While poking through the used vinyl bins this weekend a friend of mine picked up "In The Slot" by Tower Of Power. Originally released in 1975 this big pile of funky bass and rippin' horns really brought back some memories.
But maybe the best find was the text of the paper liner, describing the Warner/Reprise "Loss Leaders". It's not exactly a shocking read, just a little ironic to imagine that at one time the labels considered it a good idea to gain some extra sales by exposing the public to new music for "free":
Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders are full stereo, double albums in deluxe packaging. Each double album ($2 for two records) averages about 28 selections. Each is filled with the finest selections from the artists' latest work, plus some extra collectors' items (such as unreleased singles).
You can't buy Loss Leaders in a store; they are available only by mail.
We can get away with that low price because these celebrated artists and this record company have agreed not to make a profit on this venture. We (and they) feel that it's more important that these albums-about-albums be heard.
Each Loss Leader is divinely packaged, having been designed at no little expense by our latently talented art department.
Loss Leaders are compiled from new stuff, NOT old tracks dredged out of our Dead Dogs files. No selections are used on more than one album.
If our accounting department were running the company, they'd charge you $9.96 for each album. But they're not. Yet.
Still, if you're suspicious of big record companies as we feel you have every right to be, we can only tell you that Warner/Reprise is not 100% benevolent. It's our fervent hope that - after hearing one of the Loss Leaders - you'll be encouraged to pick up more of what you hear on these albums, at regular retail prices. That's where the profit lies. We Think.
(Originally posted on Mark Is Cranky)
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Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
I used to love these samplers and still have several of them. It was a great idea and led me to buy many albums by groups contained therein. A lot of indie labels, like Epitaph for example still do this and it serves them well. Short-term economic thinking does not lead to long-term economic success.
2 - Hazy Dave
You can't buy these from Warners anymore, but they can still be found at used vinyl stores and (naturally) eBay. At several times their original prices, of course.
A few of them had songs that were - and still are - very difficult to find. "Take A Jet" by Mephistopheles and "War Song" by Neil Young & Graham Nash are two examples that come to mind.
This series of records (the 3 LP Merrie Melodies & Looney Tunes and the single disk Zapped in particular) introduced me to the work of dozens of artists I may never have heard otherwise. Pearls Before Swine is just one example.
And besides the groups that eventually attained greater fame and fortune (Jethro Tull, Grateful Dead, Mothers Of Invention), would people like Wild Man Fischer and Captain Beefheart ever have attracted their cult followings without this kind of exposure? Seems unlikely. But, it can no longer be said that the accounting department is not running the company, and no Major Record Company is putting out 3 or 4 albums by a group without a hit single anymore.
Whoops, this is turning into a Rant instead of a Comment...
3 - gary ostreicher
I sure wish they'd get these samplers out again. Hard Goods, Big red ball, and so many other compilations that make me smile.
4 - Nicole Kidman
It's Illegal to have downloads of music. DON'T DO IT. I sould know....
5 - mark potter
man, this is bringing back old times...i used to have zapped, record show and merrie melodies (a 3-disc set) with a pic of elmer fudd with a warner brothers guards uniform on the back..ahh, the days when the record companys actually SEEMED to care about the consumer....sigh
6 - mark potter
oh and hazy dave...just a cool rant on your part LMAO