Hot Milk - The Upsetters

[Rootsman]

I bought the CD and I am not complaining. I too am happy to have a piece of rare music in my collection including track 14 with 3 seconds missing or whatever.

You know I wish my life was so *ucking perfect that all I have to worry and moan about was a few seconds missing of the end of a CD for which I had paid less than a tenner.

And would I have bought the CD knowing that the last track had a fault and finished a few seconds short, Absolutely.

[Dubmart]

I bought the CD and I am not complaining. I too am happy to have a piece of rare music in my collection including track 14 with 3 seconds missing or whatever.

You know I wish my life was so *ucking perfect that all I have to worry and moan about was a few seconds missing of the end of a CD for which I had paid less than a tenner.

And would I have bought the CD knowing that the last track had a fault and finished a few seconds short, Absolutely.

Good for you, I expect you are happy with crap Jamaican repress LPs as well, for me money is tight and I prefer not to waste it on poor products. The fact that there are threads here and on BAF with different purchasers complaining shows that a percentage of buyers are not very happy and Mellowman should take note of that, not just say hard luck it's not my fault, his attitude is a bigger issue than the genuine manufacturing error.

[Congo Bunny]

You know I wish my life was so *ucking perfect that all I have to worry and moan about was a few seconds missing of the end of a CD for which I had paid less than a tenner.

.

Perfectly put

I won't be seeking a refund on my CD either

[Lost Shoe]

I haven't listened to the product yet, but I would prefer a good sound quality with one track missing 3 seconds over a mediocre sound quality with this one track complete.
I say this, because there are many new pressings/repressings sounding thin and flat.
Of course everybody is free to have a completely different opinion.

As to the attitude of Mellowman: I agree he should satisfy complaining customers, but if it's true, that he doesn't earn any money and just doing a labour of love, I can also understand his decision not rejecting the finished product to the pressing plant, maybe fighting with them or whatelse.

Life taught me that we should always try to understand the reasons why somebody acts like he does, what doesn't mean we should tolerate it all. But if Mellowman's point of view was just the same like that of Congo Bunny or AnorakTrev a.o. then in my opinion it goes too far accusing him the hard way. After all he was a customer himself of the pressing plant. And customers react different - for what this thread is proof enough.

[Rootsman]

Hey Dubmart, money is tight for me too and I would definitely not accept an inferior quality release which seriously detracted from the listening pleasure. But in the instance if this particular release it doesn`t. I think you are just being petty and complaining for complaining sake.

Probably this time tomorrow you will have forgotten about the missing 3 seconds of music because you will have found something new to complain about.

[Funky Punk]

Shouldn't it be the pressing plant's responsibility (from Mellowman's perspective) to fix this, anyway - considering that their error could cost his company significant amounts of business.

I'd imagine that Hot Milk is one of those outfits where the success, or otherwise of any one release would be a huge factor in whether there will even be a next release on the label...

Much like most small niche-interest labels nowadays.

[Dubmart]

Shouldn't it be the pressing plant's responsibility (from Mellowman's perspective) to fix this, anyway - considering that their error could cost his company significant amounts of business.

I'd imagine that Hot Milk is one of those outfits where the success, or otherwise of any one release would be a huge factor in whether there will even be a next release on the label...

Much like most small niche-interest labels nowadays.

Hot Milk is part of Cherry Red, a very large label, they have 40 albums coming out this month alone, much bigger than any purely Reggae reissue label. If the pressing plant was at fault they should sort it out, however it may well be that somebody sent them a faulty file in which case it's not their fault. If Hot Milk were to do the right thing a repress would probably cost them under £1,000, unless they had crazy pre-sales on it.

[Dubmart]

Hey Dubmart, money is tight for me too and I would definitely not accept an inferior quality release which seriously detracted from the listening pleasure. But in the instance if this particular release it doesn`t. I think you are just being petty and complaining for complaining sake.

Probably this time tomorrow you will have forgotten about the missing 3 seconds of music because you will have found something new to complain about.

A couple of years ago I bought an Aretha Franklin Columbia box set, one track on one disc was the wrong version, I contacted the label in the States and they sent a replacement CD with the correct track straight away by Fed Ex, no charge, no fuss. That's proper customer service that inspires confidence.

If Mellowman loves the music he reissues then surely he wants to do it justice, cutting the end off a track is insulting to both the artist and the customer. Obviously half of us aren't happy and the other half don't care, but that doesn't mean the half that are upset are being petty, we have a legitimate complaint.

[j j]

I'm actually really surprised so many of you accept this kind of problem as being OK. I find it hard to believe that any of you are willing to buy a cd with part of a song removed, no matter what type of music or label it is on.

Imagine the horror if say the Beatles Sgt Pepper LP had part of a track removed, or any other big name musical act for that matter, - there would be write ups & complaints in magazines, tv, internet. The label would never hear the end of it.

To me it just doesn't seem right. Especially if Hot Milk are going to fix the problem for the next run of presses.

Why should the customers who pre ordered this CD & supported this label miss out on a fully intact album?

The decent & fair thing to do Mellow Man/Hot Milk is to offer anyone who has a problem with this edited copy, a free replacement once the problem has been rectified.

What do you think?

j j

[flashman]

To change gears a bit. Could someone give their impressions of the music on this? What is different on the JA version? I always heard this record was weak. Is this JA version really better? What's the story?