PICKWICK REISSUES

[TallPaulInKy]

During the late 1970s, Pickwick International reissued abridged copies of some of A&M's albums. Abridged means usually a couple of tracks were missing. I have found some information on these albums...where there others?
SPC-3705...Stealer's Wheel: Stuck in the Middle (1979)
SPC-3706...Free: At Last (1979)
SPC-3707...Phil Ochs: Rehearsals for Retirement (1979)
SPC-3708...England Dan and John Ford Coley: England Dan and John Ford Coley (1979)
SPC-3709...Baja Marimba Band: Those Were the Days LP (1979)
SPC-3710...Sandpipers - Come Saturday Morning (1979)
SPC-3711...?
SPC-3712...Lee Michaels: 5th LP (1979) SONGS INCLUDE KEEP THE CIRCLE TURNING-YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO-YA YA-DIDNT HAVE TO HAPPEN-ROCK ME BABEY-DO YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN-WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE-OAK FIRE-I DONT WANT HER

On eBay someone sold a reissue of Phil Ochs Greatest Hits, also on Pickwick.

 

[Rudy]

I think it was Pickwick that issued an abbreviated version of Brasil '66's Equinox. I mean, heck, the album is already under half an hour...they had pared it down to seven or eight songs, I think!! If it wasn't Pickwick, it was another budget label. I don't own it, but maybe someone else here does.

 

[TallPaulInKy]

Through various Internet sale ads I found Pickwick was bully on Sergio Mendes. Check out these additional budget reissues.

SPC-3149...Sergio Mendes Trio: So Nice (non A&M material)

SPC-3725 - Equinox
SPC-3736 - Crystal Illusions
SPC-3749 - Ye-Me-Le
Then they repackaged two single Lps together into a two record set called, "Masquerade" (2Lp Set SPC3736 & SPC3749)

Oops found some more!!!

SPC-3733...Billy Preston: I Wrote a Simple Song LP
SPC-3734...Stealers Wheel: Ferguslie Park LP
SPC-3735...Phil Och: Phil Ochs' Greatest Hits LP (1979)

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I have the CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS Pickwick release. For once, they didn't trim any of its tracks. The only difference is the back cover....different (larger) typefaces than on the A&M release.

 

[Mr Bill]

There was a Gary Wright (though I can't recall which -- Extraction or Footprint). England Dan and John Ford Coley's A&M debut LP got "pickwicked" as well.

--Mr Bill

 

[Rudy]

Keep 'em coming! If we get some more entries here, I'll put them into a feature article (like I did with the A&M Audiophile series).

 

[Steven J. Gross]

I always thought Pickwick did a very nice job of pressing and cover art, etc. Unusual for a budget label then.

 

[RichardWarner]

I believe the deal was that these LPs were released through Pickwick so A&M could pick up some badly needed cash to fund its distribution company, "Together Distributing," which it operated as a joint venture with Motown. 'Twas a disaster.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Didn't they also release FOOL ON THE HILL but without the gatefold? Or was that A&M itself that did it? I never actually saw such a thing but seem to remember hearing about it.

 

[Dave]

I once had the "abbreviated" versions of The Sandpipers' COME SATURDAY MORNING and Phil Ochs' REHEARSALS FOR RETIREMENT; each of them are minus a couple of songs...

I had no idea Ochs' GREATEST HITS was on Pickwick, too; are any songs missing from IT...?

Long ago, we had a childrens' album of Patriotic Songs that I think was also on Pickwick--I sure recognize the label, or at least remember it, there...


Dave

 

[Harry]

Didn't they also release FOOL ON THE HILL but without the gatefold? Or was that A&M itself that did it? I never actually saw such a thing but seem to remember hearing about it.

A&M re-released FOOL ON THE HILL without the gatefold as SP 3108. It has the silver/tan label colors, and has the large picture of Sergio with the ocean waves behind him, like on the earlier A&M CD. I bought a copy of it to freshen up my well-worn original vinyl.

Harry

 

[Rudy]

A&M re-released FOOL ON THE HILL without the gatefold as SP 3108. It has the silver/tan label colors, and has the large picture of Sergio with the ocean waves behind him, like on the earlier A&M CD. I bought a copy of it to freshen up my well-worn original vinyl.

About a month ago, my favorite used vinyl shop had just about all of the A&M Brasil '66 and '77 LPs, and it was the first time I'd ever seen Fool On The Hill with that large "censor" sticker on the back of the gatefold cover of one of the three copies they had in stock. It was almost amusing enough to buy it.

 

[TallPaulInKy]

I believe the deal was that these LPs were released through Pickwick so A&M could pick up some badly needed cash to fund its distribution company.

Money probably had something to do with it but as I recall, Pickwick had close ties, and could have been owned at one time by the Musicland stores. A&M probably wanted to get in good with Musicland. Besides Budget albums were the rage in the 70s as labels continued to raise their prices. A&M did not operate it's own budget label so why not let Pickwick do it as they were experts. It was a way of tapping a different market. Pickwick even operated to including pressing the budget label for a major like RCA (Camden I am speaking of).

 

[TallPaulInKy]

A FAIRLY COMPLETE LISTING PICKWICK REISSUES OF A&M ALBUMS

With the help of suggestions from folks on the list I have come up with the following.

SPC-3705 Stealer's Wheel - Stuck in the Middle (1979)
SPC-3706 Free - At Last (1979)
SPC-3707 Phil Ochs - Rehearsals for Retirement (1979)
SPC-3708 England Dan and John Ford Coley: England Dan and John Ford Coley (1979)
SPC-3709 Baja Marimba Band: Those Were the Days LP (1979)
SPC-3710 Sandpipers - Come Saturday Morning (1979)
SPC-3711 Gary Wright – Extration (1979)reissue of 1970 A&M album.
SPC-3712 Lee Michaels - 5th LP (1979)
SPC-3724 Captain & Tennillle - Song Of Joy (1979) Excluding: Mind Your Love and Butterscotch Castle
SPC-3725 Sergio Mendez - Equinox (1979) budget reissue of A&M SP-4122 excluding "Triste"
SPC-3733 Billy Preston - I Wrote a Simple Song (1980)includes Outa Space
SPC-3734 Stealers Wheel - Ferguslie Park (1980) Same songs as 1974 A&M 4419
SPC-3735 Phil Ochs - Phil Ochs' Greatest Hits (1980) excluding “Ten Cents a Coup”
SPC-3736 Sergio Mendez - Crystal Illusions (1980)
SPC-3748 Joan Baez - Where Are You Now, My Son? (1980), reissue of 1973 A&M excluding "Windrose
SPC-3749 Sergio Mendez - Ye-Me-Le (1980)
SPC-3750 Billy Preston: Music Is My Life (1980)

The following are 2 LP sets. In Pickwick tradition they would normally print a new two picket sleeve and insert the same two albums as available as individual issues. We know the Sergio Mendez was done that way, so the Stealers Wheel 2 LP set probably has the same songs as issued on SPC 3705 and 3734 above.

PTP-2100 VERY BEST OF STEALERS WHEEL (2 LP - 1980)
PTP-2101 Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Masquerade (1980)(2Lp Set containing SPC3736 & SPC3749)

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Pickwick had close ties, and could have been owned at one time by the Musicland stores.

It was the other way around. Pickwick was a huge distribution company, and they owned the Musicland chain. (In the 70s, my store used to buy our records and tapes from Pickwick Distribution. Their system was completely bloated and goofy. I'm not surprised they eventually ran into trouble.)

 

[TallPaulInKy]

In case you haven't read the Sandpipers thread on A&M Corner, I will repeat here that the Pickwick budget reissue SPC-3710 Sandpipers - Come Saturday Morning (1979), has a full coolor back cover and a brief but fairly complete history of the Sandpipers written by Jeff Beegle that was not on the original A&M full priced release, at least not my copy. Your collection is not complete without this one. Pickwick did new covers on some of their releases and I believe (though I don't have the original A&M release to compare) Pickwick made a new and better cover on the first England Dan & John Ford Coley release. I have seen a scan of the A&M version but it may have been a foreign release.
Some of these albums may be worth the used price just for the cover art alone.

 

[jimac51]

While googling "Pickwick International" ,an interesting tidbit of trivia was that Lou Reed worked as a songwriter for Pickwick in 1964 and one of the Pickwick owners was instrumental in Lou meeting John Cale-the beginning of the Velvet Underground. Mac

 

[TallPaulInKy]

Latest Addition:
SPC-3705 Stealer's Wheel - Stuck in the Middle (1979) 1 Late Again 2 Stuck in the Middle 3 Another Meaning 4 I Get By 5 Outside Looking In 6 Johnny's Song 7 Next to Me 8 José 9 Gets So Lonely 10 You Put Something Better Inside Me (No tracks deleted from original 1972 A&M release).

 

[Dave]

How 'bout John Stewart's Wingless Angels?! Was IT ever on Pickwick, or am I thinking of the RCA (the label it was released on) BEST BUY-Series? ...Of which his other RCA album, Cannons In The Rain has been reissued... (sans gatefold & info. inside)

I'm sure I have owned a Pickwick copy, and always managed to buy it (and an occasional RCA) new, that way...


Dave

 

[TallPaulInKy]

Dave asked: How 'bout John Stewart's Wingless Angels?! Was IT ever on Pickwick?

Yes, kinda. It was issued as ACL-7080 in 1980, reissue of 1975 LP, on the Camden label when Pickwick was distributing and pressing Camden for RCA. But it was originally an RCA album, whereas I was primarily trying to locate the A&M reissues on Pickwick.

 

[TallPaulInKy]

I finally found my copy of Those Were The Days (I am very disorganized when it comes to albums, they are in closets, boxes, shelving, etc. Apparently A&M thought highly of the Those Were The Days album as it was the only BMB issued in the Pickwick series of budget reissues (SPC-3709). The Pickwick reissue has a full color front and back cover but it is missing two songs Peru '68 and Happening To Me from the original 11 song line up. This saved them on mechincal royalities.

But it is definitely one of the BMB best!

 

[Dave]

...I was primarily trying to locate the A&M reissues on Pickwick...

Eh, sorry to get Non-A&M again, but being the ABC/Dunhill collector I am, I looked to Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds' Don't Pull Your Love Out, (a PICKWICK reissue of their self-titled debut) as a replacement copy for my original vinyl, but noticed that unlike the original Dunhill/ABC pressing, it's missing a couple songs ["Young, Wild & Free" and the almost-instrumental "Nora (Nora, Nora, Nora)"] and the songs are also in different order... ("Long Road" actually ends the album on Side 2 and Side 1 ends with "Don't Refuse My Love")

Er, back to our regularily scheduled topic...


Dave