A&M "Classics" CDs from the 1980s

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Oatsdad, Aug 9, 2014.

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  1. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Anyone else interested in these? I've started to hunt for the ones pressed in Japan.

    Not sure how many volumes there were total - Volume 26 is the highest I've been able to identify...

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    Greenalishi, ARK, TimM and 6 others like this.
  2. audiomixer

    audiomixer As Bald As The Beatles

    Great sounding series!
     
    ARK, Terry, MYQ1 and 2 others like this.
  3. Agent57

    Agent57 Marshall will buoy, but Fender control

    Location:
    PA
    I thought the Styx one (Volume 15) was well-done. I also have "An Autobiography of Supertramp" (later re-released as Classics Vol. 9) but it unfortunately uses the Single edits.
     
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  4. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    I used to own the Squeeze one. Peculiar selection, all over the place chronologically and including some obscure album tracks while omitting some hits.
     
  5. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
  6. rxcory

    rxcory proud jazz band/marching band parent

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Carpenters were Classics, Vol. 2. SQ was not bad.
     
  7. rxcory

    rxcory proud jazz band/marching band parent

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    MLutthans, ARK, shaboo and 7 others like this.
  8. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, Tx, US
    I live the Herb Alpert one, listen to it all the time.
    They used to play this stuff when the Astros played in the Astrodome ALL the time...
     
  9. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    These are good discs. I have several of them as Japanese pressings but never made it a point to determine whether all of them were pressed in Japan. Some of them may been released too late to have been pressed in Japan.

    A little trivia note: The Quincy Jones title was released as Volume 3 in the U.S. but was released as Volume 2 in Japan (D32Y catalog number). This is because the Carpenters compilation was released as Volume 2 in the U.S. but was not released in Japan.
     
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  10. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
  11. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I suspect some exist only in US pressings due to release date - and I think some of the dates listed on the above-linked website are wrong. For instance, I find it tough to believe the Squeeze disc came out in 1987 since it includes a song from September 1987's "Babylon and On" - seems unlikely a compilation would include a song from a then-brand-new album...
     
  12. stephenlee

    stephenlee Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast, USA
    I've got the Nils Lofgren volume. Excellent song choice and sequencing! A very enjoyable album, with decent sound quality.
     
  13. RelayerNJ

    RelayerNJ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Whippany, NJ
    cool thread! I wonder why they picked Herb for #1
     
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  14. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Because the "A" in "A&M" stands for "Alpert", I suspect! :)
     
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  15. PTgraphics

    PTgraphics Senior Member

    Styx Classics Volume 15 was the first CD I bought, and I didn't have a CD player yet. I used to see many of these titles a lot in the used bins, but I don't run into them too often any longer.

    Pat
     
  16. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    The worst title in the series. The selections make almost no sense at all, and it doesn't function either as a hits collection or as a best-of collection. There's also way too much emphasis on what were then their most recent releases.
     
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  17. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Almost all these titles were available from the record clubs, and so are very common.
     
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  18. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    At one time I had all of them. The most difficult to find are the Lani Hall and Nils Lofgren discs.
     
  19. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I found 5 within the last week - and that's just Japan pressings! I've seen more but they were US versions...
     
  20. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    That could be. Some of the later titles in the series may only exist as U.S. pressings.
     
  21. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    That's the reason. Respect for one of the label's founders. Of course, there are two Alpert compilations in the series -- one for his Tijuana Brass period and one for his solo period.
     
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  22. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    This is true. As a collector of early Japanese pressings, I always check these discs when I find them in the bins, and most of them are RCA/BMG club issues pressed in the U.S.
     
  23. shaboo

    shaboo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bonn, Germany
    discogs shows 27 volumes:
    http://www.discogs.com/label/401152-AM-Records-25th-Anniversary

    The only one I have is the German version of Styx' Volume 15, called "Boat On The River" - great song selection and good sound :)

    discogs shows 1987/1988 as year of release for all volumes, too, and people there are usually quite anal about this. Also, anything else wouldn't have made much sense for a "25th Anniversary" series.
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2014
  24. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I looked on ebay and the disc has a copyright date of 1987 but the site claims it came out 10/88, so who knows?
     
  25. elgreco

    elgreco Groove Meister

    I have that one too. It was my very first Styx CD. I think several of these 'A&M classics' saw a West-German release too, but the artwork was a little different, and so was the track listing. That Syx disc for instance makes no mention of a 25th anniversary, though it was released in 1987. It's a 15 track CD, as opposed to the 14 tracks on its US counterpart. Added was the song 'Boat on the river' (hence the album title of course), which was a sizeable Styx hit in several European countries. At the time of release, however, it struck me as odd that this comp didn't have that other big Styx hit around these parts - Sing for the day.

    I also have a second volume of a Herb Alpert disc in this series (vol. 20, W-German pressing), that focuses on his 80s output, from Rise and beyond (no pun intended). That one became hard-to-find pretty soon afterwards IIRC and was valuable for some time since many of his individual albums from this era went OOP pretty soon or weren't released on CD at all.
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2014
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