Michael, The WB/Reprise Loss Leaders series of which there were 35 released were only available through the mail for $2 for the 2 lp releases, $1 for single LP releases such as Zapped and $3 for the 3 lp Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodys. Including postage. A wonderful marketing strategy that introduced many of us to so many artists. Barry Hanson also wrote many of the liner notes as well.
That first one - '69 Songbook - was a major influence and portal for me into albums. Roots by The Everly's, Bradleys Barn.... The track sequencing is burned into my brain. When I got into FM radio I started out thinking 'hey this is like the Warners Songbook....'
Wonderful overview of a collection of inexpensive records that helped turn us on to new music back in the day. Thank you Michael ! Love those stackable shelves
Thank you for your wonderful comments which I always enjoy. Your collection never stops amazing me. Those only write-in available albums eluded me as a teenager then. I did read about them from some of my records in those days but never got around trying to get them in the mail primarily because I was not living in the States. What a shame!
I think there was also a Frank Zappa compilation among these releases and it was called Zapped. It included all the artists on the labels associated with Zappa
Yep, I have most of those compilation album sets, they were supposed to (at the time) demo all the artists that were involved with Warner records. Like the GTO's? (girls together outrageously). Interesting stuff. THANKS for showing this!
You were wonderfully concise. A pleasure to listen. From what I remember these Loss Leaders (1969-1980) samplers were only available through the mail from Warner Brothers (in Rolling Stone Magazine or Village Voice, SoHo News, Crawdaddy & publications like that). They were only $2.00 -- a buck each. After a while, there were some single albums issued but mostly doubles. A&M tried it once with a double LP & Columbia issued a 3-record sampler. But the Warners' albums were far more clever, artistic & had marvelous artists. They were also consistent -- I think they issued several albums a year. I have them all -- "Looney Tunes" boxed set with insert was magnificent. Bits of Warner Brothers film dialogue are sprinkled throughout the tracks. I discovered many artists & went out to buy them -- so their marketing worked. The only one I didn't buy was "Schlagers!" (1970). It was more of a middle-of-the-road sampler (Petula Clark, Peter, Paul & Mary, Glenn Yarborough, The Vogues, Theodore Bikel, etc) with little rock music. All were annotated excellently though. I think "Troublemakers" was the last Loss Leaders issued in America. Great video TrackingAngle.
Enjoyed your discussion of the Loss Leaders series. They are a fun listen. I hope you do a writeup on Tracking Angle. Stan Cornyn's book, "Exploding", is a fun read for those that want to know about the highs, hits, hype, heroes and hustlers of the Warner Music Group.
Great topic! I remember the 70’s series I bought from the inner sleeve promo order form. Have to pull all mine out now. Thanks for the memory. Happy Holidays Michael.
I don't think these were available in stores.. it was a clip-the-coupon and mail it in with your $2 kind of thing. That press release you quoted still haunts me to this day.
In the UK there were two albums like this from Island - Nice Enough To Eat, and You Can All Join In, which showcased the more proggy side of things, and several from Vertigo. I've been collecting the Warner releases for a while and especially like the sampler they put out featuring ECM artists titled Music For 58 Musicians.
Nice shoutouts to VDP and John Cale’s ‘Paris 1919’ (btw Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label did reissue ‘Song Cycle’ & ‘Discover America’ about a decade or so ago). Do hope you’re able to post that WB Records history on the TA site sometime.
I would add that some tracks on these samplers were real rarities. Van Dyke Parks with some of VW commercial synth doodlings, also Jethro Tull ("Toe"!)'s first single before they were signed by Chrysalis, and some others.
Michael, a fun video,I remember these and they were an intro for me of a lot of artists. By the way, where are your Wilsons, they are not visible in the video.
I had a half dozen of those "Loss Leaders" LP's back in the 70s. Didn't like the cuts selected on them, so I didn't mind so much when they and most of my LP's were stolen along with some audio gear. But interesting to see them again.
You gotta do more than samplers. There's some great stuff there. I got a lot of jazz simplers. A lot of pop samplers sort of like what you showed you're great
Great fun, completely missed these. The Reprise album Ella you mentioned proves she could do anything: most performers of her era doing 60s material utterly flopped. But this Richard Perry produced LP is great, including some terrific Randy Newman and utterly committed Savoy Truffle. Good sound too.
I believe that one of these Loss Leaders sets includes a Fats Domino cover of the Beatles track 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey' which is pretty strange. A college roommate in the early 80s got a large stack of these from a cousin and we listened to all of them. I am still glad to have discovered Ed Sanders in that way.
In recent years ive enjoyed 60's 70's compilation albums revisiting some i've heard before on older cheeper stereo music centres by gec which did not sound that good with poor tracking / cheep stylus , yes their not the best quality , but still sound better than CD's on a well setup stereo turntable. its so good to find cover versions too songs sung by for example Ella or Petula, enjoy reading the inner notes too :)Will look at for the artist who played " Paris 1919 "
I remember ads for these records, especially The Big Ball and Whole Burbank Catalog, printed on the inner sleeves of albums I bought in the late 1960's. BTW, Robert Downey Jr. was Iron Man, not Ant Man. And its The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie, not Phosphorescent Leech & Eddie.
speaking of 'deep ear' have you seen the columbia europe only comp from around the same time called 'fill your head with rock' .. uh it's borderline implying pedophilia. I found both that album and deep ear at the same record show one year for a few bucks - some weird stuff going on the 70s leading up that that 'famous' scorpion album cover - how many stories are we going to have of the 'guy's under-age daughter came in to do a highly suggestive sexualized album cover for all to see for decades'.... again..very weird stuff.
![ตีสิบเดย์ [FULL] | เปิดใจ "อาจารย์ เบียร์ ฅนตื่นธรรม" นักสนทนาธรรมสายดุดัน!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vqaBI_mnoDk/mqdefault.jpg)
Michael, The WB/Reprise Loss Leaders series of which there were 35 released were only available through the mail for $2 for the 2 lp releases, $1 for single LP releases such as Zapped and $3 for the 3 lp Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodys. Including postage. A wonderful marketing strategy that introduced many of us to so many artists. Barry Hanson also wrote many of the liner notes as well.
That first one - '69 Songbook - was a major influence and portal for me into albums. Roots by The Everly's, Bradleys Barn.... The track sequencing is burned into my brain. When I got into FM radio I started out thinking 'hey this is like the Warners Songbook....'
Wonderful overview of a collection of inexpensive records that helped turn us on to new music back in the day. Thank you Michael ! Love those stackable shelves
Records hold so much history, not to mention the grooves themselves keeping the artists alive!😊
Dear Michael.Happy New Year!I wish you health and vigor!!
Excellent film love to here about variations in music. Hope you had a great Christmas.
Thank you for your wonderful comments which I always enjoy. Your collection never stops amazing me. Those only write-in available albums eluded me as a teenager then. I did read about them from some of my records in those days but never got around trying to get them in the mail primarily because I was not living in the States. What a shame!
I think there was also a Frank Zappa compilation among these releases and it was called Zapped. It included all the artists on the labels associated with Zappa
Zapped
Yep, I have most of those compilation album sets, they were supposed to (at the time) demo all the artists that were involved with Warner records. Like the GTO's? (girls together outrageously). Interesting stuff. THANKS for showing this!
You were wonderfully concise. A pleasure to listen.
From what I remember these Loss Leaders (1969-1980) samplers were only available through the mail from Warner Brothers (in Rolling Stone Magazine or Village Voice, SoHo News, Crawdaddy & publications like that). They were only $2.00 -- a buck each.
After a while, there were some single albums issued but mostly doubles.
A&M tried it once with a double LP & Columbia issued a 3-record sampler. But the Warners' albums were far more clever, artistic & had marvelous artists. They were also consistent -- I think they issued several albums a year.
I have them all -- "Looney Tunes" boxed set with insert was magnificent. Bits of Warner Brothers film dialogue are sprinkled throughout the tracks.
I discovered many artists & went out to buy them -- so their marketing worked. The only one I didn't buy was "Schlagers!" (1970). It was more of a middle-of-the-road sampler (Petula Clark, Peter, Paul & Mary, Glenn Yarborough, The Vogues, Theodore Bikel, etc) with little rock music. All were annotated excellently though.
I think "Troublemakers" was the last Loss Leaders issued in America. Great video TrackingAngle.
Enjoyed your discussion of the Loss Leaders series. They are a fun listen. I hope you do a writeup on Tracking Angle. Stan Cornyn's book, "Exploding", is a fun read for those that want to know about the highs, hits, hype, heroes and hustlers of the Warner Music Group.
Reading that now. In hard-cover!
Great topic! I remember the 70’s series I bought from the inner sleeve promo order form. Have to pull all mine out now. Thanks for the memory. Happy Holidays Michael.
I don't think these were available in stores.. it was a clip-the-coupon and mail it in with your $2 kind of thing. That press release you quoted still haunts me to this day.
In the UK there were two albums like this from Island - Nice Enough To Eat, and You Can All Join In, which showcased the more proggy side of things, and several from Vertigo. I've been collecting the Warner releases for a while and especially like the sampler they put out featuring ECM artists titled Music For 58 Musicians.
I have some of those. Probably would have been a nice addition to show them. I have a Vertigo and an Island sampler among them.
Absolutely loved this video. Thank you!!!
Van Dyke Parks “song cycle” reissue? Please do. 😊 Happy Holidays!
Got them, Electra, etc from 1960’s onward.
Nice shoutouts to VDP and John Cale’s ‘Paris 1919’ (btw Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label did reissue ‘Song Cycle’ & ‘Discover America’ about a decade or so ago). Do hope you’re able to post that WB Records history on the TA site sometime.
Sundazed reissued those Van Dyke Parks albums as well.
I would add that some tracks on these samplers were real rarities. Van Dyke Parks with some of VW commercial synth doodlings, also Jethro Tull ("Toe"!)'s first single before they were signed by Chrysalis, and some others.
some rarities for sure and some real dog-piles as well. A real mixed bag but that's the charm of these mix-tapes on wax.
I dunno about VWs bu VanDyke Pars Did he Original Datsun commercials su
Michael, a fun video,I remember these and they were an intro for me of a lot of artists. By the way, where are your Wilsons, they are not visible in the video.
Merry x-mas, happy new year and let the dogs bite the dust. You’re the sh…! 🙂 Keep going, contributing, producing.
I had a half dozen of those "Loss Leaders" LP's back in the 70s. Didn't like the cuts selected on them, so I didn't mind so much when they and most of my LP's were stolen along with some audio gear. But interesting to see them again.
Your jokes made me crack up. Its refreshing to hear in this subject which is often serious and stuffy.
we need more vinyl with bare essentials ...
5:30 And also Girls Together Outrageously....
Love the artwork on that Deep ear, i collect stuff with similar artwork
The editing is giving me vertigo. Still fun!
You gotta do more than samplers. There's some great stuff there. I got a lot of jazz simplers. A lot of pop samplers sort of like what you showed you're great
Great fun, completely missed these. The Reprise album Ella you mentioned proves she could do anything: most performers of her era doing 60s material utterly flopped. But this Richard Perry produced LP is great, including some terrific Randy Newman and utterly committed Savoy Truffle. Good sound too.
I believe that one of these Loss Leaders sets includes a Fats Domino cover of the Beatles track 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey' which is pretty strange. A college roommate in the early 80s got a large stack of these from a cousin and we listened to all of them. I am still glad to have discovered Ed Sanders in that way.
I cannot wait for the GMT one review!!
you'll get to hear it too---at least as much as TH-cam passes, which is more than I thought possible...
In recent years ive enjoyed 60's 70's compilation albums revisiting some i've heard before on older cheeper stereo music centres by gec which did not sound that good with poor tracking / cheep stylus , yes their not the best quality , but still sound better than CD's on a well setup stereo turntable.
its so good to find cover versions too songs sung by for example Ella or Petula, enjoy reading the inner notes too :)Will look at for the artist who played " Paris 1919 "
I remember ads for these records, especially The Big Ball and Whole Burbank Catalog, printed on the inner sleeves of albums I bought in the late 1960's. BTW, Robert Downey Jr. was Iron Man, not Ant Man. And its The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie, not Phosphorescent Leech & Eddie.
In the words of Artie Johnson "Verry Interesting" !
TrackingAngle - Correction needed in your title. The word "Brothers" in the company name is abbreviated, it should be "Warner Bros. Records".
Song Cycle is amazing. I got the CD for 99 cents.
Actually you couldn’t buy the loss leaders in a record store. They were available via mail order.
Nice job. I got a bunch of them myself but then again you'd have to be like my age to Get a lot of that stuff.
Those green label WB records usually were good sounding pressings.
Burbank, it’s what’s happening! And if you believe the postcards: Where the stars shine, day and night.
⭐🌟⭐🌟⭐
Looks like you’re missing “Zapped”.
I am!
A bit like K-Tel but with a lot more song histories and pics included and maybe a little better than squeezing 11 songs per side!
I have most of those records in my dollar bin 😮
Then someone will get a great set for not much $$!
speaking of 'deep ear' have you seen the columbia europe only comp from around the same time called 'fill your head with rock' .. uh it's borderline implying pedophilia. I found both that album and deep ear at the same record show one year for a few bucks - some weird stuff going on the 70s leading up that that 'famous' scorpion album cover - how many stories are we going to have of the 'guy's under-age daughter came in to do a highly suggestive sexualized album cover for all to see for decades'.... again..very weird stuff.
Fremer!!!!!
👍👍👍👍🎸🎵🎶🎹🎺✌️🙏
3:34 likely didn’t have many dates