NOTE ABOUT JAPANESE ISSUES (OF ENGLISH SUNG MUSIC) - One of the things that makes out of print Japanese releases the most collectable is whether the original OBI strip is included. The OBI is a narrow strip of paper put around the jewel case hinges of sealed Japanese releases, and is often the only part of the package where the UPC number is printed. Most Japanese rear inserts will not have a UPC bar code. The OBI will also have some other promotional information written in Japanese - a song listing, general artist/album information, and sometimes a listing of other albums by the same artist available on that particular Japanese label. Japanese releases will also have either an expanded front insert with the lyric sheet and a few summary paragraphs on the artist and their works, all written in Japanese, or they will have a separate insert/booklet with this information. It is very rare on eBay and in online stores for this loose booklet/insert to be lost or thrown away, but is common for the OBI strip to be missing If I own the OBI strip and/or loose booklet/insert, it can be viewed on the info page by clicking on the cover art graphic. |
Known Formats
LP – catalog # (if any), lyric sheet
included
- yes / no / partial
[if known]
8T – catalog # (if any)
CS – catalog # (if any), lyric sheet
included
- yes / no / partial
CD – catalog # (if any), lyric sheet
included
- yes / no / partial
The catalog number listed here will usually be what I see on the
spine
of the CD or cassette. In some
cases, a reissue may have an old catalog number on the spine, but the
new catalog number on the CD,
in which case I'd go with the CD number, of course. Many labels
have a consistent numbering style,
but they would sometimes put dashes or spaces between some of their
release, and none in others. I am
not going to try to "consistify" (my word) all of these
instances
into a single format on my info pages.
Instrumental albums, of course, won't have
a lyric sheet. Often times a lyric sheet will leave out the
lyrics
for cover songs or traditional songs, and sometimes will only give a
partial listing for album
songs. I
will try to indicate in my info pages which
songs were included. {Ex. "lyrics included -
partial (all but
track 15)" implies that all lyrics were given
except for track 15, where "lyrics included -
partial (track 15 only)"
implies that only the lyrics for track
15 were given}
The Band
This will be a listing of band members and the
instruments they played. In most cases, solo artists will
not be considered to have a regular "band" and
the heading for this listing will simply be Musicians.
I will list on these info pages up to 10 people,
and if more are listed in the front insert, then I will only
include the solo artist and his/her talents,
and then the note "see liner notes" or "see lyric sheet", etc.
Most solo artists have 20+ musicians
participating
on their albums, and often times the front insert will
list the musicians song by song, which makes
compiling a single list quite cumbersome. Maybe later I
will go back and try to find some good way to
list everyone - maybe a pulldown menu. In all cases, I
am assuming that musicians not listed in the
front insert as part of a band are the session musicians
that recorded the music on the album, not
necessarily
the personnel on tours.
Additional Musicians
If the artist is a band, there will often be
additional musicians participating for the album recordings, but
not necessarily on tour. These musicians,
up to a maximum of 10 (see above) will be listed under this
heading.
Songs
The songs along with the total time (on my CD player - currently a
Sony CFD-222) will be listed here.
Track times will not be given for cassette tracks. I will also
indicate when a single CD track has any
hidden tracks, usually with some silence in between. In a medley
or multi-song/movement work which
is a single track on the CD, I will not attempt to give the time of
each section, just the time of the whole
track. Any track which does not contain a song listed on the inserts
will be described as [untitled].
These tracks can be anything from studio chatter to band silliness
outside of the studio. In these info
pages, a [hidden track] will be considered either a song that is not
listed anywhere on the inserts, or a
song which is placed in the negative time "before" another track (and
therefore would be skipped if the
tracks were attempted to be played in random order). I won't
attempt to guess at titles for hidden tracks.
So, unless I see a title in another printed or internet source,
a hidden track will be listed as [untitled].
Comments:
I will try to limit my comment to interesting information about an
album, and not just my opinions or
random thoughts. Most of my info pages don't have any comments.
(last updated January 2009)