Reflections of Carol Williams

[BrunoRepublic]

Does anyone know what the story is behind this Tony Valor production? It seems that although a couple of 12" singles were issued from it in the US and Germany, the LP itself only came out in Canada. I'm told that Hot Production's 1994 CD reissue is merely a needle-drop from the LP.

Thing is, looking at the cover, it seems quite apparent to me that it was originally intended for another market, probably the US. There are several things which indicate this:

- There's a mastering credit for José Rodriguez at Sterling Sound, but the run-out etchings indicate otherwise (likely mastered by Quality Records in-house engineer). This is typical of Canadian releases of US LPs, which usually did not bother to update or take out US-specific mastering credits.

- Back cover is black-and-white, which is often found on some US releases where the front and back covers are assembled from two different pieces, so having one of them in only black-and-white can save on printing costs. However, this style of sleeve was not done in Canada at the time; all LP jackets are assembled from one piece, so there's no cost savings to having only the front in colour.

- There's a P 1978 date, followed by Quality's standard distributor blurb staring with "© 1979 - Canada", indicating that the album was done in '78, but Quality didn't get it out until the following year (this sort of thing is also common with Quality-licensed titles).

So I have to wonder if this was planned for a US release but cancelled or what not. A test or promo copy of this, mastered by José, would be quite a find. :)

[neonlights]

Just want to say - appreciate your complete, detailed entries on discogs! :)

Wish I could give an answer, but I've never seen a US pressing of this either. I always assumed they were rare, but out there somewhere, although maybe not.. For what it's worth though, there is a Brazilian pressing on eBay now, released on Building Records - copyrighted 1980.

Not sure if it was because it had been well played before I bought it, but the Canadian Quality Records pressing that I bought sounded absolutely horrible on my cheap system when I got it. Everything sounded bad on it, but this sounded extra terrible, from what I remember. I got the Hot CD and can confirm that it is in fact a needle drop. It would be nice to hear a US pressing (if it exists), to see if it sounds any better.

[remicks]

- Back cover is black-and-white, which is often found on some US releases where the front and back covers are assembled from two different pieces, so having one of them in only black-and-white can save on printing costs. However, this style of sleeve was not done in Canada at the time; all LP jackets are assembled from one piece, so there's no cost savings to having only the front in colour.

What an interesting tidbit about album covers .... hadn't thought about it , but indeed there are those that are black and white on the back ....who would have thought the savings would be significant enough to choose to do so.... but obviously it was. Sort of a vote of no confidence though.


Didn't find Carol Williams LP, but here's Vicki Sue's as an example :
















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additional research reveals much MORE of Carol Williams: