History's Dumpster = GLORIOUS trash! Kitsch, music, fashion, food, history, ephemera, and other memorable and forgotten, famous and infamous pop culture junk and oddities of yesterday and today. Saved from the landfill of time...
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
The Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders
The Now Wave Sampler post I made earlier this month reminded me of the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders.
But I knew to dive into this would be pretty exhausting. Because, next to the NOW CD series and K-Tel/Ronco albums, they were the most successful compilation series ever. Especially in vinyl's golden age.
And Warner/Reprise did it all with mostly new and unknown acts then. Many whom went on to become superstars. Others languished in obscurity, and some became cult favorites.
During most of the '60s, Warner Bros. and newly acquired subsidiary Reprise (which was purchased from Frank Sinatra in 1963) were, next to Decca, one of the most staid and conservative record labels in America. However, by the mid-'60s, Mo Ostin Reprise label president promptly began to shake things up. He signed The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Arlo Guthrie, Frank Zappa, The Pentangle, Joni Mitchell - just about every demo tape that came across his desk to a deal with Warner/Reprise.
Most of these new rock acts appeared on Reprise Records while Warner Bros. itself remained mostly a Middle of The Road label. But soon, even rock was invading the schmaltzy Warner Bros. roster.
By 1969, Warner/Reprise had become one of the most (if not THE most) creative and unique commercial record labels of the era. With so many new and creative bands signed, they released their first "Loss Leader" compilation, The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook. The albums were compiled by Barry Hansen. You may know him better as radio's Dr. Demento.
There was no radio or TV advertising for the Loss Leader albums. They were promoted in magazines like Rolling Stone and on the stock inner sleeves of other Warner/Reprise albums of that time with sarcastic copy.
"These Warner/Reprise specials are full stereo, double albums in deluxe packaging. The double albums ($2 for two records) average about 28 selections, each of them is filled with the best of the artists' work, plus some extra collectors' items (like unreleased singles, even an Ice Capades commercial by our Van Dyke Parks).
You can't buy these albums in a store; they are available only by mail, for the ridiculously low price of $2 for the doubles, $1 for Zappéd, and $3 for the deluxe three-record set, Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies.
We can get away with that low price because these celebrated artists and this benevolent record company have agreed not to make a profit on this venture. We (and they) feel it's more important that these samples of musical joy be heard.
If you're as suspicious of big record companies as we feel you have every right to be, we avert your qualms with the following High Truths:
This is new stuff, NOT old tracks dredged out of our Dead Dogs files. If our Accounting Department were running the company, they'd charge you $9.96 for each double album. But they're not. Yet.
We are not 100 per cent benevolent. It's our fervent hope that you, Dear Consumer, will be encouraged to pick up more of what you hear on these special albums at regular retail prices.
That you haven't heard much of this material we hold obvious. Over 8000 new albums glut the market (and airwaves) each year. Some of our Best Stuff has to get overlooked. Or underheard. Underbought. Thus, we're trying to get right to you Phonograph Lovers, bypassing the middle man.
Each album is divinely packaged, having been designed at no little expense by our latently talented Art Department...."
From 1969 to 1980, over 30 Warner/Reprise Loss Leader compilation albums were released, covering the hippie rock of the '60s through the singer/songwriter phase to New Wave.
Here's a listing of all the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders. Plus info on their rare CDs from the late '90s.
http://www.dustbury.com/music/wbloss.html
But I knew to dive into this would be pretty exhausting. Because, next to the NOW CD series and K-Tel/Ronco albums, they were the most successful compilation series ever. Especially in vinyl's golden age.
And Warner/Reprise did it all with mostly new and unknown acts then. Many whom went on to become superstars. Others languished in obscurity, and some became cult favorites.
During most of the '60s, Warner Bros. and newly acquired subsidiary Reprise (which was purchased from Frank Sinatra in 1963) were, next to Decca, one of the most staid and conservative record labels in America. However, by the mid-'60s, Mo Ostin Reprise label president promptly began to shake things up. He signed The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Arlo Guthrie, Frank Zappa, The Pentangle, Joni Mitchell - just about every demo tape that came across his desk to a deal with Warner/Reprise.
Most of these new rock acts appeared on Reprise Records while Warner Bros. itself remained mostly a Middle of The Road label. But soon, even rock was invading the schmaltzy Warner Bros. roster.
By 1969, Warner/Reprise had become one of the most (if not THE most) creative and unique commercial record labels of the era. With so many new and creative bands signed, they released their first "Loss Leader" compilation, The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook. The albums were compiled by Barry Hansen. You may know him better as radio's Dr. Demento.
There was no radio or TV advertising for the Loss Leader albums. They were promoted in magazines like Rolling Stone and on the stock inner sleeves of other Warner/Reprise albums of that time with sarcastic copy.
"These Warner/Reprise specials are full stereo, double albums in deluxe packaging. The double albums ($2 for two records) average about 28 selections, each of them is filled with the best of the artists' work, plus some extra collectors' items (like unreleased singles, even an Ice Capades commercial by our Van Dyke Parks).
You can't buy these albums in a store; they are available only by mail, for the ridiculously low price of $2 for the doubles, $1 for Zappéd, and $3 for the deluxe three-record set, Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies.
We can get away with that low price because these celebrated artists and this benevolent record company have agreed not to make a profit on this venture. We (and they) feel it's more important that these samples of musical joy be heard.
If you're as suspicious of big record companies as we feel you have every right to be, we avert your qualms with the following High Truths:
This is new stuff, NOT old tracks dredged out of our Dead Dogs files. If our Accounting Department were running the company, they'd charge you $9.96 for each double album. But they're not. Yet.
We are not 100 per cent benevolent. It's our fervent hope that you, Dear Consumer, will be encouraged to pick up more of what you hear on these special albums at regular retail prices.
That you haven't heard much of this material we hold obvious. Over 8000 new albums glut the market (and airwaves) each year. Some of our Best Stuff has to get overlooked. Or underheard. Underbought. Thus, we're trying to get right to you Phonograph Lovers, bypassing the middle man.
Each album is divinely packaged, having been designed at no little expense by our latently talented Art Department...."
From 1969 to 1980, over 30 Warner/Reprise Loss Leader compilation albums were released, covering the hippie rock of the '60s through the singer/songwriter phase to New Wave.
Here's a listing of all the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders. Plus info on their rare CDs from the late '90s.
http://www.dustbury.com/music/wbloss.html
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Your First Phonograph/Stereo
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| You probably started out with this....... |
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| And moved up to a stock GE kids phonograph of the early '70s (also manufactured for Sears and Concert Hall under their house names...) |
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| .....or if you were really lucky, you got one of these..... |
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| Vanity Fair and Imperial "Party Time" phonographs were really cheap knockoffs. Made of cardboard, low quality parts and a stock design that was easily customizable for whoever wanted to license their images and product name to it. That's why they were the most popular design of kids phonograph ..... |
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| The famous Michael Jackson Vanity Fair phonograph. Still made by VF/Imperial "Party Time" Clean, functioning units however sell for LOTS on eBay.....Way too much in my opinion...... |
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| Barbie Phonograph, made by VF/Imperial |
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| Another portable record player w/radio, the Phillips portable. It was also made by Sony. and also sold under the then Phillips owned record label names of Mercury and Fontana. The blue Fontana labeled ones are the rarest..... |
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| The GE Trimline 500: A very popular portable (allegedly), stereo record player of the early-mid '60s. They were popular as teenage hand-me downs from parents in the '70s because they were SUPER rugged and lasted THEM through high school and college. They were also SUPER heavy, but look at it! It was made of 90% pure metal parts! And it was built to LAST. The speakers were fully detachable and housed in steel cabinetry, just like the rest of this thing. And GORGEOUS sounding! With a dependable 40 watt tube amplifier with full bass and treble knobs (yet just a tad brassy, speakers being encased in metal boxes.) The plastic tone arm was a bit on the heavy side, but the automatic mechanisms rarely failed. Repairing one is also pretty easy and pasts are everywhere on eBay..... |
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| The GE Wildcat was a sleeker, MUCH lighter plastic cased version of the Trimline. While still a durable and dependable record player, the 40 watt tube amplifier of the Trimline had been replaced by a 20 watt transistor amplifier. But the basic mechanisms remained the same..... |
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| The Emerson Swingmate |
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| Fisher-Price's first REAL record player. It was designed as failproof as a kids phonograph could get (and believe me, NOTHING is completely failproof around a smart kid for too long....) Click here for Part Two |
School Lunches
Ahhhh.....The delicious, irresistible public school lunch........
Oh hell, they were horrible.
At elementary schools in the Edmonds School District in the '70s, school lunches consisted of a weekly rotating menu of:
- Some Slop Over Rice or Mashed Potatoes: This wasn't the official name of it on the menus that went home to our parents and I can't remember what they billed it as. This was just what the lunch ladies themselves called it.
The slop itself varied in colour from a pinkish beige to a gelatinous brown substance, both with bits of an unknown meat by-product.
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| An Edmonds School District lunch lady making slop...... |
- Hot Dog (This was infamously called on the menus - are you ready for this? A "Wiener Wink".)
- Sloppy Joe: Ubiquitous on EVERY school lunch menu in America to this day
- Fish Sticks
- Burrito
- Taco
- Spaghetti
And the list went on.
I found a very disturbing web site recently. One that's actually quite shocking, considering we should be feeding our kids (who've committed NO crimes) better than THIS.....
http://cityrag.com/2012/05/prison-food-or-school-food/
Edison Disc Records
Check out THIS beauty! An Edison Disc Phonograph from 1912! And it STILL sounds GORGEOUS! Edison's Disc Records were very advanced for their time, using a diamond stylus (instead of a steel needle) and a floating diaphragm, things that wouldn't be seen again until the Hi-Fi age of the early '50s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Disc_Record
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Disc_Record
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