Casablanca Records .. back in buisness?

[ashley]

:icon_razz:
.. to cash-in on the current european cosmic space disco craze Casablanca Records in the U.S. have just released Giorgio Moroder's "Evolution" / "If you weren't afraid" as a double-sided 12" single:
Giorgio MORODER - Evolution

.. could we be witnessing the revival of this classic disco label?

.. a few years ago Polygram in the U.S. put out a 4 disc cd set titled "The Casablanca Records Story" .. so I assume Polygram hold the rights to the entire Casablanca catalogue?

.. are Polygram behind this new 12" issue? .. and can there be any profit releasing vinyl in this post-modern era of digital downloads? .. possibly it's a marketing ploy? .. maybe a new Giorgio Moroder cd box-set is on the horizon? ( .. or maybe, like with the Beatles back-catalogue, there are plans to make all the Moroder albums available to download? )

[BrunoRepublic]

Casablanca is merely an "imprint" now, not a real label. A couple of acts (most notably Mika) were signed to what was intended to be a re-launch of the label a couple of years ago, but I think that's over.

PolyGram is no more. Universal bought them out several years ago. Universal will put out Casablanca titles if they think there's money to be made on them. Having said that, much of the Casablanca back catalog that got reissued a few years ago is now out-of-print again.

Also, I'm not sure if this "reissue" is even legit. The label shows Casablanca's office as being at 8255 Sunset Blvd, the same as it was in the 70s. Obviously they are no longer there. There are a surprising number of fake vinyl "reissues" out there made by bootleggers.

[kdavid13]

Funny because a couple of friends went to see Donna in L.A. a few weeks back and they went on a tour of all things connected to DS in the 70's and they asked me what was the exact address on Sunset Blvd. :icon_lol:

Apparently the building is still there but something's been built in front of it and you have to really look for it to find it.

[ashley]

.. ahh Graham .. here we are again discussing 1 of our favourite topics .. bootlegged disco records ..

.. out here in the wonderful world of vinyl 12" single releases, with all these white label re-edits & remixes, I honestly can't tell what's legitimate & what ain't .. can you? .. there is a long tradition of dubious disco remixing .. if you are a dj & have purchased a record, don't you have free reign to mess with the cut as much as you want? When playing the record at a club the dj can stretch, bend & warp the tune at will .. and then pass the resulting mess / mix to his friends to do the same .. wasn't this the idea behind Disconet, with it's limited dj subscriptiopn service? Abba still haven't forgiven them for their remix of "Lay all your love on me" (brilliant as it was) ..

.. over here in Europe there is a glut of new 12" disco singles now available to purchase .. Juno have a disco chart based on daily record sales .. few of these look like legitimate releases to me .. but with white labels, it's almost impossible to tell ..

.. at least it's exposing disco music to a young club audience ..

[MARK D.]

I knew it looked too good to be true! I don't think UNIVERSAL would put this out anyway! POLYGRAM lost a lot of money with CASABLANCA!

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

:icon_razz:
.. to cash-in on the current european cosmic space disco craze Casablanca Records in the U.S. have just released Giorgio Moroder's "Evolution" / "If you weren't afraid" as a double-sided 12" single:
Giorgio MORODER - Evolution

Actually the flip side is "I Wanna Rock You"

It's an obvious bootleg. Too many digits in the catalogue number. And Polygram ended the "NBD" series in the early 80's. Also, Polygram was absorbed by Universal.

Universal attempted to re-start the label as simply "Casablanca" (No graphics, either. Just the neon lettering.) with Tommy Mottola, around 2003. Then abandoned it in 2006, by moving the whole 2 artists on the roster (including Li-Lo, herself!), to the Motown label.

Although... A remastered, vinyl copy of "If You Weren't Afraid", would be a dream-come-true for me.

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Apparently the building is still there but something's been built in front of it and you have to really look for it to find it.

When I played my first "Black Party" at PROBE (1990, or 1991, I believe...), the bar's manager took me sightseeing, in LA and Hollywood. Of course, I said the first place I wanted to go was 8255 Sunset Blvd.

The building was still there. But vacant. And, although the front had been remodeled to a single-door, you could see the concrete outline of the original double-door entrance. And the infamous "looks like a Mercedes dealership" parking lot, was still directly to the right of the building, as you face it. It's on a corner. So there's a street on the left side.

The building, across the street was still a nightclub. The site of the infamous 'Carlos & Charlie's'. (The Disco used on the cover shoot for Eddie Drennon's "Would You Dance To My Music" LP.)

I doubt anything could've been built "in front of it", as it came right up to the sidewalk.

When Chris Cox left Hot Tracks to work for Moroder (prior to 'Thunderpuss'), he and his soon-to-be wife, Christine, moved just down the street, that ended on Sunset, directly across from the Casablanca building. As of the mid-late 90's, it was all still there, too. And occupied by, I think he said, a small record label, that's long-since, folded.

[kdavid13]

I doubt anything could've been built "in front of it", as it came right up to the sidewalk.

:icon_lol:
I'm such a visual person that left is right and front is back in many cases !! These are the latest details from a friend who's currently living in L.A. and is a diehard Donna fan.

<<The buildings that housed Casablanca Records are still there (the 8255 building) is still there. Across the street is still the Body Shop strip club - the inspiration for Bad Girls.
Originally they were based in the building on the right, but I think in their hey-day they expanded into some of the space in the matching building on the left. Also, they were originally built as apartment buildings so there was a pool in the court-yard. I think it was filled in or planted.

It's the one with the steel girder facade with the sign CineTel Films. However I'm having trouble with StreetView on Google lining up with the actual address. When I put in Casablanca's address, the StreetView is further down the street closer to the Chateau Marmont Hotel.
edit to add: I don't think that part of the block is programmed with StreetView. It appears StreetView only goes to Harper then picks back up further down the street past Casablanca. >>

[BrunoRepublic]

Although... A remastered, vinyl copy of "If You Weren't Afraid", would be a dream-come-true for me.

I don't know about the single, but I doubt that they could ever do better than the original vinyl for the LP. Recorded direct to an early 2-track digital system, the LP is clean and clear as it gets (still crappy vinyl, but oh well). I think the CD reissue is done from a needle drop; the Repertoire edition of From Here To Eternity definitely is. I have no idea if the master tapes to E=MC2 still exist, or if there are any machines that can still read them. Obscurity is a big problem with some of the early digital formats.

[kdavid13]

I still remember the day it premiered on the radio.The talking credits and the "recorded live to digital" was pretty revolutionary at the time.

Another one of my all-time favorite albums from Casablanca.

[Videoskooter]

Guys, if you are looking for a current connection to Casablanca Records, then you have to contact Evan Bogart, son of Neal. He was the head of Casbah Artist Management (Casbah-as a tribute to his late dad) and is now producing and writing R&B, like 2 songs on the last Donna Summer album, "The Queen Is back" and "Mr. Music" (so there's a connection too).

He can be contacted at:

www.myspace.com/thewritingcamp

[mrbmarco]

If Universal owns The Casablanca Library, maybe they could have Hip-O Select re-issue and re-master a few of the top selling albums on CD. --They've done WONDERS with the Motown Catalog.:icon_biggrin:

[ashley]

.. am I seeing double?



.. are Graham Start & kdavid13 identical twin brothers?
:icon_eek:

[BrunoRepublic]

If Universal owns The Casablanca Library, maybe they could have Hip-O Select re-issue and re-master a few of the top selling albums on CD. --They've done WONDERS with the Motown Catalog.:icon_biggrin:

They've already done that with Bad Girls. Unfortunately, most of the Casablanca catalog isn't viable today.

[ashley]

.. rather than being a bootleg, could this new 12" single be a legally sanctioned re-pressing?
:icon_question:
.. the fashion today is for vinyl albums & 12" singles to be re-pressed to look exactly as they did on original release ..
:icon_confused:
.. I recently purchased the Modulations album on a Buddah re-pressing .. and assume it is the genuine article, with all royalty payments reaching the correct people .. ?

[BrunoRepublic]

.. rather than being a bootleg, could this new 12" single be a legally sanctioned re-pressing?

No, it's a bootleg, probably mastered from CD.

.. the fashion today is for vinyl albums & 12" singles to be re-pressed to look exactly as they did on original release ..

But this isn't anything that was released back in the day.

A couple of small vinyl re-issue labels are doing this, but they're not putting out disco 12s. Anyway, there would be a large sticker on the sleeve with the reissue label's legal details and barcode. This is almost certainly a fake, much like the "new" UK Vertigo copies of Kraftwerk's Autobahn that I'm seeing everywhere.

[BrunoRepublic]

.. out here in the wonderful world of vinyl 12" single releases, with all these white label re-edits & remixes, I honestly can't tell what's legitimate & what ain't .. can you?

I usually can. If the shop always has "new" copies but the record has been out of print for 30 years, they're obvious fakes. If it was a legit reissue by 4 Men With Beards or Classic Records, it would have a sticker stating that and boasting 180g vinyl (which, BTW, means nothing in terms of sound quality). The one time I got fooled was with a counterfeit copy of the Lowrell album. I've scored plenty of legit "new old stock" albums on AVI, so I thought I was lucky with this one. Nope... mastered from cassette!

.. there is a long tradition of dubious disco remixing .. if you are a dj & have purchased a record, don't you have free reign to mess with the cut as much as you want? When playing the record at a club the dj can stretch, bend & warp the tune at will .. and then pass the resulting mess / mix to his friends to do the same .. wasn't this the idea behind Disconet, with it's limited dj subscriptiopn service? Abba still haven't forgiven them for their remix of "Lay all your love on me" (brilliant as it was) ..

You've answered your own question. A DJ can mess around with a record during a performance, but that doesn't give them any right to re-sell that performance.

.. over here in Europe there is a glut of new 12" disco singles now available to purchase .. Juno have a disco chart based on daily record sales .. few of these look like legitimate releases to me .. but with white labels, it's almost impossible to tell ..

.. at least it's exposing disco music to a young club audience ..

P2P networks help expose disco to a young audience to disco too. The "advantage" of pirated records is that they help thieves to profit too! Isn't that great?

[Cory Ander]

Actually the flip side is "I Wanna Rock You"

It's an obvious bootleg. Too many digits in the catalogue number. And Polygram ended the "NBD" series in the early 80's. Also, Polygram was absorbed by Universal.

Universal attempted to re-start the label as simply "Casablanca" (No graphics, either. Just the neon lettering.) with Tommy Mottola, around 2003. Then abandoned it in 2006, by moving the whole 2 artists on the roster (including Li-Lo, herself!), to the Motown label.

Although... A remastered, vinyl copy of "If You Weren't Afraid", would be a dream-come-true for me.

what's wrong with the original "Weren't Afraid", Stephen?

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

what's wrong with the original "Weren't Afraid", Stephen?

Nothing. It's so beautiful on the LPs. But there's so much going on, at times...
I'd just love to hear it Mastered to today's standards and cut as a 12" single.