NU-DISK Colony Deluxe Edition

Vinyl records, love them or hate them, but I still have a soft spot for those black ‘groovy’ discs: the singles, extended plays, and long players… But there’s one odd format which for no particular reason I like perhaps most and that’s the 10 inch, a sort of ‘inbetweenie’!

Which brings us to record labels’ gimmicks, such us EPIC with their 1980 NU-DISK series. In their own words: WHAT A CHEAP WAY TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!

Well, at least they were honest about it…

Those NU-DISK platters were 10 inches with (at first) 4 songs each, which to be honest isn’t that much, but then again, the keyword was CHEAP, right?!

The first four were by Cheap Trick, New Musik, Propaganda, and The Continentals of which only the first one is still around (perhaps due to their CHEAP name?!)

The other three UK bands threw in the towel many years ago, but actually their music included some really neat New Wave/Powerpop tunes and therefore deserve to be heard again.

No need to say much about Cheap Trick I guess as they’re pretty well known, except for the info regarding their four tracks is misleading!

On the A side “Day Tripper” isn’t live, but was actually recorded in the studio, the crowd noise is apparently from their 1978 US Tour and “Can’t Hold On” is from the 1978 Budokan shows.

“Such a Good Girl” was recorded in 1979 and “Take Me I’m Yours” from 1980.

Another gimmick, this 10 inch was released in two versions, with different pictures of the band members on the Sides…

New Musik (Tony Mansfield, Clive Gates, Tony Hibbert, Phil Towner, & Cliff Venner) was an English new wave pop band from South London, active from 1977 to 1982. They started out as End Of The World and became New Musik in 1977, originally with musicians who also played in the Nick Straker Band. They released three albums between 1980 - 1982.

Propaganda (Gary Finch, Graham Seviro, Julian Macqueen, & Milo Lewis), UK band formed in ca. 1980. Some members were previously in The Passengers together. They released only one album…

The Continentals (Bill Holliday, Tom Doherty, & Alan Harris) came from London and were managed by Doug Smith, then manager of Motorhead. They released only 2 singles and this 10 inch… Bill Holliday and Tom Doherty also co-produced and wrote tracks for the well known UK Rockabilly group Whirlwind.

In 1980 EPIC even released a NU-DISK Colony sampler with one track each of the above bands.

Later artists that got the NU-DISK treatment were Gary Glitter (Glitter And Gold, 6 tracks), Rick Nelson (Four You, 4 tracks), Shakin’ Stevens (Shakin’ Stevens, 4 tracks), and The Clash (Black Market Clash, 9 tracks).

It was all in vain, sales were disappointing & NU-DISK ended up on the scrapheap…

Anyway, I put this Deluxe 16 track NU-DISK Colony version together for JOKONKY, so do give it a spin!

NOT At Budokan

Stinky has shared a number of Homemade Live Albums on this blog, seeking out great live performances to recreate a studio album in track-by-track order.  He's created almost two dozen of them!  I suggested that he do the opposite: assemble the studio versions of one of the best-known live albums in rock music.  

We posted a compilation last year of OTHER artists who have performed at Japan's famous Budokan arena.  The boys from Rockford (as you may know) didn't plan to release their live album outside Japan, but it sold well as an import, and their live performance had an energy that the studio albums seemed to lack.  (Did you know that it was actually recorded in Osaka?  The Budokan audience was so enthusiastic that they drowned out the band!)

Having said that, why post the studio versions?   First, because casual fans may not have heard them.   At Budokan was the first Cheap Trick album in many record buyers' collections (and for some, it remained their only purchase.)  Back then, a live album was like a greatest hits collection: all the songs you wanted to hear by Peter Frampton or Kiss (for example), with none of the filler -- although Pete did stretch out some of his songs with those long talk box solos.  

Another reason for today's post: the studio recordings have greater subtlety and variety than the concert versions.  Though many live albums are "sweetened" after the fact, the studio versions benefit from layers of vocal harmonies, guitars and other instruments, and arrangements that may be difficult to reproduce in concert.

We discovered that Cheap Trick never released a studio version of "Ain't That A Shame", so Stinky found a great performance from the American Music Awards.  And you don't just get the ten tracks from At Budokan.  He also found a terrific live version of "The House Is Rockin (With Domestic Problems)".  At my request, he added "Writing On The Wall" (a personal favorite) and the 1997 recording of "Brontosaurus" (which Cheap Trick interpolated into "California Man" on Heaven Tonight).  "Dream Police" is here without strings, as well as a sample from the Albini sessions and a few other rarities.