When limited is really limited

Paul McCartney and Wings - 1971–73 Limited Edition Box Set

Remember when we used to laugh about the notion of limited edition releases? We laughed mainly because when the "limited edition" Traveling Wilburys CD boxed set of 2007 sold out everywhere, the record company simply pressed up another bunch, quite indistinguishable from the first run! A third pressing shifted the box colour from grey to blue.

We laughed at the Record Stores Day "limited" editions which are still available from online shops, years after the initial release!

RSD release of the classic Long Tall Sally EP

However, latecomers to last year's release of the Christmas singles collection found that they had waited too long, at that it really had been a limited release.

Last Christmas you could buy this boxed set of Beatles Christmas singles.

The boxed set is currently being resold at inflated prices, Amazon.com acts as a reseller and has it available for $132,45.

Wings Over Europe
Lately, we have found that the upcoming boxed set from Wings featuring both the DeLuxe Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway, plus a CD and assorted items to commemorate Wings' 1972 tour of Europe is largely unavailable, even at this pre-ordering stage.

Wings Over Europe boxed set

The limited edition boxed set have been available to preorder from Musicvaultz Canada, and UDiscover in Great Britain and Germany, as well as from the official USA Paul McCartney store, priced at $399.98. As far as we can understand, this boxed set will not be available through physical stores, and only from Universal Music, who are also running the official Paul McCartney online stores.

However, currently it seems that it's sold out from three of these locations, the exception being the USA shop. Readers from Europe have informed us that they have been able to order from the US shop, as long as they select payment by Paypal.

However, the UK UDiscover Store has it as "First edition - sold out", indicating that perhaps a second edition will eventually be made available.

Links:
Paul McCartney US Shop (USD $399.98 - in stock)
Musicvaultz Canada (CAD $554.99 - Sold out)
UDiscover Great Britain (GBP £319.99 First edition - sold out)
UDiscover Germany (EUR 369,99€ Sold out)