The Bottom Line:
Interesting approach to marketing from the States
This early sampler album from 1971 was sold only by mail order for the attractive price of 1 dollar. The why is explained in the inner sleevenotes, and the tone of voice demonstrates an original marketing strategy. There was a whole series of promotional records in the so-called Loss Leaders series, many of them double album releases that only cost 2 dollars.
The extensive information included on the back cover and the inner sleeve proves not only that Warner Bros. and Reprise served an impressive roster of artists, but also that Chris Blackwell found an interesting partner in the United States. John and Beverley open side B with Primrose Hill, the following artists are clearly of B-quality.
Track table | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
nr | artist | track | time | provenance |
A1 | Little Feat | Snakes On Everything | 3:02 | Warner Bros. WS 1890, Little Feat (Dec 1970) |
A2 | Rosebud | Panama | 3:52 | Reprise/ Straight RS 6426, Rosebud (1971) |
A3 | Peter Green | Hidden Depth | 4:56 | Reprise RS 6436, The End Of The Game (Jan 1971) |
A4 | Curved Air | It Happened Today | 4:55 | Warner Bros. WS 1903, Airconditioning (Jan 1971) |
A5 | Tony Joe White | Five Summers For Jimmy | 3:44 | Warner Bros. WS 1900, Tony Joe White (Jan 1971) |
B1 | John and Beverley Martyn | Primrose Hill | 2:53 | Warner Bros. WS 1882, The Road To Ruin (Feb 1971) |
B2 | Ohio Knox | Pound Or My Dog Dad For Robert Downey (A Prince) | 3:00 | Reprise RS 6435, Ohio Knox (Feb 1971) |
B3 | Jeffrey Cain | Mr. Governor | 2:38 | Warner Bros. WS 1880, For You (Oct 1970) |
B4 | Zephyr | Going Back To Colorado | 2:48 | Warner Bros. WS 1897, Going Back To Colorado (Jan 1971) |
B5 | Ron Nagle | Family Style | 2:42 | Warner Bros. WS 1902, Bad Rice (Feb 1971) |
B6 | Brownsville Station | Rumble | 3:09 | Warner Bros. WS 1888, Brownsville Station (aka No BS) (Oct 1970) |
Total playing time
Side A 20:40
Side B 17:27
Mold numbers
PRO # 443 and 39849 A 1B and BH
PRO # 443 and 39850 B 1B and BH
BH referring to mastering engineer Bobby Hata
sitenotes:
The release date is an estimate based on the the streetdates of the contributing albums.