The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time-Capsule - Box Set

Nice review and track listing, but how much

and where, when available.

ROY

Nice review and track listing, but how much

and where, when available.

ROY

Available from 02/03/15 from all good record stores or via Amazon:-

www.amazon.co.uk/Odyssey-Northern-Soul-Time-Capsule/dp/B00JYDGJHM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423606552&sr=8-1&keywords=the+odyssey+northern+soul

Ian D 

• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,598 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
•  
  • #26 in Music > R&B and Soul > Motown
  • #95 in Music > R&B and Soul > Soul
  • #98 in Music > Pop > Pop R&B

Problem is Ian Lots of of those tracks are free downloads or are on other compilations. It looks good but that's about it to me. Price is a bit much as well! I was thinking more around the £49.99 mark and was a bit shocked when I saw it! Anyhow whoever buys it wont be spoiled for choice in the car on along journey!

Problem is Ian Lots of of those tracks are free downloads or are on other compilations. It looks good but that's about it to me. Price is a bit much as well! I was thinking more around the £49.99 mark and was a bit shocked when I saw it! Anyhow whoever buys it wont be spoiled for choice in the car on along journey!

Well free downloads are illegal of course and no serious collector would dream of ripping of the copyright owners, writers and artists I presume? Every track on here has been legally licensed for decent royalties and advances.

For 8 x CDs, 230 properly mastered tracks, 2 DVDs of brand new content and a 160 page book I think the £49.99 Dealer Price is a bargain. When Amazon drop their price (as they inevitably will) their price will drop to something even better.

Also this is not particularly aimed at people who already have the stuff. The Northern Soul soundtrack shows that there is a huge audience out there who want to learn, so this is as good a start as any. 

Ian D 

ordered

ordered

Smart move Jim. The costs of producing and warehousing these box sets is huge these days, so the early pressing runs are the only ones that are guaranteed since it's so expensive to do re-runs that they won't bother unless it's for 1K+. The early bird gets the worm mate!

Ian D 

Hi Ian, it's a super project but I don't think you should have listed me as assisting in the compiling. All I did was put you right on a couple of licensors. You and Timmy should get the glory.

Hi Ian, it's a super project but I don't think you should have listed me as assisting in the compiling. All I did was put you right on a couple of licensors. You and Timmy should get the glory.

So many people involved I thought I'd better list 'em all. 

I should point out that Ady helped out with some of our last minute license kerfuffles! 

Ian D 

OK folks, here is our trailer hot off the presses and on here first.........

Ian D 

Look forward to seeing the videos , mouthwatering stuff ....

Look forward to seeing the videos , mouthwatering stuff ....

Deffo Eddie. Some brilliant interviews. Here's a short promo for the "Keep On Keeping On" DVD...

Ian D 

The moment finally arrived! Praise be to the lord. A project which has been almost 3 years in gestation and which almost killed me due to the complexity and sheer scale of the beast, was finally delivered in it's finished form.

Little did I know when I was 15 years old in 1970 and purchasing my first record collection from a Huddersfield DJ called Jim (£25 for 400 records - a bargain), that 45 years later I'd be responsible for overseeing a project which originally stemmed from that suitcase full of records which I bought from Jim. The first record that I pulled out was a battered Stateside copy of Darrell Banks "Open The Door To Your Heart" and now it's also the first record of 230 within this collection 45 years later.  

Fate goes full circle ay? It truly has been a lifelong odyssey for me personally, so can you imagine how I felt when I finally got to open the b*stard?

So here's the unveiling folks...

Ian D 

Thats some compilation Ian !  Well done to you !…..I hope it sells by the bucketload for you,it certainly deserves to…..

Thats some compilation Ian !  Well done to you !…..I hope it sells by the bucketload for you,it certainly deserves to…..

Cheers Ivor. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it so hopefully it'll work!

Ian D

The Unveiling of 'The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time-Capsule Part 2'.

Yep, we were watching it and someone said how come there's no music, so voila! Thanks Lidia!

Order order order! Going fast! Out this coming Monday!

Just ordered mine.

Just ordered mine.

Nice one Russell. You should get it for Monday/Tuesday. Also you're guaranteed the first manufacturing run which is always good!

Ian D

Amazon have just dispatched my copy.  Hurrah.

Amazon have just dispatched my copy.  Hurrah.

Yep, just saw on Facebook that someone has had theirs delivered already. So they're out there at last! 

Ian D 

Still waiting for Royal Mail to get their arse round here with it.  My heart sank when I saw that they were the courier.

well its 10am monday morning and its arrived via amazon.very impressive box,so thats my monday sorted,listening to this excellent collection and reading the very informative book.

well done ian,great job done .

 

dave o'neill

Killer Dave! I'm very happy with the way it came out! Happy listening.

Ian D

Royal Mail called at 1230.  Very nice looking box set, top marks for presentation.  Look forward to listening to the tracks, watching the DVDs and reading the book.  Good to see all the track listings are already on iTunes.  Well done all at Harmless.

Spoke too soon.  Disc 4 track listings not on Gracenote yet.  Might upload them myself if they haven't appeared by the time I rip the other discs.

Spoke too soon.  Disc 4 track listings not on Gracenote yet.  Might upload them myself if they haven't appeared by the time I rip the other discs.

You might be the first to be ripping it Steve.....

Glad you like it mate!

Ian

You might be the first to be ripping it Steve.....

 

Glad you like it mate!

 

Ian

Certainly do Ian.  It's great to have the tracks in chronological order by venue.

 Just got mine, impressed with it all, format , cd labels, track listing, book.

Looking forward to watching the DVDs later. 

Well done to everyone involved. 

Well Done Ian!

Mine arrived today and I am halfway through the first DVD. The packaging and book all look great!

Hope it sells well for you.

The two discs I've listened to so far are incredible, not just in the sound quality but also in the running order. You could probably have a decent nighter just playing these discs through (though you'd upset the OVO crowd).

The two discs I've listened to so far are incredible, not just in the sound quality but also in the running order. You could probably have a decent nighter just playing these discs through (though you'd upset the OVO crowd).

I spend a lot of time on sequencing. My colleagues can't understand it but I do treat each CD as a DJ set really which generally seems to work out OK.

Ian D

well that them all downloaded just in case i loose any and yes cd 4 is not listed on gracenote,so ive done it myself no problem.so ian,how are you going to top this then ? you have set your benchmark very high now mate !!! first track,my all time favourite,what a start .luv it.

I'm not gonna be able to top it unfortunately. The days of the lavish box sets are numbered I believe, so I always look at each project as if it could be the last. Thus almost was lol. Almost killed me....

Ian D

Listened to all the CDs all the way through.  Agree with previous posts, do like the running order and the quality is spot on.  Now need to find time to watch the DVDs and read the book.

Well free downloads are illegal of course and no serious collector would dream of ripping of the copyright owners, writers and artists I presume? Every track on here has been legally licensed for decent royalties and advances.

 

For 8 x CDs, 230 properly mastered tracks, 2 DVDs of brand new content and a 160 page book I think the £49.99 Dealer Price is a bargain. When Amazon drop their price (as they inevitably will) their price will drop to something even better.

 

Also this is not particularly aimed at people who already have the stuff. The Northern Soul soundtrack shows that there is a huge audience out there who want to learn, so this is as good a start as any. 

 

Ian D 

bit confused here,

is it £49.99 or £76.99 as showing on Amazon at the moment. can I buy it for the dealer price although I'm not a dealer?

regards H

bit confused here,

 

is it £49.99 or £76.99 as showing on Amazon at the moment. can I buy it for the dealer price although I'm not a dealer?

 

regards H

As long as you buy a minimum of 20 box sets.

bit confused here,

 

is it £49.99 or £76.99 as showing on Amazon at the moment. can I buy it for the dealer price although I'm not a dealer?

 

regards H

Hi H,

The £49.99 is the Dealer Price, i.e. the price we charge the Dealers who stock it, so no, unfortunately you're stuck with whatever the Dealers charge, so the Amazon price is a good 'un...

Ian D 

Juno Records have it for £12 less than Amazon......

https://www.juno.co.uk/search/?q%5Btitle%5D%5B%5D=%22the+odyssey%3A+a+northern+soul+time+capsule+1968-2014%22&hide_forthcoming=0

Quick Question (from prospective purchaser)

 As I've got just about every book/ video about the northern Soul Scene, how much original material is in the book, DVDs?

I ask because I've noticed somewherethat some (all?) of the book is transposed from a previous book.

Also, how many of the tracks are new to CD?

Apologies if this info is already out there!

The book consists of text from the In Crowd up to the closure of Wigan.  Post Wigan is what I wrote, about 6000 words from Clifton Hall up to today.  Obviously I haven't mentioned every venue as there have been 100's since 1981.  Nor have I mentioned soul nights except for a few that for me had an influence on the scene.  Again some will disagree and think such and such a venue should have been included but I simply didn't have the space nor the time as I was on a tight deadline.

You know what Chalky? You could have a 500 page book on the scene and it wouldn't be enough. 

I've just spent the last hour FINALLY going through the finished article and it doesn't get any better in terms of a Northern Soul box set in my opinion. I'm obviously biased, but in terms of the wider market, this is the definitive release in my view. Thanks to all involved. The real deal.

Ian D 

You know what Chalky? You could have a 500 page book on the scene and it wouldn't be enough. 

 

I've just spent the last hour FINALLY going through the finished article and it doesn't get any better in terms of a Northern Soul box set in my opinion. I'm obviously biased, but in terms of the wider market, this is the definitive release in my view. Thanks to all involved. The real deal.

 

Ian D 

Trouble is there was and still is so many promoters and all probably believe they deserve a mention and in an ideal world do deserve a mention but as you say no book would be big enough.  I can remember plenty of all-nighters that were very good but there was only the one.  

Just a progress report but also I just noticed that the Amazon price has dropped to £71.68 which probably explains it's boost up the rankings after 3 weeks out there!

• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 719 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
•  
  • #10 in Music > R&B and Soul > Motown
  • #21 in Music > R&B and Soul > Soul
  • #23 in Music > Pop > Pop R&B

Ian D

Eventually it arrived yesterday. Great package. starting playing through all CDs last night. I noticed some tracks are different mixes/takes. That's nice. But why is there at least one Ian Levine re-recording? Barbara Lewis - The stars with a synth backing? not good

Eventually it arrived yesterday. Great package. starting playing through all CDs last night. I noticed some tracks are different mixes/takes. That's nice. But why is there at least one Ian Levine re-recording? Barbara Lewis - The stars with a synth backing? not good

Whaaaaat? We didn't license anything from Mr Levine. I'll need to check that master again but I'm pretty sure that was a kosher master from the copyright owners - Concord, the owners of Fantasy/Stax in this case. We went to insane lengths to get the correct masters on this and, up to now, everyone has complimented us on the quality of the mastering. This is just plain weird. I'll check it tomorrow. I have to say that a handful of the masters supplied by the owners were slightly different mixes to the known recordings and, in most cases, superior.

The weirdest master we received was the first track on the box set - Darrell Banks "Open The Door To Your Heart" which turned out to be a previously unknown instrumental version (which is spectacular in it's simplicity and impact). So there are bonuses too!

Will come back to the Barbara Lewis master tomorrow when I sober up OK?

Ian D  

I just played it again to make sure my ears aren't deceiving. It's definitely a re-recording. Maybe not an IL one. But definitely 80s or later. Even her voice sounds much more mature than on the original Stax LP.

BTW, yes, mastering in general is great. So is the whole capsule.

I just played it again to make sure my ears aren't deceiving. It's definitely a re-recording. Maybe not an IL one. But definitely 80s or later. Even her voice sounds much more mature than on the original Stax LP.

BTW, yes, mastering in general is great. So is the whole capsule.

How bizarre. That was the master supplied by Concord (owners of Stax). I haven't had time to check it yet but it'll be on full-blast tomorrow. Bit of a mystery though, Why on earth would it be a re-record? It was an album track and not even popular till 40 years after it was recorded. Still nothing like  a mystery ay? Glad you approve of the rest of it! 

Ian D 

Just seen the box set for £62, £18 less than Amazon......

https://www.wowhd.co.uk/CD/various-odyssey-a-northern-soul-time-capsule-1968-2014-8cd-2dvd/dp/40528203/69790217#bc=bf36

Just seen the box set for £62, £18 less than Amazon......

 

https://www.wowhd.co.uk/CD/various-odyssey-a-northern-soul-time-capsule-1968-2014-8cd-2dvd/dp/40528203/69790217#bc=bf36

Now THAT is a bargain! This has never stopped selling since it was issued 7 weeks ago. Looks like it's in for the long haul! Good spot Steve!

Ian D   

Now THAT is a bargain! This has never stopped selling since it was issued 7 weeks ago. Looks like it's in for the long haul! Good spot Steve!

 

Ian D   

Trouble is I paid full whack on a pre-order, Ian.  Never mind, it's only money.

Trouble is I paid full whack on a pre-order, Ian.  Never mind, it's only money.

Stop moaning. You got it 7 weeks ahead didntcha...? 

Ian D 

Stop moaning. You got it 7 weeks ahead didntcha...? 

 

Ian D 

Yeah, but I still haven't found the time to watch the DVDs or read the book, and I know all the tracks.