THE WARNER BROS. LOSS LEADERS SERIES (1969-1980)
Depending On How You Count Them, 35 Essential Various Artist Collections From Another Time
We figured it was about time to pull together all of the incredible Warner Bros. Loss Leaders releases dating back to 1969 (and even a little earlier). For those who lived through the era, Warner Bros. Records was winning the sales of an entire generation by signing and supporting some of music’s most uniquely groundbreaking recording artists… during music’s most uniquely groundbreaking time. With an appealingly irreverent style (“targeted youth marketing,” it would be called today), WB was making lifelong fans of the kids who entered into the label’s vast catalog of artists via the Loss Leaders series – advertised on inner sleeves & brochures, and offering generous selections priced at $1 per LP, $2 for doubles and $3 for their sole 3LP release, Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodies. 
And that was including postage. Yes… those were the days, but back then there were very few ways, outside of cut-out bins or a five-finger discount, to score bulk music as cheaply. Warners unashamedly admitted that their intentions were to sell more records, by introducing listeners to music they weren’t hearing on their radios, or finding in many of their (still weakly distributed) record stores. And it seemed to work… because the series continued until 1980, and the program issued approximately 35 titles, by our questionable count (detailed in later posts). But, the oldsters among us all fondly remember the multi-paged, gatefold sleeves and inviting artwork/packaging that beckoned from the inner sleeves of our favorite albums, not to mention the assorted rarities, b-sides and oddities that dotted many of the releases. No big deal in this age of bonus tracks and “complete” session reissues, but in the early 70s, this stuff was gold. What I’ve 
learned listening to these releases again, is that they’re still a great source for hearing “new” artists… the ones that didn’t make the grade 35-45 years ago. So… over the next month, we’re going to be posting all of Warner’s Loss Leaders, which were never sold in stores (only mail-order) and never re-issued on CD (so, you will hear a few pops and crackles now and again) – along with the best artwork we could muster. We’ve also had some generous help from a few of our readers, including Rebecca, Narcosislabs and Slipperman, who took the time and trouble to rip and scan some of the Leaders from their collections to help us complete this series of posts.
SEPERATING THE LOSS LEADERS: Below is a list of everything we are calling Loss Leaders, with the caveat that there are a few titles that may be in dispute. There’s one promo release (Some Of Our Best Friends Are PRO290) which pre-dates the “official” series, and was simply given away before the Loss Leaders campaign even began. A few other titles are often seen online as being a part of the program, but almost all were promo LPs meant for radio or in-store play, not sold via mail order; titles like The Warner/Reprise Radio Show(s), Alternatives, New Music That Stays New, Burbank’s Greatest Hits, Gold Medal and a handful of others.
Truth is, WB released hundreds of promo/compilation LPs back in the day. Some were for radio, others sold in stores, some are low-priced UK Loss Leaders with different covers and track listings. We are focusing on the US mail order variety and, to make the short list, we required some verification in the form of print ads or first hand knowledge… as opposed to online speculation. We’ll play it by ear and hope that more viable information surfaces to verify any questionable titles. Our first post, Some Of Our Best Friends Are (1968), helped to launch the series, even looking like future Loss Leaders, using the same design and format, though… it wasn’t advertised as being available via mail order. Two titles we won’t be posting, are the promo-only, never-sold to the public CDs Warners released that are Loss Leaders in name only; Loss Leaders Revisited (1995 PRO-CD-7955) and Loss Leaders 2 (1999 PRO-CD-9949). Many thanks to Rebecca and Slipperman for the advertisements that litter this post (click them for pop-up enlargements), and feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts, recollections or corrections. ALL ARE 2LP SETS UNLESS NOTED!
THE PRE- LOSS LEADER…
00 1968 PRO290 – SOME OF OUR BEST FRIENDS ARE (1LP) (HERE)
THE LOSS LEADERS SERIES
#01 1969 PRO331 – THE 1969 WARNER/REPRISE SONGBOOK (HERE)
#02 1969 PRO336 – THE 1969 WARNER/REPRISE RECORD SHOW (HERE)
#03 1969 PRO351 – OCTOBER 10, 1969 (1LP) (HERE)
#04 1970 PRO358 – THE BIG BALL (HERE)
#05 1970 PRO359 – SCHLAGERS! (HERE)
#06 1970 PRO368 – ZAPPÉD (1LP) (Two Versions) (HERE)
#07 1970 PRO423 – LOONEY TUNES AND MERRIE MELODIES (3LP) (HERE)
#08 1971 PRO443 – NON-DAIRY CREAMER (1LP) (HERE)
#09 1971 PRO474 – HOT PLATTERS (HERE)
#10 1971 PRO486 – TOGETHER (1LP) (HERE)
#11 1972 PRO512 – THE WHOLE BURBANK CATALOG (HERE)
#12 1972 PRO525 – MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (HERE)
#13 1972 PRO529 – BURBANK (HERE)
#14 1972 PRO540 – THE DAYS OF WINE AND VINYL (HERE)
#15 1973 PRO569 – APPETIZERS (HERE)
#16 1973 PRO573 – ALL SINGING – ALL TALKING – ALL ROCKING (HERE)
#17 1974 PRO583 – HARD GOODS (HERE)
#18 1974 PRO588 – PEACHES (HERE)
#19 1974 PRO591 – DEEP EAR (HERE)
#20 1975 PRO596 – THE FORCE (HERE)
#21 1975 PRO604 – ALL MEAT (HERE)
#22 1975 PRO605 – PEACHES VOL. 2 (HERE)
#23 1975 PRO608 – I DIDN’T KNOW THEY STILL MADE RECORDS LIKE THIS (HERE)
#24 1975 PRO610 – THE WORKS (HERE)
#25 1976 PRO630 – SUPERGROUP (HERE)
#26 1976 PRO645 – THE PEOPLE’S RECORD (HERE)
#27 1977 PRO660 – COOK BOOK (HERE)
#28 1977 PRO691 – LIMO (HERE)
#29 1978 PRO-A-726 – COLLECTUS INTERRUPTUS (HERE)
#30 1979 PRO-A-773 – PUMPING VINYL (HERE)
#31 1979 PRO-A-794 – A LA CARTE (HERE)
#32 1979 PRO-A-796 – MONSTERS (HERE)
#33 1980 PRO-A-828 – ECLIPSE (HERE)
#34 1980 PRO-A-850 – MUSIC WITH 58 MUSICIANS, VOLUME ONE (HERE)
#35 1980 PRO-A-857 – TROUBLEMAKERS (HERE)
EPILOGUE…
UPDATES: OCTOBER 10, 1969… ZAPPÉD… & MORE…
With MANY thanks to our friends and readers, we’ve made a few changes to our original Loss Leaders posts. First and foremost, October 10, 1969 – which we categorically dismissed as being a real Loss Leader – has been upgraded. Thanks to Tom in Beacon, who pointed us to an advert in Rolling Stone magazine (November, 1969) that advertised the album for a buck… proving that it was not just a promotional LP, but was sold to the public via mail order just like the others in the series. As a result, we have a new, solo post for #3 October 10, 1969 (HERE). Additionally, thanks to the tenacity of a couple of our readers we are now convinced that the “Collage” version of #6 Zappéd (HERE) was, indeed, the first of the two versions of Zappéd to be issued. We’ve added new information to the post to illustrate why. As a result, we’ve had to re-number a couple of early posts, but all seems in order now… as best as we can tell, and until better information comes along. We appreciate all the help in trying to verify 45 year-old details that no one else in their right minds really cares about anymore. Any other corrections or updates? Just leave a comment.
SPEAKING OF THANKS…
We had a lot of help putting all this together, from readers with info to friends of this blog who made rips and scans from their own collections to help us complete these posts. Slipperman, narcoislabs and, especially Rebecca, who really went above and beyond by ripping and scanning numerous LL’s found here – as well as providing advertisements and last-minute, on-deadline, late night work to help us pull it all together. We can’t thank her (and everybody) enough.
VINTAGE ADS FROM ROLLING STONE…
It took while, but we finally finished poring through over 350 issues (almost 15 years) of Rolling Stone magazine to retrieve the numerous Leaders ads that ran over the years. In a few cases, helping to verify that some titles were, indeed, official entries in the series (October 10, 1969 & Music With 58 Musicians, Volume One). We’ve added links to the individual posts so you can see the print campaigns yourself. Interestingly, the debut Loss Leader, Songbook, originally sold for $1.98, while the two volumes of Peaches each cost $2.50. For those wanting a zip of the 40+ Rolling Stone ads we’ve gathered (plus others from New York Magazine, Billboard and Ebony – thanks again to Rebecca), you can DOWNLOAD THEM ALL HERE.
LOSS LEADER SONG AND ARTIST .PDF INDEX…
Tom in Beacon kindly put together a .PDF Song Index that includes all of the artists and titles found in the 35 Loss Leaders posted here. Many thanks, Tom. DOWNLOAD THE .PDF HERE.
LISTEN TO THE LOSS LEADERS RADIO SHOW…
Uncle Michael, who hosts Hinky Dinky Time on WFMU’s Give The Drummer Radio, put together a six-hour broadcast back in July featuring nothing but Loss Leaders music (and anecdotes) that you can listen to any time you’d like, HERE @ wfmu.org/playlists/hd/20140718
IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON…
Here are two 1970 ads from Rolling Stone that show how other labels (Mercury, A&M) tried, but failed to follow up on, the lead set by Warners’ Loss Leaders concept. Click each for pop-up enlargements.
FINAL BIT OF TRIVIA…
According to a Billboard magazine news item about the Loss Leaders series, dated March 10, 1973, “14 Warner samplers during the past three years have averaged 80,000 unit sales apiece.” That’s all, folks!
96 Comments
HAVE BEEN WANTING THESE FOREVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is going to be GREAT !!! I remember the series, back in the day…. never realized it went into 1980 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I started with the Big Ball. This is fantastic! Can’t wait. Thanks to all for the effort!!
I grew up in a generation that was slightly too young to have owned most of these compilations, though I remember seeing the advertisements for them on the inner sleeves of regular LP releases on Warner Brothers. I did, however, snag Troublemakers toward the end of the Loss Leaders’ run, and I still think it’s the best 2-record new wave/punk compilation of all time. Genius idea to feature these compilations, hats off!
I just know this is going to be an absolutely fantastic thread, as Sean say’s, hat’s off
I have most of these. Anything that you are still looking for?
Not as of today. Maybe “Gold Medal.”
Great idea! Had Deep Ear, Hard Goods, Days of Wine and Vinyl and many others in my youth.
Great stuff! Had Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, many years ago.
I started with “Songbook” and bought all the earlier sets – probably have 25 or so of those first 34 listed, and in great shape, too (I was/am pretty picky about my vinyl). Sorry I was unable to help with this huge effort, but a BIG thanks to Willard! I’m excited to think I’ll finally hear them again.
I’m very much looking forward to this entire project Willard. Thanks very much for your musical archeology (by the way, Harvard called and said you can drop by Dr. Myeyes office next Saturday to pick up your honorary degree). I believe at one time I had many of the discs in this seminal series. I just don’t understand why record companies didn’t learn from this. The loss leaders series enabled Warners to break so many “below the radar” artists that it ended up enhancing the label’s hip quotient thereby endearing it to many young record buyers at the time (myself included). Every dog has its day, I guess… but I am truly surprised that this whole marketing process in the music biz has pretty much fallen by the wayside.
Also, I believe it was Stan Cornyn (from Warner Bros marketing Dept) that might have come up with the idea for this series. I think Cornyn writes a semi-regular blog post for the folks over at Rhino these days.
I can’t hardly wait ….
Santa Willard loves us!
(Thanks…now, THIS is ‘lossless’!!!)
Best post yet! Can’t wait to hear these again. Thanks!
Another classic post. Largely forgotten these days – I’d never heard of this series before – I bet they were really instrumental in turning people on to certain artists.
Out of interest, if these cost a buck a disc, what did regular LPs cost in the US in those days?
Depends on what year you were buying LP’s. 4.99,5.99 etc. Great battle Tom Petty had back in the day when I think “Hard Promises” was coming out. His label, unless memory fails me and not bothering to look it up -MCA, was set to have a retail of 9.99 and would have set the new retail bar for a single LP at that time. Petty went on a media tour denouncing the price and I believe won that battle. I could also go on a rant here about the labels talking about how piracy has hurt their bottom line. On the surface yes, but not when you keep releasing material from artists whose masters you already own into every format change that the fans buy yet again.
I also remember Steely Dan being allegedly annoyed about Gaucho’s $9.98 list price, but they didn’t actively do anything to fight it.
$3.77US at Tempo Records and Tapes, Chicago suburbs…
I remember buying Whole Burbank Catalog based on the appeal of another LP’s inner sleeve… still have it.
About LP prices… I worked at a record store from 1977-79 and during that time Boston’s “Don’t Look Back” LP came out as the first $8.98 list price record. (The top list price at the time was $7.98 for a single LP, even though only department stores sold records for the actual list price… our weekly “hot sheet” specials were usually $3.99 or $4.79 for a $7.98 list LP.) “Don’t Look Back” was on Epic, a division of Columbia, whose 5-digit record codes started with (something)C (for Columbia) or (something)E (for Epic). “Don’t Look Back’s” code was FE 35050… the first time the letter F had been used… which we interpreted as “Fuck Everybody.”
Thank you so much in advance. I bought the vinyl CBS ‘Rock machine turns you on’ and Elektra’s What’s Shakin’ on their initial release ’cause they were all I could afford as a 16year old,and later on I bought a few others including Island records ‘Bumpers’. I loved them for all the reasons you gave and I bought lots of the albums that these tasters came from. I picked up the Rock machine album on CD years ago but it’s a real shame they didn’t release more on CD as they are amazing time capsules and damn fine sounds. Nice one!
Thanks for running these up the flagpole again! I musta bought wheelbarrows full of Warner product thanks to these babies (Turley bleedin’ Richards, no less!), which also started my ravenous Alice Cooper appetite way back in 1970! Amazing how much a “good vibe” each of these LLs was.
Geekwise, I believe the collage Zapped cover might’ve been version 1 (all ’68-’69 stuff) and the Frank photo cover (w/ a ’70 track or two) came second – I bought that collage one immediately back then.
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Is that true? I always thought it was the opposite.
Pretty sure the collage cover was first, because that album doesn’t have anything from Alice Cooper’s second album, Easy Action, and the other one does.
Oh, man, I used to send away for these when I was a kid! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
(And thank you 1,000,000 times for all the fantastic work you do here, Willard!)
This was an incredible series. Lots of rare Van Dyke Parks stuff! And it did what it intended. By turning me on to artists with whom I was unfamiliar, I ended up buying loads of full-priced Warner-Reprise LPs.
The first half of the series was the best. Great, irreverent yet knowledgeable copy (and more thoughtful and interesting musical choices). The writing later lacked the humor and warmth of the initial LPs which is kind of odd, because I believe it was Barry Hansen (Dr. Demento) who wrote the later LP copy.
Thank you, Willard – I hung on to Looney Tunes and have the cover framed on my wall. These’ll help me forget today’s election results…But I still don’t see the link (???).
Thanks Willard, great post! The artwork is almost as exciting as the music!
For a period of a few years Warners really did operate as though art really mattered (just like some FM stations did). Then, of course, the smell of really big money attracted the sharks and none of it has ever been the same since.
Thanks again, for this and everything.
Thanks so much, man – I love that you’re posting them separately over time. It’s like a nostalgic musical advent calendar! I remember these being advertised on WB (and family) LP sleeves as well as in National Lampoon and other demographically correct magazines. In fact, it will be a blast from the past to listen to these while reading the PDF versions of the NatLamps of the era.
BTW, I have one double LP from 1974 or ’75 that’s not here, but maybe it’s not part of the series. I got it in a cutout bin back in the day; it was from Warner Special Projects, and it was called Heavy Metal. Totally misnamed, too – besides Black Sabbath, MC5, Zeppelin and Foghat, it had Van Morrison, Eagles, Yes, Blues Image and other tracks one would now hear on Adult Contemporary radio. Unfortunately, I have no way of ripping it, but it got a lot of play on a cheap turntable back in the day so it ain’t exactly a Prof. Stoned project.
BRILLIANT!!!
I grew up on these. Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodies was my first. Best $3 I ever spent. Sadly they are all gone except “The 1969 Warner/Reprise Record Show”.
Many thanks for these. I, too, collected these back in the day and credit them for introducing me to so much great music. They’re still in my vinyl collection; just not in the best of shape. Will be great to have them digitized. They show what truly great marketing can do. Stan and the gang at Warner-Reprise should be rightfully proud.
Echoing Steven in Atlanta’s experience, I too bought a lot of LPs I would not have, thanks to exposure from these great samplers. Also remembering the print persuasion of the WB series of mailers called Circular, which helped a tone of cultural sophistication no other record company of the time could quite match…
Thanks for these!
I’m very anxious to hear this too!!… “The Best of the Rock Machine turns you on” by CBS made me discover amazing artists and bands like Spirit, Moby Grape, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Laura Nyro & others… Also “The New Spirit of Capitol” introduced me to The Sons of Champlin, The Bob Seger System, David Axelrod & the folk duo Hedge & Donna I personally had the chance to meet recently…I’m surprised Hedge & Donna’s wonderful albums have not yet seen the light in cd format… I’m lucky to have all their lps and also very decent vinyl rips though…
Anyways… I can’t find the links to this wonderful collection… Lookin’ very forward to hearing the ones between 1969-1973 specially!…
Thanks for all the quality material you feed us Willard!
Willard I Love You! I want to have your Children your site is entertaining informative and just a plain HOOT! Thank you for all your hard work! Your Pal 4ever Timo
Wow! What a series!
thanks you so much for all you hard work compiling these treasures…
Tremendous, tremendous news! I started with The Big Ball and probably had about 10 at one time. By the mid-70s, I was working at music retail and could usually get just about any full promos I wanted, so they kind of lost their appeal. But it’s great to see them offered again.
There was a UK Warner Bros cheapo compilation in January 1975, not a Loss Leader in title, but a loss leader in spirit. It featured Little Feat, Doobie Brothers, Tower of Power and a couple of others less well remembered – Bonaroo, Graham Central Station and Montrose. It cost 59p (around a dollar, I guess) and was to promote the Warner Bros Music Show, a mini festival that toured Europe. As a loss leader it resulted in a lot of sales for the previously unknown (in the UK) Little Feat, if not any of the others.
Phil – thanks for the nudge to my memory. I saw both nights of the Music Show tour at Manchester Free Trade Hall. Little Feat headlined and were amazing, and sorry to disagree but far from unknown – I’d been playing ‘Dixie Chicken’ and ‘Oh Atlanta’ in the student union discos for some time by then, and several people I knew had their first album soon after it’s 1971 release. The Doobies, the following night, were OK if a little loose (an excess of lubrication I suspect) until Elton John got up to join in and the set rapidly fizzled out in chaos.
I wasn’t aware of a compilation based on the tour – that’s one I’ll be looking out for.
Yes, I remember that one. It looked like this:
http://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Warner-Bros-Music-Show/release/1126557
The Warner Bros Music Show is easy to find on eBay, though at considerably more than its original 59p price! There is a track listing at http://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Warner-Bros-Music-Show/release/1126557. I believe there were more European Warner loss leaders – I have a vague memory of owning one or two, but can’t remember the titles after all these years. They may have featured tracks not on the American editions, so it would be nice if someone could find out more and add them here.
The few I’ve seen were different, but it’s been a long time.
Terry, you’re probably right about Little Feat not being better known than I suggested. It was forty years ago . . .
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Warner-Bros-Music-Show/dp/B0040OS1F8
Wonderful – thanks Phil!
Three cheers for Willard!
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
First – Thanks Willard for the walk down memory lane. The ads that others provided take me right back to reading the National Lampoon as a young lad. Wow! One comment from above by Jeff mentions the compilation “Heavy Metal” – Man did I ever play the shit out of that one. An online acquaintance from the original “GroovyFab” blog took it upon himself to recreate that compilation for me a few years ago..I will post it in the Son of reader’s links thread.
One thing I should add to the Heavy Metal comp is that there is at least one slight variation on one track, perhaps more, but for sure the Black Sabbath Iron Man version is different than the original. I kept it as received and over it up.
I’ve said it before but I can not thank you enough for posting these. They’re as compulsively listenable as they were 40 years ago.
Thanks. They ARE fun listens.
Bob Merlis and I came up with the set list and annotated ‘Cook Book’ (it wasn’t easy; at that point, WB didn’t have a helluva lot of soul acts). I came up with the title ‘The Works’ and art director Ed Thrasher went to work on it (not sure, but it may have been A&R’ed, as many of these were, by Barry ‘Dr. Demento’ Hansen). I worked there as Editorial Director (1975-1981). Love your posting of all this stuff. Thanks.
You’re the man, Gene. Thanks for the comment.
Gene, nice to see your name here! I’ve owed you a huge Thank You for The Catalog of Cool, which was a divining rod (and Bible) that pointed me toward music, books, movies, tv shows, mags, whatnot, that changed my life for the better. I still pull it out every so often to see what I might find now that I couldn’t 35 years ago.
Willard, it might be fun to put together all the LPs from that book’s music chapters. I know I own at least 75% of them and would love to lay hands on the one’s I don’t own. Maybe that will be my winter project for the Son of Readers Links….
Funny you should mention Gene’s Catalog Of Cool. We just made mention of that on the Cook Book post (#27).
Just, like, Oh Wow! You are too awesome
Thank you for this project, Willard! The Loss Leaders are an integral part of our collective music memory and
I’m curious as to why you won’t be posting the Loss Leader CDs that came out later. I’m guessing you don’t have access to them, but are they rehashes of the original LPs, or do they have unique songs?
Simply because they’re not Loss Leaders in any way, shape or form… except for the titles. They were never for sale (or available in any way) to the public, and are just your average, run of the mill, promo CDs that are sent out to press and radio. There are 10s of thousands of those types of CDs… so to post those JUST because they carry the Loss Leaders name – and none of the hands-on personality that went into the packaging and selections of the original series from 1969-1980 – is pointless to me. I’m sure most folks had never even heard of those CDs until reading it here. The original Loss Leaders were about turning consumers on to music they might not have even heard of, with the label and artists foregoing any profits and royalties to do so. The promo CDs, on the other hand, were just about about convincing programmers and DJs to play the label’s current mid-to-late 90s releases on the radio. Night and day… with zero connection to the original concept or design.
That answers my question! I stopped buying them after All Meat, and stopped buying most LPs when disco took over. Just finished compiling 2 CDs of my favorites from the series. Tasty & memorable…thanks again for the series!
Thanks Willard. I dutifully clipped the coupons and sent in my dollar bills (starting with Looney Tunes and worked backwards) for what was a mixed bag of treasure and dross. Certainly got turned on to a lot of WB artists and bought those albums too. Their gamble paid off.
You should really include SOME OF OUR BEST FRIENDS ARE in your Loss Leader numbering series. I know it’s promo only, but let’s face it: they are ALL promos (PRO). It has the exact feel of the rest of the albums. Yes, yes, yes.
It was the blueprint for the series, for sure, but there’s no evidence it was ever sold the same way the later Leaders were. In fact, in the liner notes it states it was given away for free, and WB themselves routinely refer to Songbook and Record Show as the first two in the series. So… we gotta go with that. But, we posted it in the first place precisely because of it’s ties to the series. We’ve just recently discovered that October 10th, 1969 was, indeed, an official Leader, and will be adding a new post to reflect that in the next couple of days. Thanks.
Since Oct. 10th, 1969 was never included in the inner sleeves of WB albums, I am interested in seeing that post. Thank you again for all your hard work on this series.
There were actually a bunch of Leaders that weren’t advertised in the inner sleeves, like all of the single LPs (except Zapped), both Peaches and a couple of others. Zero clue why. But, we’ve been gathering evidence in the last week to support what’s been difficult to verify for some reason. WB’s Gene Sculatti told us that in staff meetings, they all just referred to these as “promos,” and rarely intellectualized the differences between Leaders and other promos (that was left to marketing). And, in fact, even in advertisements for later editions, they stopped even using the term, Loss Leaders, until… as fate would have it, the last (verifiable) LL, Troublemakers.
So :October 1, 1969″ and “Music with 58 Musicians” are now officially part of the series?
Yep… we’ve finally got the advertisements to prove it.
What an outstanding piece of work! Thanks a million.
Setting here with the 1969 Songbook and Hard Goods in hand…..there must be others if not here at my brothers home…….also I am looking at another sampler from Capitol, it’s called The New Spirit Of Capitol…..2 disc with good range of material. Was this another try at a loss leader program?? Have others…..other labels……strange covers!!!!!! Will you continue this thread with other companies products……?????
Got to go Peter and Lois just came in………oh, yes….what a blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ThankYouThankYouThankYou!!! A true labor of love & a wonderful gift to all of us.
What a great month of collecting these rarities. Mucho thanks. It got me digging into my record company sampler vinyl again. Can the A&M sampler LPs be far behind?
Cap’n,
I can’t thank you enough for these posts and music – I have discovered a lot of (new?) classic music and am looking up up many artists that I’d either ignored or hadn’t heard of earlier.
My many thanks to the people who assisted you – Slipperman, Narcosislabs and Rebecca.
Great work, and I am now wondering how you are going to top this! It will be a great journey even trying!
Thanks and best wishes,
NN
Thanks again for everything! I actually bought the A&M sampler, but would love to hear the Mercury release…Anybody…?
Willard, as always, thank you for this great project! I was just a wee lad and always wondered about these mythical albums advertised inside my Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen album, and now I’ve finally got the chance to hear them!
Captain, I’m grateful for the link and humbled by the yeoman’s work you and your folks have done on this series. You answered many questions that I could not…even through direct communication with many of the key players. When it comes time to do a mere *three-hour* “Loss Leaders Revisited” followup. I will be leaning solidly on the great work you have done. It’s an amazing accomplishment.
Now I still have to go track down vinyl copies of “58 Musicians” and “October 10,” the only two I don’t own.
Looking forward to hearing the follow up show, Uncle M. Thanks for the kind words.
Wonderful job Mr. Willard for putting together all of this interesting material in one place. These Loss Leaders are a part of discography history I didn’t know much about so it’s highly appreciated that you shed some light on this fascinating period of pop culture. Still working my way through all the albums but each one has been an enjoyable listen so far. Definitely looking forward to finishing off the remaining LPs soon. Thanks again!!!
Thanks so much, Willard, for an amazing trip down memory lane. I started with The Big Ball, back filled, and ended with Collectus Interruptus. Still have the vinyl, but it’s been decades since I listened to them. The marketing worked with me. These turned me on to a lot of artists whose records I went out to buy. I was a glutton for this type of promotion. I got the A&M sampler, as well as the All Day Thumb Sucker that you posted a long time ago, as well as samplers from Columbia/Epic and others.
Really appreciate the effort you, with the assistance of others, put in assembling this.
It’s nice to know other people care about these. In a way they were precursors to blogging.
I’ve pulled 130 something favorites and have been shuffling through them for days.
I wrote about Loss Leaders in 2010, and never expected this windfall. Thanks again!!!
http://alanwalkerart.com/wp/?p=1320
a big warm THANK YOU!!! Capitan, you are my man…merry Christmas…from Brazil
Picked up Days of Wine and Vinyl second hand years back and it was the gateway drug to loadsa other artists as mentioned by others above. Thrilled at the prospect of going through these all and finding new favourites. Thanks so very much for all your hard work and to the other contributors too.
I’m thrilled the Loss Leader series went over so well. I know it was a labor of love for you, Willard and I was more than happy to help out. If I could do it again, I would (I admit to having a tiny thrill seeing my name associated with this!)
As for the “rip-off” compilations, I have an order form in my Vinegar Joe album for the “Atlantic Soul Explosion”, a 2LP set that sold for…$2! (The offer expired in December 1972, so I’m out of luck.) There was also an overseas 2LP set from Island called, “El Pea” (get it?), and a single disc comp from Columbia called, “Different Strokes” (that I own). I’m always on the lookout for those, just because. Still, the WB LL’s were the absolute best.
Anyways, thanks again for all of your hard work and for running a terrific site!
Thank you so much, Willard! These compilations bring back many great memories.
I spent many hours listening to Songbook, frequently with a friend who died last year. So, he will be enjoying it from on high when I listen to these songs again!
I see at http://home.clara.net/fil/rocksamplers two more LL: Revisited and Cookbook. What’s up with those?
Revisited is a CD that’s explained in the text. That “Cookbook,” actually entitled Warner In The UK, is a UK-only variation that was made at the same time as the US Loss Leader, Cook Book.
Having downloaded the whole series of Lost Leaders that you have so kindly made available, I feel a little like this python!
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/30/python-devours-entire-wallaby-in-front-of-northern-territory-park-rangers
Happy 2015! The WFMU Loss Leader broadcast is also available as an mp3 download: http://hinkydinky.net/2014/07/18/hdt-on-gtdr-62/
More to the point: http://hinkydinky.net/2014/07/18/hdt-on-gtdr-62/
That’s true (the show is available as a podcast, as well). Thanks for listening!
This fit right in with my Loss Leader collection: http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/e00f84bf29940e2f4a1a8bbb74b1f12f/1418120.jpg
It’s posted in (Son of) Readers Links if you need it on mp3
Someone somewhere called this effort “Smithsonian”. I agree, and sing the “Institute Blues” (or The Big Dig) in all your honors.
Tom in Beacon? Hey, I’m in Beacon…this MUST be Tom J.
Many thanks for this wonderful series. I’m late finding your excellent website but now I’m here I’ll just make myself comfortable……
Welcome aboard
Amazing on these. I remember getting lots of the early ones but I also remember having one that had Fleetwood Mac’s “Green Manalishi” which was an unreleased song in America at the time.