Sunday, October 28, 2012

Leave Home – the first pressings

It's not easy to sort out all the different pressings of the LP's. This is an attempt to list the first pressings of Leave Home, an album that came out in far more countries than the first LP. On top of that there is the Carbona not glue-controversy, when the record company replaced the song to avoid a lawsuit. Although the song did come out in most countries. The oddest release is perhaps the spanish, where the record company chosed to remove Now I wanna be a good boy, instead of Carbona note glue, and replace it with Sheena is a punk rocker! 

First pressings of Leave Home:

Country: US  
Sire SA 7528         
Year: 1977      
Notes: With Carbona and inner sleeve with lyrics. Rereleased as SR 6031 with Sheena the same year.








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Country: UK  
Sire 9103 254  
Year: 1977  
Notes: With Carbona and inner sleeve with lyrics. Phonogram distribution. Rereleased with the same record number and distribution but with Babysitter the same year without mention the song on the cover. Released a third time after that with Warner distribution, Babysitter listed on label and cover and the year 1976 printed on the label!




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Country: Holland     
Philips 6370 809  
Year: 1977  
Notes: With Carbona. Phonogram distribution.




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Country: Spain        
Philips 6370 812  
Year: 1977  
Notes: With Carbona & Sheena, no Good boy. Phonogram distribution. Rereleased in 1980 as Sire 60.463 with Sheena.






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Country: Germany  
Philips 6370 809  
Year: 1977  
Notes: Carbona + sticker on cover. Lyrics sheet. Rereleased as Sire 26 436 XOT with Sheena some year later.





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Country: Canada  
Sire/GRT 9147-7528 
Year: 1977 
Notes: With Carbona and inner with lyrics. Rereleased 77 or 78 as Sire QSR-6031 with Sheena.




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Country: Italy  
Sire SA 7528    
Year: 1977 (?)   
Notes: With Carbona in both a white label promo version and a the yellow label stock version. Rereleased in 1980 in the Best Buy-series (logo printed on the sleeve).




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Country: Portugal   
Sire SR 6031NP  
Year: 1978 (?) 
Notes: "Repacked-marked" with Sheena. 





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Country: New Zealand 
Philips 6370 809 
Year: 1977 
Notes: With Carbona, Phonogram distribution. The backside of the cover is white, not blue!





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Country: Australia   
Philips 6370 809 
Year: 1977 
Notes: With Carbona. Rereleased on Sire with Sheena and inner with lyrics around 78.




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Country: Japan 
Philips RJ-7208  
Year: 1977 
Notes: With Carbona. Inner sheet with lyrics and Obi. WLP and stock version.







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Country: Ireland 
Philips 9103 254  
Year: 1977 
Notes: with Babysitter and inner sleeve with lyrics.


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Country: Norway  
Philips 6370 809 
Year: 1977 
Notes: For the Scandinavian market. With Carbona. 




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Country: Mexico 
Philips LPR 15148 
Year: 1977 (?) 
Notes: With Carbona and Spanish titles on the back of the sleeve.






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Country: France       
Philips 9286 743  
Year: 1977  
Notes: With Carbona. Phonogram distribution.



Sunday, October 21, 2012

Record of the week – Les lycée des cancres!


When the movie soundtrack to Rock'n'roll High School was released in France the record company didn't use the original movie-poster drawing on the cover as the rest of the world did.
Both the LP and the single have a different artwork on the cover, unique to France.
Here they are! First the single.

Songs: Rock'n'roll High School/Danny says
Number: Sire 2 C008-64253
Year: 1980



Album: Le Lycée des cancres
Number: Sire 2 C068-62922
Year: 1980




Sunday, October 14, 2012

Ramones made it in Portugal


In 1977 Jose Manuel Fortunato bought a pressing plant in Portugal for $ 100.000. It only had two manual presses and four employees. Three years later, Fortunato had 30 employees and new machines. A major reason for the success was the Ramones.
The company, Companhia de Musica Nova, started with printing and distributing records in Portugal from U.S. and brittish labels such as Sire and Stiff.
"We were were having great success with the international repertoire. When one of the leaders of the company heard the Ramones for the first time he said" No way! ", But after a little while the Ramones were selling really well, not just on the street but also to wholesalers", said António Sérgio, who was responsible for the licensee releases, to a Portuguese journalist in 1995.
Many records was sold outside Portugal, in Sweden in the mid 80's it was possible to find lots of cheap Rocket to Russia and Road to ruin pressed in Portugal in the large supermarkets.
Nova released all the Ramones albums until Pleasant Dreams 1981. I have not been able to find out when the first album was released in Portugal, but my guess is 1978. The company began in 1977 and in 1979 they released the LP Música Moderna with the Portuguese post-punk band Corpo Diplomático which was possible because of the success of selling Ramones records. The Portuguese version has the same number as the second U.S. press, so it's unlikely that the record was released before 1978.
Along with the End of the Century Nova released two singles, Baby I love you and Do you remember rock'n'roll radio. They are the only Ramones-singles pressed in Portugal.

This is the the records pressed in Portugal:
Albums:
Ramones                    Sire Nova SR 6020 NP  1978?     
Leave Home               Sire Nova SR 6031 NP  1978?    With a fold out lyrics sheet
Rocket to Russia        Sire Nova SR 6042 NP  1978?    With a fold out lyrics sheet
Road to Ruin             Sire Nova SR 6063 NP  1978
It's alive                     Sire Nova SRK2 6074    1779
End of the Century   Sire Nova SR 6077 NP  1980
Pleasant Dreams      Sire Nova SRK 3571      1981

Singles:
Songs: Baby I love you/High Risk Insurance
Number: Sire Nova SRE 49182 NP
Year: 1980
Country: Portugal
Note: Released together with the local radio station Rock em Stock.




Songs: Do you remember Rock'n'roll Radio?/I want you around

Number: Sire Nova SIR 4037 NP

Year: 1980

Country: Portugal




Saturday, October 13, 2012

Record of the week – well-packed Boyfriend

Here is a copy of the first US single that came in a picture sleeve – I wanna be your boyfriend. This one is still in a sealed record store display. I don't know if singles generally was sold this way in the US in the 70's or if there was a particular chain of stores that did this. I have also seen a copy of Sheena is a punk rocker packed the same way. The price tag is still there, 95 cents...

Title: I wanna be your boyfriend//California Sun/I don't wanna walk around with you
Number: Sire SA-734
Year: 1976
Country: US


Monday, October 8, 2012

The german "Promo only'"

There are at least three Ramones-related "promo only" releases in Germany.
The first one is a LP from 1978 promoting the bands on Sire, The new sound are on Sire records. Ramones have two tracks, Sheena is a punk rocker and Do you wanna dance? The other bands are The Rezillos, The Flamin' Groovies, Richard Hell and the Voidoids and The Dead Boys.
The record has a flip up-sleeve with pictures of the bands along with a the history behind Sire records, all in german. And PROMOTION COPY - Not for sale printed on the back.





Title: The new sounds are on Sire records
Number: Sire/Ariola 26 439 XT
Year: 1978
Country: Germany
Note: Promo only


The second promo came in 1987 and is a bad looking single to promote Halfway to Sanity and the tour the same year. On the back of the sleeve the record company explains that the european tour unfortunately has been partially cancelled because "the drummer Richie Ramone left the band without any explanations" and that "Clem Burke (Elvis Ramone) had to replace him temporarily". This must be the only time Elvis Ramone is mentioned on a official Ramones record sleeve!




Title: I wanna live/Bye bye baby
Number: Upfront 6.14958
Year: 1987
Country: Germany 
Note: Promo only



The last german promo is once again a single to promote a new record, this time Brain Drain, and the german tour in 1989.
It's the only time ever I believe in miracles was released as a single. All screwed up on the flip.
The record is marked with "Unverkaufliche Promotion-single" (Promotion not for sale).




Title: I beliebe in miracles/All screwed up
Number: Chrysalis 112792
Year: 1989
Country: Germany 
Note: Promo only

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Record of the week – She's the one and Sheena

This is a nice one. The german issue of She's the one from the Road to ruin-album came in a great picture sleeve. Sire/Ariola was re-releasing the first three albums under the parole "The highest energy in rock!" in Germany at the time and the single was backed up with the studio-version of Sheena is a punk rocker.
The sleeve is made of thin paper, it's quite difficult to find a copies without seam split. That goes for all german singles from the 70's and the 80's.


Title: She's the one/Sheena is a punk rocker
Number: Sire/Ariola 100 394-100
Year: 1978
Country: Germany