Dmitry Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 (edited) It has been two years since I've hit a record fair, so last Saturday I went to a smaller local gathering in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Flicking though the record covers, I was reminiscing on the crappy Argo/Cadet reissues we touched upon here - , when I saw this beauty. The crimson-red letters J and S in Jazztet , and in John Lewis's name did not come out. A DIVISION OF ALL PLATINUM RECORD GROUP, dating this ca.1976-1980, or thereabout. All Platinum bought Chess from the GENERAL RECORDED TAPE, who bought it from the Chess brothers in 1969. So there goes THE AZZTET AND OHNLEWI. OHN LEWI sound very Old Testament, THE AZZTET...burlesque. Here's the original cover, btw. Edited February 14, 2022 by Dmitry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 definite hatchet job on a very nice record & cover... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 No doubt an unfortunate result of the determination to go black & white but that's exactly how I got my copy of that music. The pressing was fine, and I want to say, cheap (it was many moons ago). I've always been more concerned with the music than the presentation - I worked pretty hard to find the Jazztet recordings on vinyl and doing that kept me from purchasing the Mosaic set when it was available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjazzg Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 I was bemoaning this only the other day in the "Vinyl now playing thread" as I'd received the b&w edition of James Moody's 'Great Day' when I'd ordered the early pressing. so instead of this lovely cover I got this The music still sounds great but... I had wondered if it were something to do with export but obviously not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 All Platinum was Sylvia (and Joe) Robinson, the same Sylvia of Mickey & Sylvia, "Pillow Talk", and oh btw, Sugar Hill Records. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Platinum_Records The B&W covers were indeed "unfortunate", but it helped keep the records in the stores for a little while. At the time, they weren't there otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 And ‘All Platinum’ was bankrolled by Morris Levy of Roulette fame, I believe. There were stories of that studio being given cases full of cash no questions asked during that period. Money laundering? Stores like Mole and Honest Jon’s over here were full of those pressings with the B&W covers back in the late 70s and they all had that notch cutout. Don’t think I ever saw one of those Cadets without the notch and all of the ones I have - have it. Reeks of a scam ! https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nlkb This is an interesting listen ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted February 14, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 Saw this one too. Engineered stereo...run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Nelson Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 While these All Platinum cheap repros kept the record titles in stores de fucto, the vinyl itself was flimsy (see: RCA Dynaflex), often warped, and with pressing bubbles. Adding in the thin cardboard LP jackets with bastardized cover art and you had a product barely worth the $1.98 sticker price. Given the connection to Roulette, any artist/composer asking for royalties would be greeted with, "You got some kind of PROBLEM, buddy?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 The Jazztet titles I picked up on this All Platinum/Cadet label had noticeable warp and wow effect. Not what you want to hear on ‘Killer Joe’. Back in the late 70s it was the only way over here to hear this music though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 I guess I was lucky that I considered the sound of the John Lewis collaboration to be perfectly acceptable .... can't recall which other black and white Argo I ever purchased. I think maybe I got 1-3 as CDRs from somebody else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 5 hours ago, Bill Nelson said: ...the vinyl itself was flimsy (see: RCA Dynaflex)... I remember the Dynaflex records. Was their sound any worse than their competitors' at the time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted February 14, 2022 Report Share Posted February 14, 2022 Which company was it that put out those crappy Blue Note reissues with cheap graphics and a noticeable lack of color? Even worse than RCA's Dynaflex were the LPs made with recycled vinyl after the Arab Oil embargo in 1973. Quiet passages often sounded like Rice Krispies in milk, especially in the first pressing of ELP's Brain Salad Surgery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted February 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 Ken, you must be thinking of Pausa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted February 15, 2022 Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 37 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said: Which company was it that put out those crappy Blue Note reissues with cheap graphics and a noticeable lack of color? Even worse than RCA's Dynaflex were the LPs made with recycled vinyl after the Arab Oil embargo in 1973. Quiet passages often sounded like Rice Krispies in milk, especially in the first pressing of ELP's Brain Salad Surgery. Applause? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted February 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 15 minutes ago, Eric said: Applause? Yeas, that what I meant! Applause, not Pausa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted February 15, 2022 Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 Applause was the label, I never bought any of their crappy reissues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted February 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 Interesting story with the Applause. I just went on Discogs, and picked up the address for the label - 258 South Beverly Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 90212 I proceeded to do the rudimentary internet search, combining the label name and the address. This is what appeared - https://www.cabusinessdb.com/company/1069802/ I clicked on the agent's name, ARTHUR MOGULL, and it appears that good Arthur incorporated four companies, all with music-related names, three on the same date in 1982, and one, Applause, almost a year earlier, to the day, in 1981. Multiple obituaries from 2004 list him as a major player in the music industry. He was a president of the United Artists for some years in the 1970s, and even co-owned the United Artists for a year, before selling it to the EMI. Somehow in his contract with the EMI, his lawyers must've squeezed in some kind of limited licensing deal for reissuing some Blue Note titles, among others, but without any mention of the label, or anything else, and with these shitty covers. Some of these covers looks like they were samizdat-printed by a couple of Soviet beatniks in a cellar, somewhere far behind the Iron Curtain, while others were probably done by Artie's grandkids for arcade money. I might be very wrong, and his family will sue, because he was a prince among men, but it's just possible that he was some kind of lawyered-up motherfucker. I can't imagine an honest person supervising an operation like Applause. https://www.nysun.com/obituaries/artie-mogull-77-a-r-man-signed-legendary-acts/5751/ I don't remember ever seeing the APPLAUSE cds, but they surely released them. https://www.discogs.com/label/335904-Applause-Records-Inc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted February 15, 2022 Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) I remember seeing Applause CDs with the same crappy, cheap covers. I avoided them as well, there are some of them listed on Discogs. Edited February 15, 2022 by Ken Dryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 15, 2022 Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 Applause was a sign of the end times, but and yet, they provided the first US issue of Lou Donaldson's excellent Lush Life, another one of Duke Pearson's medium-sized horn band triumphs, which had previously only seen like in Japan as Sweet Slumber. Go figure that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted February 15, 2022 Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) It's bad enough that the original LP of this Roger Kellaway solo piano session has three incorrect song titles, but the idiots who put out the CD reissue added another wrinkle: Edited February 15, 2022 by Ken Dryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted February 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) 43 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said: It's bad enough that the original LP of this Roger Kellaway solo piano session has three incorrect song titles, but the idiots who put out the CD reissue added another wrinkle: The cover that really says it all...holy crap. Otoh, maybe there IS another dimension to it. Was Kellaway from Houston? BTW, if you look at the Applause "discography", most Blue Notes they reissued were from the post-Alfred Lion period. Not all, but most. Edited February 15, 2022 by Dmitry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted February 15, 2022 Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 On 14/02/2022 at 4:21 PM, mjazzg said: I was bemoaning this only the other day in the "Vinyl now playing thread" as I'd received the b&w edition of James Moody's 'Great Day' when I'd ordered the early pressing. so instead of this lovely cover I got this The music still sounds great but... I had wondered if it were something to do with export but obviously not Haha, I have that Moody with the colour cover, but my Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing Vol 2 is a crappy black and white (and limp) cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 15, 2022 Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) Does anyone remember how the back covers of Columbia and MCA/Decca reissue LPs looked like Xeroxes of the previous edition? By the time you got to an 1980s reissue of a 1950s album, you couldn't even read the liner notes. Edited February 15, 2022 by Teasing the Korean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 15, 2022 Report Share Posted February 15, 2022 9 hours ago, Dmitry said: Otoh, maybe there IS another dimension to it. Was Kellaway from Houston? They DID make a record together, but that ain't it... THIS is it: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted February 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2022 1961 original ca.1980 ALL PLATINUM job and, an unexpectedly cool Compania Fonigrafica Espnola Spain reissue from 1983. I like this one! They play on the subway line numbering system in NYC, and perhaps unwittingly, Take the A-train. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.