More power to him. Search out these records at all costs...
quoted 52 lines <<THE SIMEON MANIFESTO: SILVER APPLES' DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE><<THE SIMEON MANIFESTO: SILVER APPLES' DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
>
>Whereas: The Motherfuckers seem to have a thing about stifling my career,
>and
>
>Whereas: They refuse to put reasonable licensing fees on those original
>tapes that are simply gathering cobwebs in their vaults, and
>
>Whereas: In spite of reasonable offers from several highly respected labels,
>they refuse to allow the tapes to be licensed, thereby putting a lid on the
>legitimate reissue of my music, and
>
>Whereas: No action has been taken by them against numerous piracies and
>bootlegs of the music contained on those tapes, and
>
>Whereas: All of my personal attempts to communicate with them about this
>have resulted in the silence of unreturned phone calls, I therefore must take
>the following action:
>
>I HEREBY DECLARE:
>
>That the tapes may be theirs, but the music is mine.
>
>That I will no longer allow them to stifle my career as a musician and
>composer.
>
>That I am taking control of my music and my life.
>
>That the Whirlybirds Records, Inc. reissue of this music, which were
>carefully remastered by Silver Apples to preserve the quality of the original
>vinyl LP's, are the only products authorized by silver Apples. All others,
>past, present and future, are piracies, no matter their origin.
>
>
>SIMEON
>Silver Apples>>
>
>My curiosity piqued, I asked Simeon what the heck all this was about. It
>seems Grand Royal approached MCA about licensing the famous, long out of
>print Silver Apples albums (a mint copy of either one easily changes hands
>for over $100...). MCA owns the Silver Apples recordings because it bought
>Decca, that owned the Kapp label the band originally recorded for in the
>'60s... Though the records have long been out of print, and MCA has no plans
>to re-issue the records itself, it behaved like a classic dog in the manger,
>quoting Grand Royal a licensing fee in the grossly prohibitive mid-five
>figure range! Previous to Grand Royal's licensing attempt, MCA had also
>spurned offers from Japan for $2,500 per track and at least half a dozen
>other interested parties; Simeon was so outraged by the lack of regard for
>his back account, he fired off the above Manifesto to MCA, then re-issued the
>Silver Apples albums his own bad self! MCA doesn't feel the matter is rich
>enough to sue Simeon over, proving that a bird in the hand is often worth
>jack-shit...