I asked to Crockford Management about DS unreleased material and they answer me

[Terry01]

Tell me your opinions.

The answer of Crockford Management:

-----------------------------------------

Hi Enzo,

Thanks for your message. There is a large amount of material over the years that is never released officially!

There are many reasons why recordings may not be released - it may be that the quality is not considered high enough (as Mark only releases things he is 100% completely happy with), sometimes they were never recorded with intention to release them officially so are therefore not complete or suitable, sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled.

Apologies to not have a solid answer for the performances you have mentioned, but unfortunately I cannot find out the specific reasons for them not being released. If they haven’t been released yet, then they are unlikely to be in future.
--------------------------------------------------

I feel bad because its possible that all these archives and reccording never see the light, but well..

[quizzaciously]

As a guy who hates almost everything I put online for people to see, I can understand Mark not wanting to publish the material he's not satisfied with. Better late, than never, but better release really good, than "ok" content.

[PensaGhost]

sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled ?

LOL

[Terry01]

sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled ?

LOL

Yeah, that phrase was surprised me.. i honestly think it doesn't make much sense

[TheTimeWasWrong]

sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled ?

LOL

Yeah, that phrase was surprised me.. i honestly think it doesn't make much sense

It's quite common actually. The STP recording was a mess for example, I bought a magazine where Chuck talks about it, will try to find it.

Edit: here it is from TapeOp #97. The whole interview is really interesting!

On the Sailing to Philadelphia record, you started doing drums and bass on tape and got the rest digitally...
CA: Sailing to Philadelphia was a catastrophe, as far as the [file organization] – if you were to try to go back to it now. There’re a lot of things I didn’t know very well about keeping the [audio file] pool clean, and there’re probably lots of bits and pieces. I keep saying that we need to get the hard drives back from the label and consolidate the files on that record. Hopefully the drives will spin up; but I don’t know. I have said for years that they need to do it, but whenever I’m over here we don’t have enough time. Let’s hope that nobody ever needs a multitrack of that! [laughs] George Massenburg [Tape Op #54] and I were doing a seminar at British Grove recently and we were hammering it into their heads that. “You’ve got to do documentation,” and “File management is so important.” Who knows what will be next – 12.6 surround or something where the original multitracks will be required!

[PensaGhost]

sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled ?

LOL

Yeah, that phrase was surprised me.. i honestly think it doesn't make much sense

It's quite common actually. The STP recording was a mess for example, I bought a magazine where Chuck talks about it, will try to find it.

Edit: here it is from TapeOp #97. The whole interview is really interesting!

On the Sailing to Philadelphia record, you started doing drums and bass on tape and got the rest digitally...
CA: Sailing to Philadelphia was a catastrophe, as far as the [file organization] – if you were to try to go back to it now. There’re a lot of things I didn’t know very well about keeping the [audio file] pool clean, and there’re probably lots of bits and pieces. I keep saying that we need to get the hard drives back from the label and consolidate the files on that record. Hopefully the drives will spin up; but I don’t know. I have said for years that they need to do it, but whenever I’m over here we don’t have enough time. Let’s hope that nobody ever needs a multitrack of that! [laughs] George Massenburg [Tape Op #54] and I were doing a seminar at British Grove recently and we were hammering it into their heads that. “You’ve got to do documentation,” and “File management is so important.” Who knows what will be next – 12.6 surround or something where the original multitracks will be required!

it's quite common only for the amateurs

[quizzaciously]

sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled ?

LOL

Yeah, that phrase was surprised me.. i honestly think it doesn't make much sense

It's quite common actually. The STP recording was a mess for example, I bought a magazine where Chuck talks about it, will try to find it.

Edit: here it is from TapeOp #97. The whole interview is really interesting!

On the Sailing to Philadelphia record, you started doing drums and bass on tape and got the rest digitally...
CA: Sailing to Philadelphia was a catastrophe, as far as the [file organization] – if you were to try to go back to it now. There’re a lot of things I didn’t know very well about keeping the [audio file] pool clean, and there’re probably lots of bits and pieces. I keep saying that we need to get the hard drives back from the label and consolidate the files on that record. Hopefully the drives will spin up; but I don’t know. I have said for years that they need to do it, but whenever I’m over here we don’t have enough time. Let’s hope that nobody ever needs a multitrack of that! [laughs] George Massenburg [Tape Op #54] and I were doing a seminar at British Grove recently and we were hammering it into their heads that. “You’ve got to do documentation,” and “File management is so important.” Who knows what will be next – 12.6 surround or something where the original multitracks will be required!

it's quite common only for the amateurs

I know amateurs with much better file organisation lol

The funny thing is someday (hopefully) STP will be regarded as a true classic masterpiece record and nobody will have a decent mix of it except for the original.

[the visitor]

Tell me your opinions.

The answer of Crockford Management:

-----------------------------------------

Hi Enzo,

Thanks for your message. There is a large amount of material over the years that is never released officially!

There are many reasons why recordings may not be released - it may be that the quality is not considered high enough (as Mark only releases things he is 100% completely happy with), sometimes they were never recorded with intention to release them officially so are therefore not complete or suitable, sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled.

Apologies to not have a solid answer for the performances you have mentioned, but unfortunately I cannot find out the specific reasons for them not being released. If they haven’t been released yet, then they are unlikely to be in future.
--------------------------------------------------

I feel bad because its possible that all these archives and reccording never see the light, but well..

It's nice of them to give a full answer and respond to you, but feels pretty generic regarding recordings in general .  I'm still hopeful - a lot of this depends on the record company who as you can see from Chuck's interview will hold a lot of the mastertapes.

[Terry01]

Tell me your opinions.

The answer of Crockford Management:

-----------------------------------------

Hi Enzo,

Thanks for your message. There is a large amount of material over the years that is never released officially!

There are many reasons why recordings may not be released - it may be that the quality is not considered high enough (as Mark only releases things he is 100% completely happy with), sometimes they were never recorded with intention to release them officially so are therefore not complete or suitable, sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled.

Apologies to not have a solid answer for the performances you have mentioned, but unfortunately I cannot find out the specific reasons for them not being released. If they haven’t been released yet, then they are unlikely to be in future.
--------------------------------------------------

I feel bad because its possible that all these archives and reccording never see the light, but well..

It's nice of them to give a full answer and respond to you, but feels pretty generic regarding recordings in general .  I'm still hopeful - a lot of this depends on the record company who as you can see from Chuck's interview will hold a lot of the mastertapes.

Yes, i agree with you. I really apreciate that they answer me. Sincerely i dont think that they go to answer me.
Anyway.. hope that any day all the proshot recordings see the light (Wembley complete, OES Tour concerts, etc,etx)

[dustyvalentino]

Masters from some of the greatest artists ever got destroyed in the Universal fire so it's not really just amateurs.

[Jules]

sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled ?

LOL

Yeah, that phrase was surprised me.. i honestly think it doesn't make much sense

It's quite common actually. The STP recording was a mess for example, I bought a magazine where Chuck talks about it, will try to find it.

Edit: here it is from TapeOp #97. The whole interview is really interesting!

On the Sailing to Philadelphia record, you started doing drums and bass on tape and got the rest digitally...
CA: Sailing to Philadelphia was a catastrophe, as far as the [file organization] – if you were to try to go back to it now. There’re a lot of things I didn’t know very well about keeping the [audio file] pool clean, and there’re probably lots of bits and pieces. I keep saying that we need to get the hard drives back from the label and consolidate the files on that record. Hopefully the drives will spin up; but I don’t know. I have said for years that they need to do it, but whenever I’m over here we don’t have enough time. Let’s hope that nobody ever needs a multitrack of that! [laughs] George Massenburg [Tape Op #54] and I were doing a seminar at British Grove recently and we were hammering it into their heads that. “You’ve got to do documentation,” and “File management is so important.” Who knows what will be next – 12.6 surround or something where the original multitracks will be required!

Actually, they did a 5.1 surround version of STP in dvd audio and SACD in 2004, and they should had used the master tapes for it, so I imagine they manage to work about that...

https://www.discogs.com/es/Mark-Knopfler-Sailing-To-Philadelphia/release/3626303

The interview was from 2013 it looks:

https://tapeop.com/interviews/97/chuck-ainlay-and-mark-knopfler/

 Chuck Ainlay & Mark Knopfler: Dire Straits, British Grove Studios
by Nicolay Ketterer | Photographs by Wolfgang Manns and Guy Fletcher

"With him?" Mark Knopfler seemed amused about us coming along for an interview with engineer and producer Chuck Ainlay at Mark's British Grove Studios in Chiswick, London. Mark predicts it will only take two minutes. Of course, he knows that Chuck has more to say than that. The charming way Chuck and Mark wind each other up about their age and their time in the business shows their natural connection, which has been growing since the last years of Mark's band, Dire Straits, in the early '90s. Besides the Dire Straits releases On Every Street and On The Night, Chuck is probably best known for mixing and co- producing all of Mark's solo records. When we came by, they were mixing Mark's latest release, the double album Privateering, at the well-equipped British Grove.

What got you involved in engineering in the first place?

Chuck Ainlay: Like most people's story, I was a terrible musician but I love music. [laughs] I listened to music, always thinking about it and looking at the back covers. I kept my head inside the speakers all the time. In the band I was the guy who seemed gifted at getting the PA working. I went to Indiana University, and there was a studio in town that had a six-month recording program that I went to. I wanted to get into the studio somehow, but I grew up in a little farm town. There weren't schools for it there. I dropped out of the university and was going to go back home, get in another band and work in a factory. My dad had a client come in that said his son found out about a school in Nashville, so I went down there. Belmont University was the first to come up with a four-year BA program in Music Business. I lasted about two years; then I got a job and one thing led to another. When I got to Nashville I realized how bad a musician I was! There are so many great musicians there. If I wanted to be in the business, I figured I'd better concentrate on engineering.

I remember there was a story of how you got to work with Dire Straits on the On Every Street record. You got a call and didn't take it seriously?

CA: Oh yeah. I was mixing some terrible dance thing, and we were quite behind schedule. There was a lot of pressure. I got this phone call and it sounded like someone with a fake accent saying, "We'd like you to come and work with Dire Straits." I thought it was a friend of mine playing a prank. I said, "I don't have time for this" and hung up. [laughs] When I got home, my wife said, "The manager for Dire Straits called!" My heart sank. I thought I had blown it. Luckily he called back the next day and we made arrangements. I came over here [London] and didn't know anybody. They were the biggest band in the world at the time. I came from the whole Nashville scene, and of course Mark was very into that. But, at the same time, this was a rock-and-roll album.

He got you to bring the Nashville edge to it, along with Paul Franklin on the pedal steel guitar.

CA: Yeah, I think so. Mark's always been amazing that way, feeling trends before they happen. Even with the early Dire Straits stuff, Mark was ahead of the game. I don't think he thinks about it.

What should a project bring to the table to get you interested in it? Obviously with Dire Straits it was a great name and a great artist; but how about an unknown band approaching you?

CA: I'll take a call from an indie band, or some folk artist. It's really that I love music and I try to bring my best to everything I do. Generally, I wouldn't want to be involved with something that was a programmed recording. I literally can't stand it. When the tempo is so strict to the click because it's all programmed, it all feels like it's in a box. I don't get anything from that, and there are lots of better engineers for doing that kind of thing. You can take a recording with live, real instruments and take it to a grander landscape — that's me, that's what I do. I wouldn't say that I'm ideal for every project; but no matter what it is, I always try and do my best. Even if I think the material's not that great, I'm always going to find ways to make myself better. You can learn from anything. You have to keep working. You have to always stay involved in recording to stay sharp and stay on top. Sometimes it's where you did a recording. You'll pull it up and think, "This is terrible." And because it's terrible, you have to try and go really extreme with things. You can...
The rest of this article is only available with a Basic or Premium subscription, or by purchasing back issue #97. For an upcoming year's free subscription, and our current issue on PDF..

[Jules]

The answer of Crockford Management:

-----------------------------------------

Hi Enzo,

Thanks for your message. There is a large amount of material over the years that is never released officially!

There are many reasons why recordings may not be released - it may be that the quality is not considered high enough (as Mark only releases things he is 100% completely happy with), sometimes they were never recorded with intention to release them officially so are therefore not complete or suitable, sometimes the recordings are lost, damaged, or misfiled.

Apologies to not have a solid answer for the performances you have mentioned, but unfortunately I cannot find out the specific reasons for them not being released. If they haven’t been released yet, then they are unlikely to be in future.
--------------------------------------------------

"the quality is not considered high enough" is something that always makes me laugh, included when Guy says that "unreleased stuff remains unreleased for a good reason".

Guy referred to a song titled "Back in the day" that was supposed to be a bonus track for the DTRW record, in the Kansas diary entry, as "Mark wrote a song about it intended for the last album which remains an unreleased gem"

It is known that from the STP record there are at least another unreleased gem titled "Bonafide" that was good enough to be part of the STP tour rehearsals, together with another unreleased, "Pyroman". It's also known that from the GL sessions there was another unreleased gem titled "Bonfire night", and these are only the ones we know, I'm sure that if I had the chance to listen to all that unreleased songs, I would be able to set up a high quality record to be released immediately...

But the thing is MK only look forward, so his way to do that is forget about all that unreleased stuff and keep releasing new songs.

I guess that if someday he has a writers block, he might take those unreleased songs and release them, but, actually, DTRW has some songs that were left out for other previous records together with new songs, something he had to do because he was working in the record and in the musical at the same time, so he was creatively  more focused in the musical, that was something new he had never done before, than in the record itself.

Despite that, I love DTRW, and I'm sure I would love, and all of you would love, the record that could be done with all that unreleased gems...

One last thing. When you ask Led Zeppelin fans which one is their favourite Zepp record, most of them (including me) would say "Physical Graffiti", a double record made of songs left out of all the previous Zeppelin records. And it includes some of the all time Zepp classics!

[quizzaciously]

"the quality is not considered high enough" is something that always makes me laugh, included when Guy says that "unreleased stuff remains unreleased for a good reason".

Guy referred to a song titled "Back in the day" that was supposed to be a bonus track for the DTRW record, in the Kansas diary entry, as "Mark wrote a song about it intended for the last album which remains an unreleased gem"

It is known that from the STP record there are at least another unreleased gem titled "Bonafide" that was good enough to be part of the STP tour rehearsals, together with another unreleased, "Pyroman". It's also known that from the GL sessions there was another unreleased gem titled "Bonfire night", and these are only the ones we know, I'm sure that if I had the chance to listen to all that unreleased songs, I would be able to set up a high quality record to be released immediately...

But the thing is MK only look forward, so his way to do that is forget about all that unreleased stuff and keep releasing new songs.

I guess that if someday he has a writers block, he might take those unreleased songs and release them, but, actually, DTRW has some songs that were left out for other previous records together with new songs, something he had to do because he was working in the record and in the musical at the same time, so he was creatively  more focused in the musical, that was something new he had never done before, than in the record itself.

Despite that, I love DTRW, and I'm sure I would love, and all of you would love, the record that could be done with all that unreleased gems...

One last thing. When you ask Led Zeppelin fans which one is their favourite Zepp record, most of them (including me) would say "Physical Graffiti", a double record made of songs left out of all the previous Zeppelin records. And it includes some of the all time Zepp classics!

I think this is a very "psychological" and human thing... Because leftover doesn't mean it's something bad, often it's the opposite. You're not ready to release that, because it's unfinished, and it's unfinished, because it's complicated or waits for inspiration.

[PensaGhost]

so I guess the Henrik Hansen 2015 Live from the Tracker Tour Bluray got lost or damaged , right ? 

[Jules]

so I guess the Henrik Hansen 2015 Live from the Tracker Tour Bluray got lost or damaged , right ? 

They used lot of Hansen's stuff for the "Good on you son" videoclip so I guess that's safe...

But, it's a very likely explanation. I remember Toto filmed some of his shows some years ago to release a dvd/bluray that never got released, and it was, in Steve Lukather's words, because the person who was bringing all the material to the studio suffered a car accident and all the material was damaged in the accident...