BMB GREATEST HITS FOUND ON AMAZON FOR DOWLOADING.

[Bobberman]

I recently Found the 1970 BMB Greatest hits album available as an MP3 with the release date of January 1 2022 and the label credited to Blue Pie Records USA and after buying it just to investigate it further being aware of the CSG processing it has and listening to each track I discovered the sound quality overall is passable but it doesn't sound like the original mix and it doesn't sound like they are in Stereo but rather a fold down to mono at least that's how it sounded to me and I hear some surface noise and early fading on some songs which makes me think someone took a very clean mint Condition copy of the LP And folded it down to Mono to MP3 I may be wrong but overall it will pass since some of the songs were from albums that are feared Lost in the universal fire the only thing I wonder is if this is a legitimate release licensed from Universal? And altered given the circumstances? Or is it another Bootleg. And is Blue pie one of Universal's many imprints? Or is it another fly by night bootlegger? Just curious. Is anybody else aware of this release? I thought I'd alert you my fellow cornerites just in case as we have discussed bootlegs in great detail.Dont get me wrong to my ears the album sounds ok but it's not perfect

 

[Harry]

I cannot find anything regarding this album and "Blue Pie Records", which seems to be an Australian outfit.

Amazon US doesn't allow sampling the mp3's like they used tom but the Canadian version still does. So I got to this page:

https://music.amazon.ca/albums/B0BC9GH9JH

There, I sampled a bunch of tracks. Bobberman is right that the tracks appear to be mono, however someone has applied some sort of fake stereo effect. Now, we know for sure that this album was never released in mono - in fact, it only ever was released in the US with the CSG processing attached. Unless a mono version was issued in a foreign country, these mono tracks had to be created by combining the channels on the CSG album - then the wonky fake stereo was applied.

Meanwhile, the picture on the "Blue Pie" download on Amazon shows the old A&M cover image complete with logo. A trend I've noticed in recent years is that when these old A&M albums get licensed by someone, the A&M logo is usually replaced with the new licensee's logo.

My gut, at this point, is telling me that this is either a counterfeit, or some gray market release. There are a bunch of those out there - we've seen the many TJB fake albums that fell into some sort of public domain overseas, so buyer beware here.

Only two of the tracks on the GREATEST HITS album never made it to proper digital releases: "Yours" and "Brasilia". All of the others were either on the Collectors Choice, Japanese Digitally Remastered Best, or the 36 Favorites 3CD set.

 

[Bobberman]

Thanks Harry for your input I agree with your opinion however I am open to other possible explanations there are so many of these kind of gray market or counterfeit issues around it's so obvious

 

[Rudy]

Qobuz has it.

Unfortunately.



It sounds absolutely terrible. One of the worst releases I've ever heard. The whole thing sounds like it's under a blanket. Like someone did a needle drop, then ran it through that cheap $59 vinyl cleanup software. "Fowl Play" is so heavily processed that the percussion throughout is nearly missing!!

In the credits, here's the issuing label:



And I bet "USA" has nothing to do with it, given the copyright laws.

Utter garbage. I hope nobody spends money on this trash.

Everyone: Review it. Anywhere you can. One star. And mention it's a pirated recording. I'll be pointing it out to Qobuz, mentioning that it's pirated, and an unofficial release. (While they won't remove it, I will have a word with one of their execs next time I cross paths with them at the next audio show I report on.)

 

[Harry]

I wrote an Amazon review, but had to attach it to the vinyl since the mp3 files don't have a review section.

 

[Rudy]

I did the same. At least if someone sees the LP, then notices there is an MP3 version, one of the reviews may catch their eye and prevent a sale.

 

[Bobberman]

Thanks Harry and Rudy for your input and confirmation my purpose in creating this post was simply to help Expose and Alert Everyone to things like this. ( just in case it was Illegitimate) Especially when it comes to our favorite music. As we have seen this happen repeatedly time and again. And sadly it's still happening

 

[Harry]

In a way, it's almost a good thing that someone remembers and thinks highly enough of the Baja Marimba Band to bother pirating an album!

 

[Rudy]

All they think of is the money, unfortunately...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Nothing against Julius but you’d think there would be more lucrative artists to pirate!

 

[Rudy]

A lot of artists are low-hanging fruit for these types of releases--they stand less of a chance of getting attention for copyright issues if they pick lesser-known artists.

This probably wouldn't even bother me so much if it didn't sound so wretched. It's just that people will buy this and get something that doesn't deserve their money.

Hell, it's still annoying me that Universal used a needle drop for the J&K Stonebone digital reissue...