Search - Emitt Rhodes :: The American Dream

BEWARE PIRATE COPIES OF THIS TITLE

BOB | LOS ANGELES, CA | 08/08/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"
An Amazon Marketplace Seller is shipping illegally-produced pirate copies (most likely of Russian manufacture) of the 2001 Universal Music Group Japan remastered "American Dream" CD. The UMG-J catalog number is UICY-3322, which appears on the pirated disc and its artwork ("American Dream" was manufactured by UMG-J, along with Rhodes' first album and "Farewell To Paradise" in 2001, and all three have sequential catalog numbers, UICY-3321, -22 & -23). And, no, this is definitely NOT the "Lilith"-label CD.



The genuine Japan versions of these three titles are highly sought after by in-the-know Emitt Rhodes fans, as they contain unique 24-bit remasters that are unavailable in, and superior to, any other version in the world. "American Dream" and "Farewell" were only manufactured once in small quantity, are both long sold out and now OOP (the first album has been re-pressed and is currently available), and both command high prices for the genuine item. Therein, of course, lies the motivation for the pirating.



The pirated CD comes with bad copies of the Japan artwork, no OBI (the Japan-language strip that is inside the cellophane of all genuine Japan CD's, see photo above), and the normal UMG-J imprinted bar code on the data side of the disc (see scans loaded above) is missing. Also, even the wrapping is wrong; all Japan CD's come in cellophane with machine-folded corners, where the pirated CD is in simple heat shrink-wrap.



If you have the misfortune to receive one of these from the same New York-based Marketplace Seller (I paid thirty-nine, now they're charging ten more!) I obtained mine from:



1.) Demand a return/refund via e-mail thru the Amazon system to the Seller

2.) Leave bad feedback for the Seller

3.) Lodge a complaint to Amazon at 800-201-7575, and/or send an e-mail to "reports at Amazon dot com" (replace "at" & "dot" with the appropriate web address symbols; Amazon does not allow web addresses to be published in reviews)

4.) File an Amazon A-to-Z Claim against the Seller if they do not respond, or

5.) Call your credit card company and dispute the charge, and they will process a chargeback to the Seller.



In my case, as the Seller would not respond, I called VISA to suspend the purchase charge, returned the CD WITH DELIVERY CONFIRMATION (so they can't claim later they never received it when VISA charges them back thru Amazon), left the Seller 1-star, detailed negative feedback (to warn other victims) and sent Amazon a Listings Policy Violation notice.



Selling pirate copies is very unkewl, and the high price the Seller is getting for this fake is even worse. As the Seller would not respond, it's very likely they're perfectly aware of the true nature of what they're hawking.



Beware."

Emitt Rhodes

Rebecca | Newton, Morocco | 04/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Emitt Rhodes is a treasure to find - an underrated McCartney-esque artist with a knack for songs that are catchy but interesting."