Sons of bitches made me buy it!

You've got great bitches I have to admit, mate!

Bought me it too and it's frigging cool. The artwork is glorious. Kate did a great job on this one once again (although I miss the EBW vinyl lable pics on the package).

Hearing those EBW in crystal clear quality is just wicked. It's the first time I heard EBW 6 in its entirety and felt in love instantly. There's so much goin' on, so many layers and bleeps so you can literally feel the love for details. Fuckin' hot and a great outro. Love it.

As for keep my composure pt 2, liking the new version more 'n more and noticed that the heroes beat is there too. Nevertheless a great acidy hip-chop track. Seems like the Galvanize/Burst Generator live transition had some influence on the new beat arrangement, that's pretty great (and the beat's stronger, which is good too).

Yup, got to say I have a thing for this collection. Got to be so, coz something that makes you shakin' your ass in the bathroom can't be bad at all.

(Still thinks Emi sucks)

just got it today in the post from hmv, lovely artwork. the 2xcd lmt one is in a lovely box with a postcard, and the 2xlp has the same postcard bt in 12x12. just gotta wait for my promo album and promo of midnight madness to arrive then its another set complete! kinda annoyed that i had to buy it on itunes too just to get the all rights remix :(

Since Best Buy nor Borders near me didn't have the limited edition (I don't like buying my music at book stores or electronic megalomarts anyway), I trekked on up to the nearest Virgin Meccastore last night. I'm glad I called to have them hold it because the only limited edition I saw in the store was the one that was at the front counter with my name on it.

If anyone in the States is wondering (and those who have a Virgin store in the area), there's a sale going on and the 2 CD limited edition is on currently going for $21.99. It's regularly priced at $27.99. I didn't pay too much attention to the regular 1 disc release but I think that was on sale for $12.99 or somewhere in the ballpark.

I really, really like the package put together with with the limited edition. The little "wish you were here" post card is a nice touch and I dig the booklet with the tweaked singles artwork. For those of you who love the Chems but are turned off by the release of Brotherhood as being just another money making tool - consider spending the few extra bucks and pick up the limited edition. It will be a nice compliment to your collection. It's not going to be around forever. The packaging is nice, this release (as is each release) is another cornerstone of the Chemical Brothers' career and of course you have the cool music!

And for those of you that are worried that the EBW disc will denegrate your painstakingly collected and sought after original EBW's - don't worry! Your EBW's are still worth their weight in gold IMO because they have the white label edge over the Brotherhood EBW's.

That said. I LOVE the EBW's!! Thanks so much Tom and Ed (and even the folks at EMI who've taken a beating here lately) for getting these out to those of us who can't get our hands on the hard-to-find white labels due to either not have turntables or money to throw at ebay sellers... It's so awesome to hear EBW 8 & 9 especially since the only versions of those songs I have are the radio rips premiered on Pete Tong all those months ago. There's other things I want to mention too, about the EBW's but I have to run out to the store right now, grab some din-din and I owe Jeanie a massive email. :D

Got the Brotherhood deluxe version and I must say I am dissapointed. I love the artwork and the packaging but the music itself isn't what I expected. And that for a skyrocketing € 24,-!!!

My major problem is the 'new' tracks which are the reason for me to buy it.

I really, really dislike the new Keep my composure edit. I love the "Heroes" version but the extra drumclap, vocals and sci-fi degrades the quality off the track. And the "Heroes" edit is such a good mix of acid-house and hip-hop. This is a 'less-is-more' track in my opion.

I didn't really like the Midnight Madness video but is was kinda funny. The music for the video was ok but the edit version on the cd is awfull. It seems a bit like "We don't have anymore time left on the cd, let's kill Midnight Madness". Such a sudden ending.

The bonus disc isn't much better. Most of the EBW's are available as b-sides of various singles and, as Whirly said, the vinyls are the gems of my collection which feels a little less valuable. But I expected EBW 5 (which is the only EBW missing in my collection) to be a lot more different than IBIA but it is the same as the IBIA 12" version. I expected the white label 'Africa' with his little differences.

And then there's that iTunes exclusive. I pay € 24,- for tracks I already have and the 1 track I don't have, All Rigths Reversed (Fight the Drabs mix), (and I think must of us) is a FUCKING iTunes album only track. That pisses me off!!!!

So although I am dissapointed I realy hope for a Brotherhood remixed (as said above by gjkendall) and I expect that track to be on it together with Hey boy hey girl (Soulwax remix) and Alive Alone (Coconut dub).

And as long as I am typing my furious post, where is the "official cd release" of the Rock Drill which I absolutley love???

Isn't there anything good about Brotherhood? Well I like it as being a new step up point for new fans after the 'Push the button' and 'We are the night' albums because those two are landmark albums. And I have EBW 3 and 9 on cd now.

I don't get it. Isn't there any pre-listen funktion in your cd stores as we have? I mean, expectations aside that would be my first step, if I was uncertain whether to buy it or not. And there'S a single only cd that could have cut the price in half if you already have almost all the EBW. And btw, that some of the EBW were already available on several singles wasn't much of secret, was it?

The only thing that bothers me is the obvious EMI rip-off the fans that were interested in the EBWs. They are the only ones that have to buy this expensive package, if you want a hardcopy of them.

"And then there's that iTunes exclusive. I pay € 24,- for tracks I already have and the 1 track I don't have, All Rigths Reversed (Fight the Drabs mix), (and I think most of us) is a FUCKING iTunes album only track. That pisses me off!!!!"

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Yes. It's weird that EMI tried to put an end to people downloading their mp3's and make people buy cd's by adding the awful copyright control bullshit (which in reality made people download even more), but when the same people actually want to buy the cd instead of a lousy mp3 they get less for their money (again) than the people they tried to stop in the first place. It's a strange thing. And of course the Japanese fans get more too: music:response as a bonus track on disc 1.

So the only ones who get fucked are the people who still buy cd's and who don't live in Japan. This kinda shit makes (good) record stores close their doors forever because people don't buy cd's anymore!

I bought it because I'm a completionist. But I rather would've seen a live album than yet another 'Best of' compilation. What's so difficult about putting together a nice live album?

I don't think you rant on the right ones. As much as I hate those EMI behaviour I doubt they're responsible for not offering us a live album. Guess it's e chemical thing as it was mentioned by one of them not to be so fond of releasing one. Why? I don't know. I seem to remember Ed saying he rather wanted the people to come to their live shows instead of watching it in front of a pointless (my interpretation) screen, which I can understand in some ways. Nevertheless, I'd doubt such a live album would decline the number of people joining a chems gig, quite the opposite. When I was skipping through the lately released Daft Punk Alive album it made me even wanna see them playing live.

And think of the times we're living in: the youtube-mania. This is more "destructive" than any live album could be.

does "with a kick and a twist" mean that the tracks on disc one are (slightly) different from how we already know them or is it just a marketing slogan?

It's EMI trying to make you think that you're getting a little more for your money

LULZ, EMI hatred is spreading. :D

haha i got the one disc version at walmart for 9 bucks lol. i was gonna get it somewhere else but im like damn ill just get it here

i'm still waiting for the limited edition to hit stores. if it's not in by end of this week, i'm asking my bro in seattle to pick it up, and i'll buy the crappy single cd one here.

yes, the real fans are getting ripped here!

By real fan you mean, hardcore fans that own every single piece of merchandise ever put out by the Chemical Brothers and therefore Brotherhood is a so-called "irrelevant" release as one person from here so elegantly put it? ;)

Or by ripped do you mean that some tunes are readily available yet other songs you have to jump through digital hoops to get?

There's 3 different releases of Brotherhood, all of which serve its purpose. I don't know a whole lot about the industry (not as much as I used to when things were different), but I do know a little. I don't mean to sound like am EMI apologist, and they have made mistakes and aren't perfect but geez - excercise some respect... The label has been very loyal to the Chems when they could have dropped them like *that* when things got tough or when corners needed to be cut. And the Chems were asked (quite a few years ago) whether they were going to jump ship from Astralwerks and they said no, they were loyal. Things change and that was then, this is now. But anyway, about Brotherhood and the like. It costs money to release this shit. Not just money in production and packaging, but money in advertising/marketing and all of the details that require human effort and time that go into releasing an album. Nothing's free (unless you feel above everyone and everything and steal it). Putting out 3 physical releases at one time is not something that very many labels do for very many bands anymore. It really is such a costly endeavor and given the financial stress EMI has been under in recent times, and considering it's breaktime for the boys inbetween albums and tours - I am assuming this is somewhat of a gamble. Obviously for the more hardcore, the lmt edition makes the most sense as it's got more artwork and the music to expand/complete collections. The regular 2 disc and single disc versions are geared toward fans who can't get the lmt edition yet or the more casual fan - 1-disc is meant for that someone who stopped to catch a glimpse of the boys at one of the many festivals they played this past year.

I DO understand it's frustrating when you have to download entire albums just to get one track. I don't know how that stuff works or what kind of deals iTunes has with record labels (Errol was going to give us more insight about that many months ago but he's been busy). But that's how it was before the internet (when we had to physically go out and buy whole albums just to get one song) and such business tactics only add to the list of excuses - some of which can be justified one way or another - as to why people pirate music. I'm not saying such practices are good and everyone has to agree... But. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy this album and feel ripped off by the label.

Sorry for the rant... and for beating a dead horse. I'll probably spare everyone and not say much else on the subject. So whatever. It's all well and good to vent frustration and get opinions out there, but I guess it's impossible to please 100% of the people 100% of the time... Maybe I'm just easy to please as I'm satisfied with my purchase of Brotherhood.

i WANT TO be satisfied - i can't find the "limited edition" right now, hence will pick up the single cd version, and then find tonnes of the limited edition double pack a few months down the line - do u get my drift?

i'll elaborate more later.

Oh, I know Jack :( - you've done everything short of walking barefoot over hot coals to get your Chems stuff and getting the word out locally where you are! It's gotta be hard living where you are because of the music being hard to come by when there's a new release.

I must've woken up on the wrong side of the bed because, re-reading what I wrote, I came across harsh & realize things didn't come out quite the way I meant them to. That bit about "irrelvant" wasn't directed at you (because you never said that, someone else did). So much baggin on the label got me unnecessarily riled up. Plus I had the other Brotherhood Why? thread in my mind. I wish there was a way to merge threads... anyhow, I see what you mean and I hope you can get your brother to pick up the limited edition for you - better sooner than later!

hehe - no offence taken. at all.

u get all the chems in india - u just get it slower sometimes. the virgin fucks have already put the single cd on racks, while they'r sitting their fat asses on the imports which will hit the shelves prolly the weekend and i'm frustrated.

i've anyway tracked down the guy handling the particular import and am getting a local friend in bby to pick up two sets of the limited edition for me directly from virgin - hopefully i wont have to wait till next week. hopefully.

this is the same guy who sent me 20 copies of the 3xLP of WATN last time for promo purposes - he's prolly having his periods this week, or turned a space cadet.

grrrr lost an ebay auction for the promo of the album and midnibght madness single......there seems to be a real lack of promo's floating around, very strange

Brotherhood..hate it or love it!

I too, don't know jack about running an album company but my guess is that the Chems (and their company) are trying hit all levels of the target audience who buy their music: 1)the new fans, 2)the ones who been around for a long while, and 3)the veterans! But your right Whirls, I also think that's kind of bold to put out 3 types of albums even though it's risky!

I wonder how many copies of Brotherhood sold so far?