Constrictor Thirty Year Anniversary

[Si]

Another question : does a recordcompany only own the content of the official albumreleases or do they also own the (not finished) demos etc?
I mean Sony/MCA etc have made so much "greatest hits"cds and almost no extras on it.

I believe they own everything that was recorded during the time Alice was signed to them but could be wrong.

The reason those compilations don`t have anything interesting on them is they are out there just to earn money with minimal outlay on the companies part.
One even claimed to have an unreleased track but it was just a previous b-side.

[Robbie]

Never mind a thirty years anniversary re-issue of the album-I'd take a thirty year anniversary re -doing of "The Nightmare Returns Tour" in full. It remains today the best concert I have ever seen in my life (Manchester Apollo). Great opening, brilliant multi level stage set, superb lighting, fantastic theatrics (who can forget building the Frankenstein and knocking it down?),Keyboard player (not that again!!!!!) and not a cover song in sight!!!

[pitkin88]

While I also would love to hear live drums played by Ken Mary added to the original album, I don't think it will ever happen.

One has to keep in mind that the reason remastered/deluxe versions of albums are released are to make MONEY--and a PROFIT.

I understand the Constrictor is beloved by many fans--especially those who discovered Alice in the mid-1980s but that album was far from successful upon it's release.

The Nightmare Returns Tour was what brought Alice back to prominence in 1986, not so much the Constrictor album itself.

I liked the album upon it's release but in the 30 years that have passed it really stands out as a very sub-par album in all respects. It does have some great moments, but overall it's just a cookie-cutter hair metal album from that era. It was written that way on purpose.

From what I understand the budget from MCA for the album was very modest which led to many of the problems with the final product--namely the drum machine.

I can't see anyone outside of Alive ( and I doubt that Shep even cares about this album) financing the recording drum tracks and a deluxe reissue of the album. It makes no financial sense at all--and in all likelihood would lose money. Remember, the album sold poorly upon it's release and it has not obtained any kind of cult status since then. In fact it can be found at any record store (the ones that still exist) in the budget racks for $5.00 (brand new). It's just another run-of-the-mill, unremarkable hair metal album.

I'm sure Ken would be up to the task of doing the project but again--how many units would it actually sell? I would think that such a project would cost about $250,000US or more. That amounts to selling 25,000 units at $10.00 each just to break even. That's an incredible amount of units in today's market!

I can't see how putting real drums on Constrictor would cost $250k. $10k maybe. It will never happen either way for the reasons you state. I think Ozzy removed and had new bass tracks on some of his old stuff. Maybe there's info on whatthat cost out there.

Constrictor actually sold pretty well. I posted this before but it's worth looking how much better it did than some of the more acclaimed stuff.

https://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=95101

Downloads without the physical product seems to be the way to go going forward. Much cheaper. As there is no real curator for this stuff and not much interest from Alice it is probably a loong way off.

[mr.barlow]

The 250K figure was my estimate for the whole project, it was a rough estimate and it could be off.

I'm not sure what union scale is for professional drummers, but I've heard that top drummers could get upwards of 10k per session. Then factor in the cost of studio time, a producer or engineer and other associated recording costs and I think it would be safe to say your looking at aprroximately 35K just to record the drums.


Maybe someone who is currently involved in the recording industry would know better and could offer a better estimate.

[mr.barlow]

The sales figures for Constrictor while better than a lot of other Alice releases fell short of expectations for the much hyped album upon it's release. Also, those numbers were not that great for a name artist like Alice back in the glory days of vinyl, tape and cd sales.

I think all involved expected the album to do a bit better but the success of the tour made up for any missed sales goals for the album. Also, I think it would be safe to say the the huge success of the tour drastically helped album sales in this instance. I think if the tour flopped the album would have not sold the modest numbers that it did. The album was not solid enough to stand on it's own legs and only gave way to one moderate hit single with "He's Back".

[While Heaven Wept]

The actual re-recording of the drums could probably be done for 10K. Obviously the big cost would be in obtaining and going through the original tapes and editing them, not a straight forward task.

Then you've obviously got the other expenses such as licensing, manufacture and marketing. At-least an extra 50K i would think.

[Lucius Morthem]

With Ozzy is a compketely different story. First of all, Sharon owns everything. The re-recording were done by Ozzy's current band in.order to Save money and to avoid payment to the original players.

And finally, this was done to the firat albums, which were majornhits, not comparable with Constrictor

[A_MichaelUK]

From mestreech:
"or do they also own the (not finished) demos etc?"

Basically, if it is an exclusive recording contract (and they usually are) yes, even if they didn't pay for the creation of those recordings.

[A_MichaelUK]

From pitkin88:
"As there is no real curator for this stuff"

Well, for a start that isn't true (any project like this would have a producer to oversee it) but that isn't even the issue. The issue is the desire or lack of desire, from the record company to embark on such a venture (and hence this discussion).

>and not much interest from Alice it is probably a loong way off.

That doesn't really have anything to do with it as a project like this doesn't normally depend on the artist being interested, especially for the main reason already given.

[Shoesalesman]

I'm struggling to comprehend that Constrictor is 30 years old, this is making me feel rather ancient right now.

Tell me about it. I bought that cassette at Woodwards of all places.

[patrick]

guess the vid for He's Back must have been one of the first videos by Alice I ever saw. I remember me buying Constrictor like it was yesterday.
It may not have been his best album, but I give it a spin now and then.
(skipping Thrill my Gorilla and Simple Disobediance, ..) and it brought my favourite Alice look back, after ao Zipper and Flush and Special Forces.
Happened to look at footage from Paris yesterday, with the alternative look at that time..voice being ok, much better than in the Strange Case.., but I prefer the character from the Nightmare Return show.

[tuneylune]

I feel old too, knowing C is that old. Remember being very excited once I got and while it is not the best album he ever did, still find it a fun listen. And as pointed out, that shows promoting the album seem to be fondly remembered ...saw it twice and scarfed up THE NIGHTMARE RETURNS on VHS (later on DVD).