Not The Most Incredible Thing

In 2009 the Vinyl Factory special edition of the Pet Shop Boy’s “Yes” album was finally delivered. There were on 300 of these hand crafted editions and they retailed at £300.

Originally scheduled to be delivered in April they finally arrived in June and I even had a good moan about the delay on this blog. Happily the product was well worth the wait and almost justified its price tag. I’m still very happy to own one.

With the release of Neil and Chris’s ballet score “The Most Incredible Thing” we were once again promised the opportunity to order a limited Vinyl Factory edition. However this time there was a £350 price tag and there were to be 500 available. Pet Heads with too much money placed their orders in March ready for a May delivery date. During a ridiculous delay of 3 months (more galling as the manufacturer had already taken our money) a few people cancelled their orders and obtained refunds. Unlike the ‘Yes’ box set which sold out within days, this edition is still available for order on the Vinyl Factory website. Not an overwhelming response.

So is the finished product worth the expense and the delay? Errrr no. Not at all.

Back in June 2009 it took me some time to make conclusions about the sister “Yes” box set, but this product is distinctly underwhelming. It might well be hand crafted and the vinyl may well be lovingly pressed, but it’s not the impressive package that I expected.

So, we open our cardboard box and find the box set encased in polystyrene and a plastic bag. The number of the box set is written in biro on the box and on a sticker attached to the polystyrene.

The discs are contained within an oversized hard back book which is in turn stored in a hard case. There are six records. The original released score is on the first three and the demo recordings are featured on the second three LP’s. Each 'sleeve' is a page in the book and printed on the front is a synopsis of the ballet's story.

A seventh record sleeve holds a sheet music print of a number of bars of the prologue and is signed by Neil and Chris. This print is also numbered. (You can tell I'm failing to get excited can't you?)

Okay, so I bought this as a collector and am not going to play it. But unlike my "Yes" box set, I won't be taking this bland white box down from the shelf to pore over its beauty and be proud to own it. I hope the seemingly poor commercial sucess of this box set means we might now see an end to these costly exclusive editions.