Record of the week – I'm against it

When Road to ruin was released in France the record company apparently believed more in I'm against it the than in Needles & pins. The "Jackie DeShannon and Searchers among others"-cover only became the B-side of this single. I'm against it is the first french single on Sire label and was pressed by the french pressing plant Pathe Marconi.
The ideas seem to have ended when the back of the cover was designed, it only consists a large black square. But apart from that a nice single which is rather difficult to find nowadays.

Title: I'm against it//Needles & pins

Number: Sire 2C 008-62.042

Year: 1978

Country: France

Rockaway Beach – the final part

The most sought after versions of Rockaway Beach is probably the japanese press with a great live picture on the sleeve. There are a stock version with blue labels and a white label promo of this one. Both came with the pink japanese company bags along with the sleeve-sheet on textured paper. Lyrics in english and japanese on the backside of the sheet.

Title: Rockaway Beach//Teenage Lobotomy

Number: Philips SFL-2259

Year: 1977

Country: Japan

The last two versions of Rockaway Beach are pressed in Australia and New Zealand. The oz-press has Teenage Lobotomy on the flip and the one from NZ has I remember you. Both was sold in Phonogram company sleeves.

Title: Rockaway Beach//Teenage Lobotomy

Number: Philips 6078 515

Year: 1977

Country: Australia

Title: Rockaway Beach//I remember you

Number: Philips 6078 516

Year: 1977

Country: New Zealand

The swedish split with Tom Petty

In 1977 Phonogram released a serie of five split-albums under the name "Rock on". The first album i the serie was the split with Ramones and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The records were 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, California Sun/I don't wanna walk around with you. But the album designer didn't get the titles right, the tracks are called Warm California Sun/I wanna walk around with you!

This album has four inserts if it is complete:

* A infosheet with biographies (in swedish) on one side and info about the albums on the other.

* A form to be able participate in a competition. Printed on blue paper. It tells the buyer that there are "410 items to win". Among them 20 handprinted Ramones T-shirts and 35 copies of Sheena is a punk rocker 12". The picture of the T-shirt comes from a swedish collector who where happy enough to find a unused copy of the shirt along wit the letter of gratulations from Phonogram on an auction.

* A big sheet with stickers from bands in the serie: Ramones, The Runaways, Rush, Graham Parker, Hawkwind and Tom Petty.

* A small sticker with the band Clover.

Album: Ramones/Tom Petty & he Heartbreakers

Number: Philips 9199 272

Year: 1977

Country: Norway (sold in Sweden)

The front.

The back.

The info sheet and the contest.

The stickers.

The record.

And the handprinted T-shirt! Thanks to Mr Smith.

What happened to Santa in the UK?

It's always fun when you find something that separates the different pressings of the albums. One odd thing on the first pressing of Rocket to Russia in the UK is that Santa Claus is gone. On all other pressings, with one exception, Santa is standing by the north Pole on John Holmstroms drawing on backside of the sleeve. When the album was released in the UK one year later with WEA as a distributor Santa was back again.
The exception is the greek release on Philips which is based on the first UK cover. So no Santa Claus in Greece either.
Another thing that distinguishes the first UK press (and the greek press) from others is the black frame around the picture on the front.

Album: Rocket to Russia

Number: Sire/Phonogram 9103 255

Year: 1977

Country: UK

The first UK pressing...

...and the ordinary, US pressing.

The front with the black frame...

...and how it looks in the rest of the world.

Record of the week: The KKK took my baby away

The record company in Belgium did something that no one else dared, they released the song KKK took my baby away as the second single from Pleasant Dreams. On the sleeve it looks like Don't go is the A-side but on the label i clear that it is Joeys live-favourite about a girl that has been kidnapped by the Ku Klux Klan.
The B-side, Don't go, is another song written by Joey Ramone. Russell Mael from the Sparks sings backing vocals on the track.
This makes Belgium and UK the only two countries that released two singles from Pleasant Dreams.

Record of the week – every sunday on Ramones On vinyl!

Title: KKK took my baby away/Don't go

Number: Sire WB 17.887

Year: 1981

Country: Belgium

In search for the perfect discography

I havn't found a complete Ramones single-discography on the net. But there are some really good sites if you want information about different releases.
One of the best is italian, Gabbagabbabook. A great looking site with a good discography. I really like that they show the whole single, even if it don't have a picture sleeve, as I always try to get the right company sleeve. Keep up the good work, Marco! The site is in italian only.
www.gabbagabbabook.it/
Another great place is Ramones.fi. It's run by Timo Pullinen from Finland who have a really great collection of not only records but memorabilia, photos, tickets and so on. A good archive with pictures of the sleeves and the labels.
www.ramones.fi
The site Collectorscum have a good discography:
www.collectorscum.com/volume3/ramones/ 
And here is another nice one from Thierry Layec in France:
www.ramones-discography.fr/

Rockaway Beach – part two

In 1978 Sire records switched distribution to Warner Brothers Records from ABC records. But before that Philips/Phonogram was the label and distribution that took care of the Ramones releases outside North America. Thats why the european pressings of Rockaway Beach are on the blue Philips label. The exception is the UK where the early singles came out on Sire label – with Phonogram distribution.

In Europe Rockaway Beach was released in England (both as a 7" and a 12"), Germany, Netherlands and Ireland. All of them came in a picture sleeve except the irish pressing. That one was released in a irish version of the Phonogram-company sleeve. But I have also seen irish pressings in a blue Philips company sleeve. I'm trying to get more information about this.Of the European editions I would say that the Irish issue is the hardest one to find because it was pressed into a smaller circulation than the others. For some reason Rockaway Beach was never released as a single in France. In Italy it was the B-side of Do you wanna dance? There are no promos of the european versions.

Title: Rockaway Beach//Teenage Lobotomy/Beat on the brat 

Number: Sire 6078 611

Year: 1977

Country: UK

Title: Rockaway Beach//Teenage Lobotomy/Beat on the brat 

Number: Philips 6078 611

Year: 1977

Country: Ireland

Title: Rockaway Beach//Locket Love

Number: Philips 6078 617

Year: 1977

Country: Germany

Title: Rockaway Beach//I remember you

Number: Philips 6078 516

Year: 1977

Country: Netherlands

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