Box Set (commemorative for HOF) ???

They're not going to give us anything because this stuff doesn't sell and the audience that does want it is so small. There's no demand worth the effort to put out old, rare stuff as much as it sucks to say/hear.

Even if they wanted to release something, I don't think they could get away with keeping Richie out of it somehow, especially after having kissed and made up (for the cameras at least), so another reason to leave this behind as soon as possible.

But *if* they wanted to treat the fans with something special HOF-related, wouldn't it be AWESOME if they released a limited special (studio) version of WWWU with Richie on it???

They do if they a promoted right. The recent Def Leppard re-release of Hyseria did very well...and had about 1000% more promotion than the New Jersey re-issue.

True point but what could the band really put out at this point. If we're talking re-releasing classic albums with a bunch of extras, that's one thing. We're talking live concerts and unreleased songs. NJ already had a package put out, Slippery would probably sell well but I can't see an unreleased demox box set selling no matter how good the marketing is, there's just no audience for it.

That's why you don't market it as a Rarities Box Set. You do expanded versions of the albums with a bonus disc of unreleased demos, a bonus full live show on 2 x CDs, another show on DVD, a DVD with all the videos from that album and new interviews with the band about the album and the songs....I personally would be salivating over them!

the Hysteria box set was 7 discs long and they didn't really even give us much that hadn't already been released in some form. Expanded version of Slippery/Jersey/Faith/TD/Crush could all include some very welcome material...even the first 2 records

The fact that NJ has already been done is irrelvant as no one but the hardcore fans knew it was out, it was such a wasted opportunity! But I guess the timing wasn't great with Richie's exit so recent.

I don't think it's an irrelevant fact, no label will see a failed project and say "well let's try it again". The few fans that bought it won't re-buy it and if it's not hitting that audience it's not really for the casuals. You can only dig out a bunch of era specific songs that didn't make the album. I agree with what you're saying, go big with it and throw as much as you can at it but they blew their wad putting it out and not promoting it already.