Missing Music
I was thumbing through the titles in my record collection the other day and noted several fine LP's that have not been issued on compact disc, nor has the material been available as a digital download at iTunes, eMusic, or other vendor. I can understand not issuing compact disc versions of titles that did not sell well, but I don’t quite understand why some great music isn’t available as a digital download. I guess I could motivate myself to repair one of the two turntables on hand, rig up a system to play the vinyl and create a digital file. But there are other more productive things to do with my spare time, so I’ll just rant a bit here and make note of some great music that is currently unavailable.
Fingerprintz
"the Very Dab" (1979)
"Distinguishing Marks" (1980)
"Beat Noir" (1981)
All were released on Virgin Records, with the first two distributed in the US. Beat Noir came out in the US with a slightly different track arrangement on Stiff America. Virgin has nice comps available for similar bands of this era (the Records, the Ruts), but nothing on these three titles. Check out some reviews for these titles at http://www.allmusic.com/. While the band wasn’t earth-shaking, they did contribute some cool pop music of the day.
Shakin’ Pyramids
"Skin ‘em Up!" (1981)
A three-piece Scottish rockabilly band that combined energy, attitude, and great songs. I think this is a great ‘lost album’ from the rockabilly revival period that is every bit as good as the Stray Cats releases. The Pyramids sound went pretty lame right after this release and they completely disappeared. My vinyl is on Cuba Libre/Virgin and was only released in the UK.
Ultravox
"Ultravox!" (1977)
"Ha Ha Ha" (1977)
"Systems of Romance" (1978)
Ultravox began as a punk/glam-inspired band that mutated into one that pushed sonic boundaries by the time their third LP was released. Lead singer John Foxx left for a solo career about 1979. The band soldiered on with a new singer and achieved commercial success. That is the Ultravox most everyone knows of, but there first three LP’s with John Foxx hold my attention for their risk taking and adventurous moves. All were released on Island Records. I believe “Ultravox!” and “Systems of Romance” had US distribution. Import CD’s are available on these titles, but they can be pricey. I note a US comp from 2001, “The Island Years” that sums up these three in one 16-cut distillation. I just haven’t searched it out yet. What rekindled my interest was the discovery of the “Ha Ha Ha” cassette I forgot I owned. It brought back many memories and was stronger than I had remembered it.
Again, cheap digital downloads of these tunes would be great. I’ve got an eMusic subscription and my downloads are about twenty cents a piece. I’d love to listen to these titles again, but am not willing to spend big dollars for imports. You would think the music industry would act to make marginal music like this easily available to the masses. They should have long ago recouped their ‘investment’ and offering tracks for a few cents (or an iTune dollar) would only add to their bottom line.
Fingerprintz
"the Very Dab" (1979)
"Distinguishing Marks" (1980)
"Beat Noir" (1981)
All were released on Virgin Records, with the first two distributed in the US. Beat Noir came out in the US with a slightly different track arrangement on Stiff America. Virgin has nice comps available for similar bands of this era (the Records, the Ruts), but nothing on these three titles. Check out some reviews for these titles at http://www.allmusic.com/. While the band wasn’t earth-shaking, they did contribute some cool pop music of the day.
Shakin’ Pyramids
"Skin ‘em Up!" (1981)
A three-piece Scottish rockabilly band that combined energy, attitude, and great songs. I think this is a great ‘lost album’ from the rockabilly revival period that is every bit as good as the Stray Cats releases. The Pyramids sound went pretty lame right after this release and they completely disappeared. My vinyl is on Cuba Libre/Virgin and was only released in the UK.
Ultravox
"Ultravox!" (1977)
"Ha Ha Ha" (1977)
"Systems of Romance" (1978)
Ultravox began as a punk/glam-inspired band that mutated into one that pushed sonic boundaries by the time their third LP was released. Lead singer John Foxx left for a solo career about 1979. The band soldiered on with a new singer and achieved commercial success. That is the Ultravox most everyone knows of, but there first three LP’s with John Foxx hold my attention for their risk taking and adventurous moves. All were released on Island Records. I believe “Ultravox!” and “Systems of Romance” had US distribution. Import CD’s are available on these titles, but they can be pricey. I note a US comp from 2001, “The Island Years” that sums up these three in one 16-cut distillation. I just haven’t searched it out yet. What rekindled my interest was the discovery of the “Ha Ha Ha” cassette I forgot I owned. It brought back many memories and was stronger than I had remembered it.
Again, cheap digital downloads of these tunes would be great. I’ve got an eMusic subscription and my downloads are about twenty cents a piece. I’d love to listen to these titles again, but am not willing to spend big dollars for imports. You would think the music industry would act to make marginal music like this easily available to the masses. They should have long ago recouped their ‘investment’ and offering tracks for a few cents (or an iTune dollar) would only add to their bottom line.
posted by E-Mann | 1:16 PM
3 Comments:
I've got copies of the Ultravox if you want me to spin a disc or three. I believe they were all just reissued with bonus tracks -- I'll have to look for the bookmark to remember where I saw that.
Oh, and yes: I remember Random Hold and have both their CD reissues....
I saw that the first Ultravox just got re-issued...for a good price too.
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