The Ron Kane Files

Writing About Music

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Big 10" / 25cm - Part 1


Big 10”! – Part 1

The humble 10” / 25cm disc! I suppose they came up with this size for 33 1/3 rpm’s in the 1940’s, as 78 rpm discs had been 10”. Usually, 4 songs to a side, in a nice heavy cardboard sleeve – essentially the pre-cursor to the LP (which was introduced in 1948). Much later on – the 10” was used as a substitute for a 12” single (2 or 3 tracks only). Here is a list of the nice 10” discs I still have in my collection, with some brief descriptions, when possible. For this list, I have also included “shaped discs”, which I store with my 10” records.

= = =

10cc 24 HOURS
1983 3 TRKS with pic sleeve; latter day single for the band

AIR LIQUIDE ROBOT WARS: COMBAT ZONE PARTS I + II
1994 2 TRKS picture disc; German electronica band, nice looking picture disc

ART OF NOISE BEATBOX / MOMENTS IN LOVE
1985 2 TRKS shaped disc, looks like a turtle – not really a 10” but a “shaped disc”

BASEMENT FIVE SILICONE CHIP / CHIP BUTTY
1980 2 TRKS no pic sleeve, their only single that I know of – too bad their neat CD is out of print

BELAFONTE, HARRY VERSATILE MR. BELAFONTE
1955? 9 TRK EP mono; lovely looking 1950’s English 10” album

BOWIE, DAVID [as TIN MACHINE] UNDER THE GOD
1989 3 TRKS with pic sleeve; interview on B-side

BREL, JACQUES JACQUES BREL
1965? 6 TRK EP mono – some places on Earth still issued 10” albums well into the 60’s

BROWN, JAMES SLAUGHTER'S BIG RIP OFF (RADIO FEATURETTE)
1973 3 TRKS ED McMAHON – promotional item for the Blaxplotation film

BRUIJNJE, JOEP VITAMINS!
1983 8 TRK EP with Fay Lovsky – Dutch English-language singer / songwriter fare – really quite good.

CAPTAIN SENSIBLE & KING MY BABY DON'T CARE
1978 4 TRKS with pic sleeve ('04 issue) member of The Damned

COOPER-CLARKE, JOHN WALKING BACK TO HAPPINESS
1979 10 TRK EP; Live, clear vinyl – cracking British spoken word / comedy album! Not on CD!!!

CORNELIUS / HIDEKI KAJI THEME FROM FIRST QUESTION AWARD shaped disc
1997 2 TRKS heart shaped disc; MENU 120

CRIME & THE CITY SOLUTION DOLPHINS AND THE SHARKS, THE
1991 4 TRKS with pic sleeve; Ltd. Ed. #4961

CUGAT, XAVIER DANCE PARADE
1953? 8 TRKS a real 1950’s 10” album – lots of mambo

DAMNED, THE LIVELY ARTS / TEENAGE DREAM / I'M SO BORED
1980 3 TRKS with pic sleeve – British punk rock

DARLING BUDS HIT THE GROUND
1989 4 TRKS with pic sleeve – probably issued on both 10” and 7”, with hopes of hyping the chart

DIE DOMINAS DIE DOMINAS
1981? 3 TRKS with pic sleeve; Ralf & Karl of Kraftwerk

ELECTRIC EELS NOT IN LOVE (WITH THE MODERN WORLD)
1980 3 TRKS with pic sleeve – British new wave

GIGANTJES LITTLE GIANTS
1985 6 TRKS with pic sleeve – Dutch group

GIRLSCHOOL C'MON LET'S GO / TONIGHT / DEMOLITION
1981 3 TRKS with pic sleeve – British hard rock

GIRLSCHOOL HIT AND RUN / TONIGHT / TUSH
1981 3 TRKS with pic sleeve – British hard rock (and a ZZ Top cover version!)

GLITTER, GARY GLITTER AND GOLD
1980 6 TRK EP; Collection – British 70’s glam rock

GODOT SOMETHING'S MISSING / THE PRIORITY / VOICES
1983? 3 TRKS with pic sleeve; Dalek I Love You members

HADJIDAKIS, MANOS / V. A. DANCING ON SUNDAY
1962? 10 TRKS mono; Mikis Theodorakis – Greek artists


9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Re: DIE DOMINAS

I had never heard of this and did some research. Apparently Ralf & Karl merely designed the cover for their friends' record, which they were quite taken with nonetheless.

I wish I had more 10" records. They are cute. One I need and have not been able to find [for <$50] is the last OMD 10" of "Dreaming - William Orbit mix."

9:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ron – just saw the Cheap Trick post. I think you are being way too harsh here on Cheap Trick. I actually think their 70’s output holds up better as each year goes by. They had a roll of 4-5 great lps which carry on the Move/ELO/Beatles/Beach Boys sounds they loved. And they pulled it off live. I can understand if you don’t like power pop – Vertigo Records it ain’t but I think you are way way off on this one . . . is there some personal grudge we don’t know about??? Did you ever see them live? Were you pissed they were considered "new wave"?

JB

3:15 PM  
Blogger Ron Kane said...

Jim-san,

Die Dominas 10" is nothing to write home about.

JB - Gee, I didn't think I was being harsh. I was merely wondering how CT pulled off mass hysteria in Japan so early in their career. Their "career" in the US didn't even really take off UNTIL the "Budokan" thing made it over here. I reserve my harshness for Epic, for not having released the show on DVD, instead of a crummy "CD-Extra" tacked onto an 82 min. 2 CD set!
And I classify CT as "70's Rock", it's too early to be "new wave"! Jack Douglas never produced any "New Wave", as far as I know.

6:30 PM  
Blogger Brian Ware said...

Cheap Trick got lumped into the new wave thing because they did the skinny tie/cool shoes/ stovepipe jeans look. Heck, even Tom Petty was in that camp for awhile. I've always been a power pop fan (The Smithereens, Muttonbirds, Guadalcanal Diary,etc) and I've always apprecicated Cheap Trick as well. I sampled their last LP "Rockford" on iTunes and it's really solid. I've seen them live and they deliver the goods.

9:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Re: Cheap Trick

Brian - I hear you with the Tom Petty/New Wave hysteria! I remember when "I Need To Know" from his 2nd album was getting FM play in Orlando, and at the time Petty was certainly lumped in with New Wave. That IS the only decent song he released with any urgency, so it sort of has an "edge" to it. As for Cheap Trick, didn't the whole 2-Tone movement swipe their graphic tropes? So the visual cues were certainly "New Wave" but 2 of their members had long hair -disqualification! But they did contribute decent mainstream rock in the late 70s. Lost their bearings in the 80s, and got their heads screwed on right again in the 90s. Sort of like Simple Minds. I think "Surrender" is THE classic mainstream rock track of the 70s. I've heard many a band cover it and it's bulletproof! I also agree with Ron that the whole "Budokan" hype was hard to fathom. But they are entitled to be a "big in Japan" group... it DOES happen. And it was nice that what was designed as their swansong eventually worked for them at home, but I wonder how much money CBS poured into "promoting" it... or was it a genuine hit on its own merits?

5:56 AM  
Blogger Ron Kane said...

Jim - The story I always heard was hat copies of the "Live at Budokan" LP made their way to the U.S. from Japan - 'progressive FM' DJ types started playing it, garnering good audience reaction. Epic couldn't 'see the point' of actually releasing it, so they made a promo-only "Live Album" and promptly 'serviced' radio. Then every station in L.A. began playing it...a vast quantity of LP's were imported from Japan, as demand was being created by radio. A day late and a few hundred yen short, Epic begrudgingly 'released' "Live At Budokan" in the US...and the rest, as they say, is (to paraphrase Sun Ra) - "His story is not my story - what's your story?"

6:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thanks for the feedback re CT. Good to see some responses!! You are correct Ron – you weren’t really being harsh on them, more on the label. The fact that you bought it does speak to an interest, no. I have a dvd-r of what I think is the Budakon concert (or one of them edited down) with the Japanese tv ads. Really funny and it is kinda hard to see where the crowd hytseria derives from. My guess is just Zander and Petersson as hearthrobs. I am glad that someone brought up Tom Petty. I have been revisiting some of those early lps (along with the other Shelter record lp by Dwight Twilley). Ron – you were playing around in that time period in LA. Were those guys out and about or were they already FM rock stars. Not exactly the sort of LAFMS-friendly material but I can enjoy the hits. Jim - I am glad you point out that they at least made some great mainstream hits which I think gets lost. I still think those lps just seem to have aged really well as the years go by.

JB

1:18 PM  
Blogger Ron Kane said...

JB,

"it is kinda hard to see where the crowd hytseria derives from" - I wish I could read the Japanese press of the day - I know they were covered extensively in Music Life and Ongaku Senka, and the Japanese scribes couldn't have focused too much on the "heart-throb" aspect, for most discerning Japanese music fans, when writing about CT. I remember them being Compared to The Beatles etc.

My band played live '76 - '81, but I never rubbed shoulders with CT. I was always around bands like Monitor, Nervous Gender, BPeople, Black Randy, The Screamers, The Deadbeats...my crowd.

We were all so "avant" then - or so we liked to think. By '76, I was past prog rock, and already doing stuff like Hermeto Pascoal and Urszula Dudziak - people who really push the boundaries. I would've lumped CT in with Starz, Kiss etc. - artists that it was somebody else's business to care about.

25+ years later - CT sounds OK to me, and I enjoy the CT Budokan 2CD in the context of examining the 'mania' (I've been to Budokan, and saw the shrine to The Beatles in the basement) - and I love Nielsen's stage banter (just about the only stage banter on the whole 2 discs): "When I first got to Japan, I went and bought a Japanese guitar!" - Gee, you'd like to think that the promoter would've told them to say some "Dozo" "Yoroshiku" "Arigato" "Gozaimasu" etc. stuff to the crowd - to really drive them wild...like The Carpenters did!

7:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Understood. I gues I was wondering if the Petty crowd ever came to check out any of the "punk" goings on circa 76-78 in LA. I know your background so was wondering more as a curiosity. Recently saw the Fabulous Stains again and was amused - as I always am - by Black Randy's GREAT cameo (and performance) of I Slept in an Arcade. Agreed re CT throwing out some Japanese to the crowd. I have a video of the Carpenters live in Japan laserdisc and the crowd is just ecstatic by any effort they make to converse in Japanese!

JB

12:40 PM  

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