Rubellan Remasters (2026)

23/06/2026

My latest remastering project just arrived in the mail. I'd heard of this band before but hadn't heard the music until I was tapped to work on this reissue. Another very nice colored vinyl and CD release from the Futurismo label.

The fact is, I wouldn't have started my own label without Futurismo. At the time they asked me to remaster my first project for them in 2015, I hadn't done any professional projects for around five years. But when I started seeing the new projects I was working on for them come to completion, it's what motivated me to try again to figure out how to start my own label, for better or worse. So it's kinda cool that things have come sort of full circle that I'm still working on occasional reissues for them.

https://www.futurismoinc.com/category/releases

11/05/2026

Just some of the unused bits and pieces...

26/04/2026

Pretty accurate Google AI description of the label. I did pause for a moment when it said over 80 releases, but then I'm assuming that's including the multiple colored vinyl variants.

07/04/2026

Stories of the unreleased - Part 8:
I originally wasn't planning on getting into this one, but it dawned on me that I don't believe I ever shared much of the artwork. Also, for those who hadn't watched the YouTube series, there are likely details you didn't know. Plus, I'm uncomfortably sitting here after the first of two planned kidney stone surgeries this week, so I thought I'd pound out the story while I'm laid up.

In March 2021, I submitted a bunch of CD reissue requests for the band Split Enz. UMG hold the rights to their 1979-1984 catalog outside of Australia and New Zealand, so that's what I was going for. I released their Best Of compilation LP in September 2022 without issue, and began following up on the CDs. In January 2023, I received the following from final clearance: "Frenzy is cleared, and just needs some metadata fixes before I can send confirmation."

This began a nearly year-long silence on the CD format. I continued to get LP clearances but had plenty of outstanding CD reissue requests I had been waiting on, some going back many years. I sent numerous messages to both of my licensing contacts for the bulk of 2023 asking about the CD format, and if it's still an option. I was ignored time after time after time. I continued to receive contact about other subjects, but it was impossible to get them to reply about CDs. I had found the vinyl revival to be very selective, and had a few sales bombs in a row. And when an LP bombs, it's a hard hit financially.

Finally, in November 2023, I sent a somewhat stern message to my primary contact on the CD subject. He finally responds with misleading info. He replies that UMe are focusing more on LP licenses, but if I wanted to send over all my CD requests again, he'll see if he can get some movement. Note that LP licenses are around twice the cost of CD licenses. After reading this info, which he and his subordinate neglected to tell me in response to any one of the many messages I had sent over the year, I was pi**ed. But I remained the good little boy I had always been by email and just sent him over the requests... again.

The only way I managed to carry on as long as I had was by struggling to keep a positive view of my primary licensing contact. After finding that I had been exploited towards LP-only clearances because it better suited his bottom line felt like a huge betrayal, and I knew big damage had been done. I had tried view him as sort of an ally, but he ultimately proved to be the enemy after all. And a side note that labels who only requested CD, rather than a mix of formats like me, continued to get CD clearances during the year that I was being ignored.

With 2024 moving on with no CD clearances, despite being told Frenzy had been 'fully cleared' more than a year earlier, I asked my primary contact if there was an issue with Split Enz. He responded that he wasn't aware of any issues. Finally, on May 31, I received final clearance for Frenzy, with other titles just about complete. I immediately got to work creating the artwork, remastering the audio, paying the advance, paying the manufacturer and getting it into production. When I made the announcement of the CD in mid-July, it was soon brought to my attention that Eddie Rayner from the band posted a disapproving comment on Facebook. This wasn't anything new to me, I just tried to stay positive.

The following day, I got an email that the Frenzy license was being rescinded and no additional Enz titles will be cleared. They had been contacted by 'someone' associated with the band who had other plans for the catalog and did not want my release to happen. I was livid. Split Enz does not have an approval clause in their contract like That Petrol Emotion did, so his protest should have no impact. Instead, UMG decided to stick it to me, which meant another big financial loss, and what turned into the end of my patience for these people. He had the audacity to end his email with: "Thanks for your understanding." This phrase ripped into me as such patronizing arrogance. I sent a response a couple of days later to inform them the relationship had been destroyed, cancel all outstanding requests, and the label was closing down. The Frenzy CD is sitting next to the unreleased That Petrol Emotion CD in a darkened corner (and please don't ask for one). I can't stand to look at it. I have considered driving around the neighborhood and randomly flinging copies out the window, handing them out for trick-or-treat, or making a bonfire with them. Even more, I can barely listen to the band's material, it just makes me cringe.

Another deciding factor in the decision was health-related. Back in 2009, I developed a heart rhythm issue triggered by stress. I was working a heavy-stress job at the time, and I'm talking well beyond any sort of typical job-related situation. Since then, the intermittent episodes would appear during heavy stress situations. It was all very manageable. But in January 2024, it escalated. Between January and June, it went from a single episode to every day. When the Frenzy affair happened, which was on a Friday, I spent that entire weekend unable to get my rhythm back to normal. By Monday, I knew the persistent rhythm episode was caused not only by the Frenzy drama, but also the long-term dealings with the two licensing people were the contributing factors. Since they were the requirement to continuing the label, by Monday morning I decided to gain a little self-respect and close the label. Since then, I had a procedure in early 2025 that could have possibly fixed the rhythm issue. It failed, but I keep it fairly in check with twice-daily meds. That's what passion and determination gets you.

And that's why Rubellan Remasters is no longer an active label. At the time of the closure, I still had around 40 outstanding submissions that had yet to receive a denial or final approval, as well as others I was planning on submitting.

So here we are, nearly two years since all this happened. The Split Enz reissue series only recently started, and they are nowhere near getting to Frenzy, or any of the other titles I had requested, anytime soon. My edition of Frenzy likely would have been sold out by now, the contract would have been fulfilled, and the label would have limped along a while longer. I do miss working on new projects and polishing up some of my favorite albums, and it would have been nice to have carried on without such difficulties. Maybe in an alternate universe...

10/03/2026

Stories of the unreleased - Part 7:
I hadn't actually started the artwork on this one, but it is one I have been asked about quite a bit, so I thought I'd share its fate. In early 2020, I reissued the debut solo album on CD by The Cars vocalist Ric Ocasek titled Beatitude. The sales were decent and people were asking if I had plans to do the next one, the 1986 album This Side Of Paradise. I originally had no intention because, at the time, it was still readily available. Eventually, I decided to submit the request in March 2021.

There was very little in the way of bonus material for this one. Some people asked why I hadn't included on the Beatitude reissue the outtake Steal The Night, which appeared on a soundtrack called The King Of Comedy in 1983. I decided to try to add it on Paradise.

In February 2022, the request made it through the rounds and landed in the final clearance queue. She said she couldn't find any information that they owned Steal The Night, and asked what info I could share about the song. I showed her a screenshot from the Ocasek master tape list of the song, in case it helped confirmed ownership. After a month with no further response, I emailed suggesting she drop the track if it's proving difficult.

What I found about this person early on is that if a final clearance has even the slightest issue, she will put it aside and forget it exists. She seemed to only want to bother with things that can be wrapped up promptly. This is why my Berlin CDs were spaced out by about 6 months even though she got them at the same time. And it took numerous follow ups to finally get her to finish off Pleasure Victim, which required a slight bit more work than the earlier released Love Life CD.

After a while with no response about dropping the track or final clearance, I began my routine of occasionally sending inquiries. In her usual style, all of them were ignored. Note that these people would respond to messages on other topics, so it was obviously a conscious effort not to reply to certain subjects.

As the months and years went on, I came to realize this was another reissue that was going to die because she just didn't feel like getting back to it. At one point, I wrote a detailed complaint about her attitude to her boss, my primary contact. He responded very dismissive with a "we're really busy" excuse. As I would soon find, he turned out to be just as culpable as she was with regard to reissues dying in progress... or even after final clearance.

09/03/2026

Stories of the unreleased - Part 6:
When I first started my label, the intent was to be CD only. After a couple of years, and with all the hype about the supposed 'vinyl revival', I figured I'd start carefully submitting a few vinyl reissue requests. Among the first were a couple of Visage LPs - the self-titled debut and the 'Special Dance Mix' version of The Singles Collection. These were submitted in March 2020. I had released the self-titled Visage on CD in later 2018 and the 'Special Dance Mix' album on CD in January 2020. Both of these were my biggest selling CDs at the time, so I felt LP reissues would be a worthwhile risk.

A year later, the final clearance person got the requests in her queue after they had cleared all other departments. She asked me to confirm if this was the same one I had issued on CD the previous year. I confirmed it was. At this time, it seemed whenever she asked me questions about a title, it meant she was actively working on the final steps and the clearance would be received shortly. Since I was being optimistic, I prepared the LP side audio files and started working on the artwork. Prior to submitting the request, I took a poll here on Facebook asking how buyers would feel if I dropped the 'bonus' song Der Amboss from the album to prevent trying to cram nearly 30 minutes to that side of the LP. Over 90% of votes agreed it would be the better route, so that's why it's not in the track listing.

In early 2021, with Visage still doing well for me, I submitted another LP request to do the standard Visage singles collection, and with a couple alterations. Among those was adding the two 1984 singles that came out after the original compilation release in 1983. Oddly enough, I received final clearance for this one only about half a year later. I was happy to get it, but was very confused why the Special Dance Mix edition still hadn't come my way when it had been in her queue months before this one. Inquiries received no response.

After a full year with no clearance arriving, in early January 2022 I sent another inquiry. She responded: "I will check where I left this one and get back to you soon". That was the last I ever heard about this, despite having sent numerous attempted follow ups during the remaining years of my label, all of which were ignored. It was another case of a reissue request having made the rounds through the entire clearance process and landing in the final clearance queue where I would eventually find many reissues died. You had this one person left to finish off what everyone else had already reviewed, and she wouldn't do it for whatever reason. I came to view her as my nemesis during the last 4 years of my label.

There was a point where I considered resubmitting the request making this a 2-LP set. I would reinstate Der Amboss and add the 12" mixes of Love Glove and Beat Boy. Had communication not been such an infrequent chore to achieve, I would have made the request. As it stood, I felt starting over with the new configuration would just prolong the wait time. When I shut down the label two and half years after her final response on this album, I guess we still hadn't reached her definition of "soon".

08/03/2026

Stories of the unreleased - Part 5:
This is one of the better-known release cancellations, because when it happened I wasn't very shy about sharing the details. In 2022, I received final clearances for two CD reissues by the band That Petrol Emotion - End of the Millennium Psychosis Blues (1988) and Chemicrazy (1990). Each was to be jam-packed with bonus tracks. Contracts were signed, payment of the advances was made and work began constructing the artwork and remastering the audio. I had everything completed and approved for production. Chemicrazy was manufactured and I was preparing Psychosis Blues to send to the manufacturer. Everything was going well.

That was until I announced the reissues. Within a couple of days, I was contacted by the band's management telling me the band have an approval clause in their contract for any potential reissues, and they hadn't been notified about my plans. Notification is the job of the catalog owner, not the third-party label. And it seems the licensing people 'missed' this little detail in their (alleged) review of the contract. The problem is that my releases were conflicting with a band-approved box set of their albums that was to come out towards the end of the year. What ridiculously bad timing that these albums hadn't been touched in over 30 years, and then suddenly two of us third parties are licensing them at the same time. The universe needed a laugh, apparently.

After lengthy discussion with the band's manager, it was agreed that both releases could happen but had to be reviewed by UMG first. My plan was to try to get the releases out by July of that year to allow some time before this import box set became available in November. It was going to be a loss either way. Problem was that UMG were being their usual sluggish selves and nothing was moving forward. After a while, I got concerned about getting burned by the releases coming out too close to each other with mine being overshadowed by the more expansive import box set. With everything in limbo, I cancelled my planned reissues.

By this point, a very large amount of money had been spent on the projects, but it turned out the only thing UMG would consider reimbursing was the paid advances. They took zero responsibility for all the additional work done and money that had been paid based on their approval. It took nearly half a year and countless follow ups to finally get that partial refund. With all the additional monies spent on the projects outside of the advances, I lost several thousand dollars because of their inability to properly read a contract.

With Chemicrazy manufactured and sitting in my basement unable to be distributed (and no, please don't ask me for one), part of me wishes I would have also manufactured Psychosis Blues just to have a tangible item for all the work I had done. These were to have a 6-panel fold out insert, which was something I was trying for these reissues. At the time this debacle happened, I had just retired from my IT career to focus on the label, and wondered if I had made a mistake with this event happening so quickly after taking the leap. Instead, my occasionally ignorant determination won out and I carried on. At least for a couple more years until a similar situation became the grand finale.

07/03/2026

Stories of the unreleased - Part 4:
At least this one has a fairly happy outcome. In 2017, before I even had a release on my label, I tried to license the Lene Lovich catalog from the indie label that currently holds the rights. Lene's one of my favorites, and with her catalog not having been comprehensively represented on CD up to that point, I wanted to take a crack at it. The label owner originally asked that I get some titles released and check back in the future.

This would turn into a 3-year back-and-forth that came very close to happening but would run into various issues that prevented it. My plan was to start with a 40th anniversary edition of Lene's debut album Stateless as a 2-CD set with both editions of the album - the 1978 original and the 1979 re-sung/remixed version. After that, I wanted to move through the other albums, even making the New Toy EP a standalone release with various bonus live tracks and mixes.

After proving my seriousness by releasing 6 CDs in 2018, the second attempt to put this out was thwarted when a member of Lene's touring band threw tantrums online about the label considering licensing the albums out. Much of the work had been completed, including an 8-page booklet and most of the remastering, but the agreement I was told would be coming was held back because of the band member's fits. He really kicked and screamed about it, so I withdrew interest at the time fearing he would inhibit sales, and being disappointed in the label owner's sudden hesitation.

A year later, this band member was out of the picture (for the moment anyway), so I tried again. This time, the label wanted me to send them a batch of my reissues for review. When he got the CDs, he critiqued everything about them, other than the sound quality. He went as far as to share his unsolicited negative views of my label logo and website. I offered an unwarranted explanation on my motivation, i.e. cheezy sci-fi B-movie theme. After that, I threw my hands up and never attempted another follow up. Three years of circus tricks was enough for me.

In 2023, Cherry Red reached out to inform me they licensed the catalog. This wasn't a surprise, I expected they would eventually get to it. They seem to be able to license just about anything I couldn't over the years, so I figured they'd get to Lene. They contacted me because the label informed them of my past interest, and that I had already been remastering some of the material. Namely, the original mix of Stateless had no master tapes available, and my positive reputation of mastering from vinyl goes back to the 90s.

Toy Box, The Stiff Years, was released in late 2023 through Cherry Red. I provided some of the sleeve notes in the booklet and remastered the entire 4-CD set. It was disappointing that I couldn't make the catalog happen through my label years earlier, but this route was a good alternative. I remastered it the same way I would have for anything on my own label, and am very pleased with the final package.

06/03/2026

Stories of the unreleased - Part 3:
Going back to the beginning with Sony, 2017/2018. My initial plan for my label was to license the three original Altered Images albums for expanded CDs. Up to that point, the CDs had never been given a proper, high-quality reissue. Previous editions were either bare bones or had various problems. I wanted to do it right. Unfortunately, while I was waiting for my CD clearances, another label snatched the catalog and put out a haphazard box set. To this day, the albums still haven't been given a good CD reissue, IMO.

After I cancelled my reissue requests for the original albums, I then tried to license the band's original compilation album from 1984, Collected Images. The idea was to include the B sides as extra tracks and a bonus DVD with their 5 music videos. The determination to do an Altered Images project was as a tribute to an ailing friend of mine since it was this band that brought us together decades earlier. Full details of this and the whole Sony experience can be heard in episode 2 of the story of the life and death of my label on YouTube.

With UMG, there were occasional times, especially early on, where it seemed that things were going well. With Sony, it was a struggle from the start. Terror comes in twos, and it was another two people that I was required to work with that caused issues similar to what I would eventually encounter with UMG in later years. I climbed the ladder of management until I got to the top, and had a phone call with him about the difficulties. He stepped in to try to get the duo to have three titles fully cleared for me in the coming months, one of which was my Altered Images CD+DVD package.

As the struggles for communication and results continued, I got completely fried from trying to work with those two people and pulled the Sony plug after only one clearance. By that time, I was told the Collected Images album master had been digitally archived in high resolution, but the clearance never came before it all fell apart. The tribute project to my friend became the first Visage CD that I released later in 2018 through UMG, just days before he passed away.

If you zoom in on the image of the intended traycard, you can see the planned track listing. Since I have always been a fan of single covers being represented in CD packaging, I was putting together collages that were going to somehow end up pages in the booklet. There are also other little experiments that I was toying with for the possible CD and DVD labels. This could have been a really nice package, and it was the earliest scrapped in-progress reissue from what would turn out to be quite a few by the end of the label's run.

05/03/2026

Stories of the unreleased - Part 2:
Torch Song's 1987 compilation album Exhibit A was the second of the band's releases that looked as if it would finally be reissued on Rubellan Remasters in early 2022, along with the aforementioned Wish Thing album, on individual CDs without bonus tracks (due to contractual restrictions).

Exhibit A had been released on CD only in Japan in 1987, and is extremely rare and pricey. This compilation was a follow up to the band's second studio album 'Ecstasy', which was only briefly available in the UK in 1986. You may wonder why I hadn't asked to reissue Ecstasy instead of Exhibit A. My original plan when I first submitted the Exhibit A reissue request to UMG in 2017 was to test the waters of interest with this compilation.

However, when I later got to see the Torch Song master tape lists from the USA and the UK, not only did I not see a master for Ecstasy, but neither of the singles from the album showed masters either. It's possible that William Orbit holds those masters, since it was released through a different label than Wish Thing, though IRS is still listed in the album credits. UMGs search system at the time was a little quirky because I could have an artist's master's searched for on two different occasions and receive different results, so it's possible at least some of those masters were there. The lists of masters I received are from searches done under the names 'Torch Song' and "Torchsong', both of which yielded results. The masters for Wish Thing and Exhibit A were among those listed as available.

For anyone unfamiliar with Torch Song, I just posted my own brand-new remasters of some of their single remixes to my YouTube page: Can't Find My Way Home (https://youtu.be/A4pd-usBnTM), White Night (https://youtu.be/xtBPSGKJJlc), Ode To Billy Joe (https://youtu.be/fgRzlg-BY8o).

With the assurance of forthcoming clearances never materializing, the planned reissues of Wish Thing and Exhibit A remained criminally left in the dust by disinterested industry peeps. The irony is that all told, time was spent over two years to find the band's contract. And then the reissue requests went through the hands of multiple departments multiple times over several years, only to have them stopped at the final step by two people who decided that after all that had been done up to that point, they couldn't be bothered to put a period at the end of the sentence.

As with Wish Thing, the in-progress artwork with part 2 of the quickie liner notes was nearly complete before I realized I had been misled about the forthcoming final clearances.

Rubellan Remasters

23/06/2026

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