Betty reissue

[nhtbuzzsaw]

Amazon has Betty songs that aren't available to download until Sept. 7:

New are:
Thick, Pariah, Flushings, Biscuits for Smut (Pooch Mix and Mutt Mix)

It says Interscope release date is June 10. You would think front page of web site would say WHERE album will be available June 22.

[darko@totalgeek]

got it / got it / got it / got it....mmmm no new betty reissue for me.

I'd think about it only if THICK appears on a actual hardcopy cd. I'm not downloading and paying for an inferior copy!

If this is all we get, its a wasted opportunity (smart) !

Where's all the live BETTY era tracks- I Know you have them Page.... your the only one, who one that can show us at all!

[co-pilot]

Yeah, those five live tracks from the Wilma EP were included on a ltd CD of Betty weren't they?

There was a bootleg of that whole show on the old FTP, it was amazingly good.

I'll still get this anyway as my 2x10" copy of Betty is a bit crackly these days.

[eht13]

Amazon has Betty songs that aren't available to download until Sept. 7:

New are:
Thick, Pariah, Flushings, Biscuits for Smut (Pooch Mix and Mutt Mix)

It says Interscope release date is June 10. You would think front page of web site would say WHERE album will be available June 22.

This is all so confusing. I see the same MP3 info on Amazon that you listed above, with the September 7th availability date. But why September 7th and not June 22nd? And how is June 10th given as the "Interscope release date"? That is already passed, haha. And I can't find info anywhere (including Amazon) about what actually comes out on June 22nd (tomorrow)... a CD? Amazon and Best Buy, for example, have no new CD info for Helmet.

As others have said, I have these songs already on MP3. A true re-issue version of Betty, on a physical CD, with better quality versions of these songs (that were originally only on vinyl) would be definitely worth considering.

[Ruoska]

Man, this is like a dream come true. Can it be!?! Someone up there must be reading these forums or something...I'm always talking about how my life would be fullfilled if the -B- vinyl bonuses were put on an official cd. Oh man oh man I'm like, about to jizz my pants, or something. Let's how the quality is on the bonus tracks. At least Flushings, on the Smut EP has a distinctly flatter sound. To me it sounds somewhat like it was recorded at the same time as the other songs but was dropped from the album before it went to mastering and then added as a b-side later on. I guess they wouldn't do anything about that and man am I happy just to have that Betty with the three vinyl extras. I'll buy two just to show my support If they actually went on and released reissues with bonuses of the other albums I'd buy three of each But yeah, this is it. I'm fulfilled for life Thank you!

[eht13]

You might not jizz in your pants after all, Ruoska. Not sure if you guys saw the updates on the front page yet or not, but it looks like my questions below have been mostly answered...

This is all so confusing. I see the same MP3 info on Amazon that you listed above, with the September 7th availability date. But why September 7th and not June 22nd? And how is June 10th given as the "Interscope release date"? That is already passed, haha. And I can't find info anywhere (including Amazon) about what actually comes out on June 22nd (tomorrow)... a CD? Amazon and Best Buy, for example, have no new CD info for Helmet.

As others have said, I have these songs already on MP3. A true re-issue version of Betty, on a physical CD, with better quality versions of these songs (that were originally only on vinyl) would be definitely worth considering.

It now says "digital reissue", and that it's to be sold exclusively here at the official site store. I guess this means MP3 only... and not sure if the tracks can be bought individually or not.

[worstcase]

Lame...a digital reissue means Thick is still not heard in TRUE cd quality. Because in my world MP3 is never really of highest quality, even if it is 192 and above where you can't really hear a difference.

I'm with Ruoska, a proper CD reissue with all the b-sides properly digitally mastered - I'm buying 2.

[eht13]

I hate to say it, but I agree about "lame". As I said, "a true re-issue version of Betty, on a physical CD, with better quality versions of these songs (that were originally only on vinyl) would be definitely worth considering". I would buy that in fact. But this digital version (which I still don't see in the store here even though it's now 6/22)... well, I actually don't really see how this should even be called a "re-issue".

[Ruoska]

Well at least I guess I'm correct on one thing: somebody actually does pay attention to what we speak here. There's no frikkin way Betty would otherwise be reissued and because it really costs them nothing to do a digital reissue and they know some of us will buy it. So even if it's just a few hundred $$ that's still money made that's probably even tax exempt somehow. I'm buying it anyway when it comes out just to get those tracks. But a digital reissue should be 320kbps if it's in MP3. You can't tell the difference after 192kbps on any regular hifi setup but still. I think I may have actually taken my copy of Mono to the pawn shop but I would still BUY anything Helmet puts out just to support them, even if it was Page farting at a microphone for three minutes. And a digital reissue with Pariah and Thick is a million times better than that, so what the heck. Let's support them blindly like the lemmings we are and buy it I will, if it just only came out...it is 22. June now afterall and I can't find it. Maybe Glenn will add it after work and he's probably located in the States. It's only like 12AM or smth on the East Coast now.

[eht13]

Glenn is in the UK. And it was already mid-morning on the east coast of the US when you posted that. Regardless, I thought it would be someone in the management company or at the KillThe8 store that would actually be adding the new Betty stuff for sale.

[Ruoska]

Actually I need to say something more about this so here goes:

First thing I did after learning of the reissue was call Worstcase and ask him his opinion on why are they doing this and we agreed there can be no financial reasons for this. Betty is an album that probably didn't much match Interscope's idea of a hit album so they obviously have no reason in the world to do a reissue. If something was to be reissued for profit it would be Meantime obviously, with a live track or two at the end. I'm always obsessing about Betty and so are some other members around the forums. I mean, I'm always begging for those vinyl-only tracks in better quality than the vinyl rips we have floating around. They sound fine but they don't match a cd rip of Betty in terms of oomph and clarity. Now a cd would be cool, but really, I only buy cds to rip them into WMA so I can listen to them on my mp3 player. So to finally have digital copies of those extra tracks, that hopefully will be transferred from the original studio masters..it's actually very cool! It really would make so little sense for them reissue Betty in a proper fashion, as used (and new) copies are available for less that $1 on Amazon and eBay and bargain bins all around the western world. Even if it was a run of 1000 or 2000 copies, it'd cost several thousand dollars to print that run and most of them would remain unsold to the day Page gives up the ghost.

Think of it for a while. What a favor this really is on us, you know...the few, the proud, the Betty-loving. It really is the only way we can actually be provided with digital copies of (hopefully non-vinyl sources of) Pariah and Thick. For the collector, a cd would surely be better...but aren't we listeners first and collectors second, afterall? This way we get the tracks and can put them where ever we want in our mp3 libraries...where they are on the vinyls or after the cd songs. How many other bands do you see around doing favors like this for three or four people on their forum?

So, assuming the extra tracks are of high quality, I bow and thank the band and Glenn and others related to this reissue deeply. Thank you!

(on the other hand, if it turns out the extra tracks are the same old vinyl rips we had before...then yes, it's lame and everyone can go eat a donkey's tool).

[worstcase]

So come on, what is the deal with the bonus tracks? I ain't buyin' nothin' until someone confirms they are from the original studio master tapes and not vinyl rips etc. Any recent mastering done on them? Details details, please...!

[todd]

where are we supposed to purchase this?? i see nothing on the site indicating where on here we can download it.

[eht13]

Actually I need to say something more about this so here goes...

Yes, well said. I thought about this some more too and realized that I may have come across too strong when I was complaining. The point is very valid that actual CDs of a Betty reissue would be expensive to produce and hard to sell in worthwhile quantities. So I agree, as long as the MP3's are from the masters (CD quality) and not the vinyl we've already got, it is a good thing. I still hope we can buy just the individual tracks though, and not the whole album. And yeah, where would one buy this anyway? Still nothing on the front page or in the store.

[bornannoying]

where are we supposed to purchase this?? i see nothing on the site indicating where on here we can download it.

Apparently Topspin are having problems setting up the download. And yes, I know, you might expect that these things be set up, tested, and then announced, not the other way around…