Just when you thought you’d dutifully collected all the Blu-ray SteelBook editions for the entire Marvel superhero franchise, here comes a new wrinkle. Would you buy a special SteelBook for a soundtrack CD?
‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1’
Format: CD
Available at: Zavvi
Release date: May 4, 2018
Price: £15.99
As far as I’m aware, this is the first CD-sized SteelBook. [OK, fine, I guess I missed the ‘Man of Steel’ soundtrack CD SteelBook.] The soundtrack album for the 2014 ‘Guardians’ movie contains the following tracks:
- “Hooked on a Feeling” – Blue Swede
- “Go All the Way” – Raspberries
- “Spirit in the Sky” – Norman Greenbaum
- “Moonage Daydream” – David Bowie
- “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” – Elvin Bishop
- “I’m Not in Love” – 10cc
- “I Want You Back” – The Jackson 5
- “Come and Get Your Love” – Redbone
- “Cherry Bomb” – The Runaways
- “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” – Rupert Holmes
- “O-o-h Child” – Five Stairsteps
- “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
I find this to be of some mild curiosity, though I doubt I’ll start collecting CD SteelBooks. If I actually cared about the music, a digital download would be much more convenient and cheaper than this. Even as far as collectible gimmicks go, the audio cassette release is far more fitting with the content of this particular movie.
SteelBook fans, what do you say? Are you on board with CD SteelBooks, or is this just a dumb idea?
[Thanks to Julian for the tip.]
Luke Hickman
I have a steelbook ‘Man of Steel’ deluxe soundtrack (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/man-of-steel-original-score-limited-deluxe-edition-cd/9185467.p?skuId=9185467). It was released the same day as the standard soundtrack, so I didn’t have to double-dip for it. I like it, but I wouldn’t have double-dipped for it. I don’t even double-dip for Blu-ray steelbook re-releases, so I’m certainly not going to do it for CDs.
Timcharger
At the right price, I was going to double dip and get the Target exclusive, a red Steelbook.
https://www.target.com/p/man-of-steel-steel-case-only-at-target/-/A-14950831
The embossing is spectacular on MoS CD Steelbooks.
Josh: “As far as I’m aware, this is the first CD-sized SteelBook.”
I’m counting the Man of Steel Steelbooks twice. So this GotG is at best 3rd.
Luke Hickman
I wasn’t aware that this red version existed. I sure love this edition of the soundtrack. Not only is the steelbook solid, but the DTS:X app inclusion is awesome and the bonus tracks are excellent (I love “Hans’ Original Sketchbook”).
Timcharger
I recall when lookingfor the BvS soundtrack, wondering why they didn’t do another Steelbook CD.
Luke Hickman
Same here. For BvS, I ended up buying the limited edition vinyl records.
Timcharger
“[OK, fine, I guess I missed the ‘Man of Steel’ soundtrack CD SteelBook.]”
Fist bump.
🙂
Plissken99
Selling the same movie, in a smaller case.. and it was a cassette in the movie. Besides I enjoy the uniformity of my shelf, I don’t even like DVD size cases anymore. Utterly pointless cash grab.
Julian
What do you mean with ‘selling the same movie’? 🙂
Plissken99
It’s a double dip, in a smaller/cheaper package.
T.J. Kats
I think this is just a soundtrack not the movie.
Julian
Yeah, indeed, it’s just the soundtrack, not the movie 🙂
William Henley
This is something I may have been into 20 years ago. Now though, paying £16 plus international shipping to get only 12 songs, all of which I have MP3s of, seems steep. Yeah, you get a nice steelbook, but its not the first time I have seen CDs selling in a tin, and I never liked it in the past as the cases usually did not play nice with the media shelves. Truthfully, I find CDs pretty much an annoyance nowadays, and if I get one, it gets ripped immediately and uploaded to Amazon.
I would be surprised if Zavvi ordered more than a couple of hundred of these, and they will probably have trouble selling this stock.
Guy
As an avid CD purchaser, I have been rather annoyed with the dwindling specialness of disc packaging over the past ten years, but I’m not sure this is the solution. I miss CD booklets with actual artistry, lyrics and liner notes. They’re four pages if they’re included at all anymore. It’s the music collecting equivalent of barebones Blu-rays except more prevalent. Physical sales say substantive booklets are never returning for standard releases and I accept that.
In the case of an anniversary edition, a remaster or expanded box set of a classic album, I still wouldn’t want this I don’t think. They do pretty nifty things with CD digipacks or bound book-style packaging when they want to. SteelBooks would actually reduce the amount of visual artistry possible for music releases, whereas – when you get good rear and interior artwork – they expand things for movies.
photogdave
I prefer physical media for my music as much as my movies. However, I voted “…hope other collectors enjoy it.”
I feel I’m in the minority in that I wasn’t blown away or even mildly impressed with the way the music was used in the movie. It’s not that I don’t like the songs, it’s that I’ve been listening to them for years and have heard them all used very effectively in other movies already, so I didn’t find it very original to hear them used in this one. Kind of reminds me when everybody seemed to discover surf music after Pulp Fiction.
Plus, I already have them on various forms of media.
Timcharger
https://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/DTS_HeadphoneX_Debuts_on_Hans_Zimmers_Man_of_Steel_Soundtrack/11905
Palmer wrote about it.
Matt Golden
This design is not my bag, but to each their own.
I love the idea and artwork for most steenboks, I just wish the materials were better. They’re less “steelbook” and more “aluminum foil book”. They bend so, so easily that I’m nervous just opening them up, and their artwork scratches off wish such ease that I’m nervous even putting them next to each other on the shelf.
Josh Zyber
AuthorI recommend that any SteelBook collector should stock up on protective sleeves such as these:
https://www.bagsunlimited.com/product/3455/blu-ray-hd-dvd-case-sleeves
They’re fairly cheap and do a good job of preventing the cases from getting scratched.