Keith Hirsch’s CD Resource

Happy Holidays!  Around this time last year, I posted on the rare West German pressing of Carpenters Christmas Portrait that was released in Europe (for more information, click here). This year, I report another rare pressing of Christmas Portrait.  This is the original Japanese CBS/Sony pressing for the U.S. market (A&M, catalog number CD 3210).  This copy, like subsequent U.S. pressings, is labeled “The SPECIAL EDITION” on the cover.  The Special Edition has 21 tracks and has the choir track on “Ave Maria” included.  It was noted last year that the original European version matched the LP content, with 17 tracks and with no choir track on “Ave Maria”.  This version was quickly replaced in Europe with the Special Edition. 

In short, the disc featured this year is a rare pressing of a common version of Christmas Portrait.  For the collectors in the crowd, this Japanese pressing, as a CBS/Sony pressing, has “CSR COMPACT DISC” repeating in the plastic ring.  The matrix code is “DIDX-186 11A1″, and the disc has “Made in Japan” printed at 6 o’clock.  The inserts were printed in the U.S.A.

Shown below are pictures of the Japanese pressing and the accompanying inserts.  Compare the cover here to the rare European cover posted last year.

The cover for the U.S. issue of Carpenters Christmas Portrait (A&M, catalog number CD 3210).  The poster in the painting is labeled “The SPECIAL EDITION” and highlights the content instead of listing the actual tracks.

The back insert for the U.S. issue of Carpenters Christmas Portrait (A&M, catalog number CD 3210).  As noted in the lower right corner, this insert was printed in the U.S.A.  Importantly, 21 tracks are listed.  The LP and rare original European CD have just 17 tracks.

The rare Japanese CBS/Sony pressing of Carpenters Christmas Portrait for the U.S. market (A&M, catalog number CD 3210).  The disc has “CSR COMPACT DISC” repeating in the plastic ring, and the matrix code is “DIDX-186 11A1″.  Note that the disc has “Made in Japan” printed at 6 o’clock.

Back in May, I featured an unusual West German Target CD of Linda Ronstadt Greatest Hits issued by the Columbia House Music Club (click here).  Today I am writing about another rare Ronstadt Target CD, as well as a common variation.  The discs that are the subject of this post are color variations and involve Ronstadt’s 1984 pop standards effort with Nelson Riddle, Lush Life (Asylum, catalog number 9 60387-2).

The two color variations of Lush Life are West German Target pressings.  Both discs are standard retail issues, as opposed to Columbia House mail-order releases.  The common version of Lush Life, and it is rather common as Target CDs go, has a royal blue target and yellow paint coating.  The rare version, and it is extremely rare in my experience, has a purple target and light blue paint coating.  You may be thinking that a Target CD on the Asylum label should have a purple target and light blue coating.  Well, it depends.  Asylum Targets that bear the older lower-case ‘a’ logo were issued in the purple/light blue combination (see the aforementioned post on the Ronstadt Greatest Hits Target).  However, Asylum Targets that bear the later capital ‘A’ over a “sunrise” logo (see the pictures below) were issued in the royal blue/yellow combination.

Lush Life was issued with the newer Asylum logo, so the royal blue/yellow combination would be expected.  I suspect the purple/light blue disc is either a simple error or a test disc.  Pictures of the two variations are shown below.   Both discs have the same matrix code — “7559 60387-2 2895 184 02 #”.  They also have identical inserts, which were printed in West Germany.

As stated above, the purple/light blue version is very rare.  I just obtained it this week, after years of searching.  By contrast, I have seen the royal blue/yellow version in used CD shops and on eBay many times over the years.

The common West German Target pressing of Linda Ronstadt Lush Life (Asylum, catalog number 9 60387-2).  This color combination is typical of Target CDs that bear the newer Asylum logo showing a capital ‘A’ over a “sunrise”.

The very rare West German Target pressing of Linda Ronstadt Lush Life (Asylum, catalog number 9 60387-2).  This color combination is typical of Target CDs that bear the older lower-case ‘a’ Asylum logo.  It is believed that this pressing of Lush Life is an error or a test pressing.

When CDs hit the market in the early ’80s, several samplers, musical assortments, appeared.  Some were promotional discs, while others were sold at retail.  The promotional discs were used in varying manners.  Some were provided to music and audio reviewers.  Some were provided to retail stores to facilitate demonstrations of the new format.  Some were used in a similar fashion at industry trade shows.  Some were even given away with CD players.  As would be expected, many of these early samplers were pressed in Japan or West Germany.

Some early CD samplers covered a given theme, such as rock or pop compilations, while many others featured popular artists of the time on a given record label.  Since we are talking of the 1980s, it should not be surprising to find that many of these samplers had a sci-fi theme and treated the CD as a sort of space-age technology.

Many of these early samplers, especially the promotional discs, are quite rare.  As a collector, I have acquired many of these promotional and commercial samplers and thought it would be a good idea to feature one of them here every so often.  I actually have featured a couple such discs in the past.  Back on July 4, 2007, I posted the rare Japanese sampler from Epic/Sony, American Best Selection, which featured Epic/Sony artists that had topped the U.S. charts in the early ’80s. More on this sampler may be found here.  On March 30, 2008, I posted The Edison CD Sampler, which is a rare CD sampler of early Edison recordings.  You may find that post here.

Continuing on, I decided to feature here an unusual sampler issued together by Sony and WEA (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic) entitled 20 Years of Golden Greats.  This is a rare promotional compilation of WEA artists.  The disc and inserts bear the Sony logo, suggesting that this sampler was used by Sony to promote the CD format.  The copyright date on the disc is 1984, and the disc was pressed in West Germany by Polygram.  Unfortunately, I do not know where this sampler was issued or to whom it was distributed.

The label side of the 20 Years of Golden Greats CD shows no catalog number, but the inserts show the simple catalog number SONY I (roman numeral I).  The matrix code on the disc is “SONY 1 2895 101 01 #”.  Shown below is the disc, front cover, and back cover, where you can see the track list for this sampler.

Over time, I will highlight other promotional and commercial samplers pressed in different countries and issued in different markets.

The rare promotional sampler, 20 Years of Golden Greats (Sony/WEA, catalog number Sony 1).  The disc was pressed in West Germany by Polygram and bears a copyright date of 1984.  The disc is a compilation of WEA artists and was presumably used by Sony to promote the CD format.  The matrix code is “SONY 1 2895 101 01 #”.  The disc is not actually labeled a promo, but a promotional statement appears on the back insert (see the third picture below).

The cover for the promotional sampler, 20 Years of Golden Greats (Sony/WEA, catalog number Sony 1).

The back insert for the promotional sampler, 20 Years of Golden Greats (Sony/WEA, catalog number Sony 1), showing the track listing.  Despite the presence of the Sony logo, all artists are from WEA labels (the disc, shown above, bears both the WEA and Sony logos).  Note the promotional statement in the top left corner.  As can be seen at the bottom, the inserts were printed in West Germany.

Update: The poll associated with this entry closed on October 22nd.  The results are shown below.  Thanks to all who voted!

If you are a Carpenters fan, then you know that this duo has been immortalized in a plethora of CD box sets over the years.  Perhaps you’ve wondered which box set of Richard and Karen’s works came first.  The answer might surprise you.

The first Carpenters CD box set was released in 1986 by A&M in Japan and is titled Carpenters Collection.  This set contains 12 CDs and was released under catalog number D300Y3243.  The ‘300′ in the catalog number likely reflects a retail price back then of ¥30,000.

Carpenters Collection contains the ten studio albums from Ticket to Ride through Voice of the Heart.  Disc 11 is Live at The Palladium, a live album that has never been released on CD in the U.S.  This also represents the first release of this live album on CD.  Disc 12 is a 5″ CD single of “Honolulu City Lights”, with “Slow Dance” serving as the “B-side”.  This disc represents the first release of these two songs on CD.

The individual CDs show catalog numbers D300Y3243-1 through D300Y3243-12 and are each packaged in a standard jewel case with a booklet and back insert.  The discs are housed in a white box with a 188-page book.  The book provides lyrics in Japanese and English as well as other Carpenters tidbits, such as a “Singles Chartgraphy”.

All 12 discs in this set were pressed by CBS/Sony.  1986 was a changeover period for the CBS/Sony plant in terms of pressing equipment, so some discs show the early CBS/Sony neat, stamped matrix code font, while others in the set show a later “laser-etched” matrix code font.  Although barcodes began appearing on Japanese CD issues by 1986, these discs do not have barcodes since they are part of the box set and were, therefore, not sold separately.  The discs also do not have OBI strips.

In my experience, Carpenters Collection is very rare.  I have only seen the complete set for sale once and have occasionally seen individual titles offered.  It appears as though the sellers of these individual discs were not aware that they came from a box set.

Shown below are pictures of the front of the Carpenters Collection box, the covers to Live at the Palladium and “Honolulu City Lights”/”Slow Dance”, and one disc from the set.

The cover to the box for Carpenters Collection (A&M, catalog number D300Y3243).

The cover for Carpenters Live at The Palladium from the Carpenters Collection box set (A&M, catalog number D300Y3243-11).   This is the first CD issue of this album.

The cover for the Carpenters “Honolulu City Lights” 5″ CD single from the Carpenters Collection box set (A&M, catalog number D300Y3243-12).   The “B-side” is “Slow Dance”.  This disc represents the first release of these two songs on CD.

Carpenters A Kind of Hush CD from the Carpenters Collection box set (A&M, catalog number D300Y3243-7).  The disc was pressed by CBS/Sony.  It has “CSR” stamped on the plastic ring, and the matrix code is “D300Y-3243-7 21A2 +++++”.

Featured today is another rare Target CD that I obtained recently.  It is a color variation of the West German pressing of U2 War (Island, catalog number 90067-2).  One typically finds the early pressing with a distinctive green target and purple paint coating.  In fact, as the only Island title to be released as a Target, it is the only Target with this particular color combination (a rare U.S. Target pressing of Howard Jones Dream Into Action exists with a similar color combination).  Within the past year, however, a very rare variation of War was discovered in which the colors are, more or less, reversed.

This rare Target CD of War has a purple target and green paint coating.  As such, it looks like a Target CD on the WEA label, but the disc and inserts bear the Island logo.  In fact, the inserts with this rare pressing are identical to those found with the standard Target.  I call the rare pressing the “Reverse Target”, but this is a bit of a misnomer if you take a literal approach to these CDs.  This is because the shades of green differ.  On the standard pressing, the target is forest green, where as on the rare pressing, the coating is a lighter green, perhaps seafoam green.  Putting minutiae aside, I will refer to the rare pressing as the Reverse Target pressing.

Shown below are both Target pressings of War.  Both discs bear the same matrix code — “7567 90067-2 2893 213 01″.  Since the Reverse Target bears the Island logo, I assume it is a pressing error.  On the other hand, it could be a test pressing, and WEA decided not to use this color combination for the Island label.  As with other Target color variations, this Reverse Target is very rare, and I only know of two other copies.

The standard West German Target pressing of U2 War (Island, catalog number 90067-2).  This is the only Target CD to have been issued with this particular green target/purple coating combination.

The rare West German “Reverse Target” pressing of U2 War (Island, catalog number 90067-2).  When compared to the standard Target pressing above, the colors on this disc are reversed.  This disc has the same color combination found on Target CDs issued on the WEA label.

This is the final installment of the Phonogram CD label series, which began in June of last year.  Below are links to the first five installments.

Part 1: Rocket
Part 2: RSO and Polydor
Part 3: Mercury
Part 4: Vertigo
Part 5: Casablanca

In this final installment, we turn our attention to the Charisma label.  In part five, it was noted that two of the three label designs for Casablana were also used for Charisma titles.  Those two designs are shown here.  The first is the “purple swirls”.  It resembles the “pink swirls” Casablanca design.  If one compares the two designs, it is noted that the swirl motifs are reversed (there are other subtle differences as well).  The purple-swirls design is shown below for an early West German pressing of Genesis …And Then There Were Three… (catalog number 800 059-2).  As you probably guessed if you have been following these Phonogram entries, this first Charisma design is very rare.

The second Charisma label is the “yellow and silver rays”, and it closely resembles the rays design used for Casablanca titles.  Charisma titles are more often found with this design then with the purple-swirls label.  The yellow-and-silver-rays design is shown below for Peter Gabriel “Security” (catalog number 800 091-2).

The first Charisma label design, shown for an early West German pressing of Genesis …And Then There Were Three… (Charisma, catalog number 800 059-2).  The disc shows the early “purple swirls” label design.  As is typical for the earliest design for a particular Phonogram label, the disc has “MADE IN W-GERMANY” printed in the interior portion of the label.  The matrix code is “800059 2 01″.  This design is similar to the “pink swirls” design used for the Casablanca label.

The second Charisma label design, shown for a West German pressing of Peter Gabriel “Security” (Charisma, catalog number 800 091-2).  The disc shows the “yellow and silver rays” label design, which was also used for the Casablanca label.  Note that the disc has “MADE IN W.GERMANY BY POLYGRAM” printed along the perimeter.  The matrix code is “800091 2 01″.

The latest addition to keithhirsch.com is a Glossary.  I don’t know why I didn’t come up with this sooner.  For those of you new to the site and/or new to CD collecting, I hope you will find the Glossary to be a useful resource.  Please note, however, that it is still under construction.  You may find the Glossary here.

A legend left us today.  Arguably the most talented and most influential pop music entertainer of the 20th century, Michael Jackson, died today.  He was 50.  Like everyone, I was in shock when I heard the news.  Some people followed today’s developments from the beginning, but by the time I heard anything, he was gone.

Michael Jackson was one of my favorite performers growing up.  He was larger than life when I was a teenager in the 1980s.  There was the roof-raising, moonwalking performance at Motown 25 in 1983.  There was the brilliant video for “Thriller”, which in the early days of MTV, was coupled with a “making of” documentary.  He could dance, he could sing, he could wow a crowd with his charisma.  He was a natural, a genius.

There will never be another performer to single-handedly captivate an audience like Michael Jackson.  He will be missed.