Monday, December 13, 2010

Asia featuring John Payne - Rare Tracks!


Here are a few vintages of Asia featuring John Payne to tide us over till the release of Americana this spring:

Stone Pony - Asbury Park- 15/11/92


Length: 107m, Quality: A-; Aud

CD 1 : Go, Lay down your arms, Love under fire, Rock and roll dream, Little rich boy, Auqa part 1, Who will stop the rain, Wildest dreams, Back in town
CD 2 : Someday, Mood for a day/Clap, The voice of reason, Only time will tell, The heat goes on, Sole survivor, Open your eyes

Armada CD 1 - 2001

Never the Way, Innocence, Bad Asteroid

Rise (from Silent Nation Japanese release)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

More metal titles I need

Have to see if any of these are still needed.

 I gotta get these metal (some are punk) titles over to Russia:

Autopsy:Mental Funeral-91 (pictured)
Armoured Saint:Raisin' Fear-87
Anvil:Hard'N'Heavy-81
Metal on Metal-82
Forced in Fire-83
Backwaxed-85
Strength of Steel-87
Pound...Pound-89
Crimson Glory:Crimson Glory-86
Trancscedence-88
Astronomica-99
Cannibal Corpse:Tomb of the Mutilated-92
Extreme:I-88
Exciter:Long Live the Loud-85
Fate:A Matter of Attitude-86
Jackyl:Rise-90
Vague Visions-93
Hate Squad:IQ Zero-95
Pzyco!-97
Kix:Midnite Dynamite-85
King Diamond:Fatal Portrait
Them
Conspiracy
The Eye
The Spiders Lullabye
The Graveyard
Voodoo
House of God
Leatherwolf:Street Ready-89
M.A.R.S.:Project Driver-86 (oneoff with former Ozzy/Whitesnake rhythm section of Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge)
Metal Church:The Human Factor-91
Mekong Delta:Mekong Delta-87
The Music of Erich Zann-88
The Principle of Doubt-89
Misfits:Legacy of Brutality-81
Walk Among Us-82
One Bad Pig:Swine Flew-90
Raven:any studio albums releases
Ramones:Brain Drain-89
Sabbat:Mourning Has Broken-91
Slammer:Nightmare Scenario-94
Solitude Aeternus:Into the Depths of Sorrow-91
Beyond The Crimson Horizon-92
Sacrifice:Soldiers of Misfortune
Apocalypse Inside
Seventh Angel:Lament for the Weary-92
Terrorizer:World Dawnfall-89
Thor:Only the Strong-85
Trance:Power Infusion-83
Victory-85
Break Out-86
Boulevard of Broken Dreams-??
Vicious Rumours:Soldiers of the Night-85
Digital Dictator-88
Warrior:Fighting for the Earth-85
WASP:WASP-84
The Last Command-85
Inside the Electric Circus-86
The Headless Chidren-89
Y&T:any studio album releases except Ten

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Voiceprint Records


Leading UK indie label Voiceprint Records may have had their 20th anniversary, but things have changed for the Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear (northern England near Newcastle) based company. First, their site has been replaced by their new owner (as it seems) Gonzo Multimedia, who have taken over the catalogue. Zeit Distribution, which was the original parent company, has entered liquidation. I feel bad for founder Rob Ayling, who put so much into it, but he is in the same boat as many small business owners, record companies, and many people in general these days with the economy, and in this case, the music industry, which has been lagging for the past decade.
Artists I like that have releases such as Yes, including Jon Anderson, ABWH, Rick Wakeman, as well as Asia featuring John Payne, The Passion (his old band), Ph.D., Renaissance (but Voiceprint don't have the Annie Haslam era), Anthony Phillips, Fish, and others.
The Gonzo site claims many back releases are unavailable. They can always be obtained elsewhere, though its better to buy direct and cut out the middleman, innit? Also know they can't have sold that many. They are considered a phoenix company under UK business law, much like how Woolworths UK became an e-tailer after the chain floundered. It doesn't work quite the same way in the States.
With Voiceprint turning a new leaf, here's to another twenty years time, hopefully more!
The Brasilian site remains intact.  More as this develops.

EU or not EU?


For over a decade, releases made in European Union member countries will often say 'Made in the EU' as a catch-all for items made in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Benelux, Germany, Austria, Serbia, Sweden, Greece, Denmark, Spain, and Portugal. It consolidates production, whereas in the old days, manufacturing for one country was done within that country; for instance, WEA Fillipachi in France made records for shops in France and Monaco, though WEA Germany often made items for sale throughout what was the EEC by the '80s. EMI closed their plant in Swindon, Whitshire, England and moved production to the continent at the existing factory in Uden, Holland well before their current crisis. Anything designed as of 1999 may now use the EU label, but occasionally, some indies will say the exact country of origin, whether not to confuse those who don't read the papers, or an anti-EU bias, whatever the case may be. Non-EU countries like Switzerland and Norway may have their products made in the EU as well, as they're not major music markets.
On older items from present-day EU member nations, I put the label on. Even we Yanks know about what goes on in Brussel, but go to a news site for more on that as I'm no pundit.
As with any imports, it's easier when the shop in town has it used, but I order online occasionally, but it's too easy to go overboard, you know.
As in North America, physical sales are in decline due to downloading and the economy alike. Lesser-selling items in Europe may wind up in US stores as impulse buys, like a Jennifer Lopez CD.
Major labels maintain offices for every sizeable nation catering to national and international signings just the same. Non-Anglophone artists that don't perform in English may not be able to expand their fanbase beyond their own people if they don't wish to take the ABBA route, if you like.
There are also DVDs and Blu-Rays made there, but they will only work in PAL units unless they're region-free or NTSC formatted. They haven't suffered as much as their audio counterparts since video takes up more space and bandwidth.
If you think the EU is a lot to take in, Sony are outsourcing disc production to México! That's NAFTA for ya!
As of 23/6/16 - the UK have just voted out but this may not be over just yet but that's just not our area to report on here.  Only CDs from the continent in member nations count as EU from here on out.