Thought some of you would be interested to know that a box set is being released by Cherry Red in May,featuring 5 albums by Barry Ryan,as far as i know,the only albums that have been reissued where the first 2,when Revola released them on a single cd quite a few years ago,the other 3 albums have NEVER been reissued since their original release in the UK,as unfortunately after his initial success with Eloise,and his fantastically overblown but magically epic debut album with his brother Paul providing the songs,he's been unfairly neglected in his homeland in the UK,but seemed to be more appreciated in the likes of Germany and the continent!!
I for one am excited about this clamshell box set,and to actually hear those later 3 albums for the first time will be very interesting,there's NOT much i get excited about musically these days,but this has me salivating.
There's not many major acts from the late 60s/early 70s that haven't had their catalogue reissued(though the Dave Clark 5 haven't had a major reissue programme for their catalogue,but that seems to be down to Dave Clark himself),though there ARE many major artists who have had their catalogue reissued many times,some too many,so for Barry Ryans catalogue to at last be made available in 2024,though all together in a clamshell box,is good news indeed!!
I know some have wished this to happen for many years,so it's good Cherry Red via their 7Ts sublabel have obviously managed to licence ALL 5 albums,with the fifth album being released in 1979,so its taken near 45 years for this to happen,and i can only hope that when it's released in May,there's positive feedback,and people go out and buy it,instead of looking for freebies!
For labels like Cherry Red,and their sublabels,any bootlegging of their product CAN be the difference of making it even,making a profit or a loss,as it's such a niche market,with a tight margin,and if people buy physical product,in this case on cd,it encourages the labels to unearth other lost works,but if NOT,their effort,time and outgoings just AREN'T worth their trouble!!
Cheers!!
I'm looking forward to having everything in one little box by him as well. I've had the LPs for years but not played them in a long while. Odd tracks and occasional deep cuts turn up from him n compilation albums of the 70s here and there as diverse as glam rock and progressive pop. The extra discs that seeps up the more obscure or foreign language version of his singles is a useful catch-all round up as well. I would also like to see Cherry Red reissue his brother Paul Ryan's 'Scorpio Rising' solo album on CD along with some bonus tracks. You never know.