"Hard To Find 45's On CD" Series From Eric Records - Anyone Else Enjoy These?

I know I do, and I eagerly await each new volume. Share your thoughts on this multi-volume series and even its offshoots (Hard To Find Pop Instrumentals & Hard To Find Orchestral Instrumentals). In particular, what songs in their original 45 versions would you like to see on future volumes?

 

Some songs I'd like to see on future volumes (original 45 versions)

The Eagles - "Best Of My Love", "One Of These Nights", "Lyin' Eyes" and "Hotel California"
Gerry Rafferty - "Right Down The Line", "Home And Dry"
Stars On 45 Medleys (in their US Single versions)
Dream Academy - "The Love Parade"
Giant Steps - "Another Lover"
USA For Africa - "We Are The World"

 

yes I did...have most of them on CD...

 

I have 'em all. My only complaint is that they don't get released often enough.

The sound quality is always good and lots of rare, hard-to-find stuff really is on these CDs.

Bill Buster really will take your call and listen to your suggestions. (His number is on the back of some of the CDs.)

I've spoken with him (just calling him out of the blue) and he was very polite and interested in my suggestions.

That said, are we going to see "Complete Pop Instrumentals of 1963?"

 

I enjoy the Hard To Find 45s on CD series, particularly the more recent volumes where the sound quality is quite good.

There are usually a few songs (often too few to my liking) on each volume that are truly "hard to find on CD", and some have made their CD debut in the series. The remaining tracks typically have appeared on a few other CDs . . . not common but not exactly rare either.

The focus of the series is generally on stereo 45s so mono 45 versions that have yet to appear on CD are usually not considered. A few "custom" stereo mixes of songs only available in mono have also appeared throughout the series. I've never been a fan of these stereo "frankensteins".

As far as songs to consider for future volumes of the series, I would suggest these Top 40 hits from the 1970s to the early 1980s which are not readily available on CD here in the U.S.:

Neighborhood – Big Yellow Taxi (1970)

Detroit Emeralds – Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms) (1972)

Detroit Emeralds – You Want It, You Got It (1972)

Dennis Yost And The Classics IV – What Am I Crying For? (1972)

Cliff DeYoung – My Sweet Lady (1974)

Andy Kim – Fire, Baby I’m On Fire (1974)

Bazuka - Dynomite (1975)

Fanny – Butter Boy (1975)

John Fogerty – Rockin’ All Over The World (1975)

Wing And A Prayer Fife And Drum Corps – Babyface (1976)

Stallion – Old Fashioned Boy (You’re The One) (1977)

Wilton Place Street Band – Disco Lucy (I Love Lucy Theme) (1977)

Herman Brood – Saturday Night (1979)

Tom Johnston – Savannah Nights (1980)

Jimmy Ruffin – Hold On To My Love (1980)

Jim Photoglo – Fool In Love With You (1981)

Robbie Patton – Don’t Give It Up (1981)

Greg Guidry – Goin’ Down (1982)

 

I have about 4 or 5 of them for a couple songs each. Truth be told, for me they are way too full of songs that would make me turn the dial if they came on the radio.
But then I find some real gems in fantastic sound quality on some of them and have to have them.

 

I've always wondered if these are needle drops or if they are from tape sources? If from tapes, are they typically from the original master tapes?

 

I may have answered my own question. This is from an Amazon 5-star review of volume 1:

Some hard to find stuff here. Also some hard to find **stereo** stuff here. If you want to hear the flawless stereo version of Born To Late, this is the CD you want. If you want to hear Good Timin' in stereo, this is the CD you want. A note on the back of the CD states: All tracks AAD, digitally transferred from original analog master tapes by Fred Meyer at Polygram Studios." The sound quality does indeed sound like these came from the master tapes. I don't believe you will ever hear these songs sound better.

 

I've never bought any of them, because typically I'll already have most of the songs I want elsewhere, but they are great collections.

 

Great choices! I've seen a handful of those songs on CD, but they were mostly on imports which, like you said, were not readily available here in the U.S. Tower Records was always my go-to place for imports and hard to find songs like these. The only music stores we have around here now are a few FYE's and they generally don't have much in the way of imports. I've also never seen them carry any of the "Hard to Find 45's On Cd" series.

I know what you mean. I imagine for some of the songs that have already appeared on CD, the original discs they appeared on may now be out of print and this series may be one of the few places you can now find them. I think the 25-Volume "Super Hits Of The 70's: Have A Nice Day" series had a lot of 45 versions and those discs are now out-of-print. I think several of those songs have already turned up on the "Hard To Find 45's On CD" series.

 

Is that song (single, 12, album version) anywhere on CD?

 

The mastering on the first few volumes was AWFUL. No-noised until not much was left. Thankfully someone got wise and eased up on the digital NR and treble boost as the series went on.

 

I don't have any of those, thankfully.

 

I've bought several entries in this series but am missing some of the earliest volumes, some of which command really high prices now. In general, I like them. There are quite a few songs on these collections that I wouldn't have otherwise. There are some tracks on these CDs that aren't "hard to find," but generally the selections are pretty good and rare.

The series isn't quite as extensive or well done as Rhino's "Super Hits of the '70s, Have a Nice Day," but it does remind me of that series.

 

I thought the ship has sailed on any future Complete Instrumental Hits of the 1960's due to the Copyright Extensions.

 

It's available on this K-Tel CD. Not sure if it's the single or album version, though. I never had the album or 45 to compare it.


http://www.amazon.com/Music-Express...d=1425679120&sr=1-1&keywords=music+express+cd

 

The LP version of Dynomite appeared on a now long out of print K-Tel CD Music Express. Unfortuntely, the 45 version cannot be created from the LP version.

An edited version of Dynomite, which does not match the 45 or LP version, appeared on Volume 1 of the Best Disco In Town series.

There is also another CD, whose name escapes me at the moment, on which the LP version is truncated and segued together with two other tracks.

For my collection, I had to needledrop the original A&M 45 (Dynomite – Part 1).

I agree with your comment about the excessive use of noise reduction on the earliest volumes of the series. This is why I emphasized the better sound quality of the more recent volumes in my post.

Tom Daly, the mastering engineer for most of the volumes until recently, acknowledged that he overused noise reduction on the earliest CDs in the series. He subsequently adjusted his approach to the use of noise reduction as noted in the link below:

http://www.skylinemastering.com/nr_defense.htm

 

Tom Daly used to be a member here.

I have HTF Orchestral Instrumentals from 1999. Excellent track selection, but I am not entirely happy with the sound on this one.

 

Serious business. Eric sets the standard for oldies reissues. They are very meticulous. They have experts doing the remastering. True oldies fans like myself await their every release. The owner, Bill Buster is a legendary craftsman. The only other labels that compare are Collector's Choice and Real Gone both headed by the genius Gordon Anderson.

 

yes, I do remember those...they sucked.

 

I like this series for songs I never would've heard otherwise.

Darryl

 

They do have at least one rare needle-drop: The O'Kaysions "Girl Watcher" from a NM North State single (The song became a hit when ABC did a needle-drop of the regional North State label single, so the master tape is long gone on that one).

 

Great series - recommended. I have them all.

Oldies Guy aka Tom Kennedy