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The Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders were a series of promotional sampler compilation albums released by Warner Bros. Records throughout the 1970s. Each album (usually a 2-record set) contained a wide variety of tracks by artists under contract to Warner Bros. and its subsidiary labels (primarily Reprise Records); often these were singles, B-sides, non-hit album tracks, or otherwise obscure material, all designed to arouse interest in the artists' regular albums. Also found on some were humorous, bizarre interstitial audio material—clips from old records and movies, short skits, found sound, etc.--and most albums featured clever, humorous cover art and liner notes. Most of the 1970s albums were compiled and annotated by Barry Hansen, better known as Dr. Demento.
Warner advertised the Loss Leaders albums by magazine [1] and by inserting special illustrated inner sleeves in all of its regular album releases, listing all of the currently available Loss Leaders and including an order form. Each Loss Leader double album was priced at US$2, significantly less than a comparable regular-release double album of the time. (There were also a few single disc issues in 1969-71, and at least one triple disc set.) The fact that Warner sold these double albums at low cost in hopes of increasing sales of their regular releases is the source of the series name Loss Leaders. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
The first Loss Leaders compilation was The 1969 Warner/Reprise Songbook, featuring a wide range of artists from Miriam Makeba to the Mothers of Invention; the last of the original series was the punk and new wave-themed Troublemakers in 1980. [3]
Loss Leaders Revisited (PRO-CD-7955, 1995), a limited-edition CD (3500 copies) and Loss Leaders 2 (PRO-CD-9949, 1999) a limited-edition CD (2500 copies), were not properly Loss Leader releases, since they were given away. [2] There have been no further Loss Leaders releases.
The Scaffold was a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of musical performer Mike McGear, poet Roger McGough and comic entertainer John Gorman.
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Live/Dead is the first official live album released by the rock band Grateful Dead. Recorded over a series of concerts in early 1969 and released later the same year, it was the first live rock album to use 16-track recording.
A loss leader is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. With this sales promotion/marketing strategy, a "leader" is any popular article, i.e., sold at a low price to attract customers.
Tony Joe White, nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie" and for "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but which was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970. He also wrote "Steamy Windows" and "Undercover Agent for the Blues", both hits for Tina Turner in 1989; those two songs came by way of Turner's producer at the time, Mark Knopfler, who was a friend of White. "Polk Salad Annie" was also recorded by Joe Dassin, Elvis Presley, and Tom Jones.
Hot Rats is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original version of the Mothers of Invention. Five of the six songs are instrumental; while "Willie the Pimp", features vocals by Captain Beefheart. In his original sleeve notes, Zappa described the album as "a movie for your ears".
Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhood of Man (1975–1979). The label changed its name to PRT Records in 1980, before being briefly reactivated as Pye Records in 2006.
Warner Records Inc. is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958 as the recorded music division of the American film studio Warner Bros.
Bizarre Records, self-identified simply as Bizarre, was a production company and record label formed for artists discovered by rock musician Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen.
Straight Records, self-identified simply as Straight, was a record label formed in 1969 to distribute productions and discoveries of Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen. Straight was formed at the same time as a companion label, Bizarre Records. Straight and Bizarre were manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by the Warner Bros. Records family of labels, which also included Reprise Records. Straight recordings were distributed in the U.K. by CBS Records.
What Hits!? is a "best-of" compilation album by Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on September 29, 1992 by EMI. The album contains tracks from the band's first four albums as well as "Under the Bridge" from their fifth album, 1991's hit Blood Sugar Sex Magik and the Pretty Woman soundtrack contribution/single B-side "Show Me Your Soul." "Behind the Sun" was released as a single and music video to accompany the release of this compilation. The song originally appeared on the band's 1987 album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. The compilation is the only full-length release of the band to feature "Show Me Your Soul".
Alice Coltrane, also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, was an American jazz musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few harpists in the history of jazz, she recorded many albums as a bandleader, beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse! and other record labels. She was married to jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane, with whom she performed in 1966–1967. One of the foremost exponents of the "spiritual jazz" style, her eclectic music proved widely influential both within and outside the world of jazz.
Joseph LeslieSample was an American keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, the band which, shortening its name, became simply "The Crusaders" in 1971, and he remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991.
Live at Winterland 1978 is a live album by Sex Pistols, first released in its entirety in 2001. The last two songs were released by Warner Bros Records on their two-disc 1980 Loss-Leader sampler, Troublemakers, bookending the compilation.
"Adore" is a song by Prince. It is the last track on his 1987 double album Sign o' the Times, following the live track "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night". A long, ornate slow jam featuring Atlanta Bliss and Eric Leeds on horns, it was described by NME reviewer Paolo Hewitt as "a sugar ballad that harks back to the Stylistics but is indelibly Prince's, a lush yet remarkable piece of music, and a fitting climax". It received significant radio play despite never being released as a single, and became an occasional part of Prince's concert repertoire. A 4:39-long edit of the song appears on the 1993 compilation album The Hits/The B-Sides, and the Girl 6 soundtrack album contains the full-length version. Prince's 2002 box set One Nite Alone... Live! includes a solo performance of "Adore" with piano accompaniment.
Bill Bentley is an American music industry executive, particularly notable for having produced tribute albums of the music of significant cult artists Roky Erickson (1990), Skip Spence (1999), Doug Sahm (2009) and Lou Reed (2013), in addition to other recording projects.
A sampler or promotional compilation is a type of compilation album generally offered at a reduced price to showcase an artist or a selection of artists signed to a particular record label. The format became popular in the late 1960s as record labels sought to promote artists whose works were primarily available in album rather than single format, and therefore had little opportunity to gain exposure through singles-dominated radio airplay. Most samplers showcased already-released material, so that as they sampled artists they also sampled the albums from which their tracks were drawn. The term 'album sampler' is also used in cases where an album is distributed among multiple records in case of, for example, vinyl where the maximum play time is less than the length of the full album. In these cases, album sampler titles may be added to each vinyl.
Seducing Down the Door: A Collection 1970−1990 is the second compilation album by Welsh musician John Cale, released by Rhino Records in July 1994. It featured songs from Cale's albums released between 1970 and 1990. It includes the songs "Jack the Ripper", an unreleased single from 1978, and "Temper", an outtake from The Academy in Peril album that originally appeared on a 1980 Warner Bros. sampler album, Troublemakers.
"Sweet Dream" is a song recorded by the English progressive rock band Jethro Tull on 31 August 1969, at Morgan Studios, London. It was their second straight UK Top Ten single, reaching number 7 in the UK Singles Chart. The b-side was a non-album track, "17", recorded on 11 September 1969, also at Morgan. It later appeared as a bonus track on a remastered versions of Stand Up. "Sweet Dream" has appeared on many Tull compilation albums, while "17" has been rarely seen. In England, the single was the first release on Chrysalis Records.
Live! The Ike & Tina Turner Show is a live album by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner released on Warner Bros. Records in 1965. In 1967, The Ike & Tina Turner Show – Vol. 2, consisting of different recordings from the same shows was released on Loma Records.