Pickwick discussion

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dostros

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[MODERATOR NOTE: This discussion about Pickwick was removed from the A&M 50 thread]

WHAT......No Lee Michaels "Do You Know What I Mean" in the 50th???
Your kidding right?
Sting has an entry with the Police, as well as a solo single and Lee was left out?
.....SHAME
I agree, of course, although my favourite is Can I Get A Witness off that album. I recently found a Pickwick release of Lee Michael's 5th in top shape for 1$ - only to find that they had left Can I Get A Witness out! Why they would re-release an album and leave out one of the singles is beyond me...
 
When Pickwick licenced a buttload of A&M in the late 70s/early 80s, virtually every one of the re-releases omitted at least one track. Some omitted two. I can only recall one that omitted none (a Sergio Mendes one IIRC)...
 
When Pickwick licenced a buttload of A&M in the late 70s/early 80s, virtually every one of the re-releases omitted at least one track. Some omitted two. I can only recall one that omitted none (a Sergio Mendes one IIRC)...
Right...it was Crystal Illusions.

I remember we got a bunch of Pickwick 8-track tapes at the store back in the 70s. They were dubious quality.
 
When Pickwick licenced a buttload of A&M in the late 70s/early 80s, virtually every one of the re-releases omitted at least one track. Some omitted two. I can only recall one that omitted none (a Sergio Mendes one IIRC)...

Of course!

Too bad one of Sergio's FIRST ALBUMS, already playing at UNDER-THIRTY-MINUTES, had one missing track!!!! :crazy: :laugh:

-- Dave
 
Maybe A&M obliged them to leave of a track so that the A&M version remained the preferential one to have. Otherwise, what logic is there in doing that? The cost of mechanical rights for one song?
 
Maybe A&M obliged them to leave of a track so that the A&M version remained the preferential one to have. Otherwise, what logic is there in doing that? The cost of mechanical rights for one song?

I would be inclined to believe that is precisely the reason it was done...
 
I always figured the Pickwick thing did have something to do with changing the release in some way so it wasn't in direct 'competition' with the real thing. Very frustrating, though - and I don't know why a couple of the albums (I own the Pickwick CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS!) survived intact.
 
When Pickwick licenced a buttload of A&M in the late 70s/early 80s, virtually every one of the re-releases omitted at least one track. Some omitted two. I can only recall one that omitted none (a Sergio Mendes one IIRC)...

I saw a copy of Equinox that had, I think, only eight of the ten tracks on it!

The reason they do this is so that A&M gets more profits from licensing the back catalog, but does not give away the whole album, making buyers seek out the complete album on the original label. I'm sure the sound quality on Pickwick is third rate also--probably a multi-generation dub of the LP cutting master! :laugh:
 
Maybe A&M obliged them to leave of a track so that the A&M version remained the preferential one to have. Otherwise, what logic is there in doing that? The cost of mechanical rights for one song?

That's exactly it. Their business model (selling a previously released album at a buck or so less than the original) became all the more profitable if they didn't have to pay for all the songs. Factor in crap vinyl and substandard packaging, and Pickwick could be (on the right album, anyway) a little money machine.

Competition with the originals wasn't a concern. Pickwick bought albums that had already been deleted from the original label's catalog (A&M was especially aggressive in the 60s and early 70s...if an album wasn't selling to expectations in a year or two, it was cut out), so the labels were making money off an album they no longer had to produce, and if consumers could find the original at that time, it was already in the cut-out bins.
 
That's exactly it. Their business model (selling a previously released album at a buck or so less than the original) became all the more profitable if they didn't have to pay for all the songs. Factor in crap vinyl and substandard packaging, and Pickwick could be (on the right album, anyway) a little money machine.

Competition with the originals wasn't a concern. Pickwick bought albums that had already been deleted from the original label's catalog (A&M was especially aggressive in the 60s and early 70s...if an album wasn't selling to expectations in a year or two, it was cut out), so the labels were making money off an album they no longer had to produce, and if consumers could find the original at that time, it was already in the cut-out bins.
Ah - makes sense now. Crystal Illusions only had nine tracks in the first place, so they didn't need to license less than the total....
 
This is my kind of thread, by the way - two totally separate conversations going on concurrently. Viva adult ADD!
Yeah, I was wondering when somebody was going to suggest moving it to the Pickwick forum or something. But it's great to be able to have these questions answered - thanks Mr. Haggerty!
 
Yeah, I was wondering when somebody was going to suggest moving it to the Pickwick forum or something. But it's great to be able to have these questions answered - thanks Mr. Haggerty!

A Pickwick forum...now that's an idea! Thing is, which 20% of the posts are we going to delete to keep it authentic? :D
 
A few "legitimate" Pickwick products: (for our "Forum"?)

My sister & I had some children's album of Patriotic songs and it was on Pickwick!

(And I don't think any songs were deleted from that--but that was probably one of the things Pickwick did which wasn't from "some other label"...)

I have a couple Pat Boone compilations which are on Pickwick, consisting of Dot Records material after he'd left the label, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' and Canadian Sunset...


-- Dave
 
I've always loved my Pickwick "Payin' the Cost to be the Boss" by BB King ("by arrangement with ABC-Dunhill"). Of course I've never seen the original, and it only runs a little over 25 minutes. Seems they should have had a little sticker: "Cheap for a Reason!"
 
Pickwick also did a "complete Polka songs" LP by Bobby Vinton...

And don't worry--'My Melody Of Love' is STILL included!!!!

(Though, there's an "abridged version" of the LP that it's from, missing a couple tracks, there!)


-- Dave
 
I've always loved my Pickwick "Payin' the Cost to be the Boss" by BB King ("by arrangement with ABC-Dunhill"). Of course I've never seen the original, and it only runs a little over 25 minutes. Seems they should have had a little sticker: "Cheap for a Reason!"


They were too cheap to afford stickers. :D
 
I had the Pickwick version of the excellent Tales of Mystery and Imagination, the debut album by The Alan Parsons Project. It was another album that survived intact, but it was more of a standard reissue -- the original album had been cut out (or 20th Century Records had gone out of business, not sure which -- maybe both) rather than a cheapie version of a current product. Anyway they changed the cover art on it, and created one of the worst-looking Alan Parsons album covers ever.
 
20th Century? Long story! :laugh: The label started out as 20th Fox Records in the late 50s, then changed to 20th Century-Fox Records in 1963. The label went dormant in 1970, and was revived in 1972 as 20th Century Records, with Barry White and others churning out hits (Barry White having topped the pop music chart a few times). In 1978, the name reverted back to 20th Century-Fox Records. In 1981, they were sold to Polygram when the film studios were sold, and the new buyer did not want the record label. All remaining artist contracts were folded into the Casablanca label (another Polygram owned label). They are now obviously under the Universal umbrella, and reissues from 20th Century are handled by Mercury. Fox Records resurfaced in 1992 as a joint venture with BMG, but it folded in 1995.
 
20th Century? Long story! :laugh: The label started out as 20th Fox Records in the late 50s, then changed to 20th Century-Fox Records in 1963. The label went dormant in 1970, and was revived in 1972 as 20th Century Records, with Barry White and others churning out hits (Barry White having topped the pop music chart a few times). In 1978, the name reverted back to 20th Century-Fox Records. In 1981, they were sold to Polygram when the film studios were sold, and the new buyer did not want the record label. All remaining artist contracts were folded into the Casablanca label (another Polygram owned label). They are now obviously under the Universal umbrella, and reissues from 20th Century are handled by Mercury.

Which is where everything ends up. Polygram swallowed Pickwick, too.

Interestingly, Pickwick had a moment of legitimacy. They founded De-Lite Records as a subsidiary label and got hits from Kool & The Gang before selling De-Lite to Polygram.
 
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