yusuf-islam-celebrates-45-years-as-cat-stevens

[Deleted]

Update: message I got this morning:

Hello from Amazon.ca.

We wanted to let you know there's a delay with one or more items in the order.....

Cat Stevens "The Collection"
Estimated ship date: May 29, 2012 - October 05, 2012

[ptijerm]

My Chapters order is still saying the release date is May 15th. But now with your recent update from Amazon, I wonder if mine too will be delayed. Very frustrating. And still no information posted online. I may email Universal Canada to see if I can get any information on this release...

[Affy]

ooh that's taking the Micky - they should at least inform of you of the actual date of release rather than giving you a window of 4 and a bit months

[ptijerm]

Okay...so after a week of receiving no replies to several emails , I decided to call Universal Canada's 1-800 number and speak to customer service.

After providing the customer service representative with the catalog number for this box set (5337905), I was advised that this item has been "deleted"; that is, "phased out". In other words, there is no longer a planned release date for this box set!

I asked the customer service representative if there was a new catalog number issued for this item (and perhaps a new release date), but he was unable to find any additional information.

Needless to say, I am not feeling too optimistic that I will receive my order any time soon from Chapters (or any other Canadian retailer for that matter). Very disappointing.

Does anyone have any idea why this collection may have been deleted by Universal?

[JaneB]

Wow - very discouraging. I wonder if the response to pre-sale opportunity was too low to warrant production of the collection. It's the only thing that makes any sense.

[ptijerm]

Who knows? All I can say is it's very disappointing. I was really looking forward to this box set.

Interestingly, this is the second time in a couple of years I've been let down by the Cat camp/record company - the first being the promised-but-never-materialized North American release of the Yusuf Islam in Australia DVD. What a shame.

I'm still a big fan...just not too happy at this point.

Does anyone on this forum have any inside connections to the Cat camp? Would anyone be able to check to see what the real story is behind the decision to pull/delay this release? Did it come from Yusuf's people or Universal?

[Affy]

Oh thats really bad news - although i wasnt planning on buying it, i feel bad for the people who were

[ptijerm]

I just noticed that Amazon.ca has lowered the price of the Cat Stevens Collection box set to just $60.46! This works out to ~$68 with taxes and free shipping. Not bad for 11 CDs. Too bad it's a deleted item (LOL)

For those interested, here's the link to the Amazon.ca listing:

www.amazon.ca/Collection-Cat-Stevens/dp/B0075D8RMI/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1336569177&sr=1-3

[G-One]

At amazon.de the release date ist still on 2012-12-31
That's really a strange thing...

[ptijerm]

May 9, 2012 8:13:12 GMT -5 ptijerm said:

I just noticed that Amazon.ca has lowered the price of the Cat Stevens Collection box set to just $60.46! This works out to ~$68 with taxes and free shipping. Not bad for 11 CDs. Too bad it's a deleted item (LOL)

For those interested, here's the link to the Amazon.ca listing:

www.amazon.ca/Collection-Cat-Stevens/dp/B0075D8RMI/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1336569177&sr=1-3

The Amazon Canada listing is showing as "unavailable" again, with no price attached to it.

[Deleted]

Got this a few moments ago:


Hello from Amazon.ca.

We're sorry to report we won't be able to obtain the following item from your order:

Cat Stevens "The Collection"

Although we'd expected to be able to send this item to you, we've since found it's not available from any of our sources at this time. We realize this is disappointing news to receive, and we apologize for any inconvenience we've caused you.

We must apologize also for the length of time it's taken us to reach this conclusion. Until recently, we'd still hoped to obtain this item for you.

We've cancelled this item from your order.

Your order is now closed.


The whole affair is very strange. Especially since we've all seen the picture of the boxset and the book. See earlier posts.

ugh... the music business..............

[ptijerm]

Charles:

I'm sorry to hear that you received that message from Amazon.ca (the wording was similar to that which I received from Amazon UK a couple of weeks back). I was hoping that you might - miraculously - receive your order and give some hope that the box set does indeed exist and is available from some source. Unfortunately, it's not to be. Very disappointing indeed.

I agree that this whole affair is strange. As you've indicated, pictures of the boxset and book were released a while back. Universal even issued a press release announcing the box set and providing details about it.

What's stranger still is that Yusuf's camp has been silent on the topic of the box set and any 45th anniversary celebrations. I wonder if this was all some creation of Universal's, with limited (or no) involvement by Yusuf and his people? Perhaps that's why we're not seeing the box set. Perhaps Yusuf's camp put a stop to it because they didn't authorize it, or because it conflicted with the recent Moonshadow musical promotion? I wonder if there is any way to find this out with certainty?

Getting back to the box set, I checked my order from Chapters today; according to them, today is the release date for the box set. I've noticed that the item status has changed from "available for pre-order" to "ships in 1 - 2 weeks". I imagine in 1-2 weeks the status will change again to "ships in 2 - 5 months", similar to Amazon Canada. Needless to say, I don't expect to receive anything. I'm just curious to see how Chapters are going to handle orders for this non-existent item. LOL

I'll keep you posted.

[Affy]

I dont get it - is this box set even going to exist? doesn't seem like it which is a shame.

but the lack of any news on the box set i think is the worst, why has it been stopped?

ptijerm your probably right about zero involvement of Yusuf's team.

[JaneB]

This is on the inside cover of the "Moonshadow" musical program:



Granted, these things are arranged months in advance, but I would think there would be time to remove this if it isn't going to be released.

[Deleted]

Here we go again! Is it being released, yes or no? And where?

Thanks for the picture Jane.

[ptijerm]

This is great news! (I think)

Thanks for posting the program ad, Jane. It gives a glimmer of hope that my Chapters order may one day be fulfilled.

This is the first 'official' posting I've seen of a new release date, so that's a good sign...

[JaneB]

You're welcome, Glaucus and ptijerm. Like Glaucus said, here we go again!

I hope it means we will see it soon, but I'm dubious until one of us actually receives it.

[M.]

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