“Special Preview of Selected Cuts”

Posted on 26th September 2015 in "Times Square"

This 6-track, white-labelled, white-sleeved record was used by RSO to promote the Times Square soundtrack in the U.S. As there was no art, it may be the most boring promotional item released. It would have been distributed to radio stations, and copies were later handed out at the film’s premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater, or at the party afterward at Tavern on the Green, on October 14, 1980.

Can’t argue with the track list for Side One: “Life During Wartime” and “Talk of the Town” are two of the best songs on the soundtrack, and “Damn Dog” IS the film. Side Two starts with “Rock Hard” and closes with “Same Old Scene,” two more winners, and in between is sandwiched “Help Me!” which was Robert Stigwood hedging his bets.

Would you buy the double-album soundtrack based on this? There certainly is no incentive anywhere in this package to go see the movie. I wonder if the lack of a picture sleeve was of any note to the people who got this record at the premiere.

I do note that Norman Ross’s writing credit is absent from “Damn Dog.” Yes, I didn’t know who he was before last Christmas, but now I am righteously angry on his behalf.

 

 

SPECIAL PREVIEW OF SELECTED CUTS FROM THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK “TIMES SQUARE”, RSO RPO 1026, 1980; long-playing record (AAT ID: 300265802) (work)
inscription:
[SIDE ONE:]
RSO ®
NOT FOR SALE
PROMOTION COPY
SPECIAL PREVIEW OF SELECTED CUTS
FROM THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
“TIMES SQUARE” A ROBERT STIGWOOD PRODUCTION
RPO 1026
STEREO
56
SIDE 1
(RPO 1026 AS)
33⅓ RPM
1. LIFE DURING WARTIME – TALKING HEADS 3:40
(D. Byrne)
℗ 1979 SIRE RECORDS COMPANY
2. TALK OF THE TOWN – THE PRETENDERS 3:16
(C. Hynde)
℗ 1980 REAL RECORDS
3. DAMN DOG – ROBIN JOHNSON 2:40
(B. Mernit-J. Brackman)
℗ 1980 RSO RECORDS
MANUFACTURED & MARKETED BY RSO RECORDS, INC. 8335 SUNSET BLVD. LOS ANGELES, CA. 90069
[SIDE TWO:]
RSO ®
NOT FOR SALE
PROMOTION COPY
SPECIAL PREVIEW OF SELECTED CUTS
FROM THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
“TIMES SQUARE” A ROBERT STIGWOOD PRODUCTION
RPO 1026
STEREO
56
SIDE 2
(RPO 1026 BS)
33⅓ RPM
1. ROCK HARD – SUZI QUATRO 3:18
(M. Chapman-N. Chinn)
℗ 1980 DREAMLAND RECORDS, INC.
2. HELP ME! – MARCY LEVY AND ROBIN GIBB 3:37
(R. Gibb-B. Weaver)
℗ 1980 YAM, INC.
3. SAME OLD SCENE – ROXY MUSIC 3:54
(B. Ferry)
℗ 1980 ATLANTIC RECORDING CORPORATION
MANUFACTURED & MARKETED BY RSO RECORDS, INC. 8335 SUNSET BLVD. LOS ANGELES, CA. 90069

 

Just letting you know, assuming there’s anyone reading this…

Posted on 20th September 2015 in Administrivia

September 28 is the anniversary of this blog going “live.” On or about that date, I’m going to update the display theme. That may very well break my tweaks to it, and screw up the format. But, I hope it will make it easier to tweak some other things I think need tweaking, and not take too much fixing.

So, if things here look a little off come October, that’ll be why.

comments: 0 »

Singles Going Steady

Posted on 17th September 2015 in "Times Square"

The singles from the soundtrack started coming out before the album, which came out before the film. It was here that I realized collecting everything to do with Times Square would be hideously expensive, so since my focus was Robin Johnson, items connected to the movie but which didn’t have a picture of her or mention her name were beyond my purview. Therefore, I don’t have all the soundtrack tie-in singles, and some of these will be images from elsewhere on the Web.

The first single released was Suzi Quatro’s “Rock Hard.”

This may not have been the one, but it’s the one I couldn’t help myself from getting, coming as it did with the photo and bio. The front and back of the sleeve are nearly identical, and although it clearly states that the b-side is “State of Mind,” the b-side is really a monaural version of “Rock Hard.” The non-promotional editions of this single were released world-wide and all of them were slightly different, but they nearly all featured a color version of the black-and-white photo, and actually had “State of Mind” on the flip side.

The “Help Me!” single was one of the only two to feature an image of Robin and Trini on the sleeve. It’s a collage of the two photos used on the inner sleeves of the soundtrack album.

This is an Italian pressing. The sleeve’s front and back are nearly identical, and the b-side features an instrumental version of the song, which is just as exciting as you think. That does, however, make it the only single to feature a relevant non-album track.
 

The first Japanese pressing of Roxy Music’s “Same Old Scene” is the other single to feature an image of the girls. This photo appears on the inside of the soundtrack gatefold; if this single came out before the album, it may be its first appearance.

Times Square is only mentioned at the top of both sides of the insert (the actual sleeve features a world map of the vast Polydor Empire): 東宝東和配給EMI映画「タイムズ•スクェア」オリジナル•サウンドトラック / Tōhōtōwa haikyū EMI eiga `Taimuzu• suku~ea’ orijinaru• saundotorakku / Toho Towa distribution EMI movie “Times • Square” Original • Sound Track — thank you Google Translate. Google Translate doesn’t do nearly as good a job when it comes to full sentences in Japanese, but the essay on the back doesn’t appear to mention Times Square at all. It seems to be a biography of Roxy Music, extolling the band’s influence on the New Wave scene, and heralding this single and the Flesh and Blood album as a triumphant comeback which will ensure that Roxy Music will live forever.
 

“Take This Town” by XTC, split with “Babylon’s Burning” by The Ruts, features a shot of 2 Times Square, similar but not identical to the one on the outside of the Press Folder. On the front it’s been colored to match the inner sleeves of the album, and there’s a tiny Times Square logo at the bottom.


 

And, finally, The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” was re-released in a combined Sire-RSO edition, and the Spanish pressing at least had a design matching the soundtrack album, using part of the pixellated image from the inside of the album gatefold and the bottoms of the promotional posters."I Wanna Be Sedated" 1980 "Times Square" tie-in single picture sleeve
“I Wanna Be Sedated” was two years old. The b-side of this single, “The Return of Jackie and Judy,” was taken from the Ramones’ then-current album, the Phil Spector-produced End of the Century, and now that I think of it, would have made a good thematic fit with Times Square.
 

And, I think those all the singles released from the soundtrack, if not nearly all the variant versions, especially of “Rock Hard.” Let me know if I’m wrong, and if you want to translate the back of the “Same Old Scene” insert into English.

 

 

Suzi Quatro “Rock Hard” promo pack, consisting of 45 rpm record with picture sleeve, black and white photo, biographical page. 1980. DL-104 ©℗ 1980 DREAMLAND RECORDS, INC. (work)
Rock Hard Promo Pack0001_1080px.jpg, Rock Hard Promo Pack0003_1080px.jpg, Rock Hard Promo Pack0005_1080px.jpg, Rock Hard Promo Pack0007_1080px.jpg, Rock Hard Promo Pack0009_1080px.jpg, Rock Hard Promo Pack0012_1080px.jpg (images)

 
Suzi Quatro “Rock Hard” UK edition, 1980: $_57.JPG, back.JPG, side a.JPG, side b.JPG (images retrieved 16 June 2015 from eBay.com, URL not recorded)
 
Suzi Quatro “Rock Hard” Portugal edition, 1980: 7-SUZI-QUATRO-ROCK-HARD-STATE-OF-MIND-MADE-IN-PORTUGAL-1980-TIMES-SQUARE-FILM.JPG (image retrieved 17 August 2014 from eBay.com, URL not recorded)
 
Suzi Quatro “Rock Hard” promotional 12″ single, Dreamland DPR 1204 1980: $(KGrHqNHJBUE9qBBhPokBPe7UocIrw~~60_57.JPG (image by “sugor,” retrieved 4 April 2012 from eBay.com, URL not recorded)
 
Marcy Levy and Robin Gibb “Help Me!” b/w “Help Me! (Instrumental Version)”, 45 rpm record with picture sleeve, Italy, 1980. ℗ YAM, Inc. © 1980 Butterfly NV / ©1980 YAM, INC. (work)
Help Me single0001_1080px.jpg, Help Me single0002_1080px.jpg, Help Me single0003_1080px.jpg, Help Me single0004_1080px.jpg (images)

 
Roxy Music “The Same Old Scene” b/w “My Only Love”, 45 rpm record with picture sleeve and color insert, Japan, 1980 (work);
[front] 1080 px (W) x 1077 px (H), 96 dpi, 656 kb; [rear] 1080 px (W) x 1075 px (H), 96 dpi, 466 kb (images)

 
XTC “Take This Town” b/w The Ruts “Babylon’s Burning”, UK, 1980: R-749843-1154961690.jpeg.jpg, R-749843-1154961696.jpeg.jpg (images retrieved 2 August 2015 from XTC / Ruts* – Take This Town / Babylon’s Burning (Vinyl) at Discogs)
 
Ramones “I Wanna Be Sedated”, Spain, 1980: $_12_undistorted.jpg (original image $_12.JPG by “virgitrout,” retrieved 23 March 2015 from http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAMONES-SG-TIMES-SQUARE-UNIQUE-SPAIN-ED-1980-/111627655734?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19fd86da36; lens distortion corrected and file renamed 2 August 2015)

 

Soundtrack Promotional Poster OP-200

Posted on 8th September 2015 in "Times Square"

"Times Square" soundtrack promotional poster, 32" (H) x 48" (W), 1980 Text: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack A Robert Stigwood Production TIMES SQUARE ™ A 2-RECORD SET Featuring Music Of: SUZI QUATRO, THE PRETENDERS ROXY MUSIC, GARY NUMAN TALKING HEADS, JOE JACKSON MARCY LEVY & ROBIN GIBB XTC, THE RAMONES GARLAND JEFFREYS, THE CURE LOU REED, DESMOND CHILD & ROUGE THE RUTS, D.L. BYRON ROBIN JOHNSON & TRINI ALVARADO PATTI SMITH GROUP, DAVID JOHANSEN RSO Records, Inc. ® © 1980 RSO Records, Inc. OP-200

 

“O” is for “oversized,” I assume. This image is the same size as the image of the last poster, but trust me, the actual poster is double the size — just as tall and twice as wide. At four feet wide, it may be the largest poster in my collection; the UK “Quad” movie poster may be larger… we’ll see when we get there.

You can see for yourself how the elements from the previous poster, themselves rearranged from the album cover (as seen on the promotional slick), have been rearranged here. The very background is still yellow, but it’s been overlaid with a blue rectangle. Nicky and Pammy have been moved into the upper right corner, and the RSO cow removed from Nicky’s Johnny LaGuardia button. The title has been enlarged and moved into the upper left. The bottom half is the pixellated photo of the final concert, just like in the last poster, but nearly all of it is visible here. The red paint streak here stretches all across the bottom, and serves as a background to highlight the artist names.

The biggest difference here, though… no mention of the movie’s opening date. This double-sized poster promotes the record and the record only.

I never saw this poster in its natural habitat (on the wall of a record store), but I find it more visually pleasing than most of the other posters, except for the poster-side of the 2-sided poster. I guess my eye just likes the red and the blue better than the yellow. I sincerely doubt I’ll ever live somewhere with enough wall space to hang it up, though.

 

 

“Times Square” Original Motion Picture Soundtrack promotional poster OP-200
poster, AAT ID: 300027221; color, 32 in (H) x 48 in (W) (work);
1080 px (H) x 715 px (W), 96 dpi, 622 kb (image)

1980
inscription:
The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
A Robert Stigwood Production
TIMES SQUARE ™
A 2-RECORD SET
Featuring Music Of:
SUZI QUATRO, THE PRETENDERS
ROXY MUSIC, GARY NUMAN
TALKING HEADS, JOE JACKSON
MARCY LEVY & ROBIN GIBB
XTC, THE RAMONES
GARLAND JEFFREYS, THE CURE
LOU REED, DESMOND CHILD & ROUGE
THE RUTS, D.L. BYRON
ROBIN JOHNSON & TRINI ALVARADO
PATTI SMITH GROUP, DAVID JOHANSEN
RSO Records, Inc. ®
© 1980 RSO Records, Inc.
OP-200