ABBA: THE VINYLS is a limited edition box set containing ABBA’s eight studio albums, originally released 1973–1981: Ring Ring, Waterloo, ABBA, Arrival, ABBA: The Album, Voulez Vous,Super Trouper and The Visitors. The box set also contains a bonus album, entitled ABBA Tracks, the A-side of which contains the five single A-sides not included on the original studio albums. The B-side of ABBA Tracks features a further five non-album songs, personally selected by  Benny Andersson.

Rumor has it the group is thinking of going back to singing together.  “A meeting for a single occasion for charity is something that I think, we should all consider” said Agnetha Faeltskog, one of four members of the Swedish group.

For the singer “will be difficult to get back together for a tour as did the Rolling Stones and other old bands, but I think we could go do something together in the future. ” The last public appearance of the group dates back to 1982 Christmas show at the BBC.

The end was caused by infighting between band members. Now the disagreements seem to have smoothed out, and there are conditions for the expected return. The last occasion when the four appeared together was in July 2008 to the first, in Stockholm, for the film Mamma Mia! with Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth. Its been 22 years that Abba were not photographed together.

ABBA – THE VINYL COLLECTION also contains a 52-page full-color timeline booklet featuring album content details, rare memorabilia, recording paraphernalia and photographs.

No. of pieces: 10

Released on: 6 December 2010

Tracklistings

RING RING (1973)

Side A
1.Ring Ring (bara du slog en signal) (Swedish version)
2. Another Town, Another Train
3. Disillusion
4. People Need Love
5. I Saw It In The Mirror
6. Nina, Pretty Ballerina

Side B

7. Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)
8. Me And Bobby And Bobby’s Brother
9. He Is Your Brother
10. Ring Ring (English version)
11. I Am Just A Girl
12. Rock’n Roll Band

WATERLOO (1974)

Side A
1.Waterloo (Swedish version)
2. Sitting In The Palmtree
3. King Kong Song
4. Hasta Mañana
5. My Mama Said
6. Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)

Side B

7. Honey, Honey
8. Watch Out
9. What About Livingstone
10. Gonna Sing You My Lovesong
11. Suzy- Hang-Around
12. Waterloo (English version)

ABBA (1975)

Side A
1.Mamma Mia
2. Hey, Hey Helen
3. Tropical Loveland
4. SOS
5. Man In The Middle
6. Bang- A-Boomerang

Side B

7. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
8. Rock Me
9. Intermezzo No.1
10. I’ve Been Waiting For You
11. So Long

ARRIVAL (1976)

Side A
1.When I Kissed The Teacher
2. Dancing Queen
3. My Love, My Life
4. Dum Dum Diddle
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You

Side B

6. Money, Money, Money
7. That’s Me
8. Why Did It Have To Be Me
9. Tiger
10. Arrival

ABBA – THE ALBUM (1977)

Side A
1.Eagle
2. Take A Chance On Me
3. One Man, One Woman
4. The Name Of The Game

Side B

5. Move On
6. Hole In Your Soul
“The Girl With The Golden Hair”- 3 scenes from a mini-musical:
7. Thank You For The Music
8. I Wonder (Departure)
9. I’m A Marionette

VOULEZ-VOUS (1979)

Side A
1.As Good As New
2. Voulez- Vous
3. I Have A Dream
4. Angeleyes
5. The King Has Lost His Crown

Side B

6. Does Your Mother Know
7. If It Wasn’t For The Nights
8. Chiquitita
9. Lovers (Live A Little Longer)
10. Kisses Of Fire

SUPER TROUPER (1980)

Side A
1.Super Trouper
2. The Winner Takes It All
3. On And On And On
4. Andante, Andante
5. Me And I

Side B

6. Happy New Year
7. Our Last Summer
8. The Piper
9. Lay All Your Love On Me
10. The Way Old Friends Do

THE VISITORS (1981)

Side A
1.The Visitors
2. Head Over Heels
3. When All Is Said And Done
4. Soldiers

Side B

5. I Let The Music Speak
6. One Of Us
7. Two For The Price Of One
8. Slipping Through My Fingers
9. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room

ABBA TRACKS

Side A
1.Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
2. Fernando
3. Summer Night City
4. Under Attack
5. The Day Before You Came

Side B
1.Lovelight
2. Happy Hawaii
3. Elaine
4. Should I Laugh Or Cry
5. Put On Your White Sombrero

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Ronnie James Dio, 67, died in Houston, Texas on May 16 shortly before 8 am of stomach cancer.

Ronald James Padavona (his real name) born in Portsmouth 10 July 1942, only son of an Italian family, and began his career in Elf, a blues rock band, which he had helped found in 1967. Ritchie Blackmore in 1975, just released by Deep Purple, Rainbow definitely wanted him because of extraordinary voice, but was released after only four albums. Dio continued his career in Black Sabbath (Heaven and Hell LP). In 1983 he founded his own band with which recorded until 2006, while continuing with the Heaven and Hell (ie Black Sabbath without Ozzy and Billy Ward and Vinnie Appice but with Dio in their place).
The album that most of all Dio is known in the beginning of his career is certainly the onset of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, a group whose vinyl records have been available in various formats for years.

The first LP released in the UK is a spectacular laminated cover with beautiful black and white photos including full page inside. This is the one Ritchie Blackmore had made by one of the most renowned rock photographers of all time, Fin Costello and was used in many of the international editions of this debut in 45 rpm vinyl records.

The first UK edition of this vinyl is easily recognized by 1) label (Oyster – EMI Records Ltd) 2) number catalog (OYA 2001 – 062 96 787 OC) 3) matrix numbers etched in the trail off of their sides (KENDUN A B OYA OYA A-1U/KENDUN 2001 2001 B-1U) 4) written on the back cover “File under POPULAR: Pop Groups” and the British took care of printing the edition, Garrod & Lofthouse.
And then in the inner sleeve that is white on one side, the classic signs that were on the inner “anonymous” EMI on how to take care of vinyl records and notes on the same label.

Among the various editions of USA there is the one that stands out, Rainbow written in orange instead of red. Then the number of completely different catalog (6049 PD) and the label Polydor is the classic red instead of the Oyster. This may be the very first U.S. edition, an interesting variant … for a collector of the Rainbow albums. I seen Dio in a couple of live Black Sabbath concerts and can only say he was awesome. R.I.P.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Unless you were born with no historical sense of music’s roots, then you are familiar with vinyl records. If unfamiliar, vinyl records are an analog sound storage medium that in essence forms its effects from a flat disc with inscribed modulated spiral grooves. So what is the big deal? Surely that is what you are asking in the digital age of I-pods, Cds, MP3s and phone audio tools. Truth be told vinyl records were revolutionary for their time, and even to this very minute, monumental in shaping the future of digital music and sound. Vinyl records are obviously much more difficult to find these days due to massive advances in audio, however just like seeking a black and white TV, they still exist and are very real.

When young individuals hear about vinyl records they immediately assume they are obsolete and thus not worth their time. The irony is these records are part of the mainstream youth movement behind Hip Hop and Techno, and that’s just to name a few. When you go to the club and hear the DJ, chances are he is using vinyl, and some of the most recognizable beats are due to spinning the modulated grooves on these discs. That is not to say that vinyl is all of a sudden mainstream again, but its effects are monumental and heard every single day spanning the 7 continents.

True albums on vinyl, to the biggest music enthusiasts, are like gold in record form. One of the biggest reasons vinyl records are still actively discussed today is for its nostalgic persona. But it goes beyond just remembering buying your favorite Beatles or Rolling Stones album in the 1960′s. Vinyl records have had a rap for as long as they have been around about their ability to create a more authentic, real sound unmatched by digital reproductions of the same songs. Because of vinyl’s linking to the positive influences of gramophone records, listeners are left with a more visceral experience.

Vinyl records are also a benchmark in the evolution of music, and serve as a bookmarked chapter in the bridge to the digital age. Collectors all over the world constantly discuss, trade and still seek out their favorite albums, almost a reminder to how much audio has changed for the better. Besides just being a warm blanket that covers music’s die hard fans, vinyl records serve as an important lesson to the compression and presentation of audio beats for amazing audio output.

Mike Campbell has been a vinyl record enthusiast for 35 plus years. For more information on collecting vinyl records, and also to pick up on a few rare finds visit us at http://www.vinylrecordbin.com

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

With the renewed interest in vinyl records, an old friend is becoming more important again- album cover art. There have been tens of thousands of album covers created throughout the years and there are some that are instantly recognized, while some remain obscure, but one thing is certain, album cover art is part of our pop culture and the rock and roll lexicon.

Letýs explore a particularly innovative British art design company that specialized in creating instantly recognizable album cover- Hipgnosis. This creative group has made album covers for some of rockýs dignitaries, including Pink Floyd, Genesis, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Yes and the Scorpions, to name a few.

Hipgnosis primarily consisted of artists Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell and later on, Peter Christopherson. In 1968, Thorgerson and Powell were asked to design an album cover for Pink Floydýs second album called “A Saucerful Of Secrets.” They completed that project and soon commissioned additional work from EMI, which included photos and album covers for Free, Toe Fat and the Gods.

Being art and film students, the pair was able to utilize the darkroom at the Royal College of Art, but after they graduated, they had to set up their own facilities and in early 1970 they rented a space and built their famous studio.

Their unique company name came from graffiti found on the door to their apartment. They liked the word because it sounded like hypnosis and they combined two somewhat contradictory terms, ýhipý for new and cool and ýgnosis,ý which related to ancient learning.

Hipgnosis’ novel approach to album design was strongly photography-oriented, and they pioneered the use of many innovative visual and packaging techniques. In particular, Thorgerson & Powell’s surreal, elaborately manipulated photos that utilized innovative darkroom tricks, multiple exposures, airbrush retouching, and mechanical cut-and-paste techniques were a film-based forerunner of what would, much later, be called photoshopping.

“We were self-taught,” writes Powell in the book,”For The Love Of Vinyl.”  “What we did was come up with ideas based on the music. The design ideas were poorly sketched in the early days and required a lot of accompanying blag to be understood. Our usual strategy was to talk the job through with each other and then use photography as a means to express it.”

Hipgnosis got their real big break in 1973 when they were hired to do the cover for another Pink Floyd album, ýDark Side Of The Moon,ý which is one of the most recognized album covers in the world. After the success with the Floyd cover, they were in high demand and soon took on jobs for Led Zeppelin, Genesis, UFO, Black Sabbath, Peter Gabriel and The Alan Parsons Project, to name a few.

Peter Christopherson joined the company in 1974 as an assistant and later on he became a full partner. The firm employed many talented assistants, of particular note were freelance artists George Hardie, Colin Elgie, Richard Manning and Richard Evans.

Another interesting side note is that the company did not have a set fee for designing a particular album cover, instead they asked the musicians to ýpay what they thought it was worth, a policy that would occasionally backfire according to Thorgerson.

Letýs explore some of the stories behind the album covers:

Pink Floyd- Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)

Probably Hipgnosisý most famous work, the album was originally released in a gatefold LP sleeve designed by Hipgnosis and bore Hardie’s iconic refracting prism on the cover. Inside the LP were two posters, one bearing pictures of the band in concert with the words PINK FLOYD broken up and scattered about, and the other being a slightly psychedelic image of the Great Pyramids of Giza taken on infrared film. The album was also the first Pink Floyd album to have picture labels on the record where it depicted a blue prism with black background and the credits written either in grey lettering (European issues) or white lettering (US and Canadian issues). Also included was a sheet of stickers of the pyramids.

The album is the third best-selling album of all time worldwide (not counting compilations and various artists soundtracks), and the 20th-best-selling album in the United States. Though it held the #1 spot in the USA for only one week, it spent a total of 741 consecutive weeksýover fourteen yearsýon Billboard’s list of the top 200 best selling albums, longer than any other album in the history of music.

Led Zeppelin- Houses of The Holy (1973)

The concept for the cover was taken from Arthur C Clarkeýs Childhoodýs End. It is a collage of several photographs which were taken at the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell. The two children who modeled for the cover were siblings Stefan and Samantha Gate. The photo shoot was a very frustrating affair and took ten days. Shooting was done first thing in the morning and at sunset in order to capture the light at dawn and dusk, but the desired effect was never achieved due to constant rain and clouds. The photos of the two children were taken in black and white and were multi-printed to create the effect of 11 individuals that can be seen on the album cover. The results of the shoot were less than satisfactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created an unexpectedly striking album cover. The inner sleeve photograph was taken at Dunluce Castle near to the Causeway.

Jimmy Page has said that the album cover was actually the second version submitted by Hipgnosis. The first, by artist Storm Thorgerson, featured an electric green tennis court with a tennis racquet on it. The band was furious that Thorgerson was implying their music sounded like a “racket”, the band fired him and hired Powell in his place.

Atom Heart Mother- Pink Floyd (1970)

The original album cover depicts a cow standing in a pasture with no text or any other clue that it was an album from Pink Floyd, although some later editions have the title and artist name added to the cover. The concept was the group’s reaction to the psychedelic “space rock” imagery associated with Pink Floyd at the time; the band wanted to explore all sorts of music without being limited to a particular image or style of performance.

So the band requested that their new album cover have “something plain” on the cover, which ended up being the image of the cow. Storm Thorgerson, inspired by Andy Warhol’s famous “cow-wallpaper,ý has stated that he simply drove out into a rural area near Potters Bar and photographed the first cow he saw. The cow’s owner identified her name as “Lulubelle III.ý More cows appear on the back cover (again, with no text or titles), and on the inside gatefold. Again, an instantly recognizable cover, simple as it is.

Peter Gabriel (1980)

Peter Gabriel’s third album, it contains two of Gabriel’s most famous songs, the U.K. Top 10 hit “Games Without Frontiers” and the political song “Biko.”

This album is often referred to as “Melt” due to its cover photograph by Storm Thorgerson. The photo was taken with a Polaroid SX-70 instant camera, and subsequently modified by Thorgerson or Gabriel, and one side of the portrait of Gabriel seems to be melting; although Thorgerson does not recall whether he or Gabriel manipulated the image.

…And Then There Were Three… Genesis (1978)

A rather gloomy and dark cover; it is one that Hipgnosis was not real keen on as Thorgerson explains:

ýWe were trying to tell a story by the traces left by the light trails. It was a torch, a car, and a man with a cigarette. The band was losing members and there were only three of them left. The lyrics of the songs were about comings and goings and we tried to describe this in photographic terms by using time-lapse. So there’s a car going off to one side and then the guy gets out of the car, walks over to the front of it, and lights a cigarette. But as he walks he uses a torch and the car he was in leaves. There’s a trail left by the car, a trail left by him as he’s walking and then he lights a cigarette, which on the cover is where there’s a flash of his face.”

Still, whether the company was happy with the result or not, it is another amazing cover.

In Through the Out Door- Led Zeppelin

This original album featured an unusual gimmick: the album had an outer sleeve which was made to look like a plain brown paper bag and the inner sleeve featured black and white line artwork which, if washed with a wet brush, would become permanently fully colored. There were six different sleeves featuring a different pair of photos and the external brown paper sleeve meant that it was impossible for record buyers to tell which sleeve they were getting. The pictures all depicted the same scene in a bar (in which a man burns a Dear John letter), and each photo was taken from the separate point of view of someone who appeared in the other photos. In 1980 the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package.

Storm Thorgerson recalls the design in his book ýEye of the Stormý:

ýThe sepia quality was meant to evoke a non-specific past and to allow the brushstroke across the middle to be better rendered in color and so make a contrast. This self same brushstroke was like the swish of a wiper across a wet windscreen, like a lick of fresh paint across a faded surface, a new look to an old scene, which was what Led Zeppelin told us about their album. A lick of fresh paint, as per Led Zeppelin, and the music on this albumý It somehow grew in proportion and became six viewpoints of the same man in the bar, seen by the six other characters. Six different versions of the same image and six different covers.ý

Hipgnosisý ideology and concepts are still being utilized and will be copied for years to come. Thankfully, these young art and photography students understood the meaning of an album cover and the art and music worlds are a better place because of their insights and talent.

Author Robert Benson writes about rock/pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates http://www.collectingvinylrecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his FREE ebook called “The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting.” Have your vinyl records appraised at http://www.vinylrecordappraisals.com.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Let’s start the news with a pleasant surprise for all collectors of vinyl records by Depeche Mode: 7 September 2009 is due out in the UK single Peace, limited edition 12 inch to be printed on vinyl colored marble!

The last publication of a 12 “color was Depeche Mode Goodnight Lovers (COL 12Bong33) single from Exciter, released on red vinyl in 2002 in two different versions both Made in EU (cat. LC5834) with only Virgin Label on the first and second. But if we go back to a single edition of a band of Basildon in this format and colored as the next release scheduled we should go back over twenty years, to 1987. Indeed, it is year of Music for the Masses, the one that is more connected as a fan party a memorable tour, which released the single “Never Let Me Down Again  with white stripes, gray and black that will be on colored vinyl!

The visual impact that a colored vinyl  is very impressive and there will be hard to imagine what a collector / fan gets their hands on this.

Final note that each copy may have round sticker on the cover indicating the presence of a colored vinyl inside cover but not all copies: so happens that there are two variants of each copy, or with one or without sticker. Its a wonder what the criteria were to choose different shades of color or because some copies had the “stamp” and others do not …. mystery.
There are other editions of colored discs on Depeche Mode, both single in 7 “or 12″ albums, remix, bootleg or promotional copies printed outside of Germany (UK, Australia, Mexico etc..) But we will speak to another episode.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.