The italian Needles & Pins

One of the most difficult picture covers (yes, I count this as a PS) to find today is the Italian promo only-pressing of Needles & Pins with the custom DJ-cover. This is also a single that it is very hard to find any information about.

According to an italian seller this ps was pressed for the single and after 

that rejected. The Needles & Pins single was distribuited in standard RCA company sleeves but some copies of the DJ-cover was given away to RCA chiefs. Some of them have reached the market since then.

Other sources say that the disc with this cover was distributed to radio stations. 

Maybe someone else knows more?

Title: Needles & Pins/She's the one (promo)

Number: Sire SRE 1009

Year: 1978

Country: Italy

Fake singles – part two

Here is another fake single, this time a quite convincing compilation EP from France (at least thats what the cover tells you). It has the Philips logo and same graphic look as the french Blitzkrieg Bop picture sleeve from 1977 despite that the year 1990 is printed on it. This bootleg contains four tracks, Sweet Rebel Rouster, Ramones  I don't wanna be learned/I don't wanna be tamed, Generation X Invisible man and Undertones Rock'n'Roll - Get it on. 

The single has been sold for ridiculous amounts of money, in june 2012 it went for $430 on Ebay. The record exists in at least three colors besides ordinary black vinyl: Green, red and purple. 

A strange record… Ramones and Sweet on the same record, the punk razorblade and the name "Philip's big power hits"! If I was collecting bootlegs I would rank this high – but I'm not.

Rockaway Beach – part one

Rockaway Beach, Dee Dee's masterpiece, was released as a single in november 1977. Maybe not the perfect timing for a song about going to the beach, but as Joey says in the book "The story of the Ramones": 
It was out of our control. A lot of things were ridiculous when it came to our releases. 

Still it was the Ramones highest-charting single ever, reeching number 66 on Billboard. It's also one of the singles available in most different pressings, there are at least 11 different versions including promos. 

Here are the North American pressings:

The US version with picture sleeve. Locket Love on the flip. The promo has Rockaway Beach in mono and in stereo.

Title: Rockaway Beach/Locket Love. Promo version: Rockaway Beach (mono)/Rockaway Beach (stereo)

Number: Sire SRE 1008

Year: 1977

Country: United States

The single was released in Canada through GRT records. Never issued with a picture sleeve here, the single came in the brown/pink GRT company sleeve. No promo version was released in Canada.

Title: Rockaway Beach/Locket Love 

Number: Sire GRT SRE 1008

Year: 1977

Country: Canada

Fake singles – part one

There are a couple of Ramones 45's that you sometimes see for sale as official releases although they are fakes. One single that I have seen listed in more than one discography over official Ramones releases is the peruvian Rock'n'Roll High School. It's a split 45 with Ham (Jam misspelled) on the other side. But if you listen to the record it's obvious that this is not a Ramones record.
The single usually goes for $200-400 on Ebay. That's ok if you are looking for a peruvian band covering the Ramones – but it's not a Ramones record. If anyone want a sound clip from the record just mail me.

Johnny, Joey, Tommy – and Tulu Ramone!

Have anybody taken the time to read the lyrics on the early japanese pressings? And I'm talking about the english lyrics, not the japanese. It's really crazy, I suppose someone has been sitting with paper and a pen, playing the record and trying to figure out what Joey is singing.

Here is two examples from the lyrics sheet that comes with the japanese It's alive:

Havana Affair

P.T. Ford was a winner

He used to make a living 

By bringing the bananas

now has a job for the C.I A.

A rep for the USA

Pinhead

Gabba, gabba, hey

You're a weed

Sutch a weed

'Cept you're one of us

You're a weed

Such a weed

'Cept you're one of us

The lyrics sheet also includes the things Joey is saying between the songs. My personal favorite is the introduction to Blitzkrieg Bop:

Well, it's good to be back in England and it's good to see all of you again. Take it Tulu!

With that said, all credit to those who made the Japanese sleeve designs in the 70's. The japanese singles are great, i will come back to them later.

The norwegian singles

There are no singles from the three first albums pressed in Scandinavia. The singles that was sold in Denmark, Sweden and Norway usually came from Germany, Holland and the UK.

But in 1978 Sire released one single pressed in Norway for the Scandinavian market, I wanna be sedated/I don't want you. There is no country of origin marked on the label but the matrix-number reveals that the record is pressed in Norway (SIR 001 A 9 P 78 FE 710). 78 is the year of release and 710 is the code for the pressing plant MIAS (Musikk-industri AS) in Oslo, Norway. The single was released in a blue Phonogram company sleeve pressed at Team Trykk located right by the pressing plant. 

The labels also have the ncb-markings. Ncb stands for Nordisk Copyright Bureau and this marking can be seen on almost every record pressed in Scandinavia.

Title: I wanna be sedated/I don't want you

Number: Sire SIR 001

Year: 1978

Country: Norway

In 1980 Sire released a second single pressed in Norway, Baby I love you/High risk insurance. Matrix: SIR 4031 3 P 80 F 710. I have not been able to get any information about this one. Was it released in a company sleeve or a plain white sleeve?

If you know anything more please let me know!

Title: Baby I love you/High risk insurance

Number: Sire SIR 4031

Year: 1980

Country: Norway

Thanks to Erling in Norway for info.

Blitzkrieg Bop – the US versions

Let's start from the beginning. In april 1976 Sire records released Blitzkrieg Bop in the United States as the debut single from the Ramones. Unfortunately the single never came in a picture sleeve in the US. There are four different versions of the single: 

The "normal" version with Havana Affair on the B-side. Both tracks in stereo. Issued with the green/white ABC Records company sleeve.

A promo version with Blitzkrieg Bop in mono and Havana Affair in stereo and white labels. The black star marks the A-side.

An alternative promo white label-version with Blitzkrieg Bop in mono and stereo.

This one also came in a stock version with ordinary yellow Sire labels. 

I have never seen the promo versions or the mono/stereo-single with stock labels in a company sleeve. I think they came in plain white die-cut sleeves. If anyone have more information about this, please let me know. 

Title: Blitzkrieg Bop/Havana Affair and Blitzkrieg Bop (mono)/Blitzkrieg Bop (stereo)

Number: Sire SAA-725

Year: 1976

Country: United States