Warner / Reprise “Loss Leaders”

12-10-09 Warner / Reprise “Loss Leaders”

LPx2 WARNER / REPRISE: 1969 SONGBOOK PRO 331

1969 28 TRK Compilation, promo

LPx2 WARNER / REPRISE: 1969 RECORD SHOW, THE PRO 336

1969 31 TRK Compilation, promo

LP WARNER / REPRISE: OCTOBER 10, 1969 PRO 351

1969 10 TRK Compilation, promo (not a mail-order title)

LPx2 WARNER / REPRISE: BIG BALL PRO 358

1970 30 TRK Compilation, promo

LPx3 WARNER / REPRISE: LOONEY TUNES PRO 423

1971 35 TRK Compilation, promo

LP WARNER / REPRISE: NON-DAIRY CREAMER PRO 443

1971 11 TRK Compilation, promo

LPx2 WARNER / REPRISE: HOT PLATTERS PRO 474

1971 22 TRK Compilation, promo

LPx2 WARNER / REPRISE: WHOLE BURBANK CATALOG PRO 512

1972 28 TRK Compilation, promo

LPx2 WARNER / REPRISE: BURBANK PRO 529

1972 25 TRK Compilation, promo

When writing about 1969, this set of records cannot be ignored. I probably found a flyer for “Songbook” and “Record Show” in a copy of Arlo Guthrie “Alice’s Restaurant”, around Christmas 1969. $2 for a double album seemed hard to believe, but it was true! And “Songbook” had the G.T.O.’s on the cover and you got to hear Wild Man Fisher, Frank Zappa, The Fugs, Jethro Tull and a host of other new-to-me things.

There are many more WB sampler LP’s than are listed here, but these are the ones I got at the time, waited for with baited breath etc. Fans of these albums know how much cool music is to be found therein. They often put odd little bits between tracks, too. And many (most) have stellar Stan Cornyn liner notes!

Except for “October 10, 1969”, they were all mail-order albums. I think that one was an early “In Store Promo”, sent to retail or radio, in hopes of some needle time. It was a good one, too – with Norman Greenbaum “Spirit In The Sky”, Frank Zappa “Peaches in Regalia”, Fleetwood Mac “Rattlesnake Shake” and some artists about which I know less – Levitt & McClure, Denny Brooks, The Fifth Avenue Band etc. (Yes, I have the Japanese WB/Reprise CD of The Fifth Avenue Band’s album in 2009!).

The best thing about these albums is that most of them are not expensive collectibles, 40 years hence. For some reason, “Looney Tunes” seems to go for a lot of money – either for the Looney Tunes cover or the otherwise unavailable Jimi Hendrix track! But all others can be had for $2 - $4 these days. Some of my friends were so enthusiastic, we generated CD-R’s of some of these titles! The music sounds great – but the overall packages were what made these titles ‘magical’.

The British also made great inexpensive sampler albums (such as “Nice Enough To Eat” on Island), but – for my money – these WB “Loss Leader” sampler LP’s are tops.