February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The action comes in response to an agreement between the singer and the Woolworth?s record chain granting the latter exclusive rights to sell the singer?s new album, ?The Road to Freedom,? in the cross-channel market. HMV?s action was swift and decisive.
?We would very much like to support this artist as we have done for many years in the past,? said HMV Europe Product Director Steve Gallant. ?[But] it?s difficult for us to do this when his management appear to have so little faith in our ability to sell and merchandise his albums.?
Independent retailers are also joining the unofficial boycott. But not all of them are as gallant about it as, well, Mr. Gallant.
The Irish music bible, Hot Press, quotes the rather pointed remarks of Phil Pavling, the peeved owner of an indie shop, regarding the deal.
?I now have the perfect excuse to dead-stock everything in my store by this mawkishly sentimental, whimpering, simpering bag o? banal [rhymes with ?kite?],? he fumed. But sure, it?s just the pain talking, Phil. Soon Chris — or, as he?s now known, ?The Father of the Current Miss World? — will come to his senses. And all will be forgiven, right?
Luckily for Irish fans (or unluckily, depending on your perspective), the HMV ban does not extend to its outlets in Ireland. Which is quite a relief, since you never know when some poor Irish music lover is going to wake up and realize that ?Lady in Red? is missing from their CD collection.
By the way, for those of you who are not CDB fans — and I?m assuming that?s most of you — the headline for this story comes from a track on his 1986 album ?Into the Light.? Which is the only De Burgh album in my collection — I swear. (Come on, it was the ?80s; nobody had any taste.)