She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy (Radio Version)
You Had Me From Hello
How Forever Feels
Me And You
Fall In Love
She's Got It All
When I Close My Eyes
What I Need To Do (Radio Version)

(You're so right. Thanks, Dan.)

Hope I'm not asking you to violate any rules with that question!

Best,

Is an All-Canadian 70's & 80's disc in the cards? (All Billboard Top 40 hits, it goes without saying...)

1) No.

Sorry, if a disc that has mainstream songs and artists is a hit-or-miss prospect, how many people do you think are going to buy an all-Canadian artist disc?

After you remove the artists who are mainstream enough to have hits in the American market, that leaves Prozzac and the Tragically Hip as far as artists that someone south of Ottawa may have heard of - neither of whom have had any hits in the American market.

And that leaves SC spending money but not making money.

2) Sometime in 2001.

PS - I would guess that every single Spotlight and Star disc that we made in 2000 - that is made up of past hits - has several songs that have been requested. 8658, a 70s/80s Spot to be released in February has 9 or 10 requests from this forum that I know of. So does 8660, Headbangers, Vol. 9,

I don't know about that, but I did read on CNN.COM that Benjamin Orr, bass player/singer from The Cars died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 53. This was either last month or in Nov.

He was the voice behind such hits as Drive, Let's Go and other standards.

AnthonyT <=== had jello today!

Best,

Well, you already know about the biggies, so my power of surprise is somewhat diminished. But....

Spotlights
History of Crosby, Still, Nash & Young
Van Morrison
Here Comes the Funk, Vol. 2
Hits of the 80s, Vol. 1
2 - 70s & 80s
60s & 70s, Vol. 2
50s & 60s

3 Of A Kind - Diamond Rio, Shenandoah, Restless Heart
70s & 80s Country
Classic Country

Beatles
Stones, Vol. 1
Zeppelin, Vol. 2
Blues, Vol. 3
Queensryche, Rush,....

Stars
Hard Rock Hits, Vol. 4
Creed
Chili Peppers
Metallica, Vol. 2
Who
Three Dog Night
Roy Orbison
Done Henley
and one Female fronted rock band surprise...

Who is Done Henley (intentional typo?) And I've never heard of the Four Dots (the band with Queensryche & Rush).

Of course, I just CAN'T WAIT for Hits of the 80s, Vol. 1 and the 70s & 80s! (I'm guessing these are the 70's & 80's discs with the never-been-released-before songs?)

Best,

I'd also like to see that replacement track on the reissued BUFFETT disk (The one that replaces ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT - Ask Mark Speck, he knows what it is!) on an upcoming spotlight. This way I can have the song since I own the original disk and I'm not gonna replace it for one track.

I only buy SPOTLIGHTS. I own almost all of them. Its difficult for someone like me to put an 8 song disk into my library. If it ain't FULL, I don't want it taking up space. Keeping this in mind, when will we see that Moody Blues disk? And while I appreciate the fact that you finally put out Elton V2, what about all the other songs out there that have yet to see karaoke anywhere! Chloe, In Neon, Don't You Wanna Play This Game No More (Sartorial Eloquence), Ego, and other singles that should've made it here.

Another suggestion is some of the bizarre offbeat stuff like the GLORY OF GERSHWIN disk that was sung by superstars like Elton, Meatloaf, Cher, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Bon Jovi, and others singing some great Gershwin hits. Or doing material like the LEGACY album (Fleetwood Mac tribute) or TWO ROOMS (Elton John tribute) stuff by other artists all of whom have BIG names and would sell disks.

One track for the next Mama disk would be Pat Dailey's NYMPHOMANIAC. Pat Dailey does a lot of stuff like Buffett, but he's funnier! And usually dirtier!

And finally, Lorna Vallings TASTE from THE SKULLS is still no where to be seen. Its a GREAT song. There are women out there who would sing this song. I've had three women at my shows ask for it. Is it available? Nope!

Throw us "80's Children" a bone, BC! I'm really looking forward to this new series and just a little hint what we can look forward to would be awsome.

Happy to Give
Once you love somebody

Also I want to add Foreigner. The song

That was yesterday. This has been released on Sun Fly but, I would like for it to be included on the SC you listed.

Well, you bring up some new suggestions, and some tired war-horses. Had you listed an email address, I would have emailed this to you privately. I'm not trying to be a hard guy, but I'm always mystified when someone starts telling me about the decision making process at Sound Choice, and what will be a success or failure for us - without the benefit of information that would provide the basis for analysis from an informed point-of-view. Anyway...

Re: "Brown Eyed Girl"
You are correct that the original discs with this song had A mistake. 8107 or 2082 or the Foundation certainly have the mistake present.

In a perfect world, we would get it every time - but, then again, we're human. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, I doubt "man" instead of "mine" ruins the song or the karaoke experience for anyone. But I'm sure you can warn your singers about this mistake on your discs, and they will be able to substitute the correct word.

4/5: OOOPS - it ain't on this disc, so it won't be a problem. First it was on, then we replaced it with a new song we've never released before.

"Please make sure you switch the version from the AM radio cut to the album cut that says "Makin' Love in the green grass" instead of another "Hopping and a-running hey hey."

Not gonna happen. It doesn't make sense to me to re-record the vocals, remix the song, remaster the song, and encode the song again just to conform the track to a version of the song purchased and listened to by fewer people that the version we already have.

On the other hand, had we done it the other way originally, that would be fine, too. As you reference, that lyric alteration was made by the record company to accommodate AM radio in the late 60s - couldn't say "makin' love" back then.

Re: "Crazy Love"
"How about correcting the ending on CRAZY LOVE so that the singer can sing the end of the song?

I can't figure out what you could be talking about. Correcting it to what? Something different than the original Van Morrison arrangement? That track is very accurate to his original Moondance version, so I guess I'm not getting your point.

Re: "Caravan"
"Caravan has lyrics that are no where near what Van Morrison is supposed to be singing. "TO THE WORLD?" In live versions (Mark and I checked) he says "IF YOU WOULD" Considering they don't post these things right on the Van Morrison lyric site, no one can expect perfection. But if you can change it, please do. Lyrictosis has always been a problem with karaoke manufacturers."

Yes, lyricosis has always been, and will continue to be a challenge.

However, you are wrong about this particular song - at least according to the record company. We got the lyrics directly from the Van Morrison CD insert.

I think I see your point in using a live version as a reference, but the relevance of the live version by Van is debateable. I've seen Van probably 15 times, and he routinely changed lyrics on the fly to suit his mood of the night. Also, changed the musical arrangements (and, many times, the starting time for the show). "Caravan" turned into a 10-minute song most nights - I also saw him stop the song right in the middle of it and walk off the stage.

RE: Buffett
"I'd also like to see that replacement track on the reissued BUFFETT disk (The one that replaces ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT - Ask Mark Speck, he knows what it is!) on an upcoming spotlight. This way I can have the song since I own the original disk and I'm not gonna replace it for one track."

Good idea. One of these days, we'll get around to releasing lots of the songs that fell by the wayside due to the "discontinued" disc issues. If there's still room, maybe we could put it on one of "Silly Songs" discs.

"I only buy SPOTLIGHTS. I own almost all of them. Its difficult for someone like me to put an 8 song disk into my library. If it ain't FULL, I don't want it taking up space. Keeping this in mind, when will we see that Moody Blues disk?"

Well, I'm glad you're such a loyal customer. But one man's trash, is another man's treasure. What you consider and perceive as "ain't FULL", is simultaneously perceived by many customers as a necessary demonstration vocal track - possibly even by a singer at one of your shows.

Consider this: there may be 10,000 KJs in North America (probably a very generous estimate). Between Singing Machine, Vocopro, and several other hardware manufacturers, there were 750,000 CDG machines in stores at Xmas time this year. That's a lot of singers. 1% of that total probably exceeds the number of full-time KJs. Do the math.

We have NO plans at this time to ever release a Moody Blues Spotlight. Sorry. However, maybe we could start adding some of those songs to various 60s & 70s Spots.

"And while I appreciate the fact that you finally put out Elton V2, what about all the other songs out there that have yet to see karaoke anywhere! Chloe, In Neon, Don't You Wanna Play This Game No More (Sartorial Eloquence), Ego, and other singles that should've made it here. Another suggestion is some of the bizarre offbeat stuff like the GLORY OF GERSHWIN disk that was sung by superstars like Elton, Meatloaf, Cher, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Bon Jovi, and others singing some great Gershwin hits. Or doing material like the LEGACY album (Fleetwood Mac tribute) or TWO ROOMS (Elton John tribute) stuff by other artists all of whom have BIG names and would sell disks.
....
And finally, Lorna Vallings TASTE from THE SKULLS is still no where to be seen. Its a GREAT song. There are women out there who would sing this song. I've had three women at my shows ask for it. Is it available? Nope!"

Obscure or low-level hit songs: OK, I'll do most of those songs for you. All you have to do is ante up half the money for the cost of production. Based on the number of your requests, your end is anywhere from 25-50 grand.

How is it that you're so sure of what will be a hit and what won't be for Sound Choice? Because "3" singers ask you for it? So, if "3" singers ask you to buy a Neumann U-87 microphone, you'll go spend the 3K for it just because they asked you? Or, if "3" singers ask you to spend a grand for a couple more monitors, you're on your way to the Sweetwater catalog?

You need a lot more information than a few customer requests. I've got sales data and musical resource information coming out of my ears, not to mention the intimate cost details necessary to make any informed business decision - and I still second-guess myself on a daily basis. Here's our starting point for some of the factors that one would need to inform the decisions you seem to take as 'no-brainers':

How big is the market?
What are the costs for SC? How much does it cost to make a song or a disc?
What are our margins? How much do we make versus those costs and projected sales?
What discs are successful? What discs are duds?
Better yet, why are they hits or misses?
How popular are the artists? (I mean in karaoke.)
Were those songs big hits?
Have they lasted many years? Are they still played on the radio?
What other resources (outside the Studio) are involved and how much do they cost in terms of labor and materials?

"Obscure" and "karaoke" don't usually go together profitably for Sound Choice - unless it is a specific niche market/genre that also has a following in karaoke. The more money we spend on losers, the less money we make, and the more limited we have to be in our song selections to turn a profit.

Why don't you put up your requests in the appropriate thread, and let's see how much support you get from others. That information has factored into the production of hundreds of songs and many discs at Sound Choice. But 2, 3, 10 or so people don't make it. I've got page after page of support and suggestions for Weird Al and bubblegum, and that meant squat to our bottom line when those discs didn't do much.

rj,
I answered that last night in the Godsmack thread in the Ask Sound Choice forum.

Brian,
No "…Whales..". The song count started to get into the 30s when we began adding up all the great songs by them and their spawn bands.

And no Tommy James.

Anthony
No. Sorry.

found500
I'm not sure, but I would guess that you are referring to posts of mine on this thread from several months ago regarding discs released months ago - in December/2000 and January/2001.

Sorry, I don't think any of the songs you posted are on those 2 discs.

Sugarboy & MadGrrl
Yeah, me too. Keep dreamin'.

PS: Yo, Cliff - thanks a lot.

Best,

Thanks for "spilling" the karaoke beans on the other titles comming up later this year. Looking forward to some great discs from SC.

BTW: I was just thinking....8700 is just around the bend. These last 100 CD+Gs have just flown by.

I went back and looked at the lyric insert from Moondance, checked it against our lyric file, and listened to "Caravan"" on the Moondance disc. (Also checked to the live version on "It's Too Late To Stop Now" - the title itself is another ad-lib from his vocal on "Into The Mystic").

Anyway, the record company lyrics don't include any of Van's ad-libs from the performance on Moondance. The lyric sheet was probably turned in and printed before the recorded masters were turned in - if they included the lyric sheet back then.

There are lots of little phrases sung in that song that did not get printed. SC transcribed the ad-libs, including "if you would" or "to the world". From the point-of-view of the narration, either one makes sense, but I would agree that it sounds more like "if you would". Of course, with his guttural Belfast mumble, accuracy is fairly challenging.

PS - Moondance, over 30 years later is STILL one of the greatest recordings ever in the history of Rock and Roll!! The man has got soul-to-go, and is criminally underrated.

<boing, boing, boing, boing>

As I, myself, occasionally said to a female in a bar late at night: "Hey, I'm a guy... I can't help it. We're all lyin' dogs."

(Um, my co-workers in the neighboring cubicles are looking at me funny...)