Ramones on vinyl: January 2014

Sunday, January 26, 2014

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

Friday, January 24, 2014

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

Saturday, January 18, 2014

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

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

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.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Canadian Baby I Love You with solid centre

I have never seen a canadian-pressed Ramones 45 with a solid centre – until now.
Here is a version of the Baby I Love You-single from 1980 with a small hole. I don't know if there are other exceptions or if this is the only one that came without the big centre hole.
Apart from that the labels are the same. The solid centre-version has a black spot right above the actual hole. The spot is not printed on the label, it is a stamped out hole in the paper, the spot is the black vinyl under the label.
Both versions are pressed at the Don Mills pressing plant in Ontario (Pressing plant-code C on labels) and there is a small difference between the matrix numbers.
Anyone who has other canadian singles with this solid centre?