, however, proves that this CD could not be dated from before the Noisebox EP. Universal started the layoffs in January of 1999, this leaves very little time for a 11 song promo to be made as that would be 'jumping the gun' in terms of having it produced and mixed properly if they were signed later on in '98.