One of the first CDs that I purchased was (1983) MD32-5017 T. Rex The Slider made in Japan. The first Jethro Tull CD that I saw & bought was (1983) CCD 1380 Broadsword made in West Germany. Just a little story from CD's early days: In Sam the Record Man store (Toronto) I asked if Tull was out on CD yet- the answer "No Aqualung & nothing that you would be interested in, only this." as the salesman held up Broadsword. - I laughed as I grabbed my fav. 80's Tull album- a keeper!
It has always been my understanding that the first promotional single released in the US was Paul Simon's "The Boy In The Bubble". Can anyone verify that?
Hey! Fine, actually is in the type-writing level, I have too much to add to it, someone here stated that he wanted to write a Mobile Fidelity book, the which is good to me, because one of the chapters will be dedicated to this brand and their products, in my project I'm only considering the CD's. There are some information missing yet, but still in the hunting for them. Thanks for asking. PS.I'm writing my book in Spanish, but I'll try to do a translation of the Index to wait for your comments.
Anyone here have a working Sony CDP-101 (I think that's the model #), the first CD player (I believe) available in the U.S.?
Man, this thread is a goldmine of info! How did I possibly miss it originally? (Oh, yeah. Maybe my daughter being born. That was probably it. ) I'm not 100% on this, but I think the second Rocket design was actually the "Watermelon" design. The "Rocket Train" was I think the third, after the blue stars. There's some info with photos here in this old thread I started a while ago: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=78401 Geoff
No not yet, I'm making the job first, it was born as a personal project, and I'm talking with some people of the Radio here in Monterrey, I work in a Communication Media Environment, and it seems that it sounded well to them, let's see how far can I go with it.
Yes you're right, that was the first model to the USA market, I was wondered if that number did the catalog number to the earliest CD's, or viceversa?
A little background from the early days (1984 and back): PolyGram was part of Philips (a joint holding with Siemens) and hence was a software partner with Philips to promote CD. CBS Records eventually was taken over by Sony as we know, and at the time had a promotional relationship between CBS and Sony like PolyGram/Philips. "Columbia" releases were labeled "CBS" to be able to be sold in markets (like Europe and Japan) where CBS did not own the "Columbia" trademark at the time. PolyGram had the first CD plant in Hannover, West Germany. CBS/Sony came next. Like DVD, Philips and Sony courted more development partners to get the development out the door: Matsushita (Panasonic/Technics), Toshiba, Victor/JVC, Nippon Columbia/Denon. By the end of 1984, the following CD plants existed: Philips/PolyGram W.Germany MPO France CBS/Sony Japan (CSR) Matsushita Electric/Technics Japan Victor Co. Japan (JVC) Japan Toshiba-EMI Japan Nippon Columbia (Denon) Japan Sanyo Japan CTA Co. Ltd. Sony DADC USA Various labels had relationships with the plants, depending on the country the CDs were sold, but in general, it was first come, first served.
There are only a couple that I am aware of. 1) Y. MALMSTEEN - RISING FORCE 2) ALCATRAZZ - NO PAROLE FROM ROCK N' ROLL I have the Alcatrazz CD and it has the following catalog number: 3112-38 (35PO) Here is a link to the Malmsteen CD on ebay. The price may look completely outragious, but I did see another copy of this CD sell for the same price a few years ago... http://cgi.ebay.com/YNGWIE-MALMSTEE...goryZ307QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Thanks for the info friend. One of the info that is missing is the WG catalog, we have ever compiled the first CD's issued to the Japanese market, I would like to compile the first CD's made under the West Germany catalog, those started by 800-XXX-XXX catalog numbers, I need to compile the ones I have and then ask for complete it here as we did it in the first posts. Thanks to all of you.
BTW Other early catalog numbers I've ever found were the 32X-A I didn't knew they exist since I found a CD of one of my faves Japanese Jazz Bands, check it out: And the funniest thing is that the text in the face of the CD is in Japanese, is the only one I have with this charactheristics, I'll try to post a picture later.
How about 32DH? This is the 1985 CD of Seiko Matsuda's "Sound of My Heart", which was CBS/Sony's attempt at breaking her into the US market. The album featured Phil Ramone as producer and Billy Joel's band as the backing musicians. Songs were written by songwriters such as Dan Hartman, Michael Bolton, etc.... In different markets, you will find different types of catalog numbers for early CDs....even from the same company.
That CBS / Sony "Box-Style" OBI is definately 1985 era. Looks exactly like my Springsteen and ELO CD's which were released in Japan in 1985 for sure. I love this old stuff! Ironically, my father was stationed at Misawa A.F. Base in Japan in 1985 / 1986 and asked me to come visit MANY times, but that was my senior year of H.S. and I didn't want to be bothered. What I wouldn't give to have a peek at the racks of CD's in the Post Exchange at Misawa A.F.B., Japan in 1985 right now. I cringe at the thought of what I passed up.
I have CDs of local artists released by Hong Kong CBS/Sony, but made by Sony in Japan, from 1984 that has a catalog number that start with the letters CBD-1XX. These are very rare since, according to what I heard, only about 500 - 1,000 discs per title were pressed. By 1984, various labels in Hong Kong, such as Polygram, were also releasing CDs. The ones from Polygram were either pressed by Sanyo in Japan or Philips/Polygram in West Germany. If you're interested, I can post some scans.
Here's an early Hong Kong CBS/Sony CD from 1984....Kenneth Choi's "Greatest Hits" (CBD 106). This one cost me US$130.00....ouch! I have other HK CBS/Sony CDs if you're interested. I also have some early 1984 West German-made Hong Kong Polygram CD, on the Philips label, that feature a "swirl" design on the disc itself. So far, I have only found early HK Polygram and HK Warner Music CDs to come with the opaque smooth-sided jewel case.
Here're several scans from 2 Hong Kong Polygram CD titles released in 1984. The first CD is a multi-artists compilation on the Philips label (catalog number 818 109-2) and was made in Japan.... The second CD is a "Greatest Hits" compilation (catalog number 821 827-2) for local artist Kenny Bee and was made in West Germany. It featured an opaque smooth-sided jewel case. I found this CD locally here in San Francisco for US$16.00 brand-new.
Oooooh, I have in my hands a copy of Guilty that is CBS, DIDP 50007. So, it's from only the second batch of CDs ever made! Maybe I should pull it from ebay.... EDIT: Just pulled it. Smooth case "patent pending". Cool. EDIT 2: Just pulled the Billy Joel Nylon Curtain CBS with DIDP 50034. Smooth, "patent pending" case. Apparently this is from the very first batch of CDs according to a couple members.
I am quite certain that the earliest Japanese CBS/Sony releases actually did not come with a box-type OBI strip. There is a 35DP 7 copy of Guilty currently on eBay with the OBI strip. If you look at the disc, you will note that the matrix code ends with "+++++". The earliest CBS/Sony pressings did not have the pluses. Also, the matrix code is in a neat font. The earliest CBS/Sony pressings have the matrix code in a crude font. Also, note that the back of the Guilty OBI strip show other Streisand titles with higher 35DP catalog numbers, suggesting further that this particular copy of Guilty was released a bit later. Also, I once saw a 35DP 11 copy of Boz Scagges Hits! on eBay with an OBI strip. The back of the OBI strip showed other Scaggs titles, some of which had 32DP catalog numbers. I just wanted to bring this out. Don't split hairs over it, though. If you find any 35DP disc, you can be sure that it is an early pressing.
