Lydia Murdoch - (the answer) or not the answer?

[tjornov]

Are you familar with Lydia Murdoch/Superstar? A Michael Jackson/Billie Jean clone, propably from 1983.

My question: Is the title "Superstar" or "Superstar (the answer)?

I saw the maxi a few months ago. On the label, the title was "Superstar", but on the cover (jacket) "Superstar (the answer)" was printet.

Can anyone help me with the correct title?

tjornov

[disco1999]

The label shows this:
Superstar

The jacket exactly as follows:
I'm Billie Jean
I'm mad as hell
Lydia Murdoch
SUPERSTAR
...the answer


Obviously the title has to be what's written on the label. :-)

www.bide-et-musique.com/song/1940.html[/url]

[tjornov]

Thank you for your answer. But rumours will know, that there may be other copies of that 12" with a different label and with the title "Superstar (the answer)". I'm trying to get this comfirmed.

/tjornov

[K-Bee]

Tjornov
Welome to the forums. Nice to see a fellow dane in these forums. It does feel somewhat strange to write a replay in english to a dane....well - there's a first time for everything, I guess.

I have the Lydia Murdock cut in it's complete 9:15 min glory.
on the Streetsounds edition 7 LP. According to that, the title is simply "superstar". Looking through the liner notes on the album, I found out that the 12" was originally released by TEAM records which was a subsiderary of WEA International at the time. It was produced by Gerry Gabinelli.
Hope that helps you out.

[mikkelbreiler]

[quote="disco1999"]The label shows this:
Superstar

The jacket exactly as follows:
I'm Billie Jean
I'm mad as hell
Lydia Murdoch
SUPERSTAR
...the answer

>Obviously the title has to be what's written on the label. :-)

I agree. The above quote from your recordcover matches my german cover from 1983. WEA Musik GmbH/Korova 24-9637-0. The vinyl is marked ALSDORF in the innergroove.

Tjornov and I have studied this cover as late as Thursday last week - and the label is fine with us. However a third guy who at one time saw this song at a DJ friend still claims that that _the_label_ which he saw on the record back in the day had a different wording. ...Some people can do that you know, remember things from 20 years ago but not their emailadress.

I believe someone here can come up with '....The Answer' in a different wording on a 12'', and I seriously doubt anyone else can. ;)

-breiler
(placing another dime in the ask-a-discosong-machine)

[markydefad]

The U.S. 12" just says "Superstar"--I think adding ("The Answer") was just a marketing ploy to link this record to the phenomenal success of the Michael Jackson record and interest folks that never would have been interested in a song by Lydia Murdoch called "Superstar".

It's exploiting the curiosity factor that might lead fans of "Billie Jean" to buy "Superstar" to find out what the connection was. "Superstar" was played...but it wasn't a smash hit record in the U.S.

[markydefad]

Oops..... the last name is spelled Lydia MurdocK, not Murdoch. "Superstar" peaked at #68 (or was it #58?) on the Billboard R&B chart (according to my book). Strangely, allmusic.com says it peaked at #94.

[mikkelbreiler]

Originally Posted by markydefad

Oops..... the last name is spelled Lydia MurdocK, not Murdoch. "Superstar" peaked at #68 (or was it #58?) on the Billboard R&B chart (according to my book). Strangely, allmusic.com says it peaked at #94.

I figured it was just a spelling mistake on your part :)
The artwork is probably only changed slightly between issues, not rebuilt from scratch.

Well, Allmusic is good but not that good.

-breiler