New Underworld album - Barking (Sept. 13, Sept 2 Japan)

[Fishtank]

Appleblim colab should be interesting

[ThingInABook]

japanese version=DO WANT

let's see where it pops out. sadly, everytime i want to purchase a japanese u/w album here, the price raises to 100dollars! 40bucks is still payeable in any sense, but i'm afraid its price will rise on ebay...

if someone can point me to a reliable presale...

[Andrea]

paying 100 dollars is not a big deal if you really want something
to never get it delivered is much worse
I´m still waiting for two live recordings from "Live Here Now" that I ordered 2008

[TheBang]

When it comes to purchasing Japanese albums, it's useful to know that Japan has some weird price controls whereby for the first 2 years of an album's life, the price is fixed, so it's doesn't matter where you buy it from; the price is going to be the same everywhere.

The only differentiation (especially for overseas purchases) is shipping costs and customer service.

So, with that said, several of us (myself included) have had very good experiences over the years ordering from hmv.co.jp. I've found their shipping costs to be reasonable, their shipping speed fast, and their site easy to navigate in English.

Amazon.co.jp is another reputable option, of course.

[//\/\/]

my issue isn't how easy it is or isn't to get stuff from hmv.jp - it's that we have to do it in the first place.

bang on all they like about about romford and essex - i live 2 miles from fucking essex, yet have to wait and pay extra for exclusive stuff to come from tokyo?

i'm hoping this won't prove to be the case and that uw do give a toss about fans beyond japan. but on past behaviour...

[big screen satellite]

i'm with ian on this one

music should be shared and available to all, not just to japanese fans who ONLY buy stuff if it contains exclusive stuff...

the rest of the world copes ok buying cd's without exclusive tracks what makes japan so special that the standard release is NOT good enough for them... its not a slight on the japanese, just the system thats been created that demands bands make content especially for them... its not uw's fault either really, but in this digital age - its not so hard to make things available to all - then no one is MORE special than anyone else

[ThingInABook]

i also share the same opinion as the two posters above. i love buying records and i've already bought expensive special editions from other bands. with OwB i really wanted the japanese edition, but the price (U$100) was way beyond the real list price, specially if it was just for some extra content. no big boxes, posters, books, vinyl and cd records or whatever else special editions have. just a couple cds in a regular box. i really liked how athens came packaged and the print, and how easy it was to get. it's kind of unfair, specially for fans who live far from countries that will get a official release. most of us rely on the international catalogs from our local record stores.

or ebay.

[TheBang]

I think you guys are barking (ahem) up the wrong tree. UW didn't invent the Japanese bonus track. Again, that's an artifact of the artificial album price controls in Japan. Because those price controls tend to make the album releases in Japan higher even than imports from another region (say, the US), the Japanese labels/distributors often insist on some type of exclusive bonus in order to try to keep people from buying cheaper imports.

You can read more about this phenomenon in the Debbie Gibson FAQ

So you'll just have to accept that Japanese bonus tracks exist. That aside, regarding the editions (Regular/Deluxe/Limited), we don't know yet whether or not all the different editions will be available worldwide, so it's a bit premature to get panties bunched over that, eh?

[//\/\/]

Originally Posted by TheBang

So you'll just have to accept that Japanese bonus tracks exist.

don't think you've made a strong enough argument for that

That aside, regarding the editions (Regular/Deluxe/Limited), we don't know yet whether or not all the different editions will be available worldwide, so it's a bit premature to get panties bunched over that, eh?

oh, absolutey!

[stimpee]

Originally Posted by TheBang

so it's a bit premature to get panties bunched over that, eh?

AFAIK ian doesnt wear any panties.