Meltdown is back – bigger than ever!

Almost 18 years after The Ramones split up there are still "official" vinyl coming out. The latest one is a 10" vinyl version of the 1980 EP Meltdown With The Ramones.
This time it is a special pressing on colored vinyl that will be sold on Record Store Day, april 19, 2014. 

"Released for the first time ever in the States on navy vinyl", is the message on the official Record Store Day website. The record label is Rhino.

Read more about the original Meltdown EP here.  

Ramones and the italian jukebox singles

Recently someone on Ebay tried to sell this “rare holecover” for a “jukebox edition” of first italian Ramones single with Glad to see yo go + three tracks.
I couldn’t get this together. First of all there is no jukebox edition of this single. And if someone distributed the record to jukebox owners, why cut a hole in the cover?
Now I have done some research and this is what I found out:
Italy has a remarkable amount of jukebox editions, records specially made for jukeboxes and often with two different artist on A and B-side. The history behind these special editions goes back to the second world war. After the war a lot of jukeboxes came to Italy with US military transports.
The jukeboxes ended up in bars and restaurants around the country but a big problem for the owners was the price of the records, they where to expensive.
By this time two italians friends that had met in the army got an idea. One of them worked in a record store and the other was the son of a the italian RCA manager in Rome. The idea was to distribute singles exclusive for jukeboxes and reduce the cost by not selling the to the public and not use any picture sleeves.
The first jukebox editions was the same pressings as the normal retail version of the record but with a stamp telling that the record was “Edizione speciale per Juke box - Vietata la vendita”, Special Jukebox edition – not for resale. The records was sold to a reduced price and distributed in RCA company sleeves.
But soon dishonest sellers discovered that they cold remove the stamp and sell the records and double the profit. This is why the record labels in Italy started press special jukebox editions and to make it even more valuable for the jukebox owners they usually put an local artist on one side and a bigger, international artist on the other. Two hit songs at the price of one. Or a half, more particularly.
Another way to reduce cost was to use surplus picture sleeves that had remained unsold, cut a hole in them with the size of the label of the record and distribute the jukebox editions in these “holecovers”. They were called “neutral covers” and was used radomly.
This brings us back to the The Ramones “holecover sleeve” on Ebay. This sleeve was made for a jukebox edition single – but not especially for a Ramones record. Any jukebox record could end up in the sleeve.
The only italian jukebox single with a Ramones song is Baby I Love You with the italian band Contessa on the flip. This is how I have seen that single being sold, in a holecover sleeve with an "random" italian artist.

Finally, the italian jukebox singles should not be considered as promos. A promo record is not for sale, the jukebox editions was sold but to a reduced price.

Ramones on Liberation Records

From 1985 the biggest independent label in Australia, Mushroom Records, had a foreign licensing division called Liberation Records. 

In 1989 they got the license deal for the new Ramones album, Brain Drain. Liberation released the album for the australian market along with the single Pet Sematary. The single was issued with a different picture sleeve compared to the rest of the world – but things got wrong.

The writing credits on the back of the sleeve are mixed up and the sleeve was withdrawn. The single was sold in an australian CBS company sleeve. Still it's not that hard to find a copy with the picture sleeve so I guess a lot of them ended up for sale anyhow. Read more about the single here.

After Brain Drain Liberation released three older albums in reverse order. Halfway To Sanity came out in 1989, Animal Boy and Too Tough To Die was released the year after, in 1990.

Brain Drain has the printed inner sleeve, the rest of the albums came in a plastic inner bag only. For some reason the first two releases have a barcode but not Animal Boy and Too Tough To Die.

Album: Brain Drain

Number: Liberation 105218-1

Year: 1989.

Country: Australia.

Notes: With printed inner sleeve.

Album: Halfway To Sanity

Number: Liberation 105220-1

Year: 1989.

Country: Australia.

Notes: No printed inner sleeve.

Album: Animal Boy

Number: Liberation 1L 30323

Year: 1990.

Country: Australia.

Notes: No printed inner sleeve.

Album: Too Tough To Die

Number: Liberation 1L 30324

Year: 1990.

Country: Australia.

Notes: No printed inner sleeve.

The spanish Road To Ruin – two versions

Road To Ruin was released in Spain in 1978 by Hispavox. It makes it the second Ramones album in Spain after Leave Home the year before.
There are two versions of the spanish Road to Ruin, one has a yellow insert with lyrics. the other has text that wraps around the entire label and a black and white insert.
The labels on the latter have the same design as on the spanish Pleasant Dreams, released in 1981. That, and the different matrix number, makes me convinced that the version of Road To Ruin with black and white insert is a second pressing.
Another difference between the two versions is the weight, the first pressing is pressed on 150 g vinyl, the second on 125 g vinyl.
The sleeve looks the same on both versions, laminated and with the Hispavox logo on the back.

Album: Road To Ruin

Number: Sire S 60.137

Year: 1978

Country: Spain

Matrix number, side A: S.6037-A1   1-     Side B: S.60.137-B1    1

Notes: First press with yellow insert. Weight: 150 g.

Album: Road To Ruin

Number: Sire S 60.137

Year: 1981 ?

Country: Spain

Matrix number, side A: S.6037-A1   1- 2    Side B: S.60.137-B1    1-2

Notes: Second press with black and white insert. Weight: 125 g.

Blitzkrieg Bop on styrene – and vinyl

As I told you here, one of the US versions of the Blitzkrieg Bop-single is pressed on styrene. It is the stock version with Blitzkrieg Bop in mono and Havana Affair in stereo. Just when I found that out I got my hands on another copy of this single – but this time on vinyl.
The record got the same labels but a slightly different matrix number. Both are in plain white die-cut sleeves.
So, if you want them all, there are at least two versions of the US Blitzkrieg Bop Mono 7" with yellow stock labels. Promo and stereo-versions you find here.

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

Number: Sire SAA-725

Year: 1976

Country: United States

Matrix number, A-side:  #725-AM-RE-1 -3   B-side: #725 BS -3 RE1

Notes: Styrene pressing.

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

Number: Sire SAA-725

Year: 1976

Country: United States

Matrix number, A-side:  #725-AM-RE-1 -6   B-side: #725 BS -5 RE1

Notes: Vinyl pressing.

The scandinavian pressings – part 4

This is the last part about the scandinavian vinyl-pressings. This time it's the singles, the compilations and the re-pressings. I start with the compilations:

In 1977 Phonogram released a series of five split-albums under the name "Rock on". The first album was the split with Ramones and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The records was pressed i Norway but made for the swedish market and released on the Philips label. It has songs from the first LP and Leave Home together with two live tracks. Read more about this release here.

Album: Ramones/Tom Petty & he Heartbreakers

Number: Philips 9199 272

Year: 1977

Country: Norway (sold in Sweden)

The record was sold with an info sheet, a contest and stickers.

In 1979 the soundtrack to Rock'n'Roll High School was released in Norway. The labels has the ncb-mark and the sleeve has the Team-Trykk Oslo-sign.

Singles: Two singles was released in Norway, I Wanna Be Sedated and Baby I Love You. Both came in company sleeves only, no picture sleeves. Read more here and here.

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

Number: Sire SIR 001

Year: 1978

Country: Norway

Title: Baby I love you/High risk insurance

Number: Sire SIR 4031

Year: 1980

Country: Norway

Re-pressings: the first Ramones album released in Scandinavia was Leave Home in 1977 followed by Rocket To Russia in 1978. Both on the Philips label. Shortly after that the two albums was rereleased on Sire records. The pressing plant was once again MIAS (Musikk-industri AS) in Oslo, Norway, and they used the stampers. The old machine stamped Philips catalogue number was simply crossed over and a new Sire number was written by hand.
An interesting fact is that the Sire-version of Leave Home has the new catalogue number SR 6031 that on almost all other pressings have Sheena Is A Punk Rocker instead of Carbona Not Glue. But this norwegian second press of Leave Home still has the banned Carbona Not Glue!

Album: Leave Home

Number: Sire SR 6031

Year: 1978

Country: Norway

Matrix number, side A: 6370 809 (crossed over) A 9 P 77 F 710          SR-6031-A (hand-written)

Side B: 6370 809 (crossed over) B 9 P 77 F 710          SR-6031-B (hand-written)

Album: Rocket To Russia

Number: Sire SR 6031

Year: 1978

Country: Norway

Matrix number, side A: 6370 816 (crossed over) A 4 P 78 F 710 2          6042 (hand-written)

Side B: 716 48 84 (crossed over) B 4 P 78 TA 710     6310 816 B (crossed over)        SR-6042-B (hand-written)

The scandinavian pressings – part 1

The scandinavian pressings – part 2

The scandinavian pressings – part 3

For the first time in Germany!

Sheena Is A Punk Rocker from 1977 was the first Ramones single released in Germany. It was sold all over northern Europe and is still quite easy to find. The problem is the thin, textured paper. A lot of sleeves have seam split.
The single was released on Philips to promote Leave Home, read more here.
Original New York Punk Rock!

Title: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker/I Don't Care 

Number: Philips 6078 511

Year: 1977

Country: West Germany

The scandinavian pressings – part 3

Producer Jean Beauvoir, Monte Melnick, tour manager and 

Joey Ramone at Polar Studios in Stockholm 1986.

Photo: Cretin-Family

In 1984 the Ramones signed with the independed record label Beggars Banquett who released the band new album Too Tough To Die in the UK.
In Sweden there was another label that got the license for the Scandinavian and finnish market, Tandan Records. The label was started one year earlier by a big profile in swedish record industry, Sanji Tandan.
The first release was Too Tough To Die in 1985. The same year Tandan put out one of the more obscure Ramones records ever, a 12" single with a remix of Howling At The Moon (Sha-La-La). It is an extended "dance"-version, much longer than the original version, with additional synthesizers and drums.
The song was remixed at the Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden by Anders Oredsson and Olle Larsson. Polar Studios is the same studio that ABBA used for all their albums.
One source on the net claims that the remix was unauthorized by the band and that they disliked it. I doubt it at least when it comes to Joey. The pop-loving front man was in Stockholm shortly after the release of the remix doing additional singing for the next album, Animal Boy. The producer Jean Beauvoir was with him, the studio was Polar and the engineer was the man behind the remix, Anders Oredsson. In an interview with a swedish journalist in the Polar Studios Joey Ramone explained how much he admired ABBA.
The next album pressed in Sweden was Animal Boy. This time on another of Sanju Tandans labels, Alpha Records.
This was the last vinyl record by the Ramones that was pressed in Scandinavia. After this it was mostly german pressings in the record stores.

Album: Too Tough Too Die

Format: LP

Number: Tandan RAMLP 001

Year: 1985.

Country: Sweden.

Matrix number, A-side: RAMO LP 001 A      B-side: RAMO LP 001 B

Album: howling At The Moon (Sha-La-La)//Too Tough To Die (original version)/Mama's Boy (original version)

Format: 12"

Number: Tandan RAM MAX 001

Year: 1985.

Country: Sweden.

Matrix number, A-side: RAMO MAX 001 A      B-side: RAMO MAX 001 B

Album: Animal Boy

Format: LP

Number: Alpha RAMLP 002

Year: 1986.

Country: Sweden.

Matrix number, A-side: RAMLP 002 A      B-side: RAMLP 002 B

The scandinavian pressings – part 1

The scandinavian pressings – part 2

Ramones on styrene

"Styrene is evil", I read on a blog. But it's not only evil, it's also a kind of plastic that was used for making records. The reason is that it is cheaper than vinyl. The reason it is evil is because styrene is easy degradable, the material is so poor that the record will wear to a bad, noisy condition rapidly. A mint looking record can easily sound crap. I have told you before about the styrene-pressings of I Wanna Be Sedated on RSO.
After that discovery, I had to go through my collection in search of more evil records – and I found some. The easiest way to tell the difference is to look at the labels, on a styrene record the labels are glued on. You can feel the edge to the label. On a vinyl record the labels are stamped into the vinyl, no edge.
It turned out that most of the early US singles with ABC distribution are made of styrene. But only the stock copies, the promo versions are all vinyl. I have not found any other styrene pressings, it look like the stuff wasn't used outside the US.

Here are the Ramones 45's made of styrene released on Sire records:

Title: Blitzkrieg Bop (mono)/Havana Affair 

Number: Sire SAA-725

Year: 1976

Country: United States
Notes: ABC distribution. Styrene pressing.

Title: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend//California Sun/I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You (Live)

Number: Sire SAA-734

Year: 1976

Country: US
Notes: ABC distribution. Styrene pressing.

Title:Swallow my pride/Pinhead

Number: Sire SA-738

Year: 1977

Country: US
Notes: ABC distribution. Styrene pressing.

Title:Sheena Is A Punk Rocker/I Don't Care

Number: Sire SA-746

Year: 1977

Country: US
Notes: ABC distribution. Styrene pressing.