The first JLL Video / CD / DVD?

[peterchecksfield]

I think everyone on here must know what Jerry's first single & album were, but what were the first:

(a) Official Home Video?

(b) CD?

(c) DVD?

And what about the first official cassette / 8-track / reel-to-reel?

[Andrew McRae]

I think everyone on here must know what Jerry's first single & album were, but what were the first:

(a) Official Home Video?

(b) CD?

(c) DVD?

And what about the first official cassette / 8-track / reel-to-reel?

Good question! To which I certainly don't have a definitive answer! I've never seen a reel-to-reel of "The Golden Hits" (or "The Golden Rock Hits") which has always surprised me. So the 'earliest' I have is "The Greatest Live Show On Earth". (Pre-supposing it is contemporaneous with the initial LP release). The next album to be issued on Ampex appears to have been "Soul My Way" - or does anyone know different? After that, it seems to be a bit patchy, I don't think all the subsequent Smash-Mercury LPs were issued in this format, and the last one appears to have been "The Session".

I haven't come across an 8-track earlier than "She Still Comes Around" but I can't say that one doesn't exist, though I doubt it (and it wouldn't be any earlier than 67 when Ford made 8-tracks an option across their entire range of cars). There was also a series of issues of 'continuous play 4 track cartridges' just to confuse matters but this format was short-lived! All of JLL's Smash- Mercury albums from 1969 to 1973 were probably issued in 8-track cartridge formats. Thereafter, I'm not sure.

As for musicassettes, I think we have to turn to the UK or Europe to find the earliest examples, as this format wasn't really popular in the US until much later, perhaps from the early 80s onwards, with the introduction of the Sony Walkman and other personal stereos. The oldest musicassettes I have are probably the French and UK issues of "The Return of Rock" and these were perhaps amongst the first examples when Philips introduced the format in late 65/early 66, though they may have been a little later than that.

Andrew

PS I'm still looking out for an early wax cylinder!

[hussein_maloof]

Another early London label (Sun) collection, probably the first JLL LP (other than the Smash re-recordings) to feature the term 'Golden Hits' (literally, I think, it's 'Golden Successes')

“MR DINAMITA CANTA LOS EXITOS DE ORO”
High School Confidential; Don’t Be Cruel. Hello Josephine. Save The Last Dance For Me. Sweet Little Sixteen. Good Golly Miss Molly (La Plaga). What’d I Say. Cold Cold Heart. Hang Up My Rock n Roll Shoes. Ubangi Stomp

London LL 2010 (Mexico 196x?)

This is from 1968. The term translates as: "Mr. TNT sings the hits of gold", or "sings the golden hits".

Note that the collection starts with High School Confidential.
The spanish version of High School Confidential, sung by a group called "Los Locos Del Ritmo" was a huge (and I mean HUGE) hit here in Mexico, way back the 60´s... (yep, almost seven years after the JLL hit).

- Hussein

PD. Back on topic, "The Session" CD, with only 14 tracks, says 1990... maybe it was the first CD...

PD2. Or maybe, the GBOF soundtrack from 1989???

[Ulli]

I remember that my former brother in law had had a CD of 'Rocket', but I don't know exactly when it had been, perhaps a few years later than the release of the LP, since I had the LP before him.

[Andrew McRae]

PD. Back on topic, "The Session" CD, with only 14 tracks, says 1990... maybe it was the first CD...

PD2. Or maybe, the GBOF soundtrack from 1989???

No, we've already covered this. The first CD was either the ("West")German, 14-track, pressing of "The Session" (the only date on my copy, however, appears to be the original P-1973) or Charly's first, "Ferriday Fireball", both of which date from early 1986. Which, as you'll well know, was also issued in Mexico, but, praise be, as 'one and a half' LPs!

There are at least a dozen CDs in my collection that predate the GBoF soundtrack and what appears to be a later pressing of The Session that you mention. Some of the more significant are "30th Anniversary Album" on Mercury, "The Golden Rock Hits" (which I recall buying in San Francisco in 1987) and the first Charly box-set.

Andrew

[peterchecksfield]

Thanks Andrew, fascinating stuff!

Any other "firsts" appreciated (picture disc? cassette single? And how about short-lived formats such as DAT, minidisc, etc?).

[Andrew McRae]

Any other "firsts" appreciated (picture disc? cassette single? And how about short-lived formats such as DAT, minidisc, etc?).

I'm not aware of any releases, 'official' or otherwise on DAT or minidisc formats.

Cassette singles? I guess it was "Blue Christmas"/"Great Balls of Fire" (Kerrie's Enterprises). Not sure if "Goosebumps" was issued in this format but I've an idea it may have been, I seem to recall seeing it somewhere.

Picture discs? The first was either the Rhino "Original Greatest Hits" set (1983) or one or other of the Danish 'ART' sets that also date from 1983.

First Laser Disc? Again, I'm not sure, but it may well have been "Jerry Lee Lewis Live" (Hammersmith April 1983), presupposing that it was issued at the same time as the VHS. It's a lovely looking thing; looks like an LP, feels like an LP, just a shame it ain't a flamin' LP!!

[Dave McKee]

Here’s a lsi of Cds that I have got – ‘Ferriday Fireball’ is the first I bought, so that may be the earliest Jerry Lee CD

1986 Ferriday Fireball ** Charly CD Charly 1
1986 30th Anniversary Album ** Mercury 830 207 – 2
1986 The Greatest Hits Pickwick PCD 814
1986 The Greatest Hits Vol. 2 Pickwick PCD 840

1987 Rare and Rockin’ ** Charly CD Charly 70
1987 The Country Sound of Pickwick PWK 015
1987 The Collection Object Enterprises OR 0033

1989 The Essential One and Only Trax Music MODCD 1043
1989 The Collection Spectrum U3011 – 2
1989 Great Balls Of Fire (Soundtrack) Polydor 839 516 – 2

1990 Golden Country Hits Special Music SPCD 328

1991 Live at the Vapors Club Ace CDCH 326
1991 Honky Tonk Rock ‘N’ Roll Piano Man Ace CHCD 332
1991 The Killer’s Private Stash Electrovert EVCD 3001

1992 Pretty Much Country Ace CHCD 348
1992 That Breathless Cat Stomper Time STCD 2

1994 Country Live Fat Boy Records FAT CD 163
1994 Great Balls of Fire Laser Light 12 332
1994 Chantilly Lace Spectrum 550 180 – 2

1995 Young Blood Sire 7559 – 61795 – 2

1996 The World of ** Spectrum 552 064 – 2

1998 The Country Collesction ** Spectrum 554 379 – 2

1999 Country Concert Castle Pie PIESD 053
1999 Great Balls of Fire Prism PLATCD 512

2000 The Sun Years Vol. 2 Music CD 41002
2000 Live and Dangerous Newsound NST 060

2005 The Essential Union Square Music METRDCD 550

2006 Last Man Standing Artists First CTX 313 CD

UNDATED Live in Concert Tring International GRF 050
UNDATED At Hank Cochran’s Trend CD 152.277

My favourite CDs are marked **
Has anyone got the dates for ‘Live in Concert’ and ‘At Hank Cochran’s’?

[peterchecksfield]

I think 'At Hank Cochran's' was released in 1995 (though it was recorded in 1987).

[Dave McKee]

Thanks, Peter

[Andrew McRae]

First VHS tape, of the Slough 1980 show... issued '83? It came in a sort of giant 'cassette-type' plastic case, before VHS packaging was standardised to the familiar format.

Perhaps not the best £24 I ever spent...about £65 in today's prices, adjusted for inflation! Ouch!

Still, it was a welcome - and essential - novelty at the time (or so I thought!) It's such a horrible looking thing that I nearly chucked it away a few years ago, but I guess I'll keep it as a curio

[peterchecksfield]

First VHS tape, of the Slough 1980 show... issued '83?

No, this was issued either in late 1980 or sometime in 1981 (around the same time as that "Music Programme 8" video that featured the 1974 'In Concert' TV show). I bought my first VHS recorder in December 1981, & they were both reviewed in FBM (by Tony Papard) months before that.

Back in 1982 I picked up a "bargain" priced VHS tape of The Rolling Stones' 'Let's Spend The Night Together' concert movie for £39.95 (usual price that time was £44.95): within a few months it was available for £19.95, & within a year or so it could be bought anywhere for £9.95! Videotapes in the very early 80s were unbelievably expensive... even 3-hour blank tapes were around £10 (nowadays it's possible to buy 50 top quality blank DVDs for less than that!).

[Andrew McRae]

I bought my first VHS recorder in December 1981...

You bought one! Gosh, you posh bugger, you must have been in clover at the time! Mine was on hire from Radio Rentals, along with the TV!

(Mind you, I was lucky to 'ave it at all; I were livin' in t'shoebox in middle o'road at the time...luxury!)

[Tony Papard]

[quote="

(Mind you, I was lucky to 'ave it at all; I were livin' in t'shoebox in middle o'road at the time...luxury!)

A shoebox in the middle of the road? That was a PALACE compare to where we lived. A trashcan in the middle of the M1 motorway.... with apologies to the British TV sketch along these lines long ago. Peter Cook and some other dudes who I can't recall now I think.

Can't remember when or how I got my first VCR, whether it was bought or rented.

[Andrew McRae]

[quote="

(Mind you, I was lucky to 'ave it at all; I were livin' in t'shoebox in middle o'road at the time...luxury!)

A shoebox in the middle of the road? That was a PALACE compare to where we lived. A trashcan in the middle of the M1 motorway.... with apologies to the British TV sketch along these lines long ago. Peter Cook and some other dudes who I can't recall now I think.

Can't remember when or how I got my first VCR, whether it was bought or rented.

Peter Cook? I think not! It was the "At Last The 1948 Show" team, Chapman and Cleese (pre-Monty Python), Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman.

Seriously off-topic, I know, but well worth broadcasting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDaSvRO9xA