A few days ago I found the following information on the homepage of "Angel Air" records (who released the SAILOR DVD as well as the latest version of SAILOR's anthology CD boxed set: "Treasure Trove"):
"2008 Release Schedule
SJPCD267 Sailor Best Of/In Concert 2 Disc set - July (1CD/1DVD)"
What's this then?
Something new and great, you'd expect as a fan. But to calm the big excitement down... This is what I was told by Angel Air:
"Track listing of audio will be tracks of original band drawn from SJPCD249 release 'Treasure Trove' and on disc 2 this will be a NTSC version DVD of original 2003 DVD release (previously only on PAL). Track listing though still not finalized of audio."
Wonderful... Yet another CD including some songs from "Treaure Trove" (previously known as "Buried Treasure") to add to the confusion of all these wannabe "best of" and "greatest hits" compilations which never ever include all famous SAILOR songs.

What the world REALLY needs, though, is the re-release of the original SAILOR albums on CD.
I get a huge amount of requests all the time from people who are looking for "Trouble" or "The Third Step" or "Street Lamp" etc. etc.
But in the meantime NONE of the original SAILOR albums from the 70s and 90s are available anywhere at the moment. Most of their 1970s albums - "Sailor" (1974", "Trouble" (1975), "The Third Steo" (1976) and "Hideaway" (1978.) - were released on CD by Sony Music in the early 90s, but they stopped offering them a while ago and now all originals are out of print. Plus the two comeback albums "Sailor" from 1991 and "Street Lamp" from 1992 are out of print as well.
Other albums and songs seem completely lost. What happened to the whole of the "Chekpoint" LP (1977) and "Dressed For Drowning" (1980)? What happened to some singles and B-sides? ("The Runaway", "All I Need Is A Girl" or "Copacabana" for example.)
We're in 2008 and this seems to be the only band in the world where all original songs and albums are unavailable, partly lost in the record companies' archives.
This just can't be true!  

And then... To add to the confusion (as mentioned above) again... I found this on Ebay just a few minutes ago.
What on earth is this? Why does it show a picture of the 2001 - 2005 band line-up? And which versions does it include? Originals, re-recordings, live versions? Does anybody on the planet know about this release at all?
I bought it so I can find out.
Oh, and if the person who compiled this CD should happen to read this: No, these are not "all the hits"!

 

"disc 2 this will be a NTSC version DVD of original 2003 DVD release"

Actually, this part is a good deal for US fans, because many US-made DVD players won't play PAL discs, and the ones that do only show as black & white.

I do agree with you however about releases like this muddying the waters, so to speak. There is so much of Sailor's back catalog that I've never heard, and would love to. Until the day the record companies get their heads out of their bums and release these songs I guess I'll just have to enjoy the discs I do have.