Different Dimensions

I remember back in the late 1990s I was wondering (and maybe John and Ben were too) why BMG/Camden in the UK released a different Tomita Best of album out of nowhere in 1997.

Looking at the track list I see no tracks from "The Planets", something I think all the other existing international "Best of" albums contain. So perhaps still lingering issues with the Holst tracks led BMG UK to create a domestic best of release.

 

I never understood that mess to begin with. If a work is published, and a person pays the proper royalties, why couldn't he make a recording of the work played on kazoo and steel drum if he wanted to?

In Tomita's case it was a masterful, imaginative recording, and the LP jacket even said "The Tomita Planets" which should have alerted anyone that this was not meant to be a verbatim performance of what Holst wrote.

I just don't get what the "estate"'s problem was/is.

 

England has or had different laws and Holst's heirs had further rights in England regarding performances of the composers copywritten works than other countries honor. A very similar ruling came down on W. Carlos around that time with the Edward Elgar estate regarding the use of the still under copyright theme "Pomp and Circumstance". I think they were saying the piece was altered without approval and they wanted to ban the public presentation of the alterations which of course the record company probably had no idea you could make a case of. It does seem rather odd in that numerous pop songs were always being covered legally.

It seems pretty clear that the incident and expense of recalling the album riled up RCA UK. Notice how 2 European rights controlled pieces on the follow up "Kosmos" were dropped in England (while American pieces, including the semi-obscure Ives piece and the German published "2001 Also Sprach Zarathustra" theme which presumably would sell albums were retained).

 

The Planets

I've never quite understood why the 'withdrawn after one day' UK issue of The Tomita Planets LP is considered scarce by Record Collector Magazine and given a valuation of £20 in mint condition. It's not that uncommon and crops up on Ebay regularly for as little as a couple of pounds. I can only assume when RCA eventually did re-issue the UK copies (and I don't know of any differences between the 'first day' issued copies and the later release) then there were plenty in the shops!