Import singles

[jazz_pilgrim]

In the 70s and 80s I used to buy a lot of US import 12-inch singles for which one had to pay a hefty premium over UK 12-inch single prices.

The first US import 12" I bought was Metropolis and I Love New York. It had a 3 min version of the song on one side and a 5 min version on the other and cost a whopping £2.75, so I recall. That would be about $15-ish in today's prices, I reckon. That was a lot of pocket money in those days!! I think an average UK 12-inch cost around £1 - £1.50 at the time..

But I always preferred the US 12 inch imports as I reckon the sound quality was always better than that on a UK 12-inch.

In addition, when I got my first summer job up in town, I went through a phase of buying import 7-inch singles.

My question is: Were you guys who are not from the US (Australia, Europe, Sth America) able to pick up US 7-inch/12-inch singles like we could in the UK? Did you prefer them to locally pressed singles?

And did you guys in the US ever buy any UK import 12-inch singles?

I would be interested to know how prices differentiated between local and import singles, if you bought them.

:)

[Forrrce]

It seems records may have been a little cheaper for you - I started buying in 1979 and used to wait 'til most records had run their course before I bought them. There was a record shop around the corner from my school, in the Lambeth Walk, called Harkin - and a stall on market days which had 100s of 7"s for 50p each (my dinner money!). The first 7"s I bought were 'Good Times' (couldn't afford the 12) and things like Lipps, Inc.

Some of the first records I bought from Harkin were the Lowrell LP, which was priced at £5.50 import price, but they let me have it for £3.50, Players' Associations's 'Turn The Music Up' LP (£3.50, UK) - and Herb Alpert's 'Rise', my first 12".

I could only manage one UK 12" a week at a stretch, US 12"s once a fortnight - so a lot of days I went home hungry!

[QUINNY]

They were nearly always too expensive for me, but I did go through several spells of being a fairly high spender on them. Usually when I had some better paying gigs or worked a venue where the odd import was expected. Overall, I'd say buying imports could be too hit and miss, especially if an import was released just a few weeks later on a UK, possibly with a newer mix or another knockout from the album too. :evil:

[Bernie]

Working in New York I was able to pick up domestic 12" ers for $2.77-3.99 and British imports from $3.99-5.99. I never realized until much later how good these prices were. Regular spots for me were Rock & Soul, DiscoMat, Vinyl mania, Hi-tech, Bondy's and my ex-employer J & R Music World.

As the 1980s progressed my musical tastes were shifting to the newer sounds coming from abroad. I bought more UK imports and was usually happy with the sound except on reissues of US material. I also liked the fact that many of the British pressings had picture covers as opposed to generic sleeves. My only gripe to this day is that many don't have track times printed anywhere :-?

[jazz_pilgrim]

Forrce - I was able to afford a few records at the time, mainly becuase of the supermarket job that I held down for 2 and a half years... [King of the Baked Beans!! :lol: ] When I went off to Uni whilst all my friends were working, I spent most of my Student Grant on records but could never keep up with the buying power of my friends. It was only when I moved to London (Tooting) that I started scouring the second hand record shops and that is where I bought a lot of my records - catching up on all those records I couldn't afford at the time.. And I have probably managed to catch up by now.!

I agree with your point, Quinny. It was very annoying when one had forked out three quid for an import - only for it to get a UK release the next week! But,having said that, I found the US 12-inch singles better quality so I didn't mind paying the premium sometimes... When I say better quality, I mean that those singles that played at 33 as opposed to 45 sound better on my Hi-Fi system, especially in terms of a punchier bass sound.

Bernie - the issue of track times has always been a gripe with me. I seem to recall the UK 12-inch singles on labels like Atlantic never had times on, for example.

Another thing I recall is that a lot of the tracks put out on Arista 12-inch singles rarely seemed to go beyond four and a half to five minutes. Anybody else notice that? I would have loved a 10 minute version of Atlantic Starr's magnificent Circles in stead of a measly four and three quarter minutes ...

And what annoys me intensely, Bernie, is when one wants to buy a CD compilation, but is is shrink-wrapped and there are no times printed on the outside label. :x Is it worth risking $20 when one might only get the short version?? I usually end up NOT buying the cd ...

[Forrrce]

Track times were lacking on UK 12"s, most labels obviously didn't see the point, which I didn't understand.
I've always preferred US pressings, though they're not always better. I found UK masters were ususally brighter (and clearer) than their US counterparts - a hi-fi book I borrowed from school in 1976 (and still have, somewhere!) explained how RIAA standards boosted the bottom and cut the top end on plating (by -+3 dB?), whilst this practice was reversed in Europe.
I'm pretty sure this lead directly to the playback EQ adjustment, known as the 'RIAA Curve'. I havent seen this book for years, but this is how I remember the reason for the difference in sound.
Another UK con was the omission of instrumentals or a capellas - this, admittedly, wasn't regular but sometimes was rather unnecessary. Some 12" mixes were bypassed for the LP/shorter equivalents - and UK Motown had a bad habit of fading out instrumental versions by the 5 minute mark on occasion.

[NickNack]

Imports --- gotta have 'em! This was how I felt and it was especially true once I got the gig at The Anvil. The introduction of 'new' music and a not-strictly-radio playlist was essential. Plus the imports had the 'Euro' sound which was just beginning to catch on here. U.S. labels weren't picking them up so quickly in the beginning so you always had something people hadn't heard and wanted. I remember walking in with Viola Wills "Up On the Roof" 12" while "If You Could Read My Mind" was still on the up swing in the clubs. People loved that shit. They recognized her and wanted the new one.

Bernie's right about the prices back then. They were fantastic and we didn't know it. Just a couple of dollars more than our domestic stuff. I first started getting imports through mail order --- a lot of Canadian (Unidisc, Uniwave, etc.) and some overseas stuff. By the '80's the average price at Decadance was $9.99 - $12.99 with 'hard-to-gets' at $15.00 to $25.00. Domestic 12" singles were running $4.99 - $7.99. I didn't care. I had that AT&T gig along with dj'ing and would easily walk into stores with my friend Bob and throw $400.00 down for stuff I liked. Bob was the same. We were fanatics, or idiots, but loving it.

I craved the Euro imports. I could get all the funk I wanted right here. Needed the imports to balance out the sound. I remember when I was a newbie at buying them I asked the counter man why the jackets were shrink-wrapped. He told me that was only done here in the U.S. and that if I was one of those who left the wrap on after opening (which I was) I should learn to remove it. Temperature changes causes wrap to shrink, causes jacket cover to bend, causes problems with vinyl. Live and learn :) .