Universal Records: The Return

Orsolyavirág at hu.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 Universal Music Group have revived their former US flagship label Universal Records. While a few unrelated labels have come up in the Philippines, Belgium and Brasil, this Universals roots go back to 1988 when started by country trailblazer Jimmy Bowen as part of MCA Nashville, but in 1990, he moved to Capitol Nashville and took his artists with him, ending that Universal label (yet Capitol would become part of UMG in 2013). There had also been UNI Records (Universal City Records) in the late '60s until 1972 when absorbed into MCA, along with Kapp and Decca US (spun off of the UK one just  before WWII and came full circle once UMG bought PolyGram in 1999 after the latter bought UK label in 1979, but that's for another day). UNI signed Elton John in the US and Canada, and I explained several years earlier how he touched nearly every pop division of Universal Music Group in one way or another, which continues to this day.
 Universal Records' second chapter began when they absorbed Rising Tide Records, and Seagram bought MCA from Matsushita (Panasonic). After getting PolyGram from Philips by the end of the millennium, Universal Records had absorbed Polydor US and took over The Moody Blues and Bee Gees' contracts here for what would be their final all-original studio releases. Universal Records would later be combined with the perennial Motown and current chartmakers Republic each. While the Detroit label would go back to their old name and is now under the Interscope Capitol arm, Universal Republic would just be Republic and have hits with Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. Now, with little to go on, Universal Records returns after nearly two decades when Rob Thomas signs a new solo deal just after leaving Atlantic Records after thirty years' time, including Matchbox Twenty proper. He's lucky for an older artist to get a new home, let alone another major label, straight away and at this point in time. All Night Days is available now and a tour is underway to support. I saw it in the shop and found he moved to a label I thought was retired. Republic had brought back Mercury US for non-country, signing our own Post Malone, and I wrote about sister label A&M earlier, which only Sting has kept alive in recent years. New talent could come to Universal Records, as changes have been made under UMG brass Sir Lucian Grange, who is the modern day Sir Edward Lewis (Decca UK) or even Sir Joseph Lockwood (EMI), if you like. His son is now at Thomas's old label however.

Ralph Records

Beatles CD-Rs on Ralph Records

 Today at a car boot sale, I came across a box of pirate CD-Rs that were free to take. It had needle drops of artists such as Barbra Streisand, Graham Nash, Focus (I have to get the official one for Boris, of course), Carly Simon, the Mamas & the Papas, Hermans Hermits, and maybe the Bee Gees for that matter just to name a few. They're on a label called Ralph Records, a division of "Antarctica Group, Ltd.", which doesn't exist. There was a real indie label called Ralph Records in the Bay Area known for the cult band The Residents. Not much is known about this other Ralph Records, who make Beatles bootlegger Dr Ebbetts look like Peter Jackson (who worked on Get Back). I picked up Jolly What! with Frank Ifield, who passed away this past May, and The Savage Young Beatles, the first US release of the Tony Sheridan sessions (also not official, while the ones that were came out on two separate labels with lesser known groups mixed in). Like real reissue labels such as Friday Music and Air Mail Archive, Ralph imitate the original label almost to the point of parody. Not much can be found on them. The covers were printed on Kodak inkjet paper. Someone went to great expense to make all of these, only for these to be on the house, making Babs at the charity shop look like a ticket to her fundraisers (she or pretty much any artist would go mad if she saw one of her albums like this). If it was something out of print, maybe, but many of these weren't really that rare. The CD-R seller in Madison County I wrote about some years earlier has nothing on this. Even though I have the Beatles tracks on better sounding official and unofficial CDs and LPs, I never had the original LPs, which were considered cash-ins during Beatlemania in 1964, along with cover albums by other artists and novelty records. As for all the CDs, they have scans of the original sleeves. I am on this sellers e-mail list, so I know where he'll be next, which is likely the record fair I know now held on NY 173 in Taunton, so I could grab a handful more if anyone wants some, since this sort doesn't seem to gather that much interest. These are too good to just donate or even have binned. You can't legally sell them, of course. There were also some CD-R bootlegs, but I just took a couple ELP ones, and only one works. As for Ralph, this may just be some little operation over twenty years too late.

Warner Records

Not your parents' Warners!

After going the way of Glastonbury this past year, I'm back.
Warner Bros Records are no more, being reborn as just Warner Records. This was a surprise, although their licence from former sister company Warner Bros. ran out, a decade and a half after Warner Music Group spun off of Time Warner (since sold to AT&T), which was orchestrated by Edgar Bronfman Jnr, who also did the same for Universals purchase of PolyGram in 1999, only for them to separate from their former parent studio. I have tagged artists with a tag who have been on Warner or Reprise, at least in the US and Canada if not worldwide.
The label moved across town from Burbank to downtown LA propers arts district.
There have been mixed reactions to this, but I think this is a new beginning. I'm looking forward to seeing new releases on the new label, although Duran Duran and Liam Gallagher are the only ones I know so far confirmed to have one, and Fleetwood Mac have considered one with their newest lineup. For back releases, I still have both (Duran mostly on sister label Parlophone) as well as a-ha, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode (North America), Alanis Morissette, and related artists to get, mainly on LP. For anything that has yet to be reissued, it could have the old logo on it to make it look accurate. The Smiths were reissued on it as wea was retired as a label after the sale.
With all that's going on in the world these days, this is a mere change in strategy and we should embrace this. Several catalogue releases have already been reissued with the new label.

The Bee Gees remasters

Already available from Capitol.

Haven't posted in a while but I found something different to write about.  The Bee Gees have a number of albums that have yet to be reissued or even released at all officially.  Solo included.

Bee Gees
Bee Gees' 1st (1967)

Cucumber Castle
2 Years On
Trafalgar
To Whom It May Concern (one I sent away which led to this post)
Life in a Tin Can
A Kick in the Head is Worth Eight in the Pants*
Mr Natural
Here at Last (live)
Living Eyes
Staying Alive soundtrack
Size Isn't Everything

Barry Gibb
The Kid's No Good*
Now Voyager
Hawks soundtrack
Moonlight Madness/Original Hawks*
In the Now

Robin Gibb
Robins Reign (now part of new posthumous solo boxed set Saved by the Bell)
Sing Slowly Sisters (also in new compilation)
How Old Are You?
Secret Agent
Walls Have Eyes
Magnet
My Favourite Christmas Carols

Maurice Gibb
The Loner*
Strings and Things*
A Breed Apart soundtrack*

Andy Gibb (although he never lived to formally join the band)
Flowing Rivers
Shadow Dancing
After Dark

*previously unreleased except on bootleg

The solo albums for each brother could appear as respective boxed sets.
Universal Music handle all distribution except In the Now by Sony save Russia where Warner happen to distribute them anyway.

Two Years On: The ancillary rights have just moved to Capitol Records/UMC bringing them back to Universal (which bought much of EMI in 2013).  Reissues are likely set to appear in 2017 in time for the 50th anniversary of the bands international breakthrough.  Sister label Polydor could possibly be attached as a result like my LP copy of Milk & Honey from John & Yoko.