More Cohen on DVD

[Charles Axis]

I've often thought that it's a shame there's so little LC material available on DVD. There's so much that they could put out, yet it hasn't and doesn't seem likely to happen. I'm really amazed that "Songs from the life of" and "Spring 96" haven't been reissued on DVD by Sony. I think it's also rather sad that there are so many poor quality DVD bootlegs up on eBay that people are paying top dollar for.

[Scooby Doo]

Have you bought from E-Bay before?

Like most things in life there are good and bad (sellers).

I for one have bought from E-Bay and have been stung once, but have found rare good quality material, which otherwise would not have been available.

Don't believe everything you read until you have tried it yourself.

SD

[Charles Axis]

Yes, I have as a matter of fact. Most of the time it's been great and I've managed to obtain some real treasures. I've been stung more than once over the years, but that's to be expected I suppose. All I was trying to say is that over the last few months there have been a lot of LC bootleg DVDs up on eBay - some which are of a very poor standard. The point I was trying to make is that if some of the many LC documentaries, concerts, film clips etc were to be officially released it would alleviate this situation where people are paying top dollar for DVD bootlegs that are not always of a good quality.

[diamondsinthemine]

Scooby are you for real?
You spend half your posts recommending eBay to people and the other half slagging off sellers! Methinks you protest too much - you wouldn't be protecting your own market now would you....

[diamondsinthemine]

Charles - totally agree, see my recent posts on the subject! Why can't we have 'Bird on a Wire', Krasky, Omnibus etc on commercially available DVD? That would stop all this debating about the morals of trading/eBay dead and give us top quality products too!

[tomsakic]

I agree. But who can persuade Sony that there are actually thousands of people who would buy such DVD? I think Rasky planned the DVD along with Field Commander Cohen CD in 2001, but Columbia wasn't interested, and also Jarkko gave propose via Leonard (all clips+press materials for TNS - because Sony owns its copyrights). I think the truth is that Sony didn't recorded any of Leonard's show and they must buy the copyrights for the picture (be it from Austin TV, Spanish TV for San Sebastian 1988, Reykjavik TV, Helsinki TV), and those TV stations - like Austin who's releasing its shows on DVDs - must buy copyrights for sound from Sony! But problem is - again - in Sony, while some artists released their complete show from Austin Limits as their team found good partners in artists' publishers.

On the other side, Rasky's movie is produced by CBC, and Tony Palmer's Bird on a Wire is produced by Columbia/Cohen himself, so it can be published. I believe there are some other reasons (who wants to go so far back; what's with the first, Palmer's version, the version we saw is 2nd, Leonard's, and he wasn't satisfied even with it... you see the problems with that movie).

What's more interesting to me is that Rasky filmed at least three full shows (Antwerpen, Paris, Frankfurt 1979), and Palmer made 90 hours of concert footage ( ) at Belle Vue in Manchester, then Tel Aviv, Berlin, Vienna, and Copenhagen in 1972. Wild giess is that these shows are completely filmed, and placed somewhere in archives. We only need someone to get thru them, master it, and release some on DVD.

[jarkko]

According to information I got when FCC was released, Harry Rasky wanted to release the movie on DVD, but CBC did not give the required permission. - Sony's rights to the BBC documentary "Songs from the Life.." have expired years ago, and have not been renewed. This means that they should make a new contract for a DVD release.

[tomsakic]

And they're simply not interested, let's put it straightly
I still think if someone persuades Leanne Ungar/Leonard about the DVD, something would turn up, because his releases are never expensive for Sony, and they get more money back from their famous modest investment. Later Leonard can send them ten bucks again in the letter.

[Scooby Doo]

Scooby are you for real?
You spend half your posts recommending eBay to people and the other half slagging off sellers! Methinks you protest too much - you wouldn't be protecting your own market now would you....

So, I am a seller now am I? - lol

No, sorry to disappoint you, but just stating a fact my Dear Friend.

I for one would rather be buying official material, but know that it's unlikely to ever be released. The most interesting thing is to see is that Cohen appears to be far more popular than Sony and Co think. Does anyone know how well Mr Leonard Cohen sold?

SD

[tomsakic]

Ten New Songs

More than million copies sold worldwide
Platinum in Canada, Norway, Poland
Gold in France, Spain, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, Hungary, Sweden...

Last news, without numbers:
Dear Heather

Gold in Poland, Norway, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and Chech Republic.

I think there are some numbers for the gold status (different in each country). I firmly believe it will succed milion copies in 1-2 years (as LC is steady-but-long growing in sales).
So it's easy to compare those numbers with the investment they made.

[Antiochus]

In France last week I bought a Francis Cabrel dvd for 9euros. It is issued by sony. It shows the whole of one of his concerts + a load of extra goodies. Something like this of Cohen, the Isle of Wight or the ones that Tom mentions must surely be possible. By the way as any French person on the site will tell you the Cabrel is superb.

[Charles Axis]

I concur, it amazes me that Sony hasn't put something like this out on the market yet for LC. I mean it's a fairly standard sort of a thing to do for an artist on their label these days. It seems more and more like a case of neglect and stupidity on their behalf.