Saturday, August 24, 2013

The last two pressings from Portugal

When I wrote about the portuguese pressings I did only list the ones on Nova records. But thanks to Pedro from Portugal I'm now aware that there are two pressings from his country that I missed.
The first one is a portuguese edition of Ramones Mania released in 1988:


Album: Ramones Mania
Number: Sire 9257091
Year: 1988
Country: Portugal
Notes: Double comp album with printed inner sleeves.

The last one is a portuguese pressing of Brain Drain. This one was released in Portugal 1989 on Chrysalis records together with the local company Edisom Lda. As far as I know this is the only Ramones release on Chrysalis with the older white and blue labels. Thanks for letting me know, Pedro!



Album: Brain Drain
Number: Chrysalis/Edisom 615535
Year: 1989
Country: Portugal
Notes: Printed inner sheet. The record comes in a plain white inner bag.


Friday, June 7, 2013

Ramones and the record clubs

There are at least two Ramones albums that have been pressed exclusive for record clubs.
The first one is the debut album that was made for the Australian World Record Club in 1977. WRC started in England and operated i Australia from 1957 to the late 70's. The subscribers of the record club got a magazine each month, the World Record News, with articles on music and order forms for the new releases.
The sleeve of the Ramones LP is based on the australian release on Philips but with a small WRC logo on the front, a different catalog number and some information about WRC on the back. The labels are totally different.

The other club-release I have found is a version of Subterranean Jungle for the Columbia. The mail order service started in the early 1970's in USA by the Columbia Records division of CBS and was really big in the 1980's and early 1990's.
One of the records with a unique sleeve and labels on Columbia House was Subterranean Jungle. Unlike the standard US pressing this one don't have a barcode. The sleeve is marked with "Manufactured by Columbia House under license" and the labels has a different number. The record has the same inner sleeve with lyrics as the standard US pressing.

Album: Ramones
Number: W.R.C. R 90324
Year: 1977
Country: Australia




Album: Subterranean Jungle
Number: Sire W1-23800
Year: 1983
Country: USA




Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The spanish promo singles

There is a handful of promo singles from Spain. The first one is a four track promo EP that was released in 1978 to promote for acts on Sire records, Talking Heads, Flamin Groovies, Dead Boys and the Ramones. The next promo is the Rock'n'Roll Radio 7" from 1980. The promo version was issued in the same picture sleeve as the stock version but there are also copies in a Hispavox promo company sleeve.
Later on Ariola released white label promos of two singles, Howling At The Moon and Something To Believe In.
Here are the spanish promo 45's:





Songs: Talking Heads: Take Mer To The River, Ramones: Don't Come Close, Flamin' Groovies: Feel A Whole Lot Better, Dead Boys: 3rd Generation Nation
Number: Sire CP 319
Year: 1978
Country: Spain
Notes: Promo only-EP on 33 rpm 

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Songs: Do You Remember Rock'n'roll Radio?/Let's go
Number: Sire 45-2003
Year: 1980
Country: Spain
Notes: Promo, some copies in PS, others i promo-company sleeve. 


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Songs: Ramones: She's A Sensation, Pretenders: Message Of Love
Number: Hispavox CP-385
Year: 1981
Country: Spain
Notes: Promo, onesided flexi.

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Songs: Howling At The Moon/Wart Hog
Number: Ariola A-107.136
Year: 1985
Country: Spain
Notes: WL Promo.

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Songs: Something To Believe In/Somebody Put Something In My Drink
Number: Ariola A-108.387
Year: 1986
Country: Spain
Notes: WL Promo.



Friday, May 3, 2013

Howling At The Moon – and the rest

I have been searching for this single for a long time before I suddenly found it, the italian Howling At The Moon. It's a promo-only release on RCA records and it marks the end of the vinyl single era in Italy, at least when it comes to the Ramones.
RCA did the distribution in Italy right from the start, in 1977, and most of the italian Ramones releases have a white label promo version. Here is the complete list of 45's pressed in Italy:




Songs: Howling At The Moon/Chasing The Night
Number: RCA PB 6811
Year: 1985
Country: Italy
Notes: Promo only
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Songs: Baby I Love You/Do You Remember Rock'n'roll Radio?
Number: Sire SRE 1012
Year: 1980
Country: Italy
Notes: Two versions, stock copy and white label promo. Both came in the same PS.

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Songs: Ramones: Baby I Love You/Decibel: Contessa
Number: Sire JPB 6412
Year: 1980
Country: Italy
Notes: Juke-box single. 

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Songs: Ramones: Baby I Love You/Decibel: Contessa
Number: Sire JPB 6412
Year: 1980
Country: Italy
Notes: Same as above with a disputed "semi-legitimate" sleeve. Read more here. Watch out for fakes!

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Songs: Ramones: Needles & Pins/She's The One
Number: Sire SRE 1009
Year: 1978
Country: Italy
Notes: Distributed in the italian RCA company sleeve. A few copies have the DJ-sleeve but watch out for fakes!

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Songs: Do You Wanna Dance?/Rockaway Beach
Number: Sire SRE 1008
Year: 1978
Country: Italy
Notes: Two versions, stock copy and white label promo. Both came in the same PS.

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Name: Disco Refrain – Punk Collection
Number: RCA PF 6204
Year: 1978
Country: Italy
Notes: Promo EP with short versions of 8 songs, among them Rockaway Beach & Cretin Hop. It's most likely that this EP was distributed together with  this songbook:



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Songs: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker/I Don't Care
Number: Sire SAA 746
Year: 1977
Country: Italy
Notes: Two versions, stock copy and white label promo. Both came in the same PS.

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Songs: Glad To See You Go/Babysitter//California Sun/I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You (live)
Number: Sire SAA 734
Year: 1977
Country: Italy
Notes: Two versions, stock copy and white label promo. Both came in the same PS. Read more about this release here.



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Monday, April 29, 2013

The argentinian singles

In 1981 Music Hall in released a single under license from Sire records to promote the album Suenos Placenteros (Pleasant Dreams) in Argentina.
The single came in a white label promo version and a stock version with Sire labels. Both have titles in spanish and was issued in company sleeves.
Today, 32 years later, it looks like the promo version is easier to find than the stock version – but often with the handwritten XX on the labels.
Here they are, the only official singles from South America:


Songs: No Te Vayas (Don't Go)/Ven Ahora (Come On Now)

Number: Sire/Music Hall 32.829
Year: 1981
Country: Argentina
Notes: Stock version


Songs: No Te Vayas (Don't Go)/Ven Ahora (Come On Now)
Number: Music Hall 32.829
Year: 1981
Country: Argentina
Notes: Promo version