Beach Boys Taiwan LPs

[Shane]

Thought I might share a few of my finds from this past week.  I picked up a big stack of 1960s rock LPs of "unknown Asian origin".  The consensus on the internet seems to be these were likely either made in Taiwan or Korea, but no one really knows for sure.  They came in flimsy covers, and the vinyl was often colored.  They were sold in the 60s and 70s to tourists and American soldiers during the Vietnam war.  The audio quality varies from not-too-bad to downright headache inducing.

Here's a nice selection of some Beach Boys Taiwan issues.  The cover of the Surfin' Safari LP is a photo I haven't often seen... what a nice looking group of guys.  Even Mike looks unlikely to sue anybody.  For some reason the people who manufactured these LPs were adamant about having the complete (poorly transcribed) lyrics included either on the back cover, or on a separate sheet.  Mike's part on the song "Surfin" is even transcribed as "Bawp bawp de dipdedip".  Whether that spelling is correct, is a discussion for another thread.




And now,  I know this isn't BB related, but I had to share this.  Another Taiwan LP I picked up in the stack features an "artist's rendition" of the cover of Jefferson's Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow.  Absolutely crap-tastic.

[Smiling Pets]

I have the copy of Today!

Picked it up at my local record store, what a cool find!

[Smiling Pets]

What color is your copy of Today!?

 it looks darker than my bright orange copy

[Mikie]

There were many Japanese pressings back then with colored vinyl, light flimsy album covers, and wrong lyrics on the back. That's pretty much consistent with Asian vinyl pressings back then. I have 3 or 4 of them on "Liming Records", which was a label from Taiwan. The label catered to US soldiers stationed in Taiwan in the 60's and 70s. Covers were often photocopied from Japanese or US issues with altered colors. Many releases are on colored vinyl. They were later pressed on black vinyl. In the early 70's, the label changed their spelling to "Li Ming Record". Somebody here a couple of weeks ago displayed their "Shut Down II" album which had "Shut Down" printed on the cover and an orange background and blue painted under the cars. You can still find Japanese and Taiwan pressings in used record stores and on Ebay of course.

[Vegetable Man]

I've often seen a copy of the Today! album in the bootleg section of Forever Young records here in my neck of the woods. I always thought some kid had just colored in the cover of some cheap reissue. It's nice to know the real story.

[bgas]

There were many Japanese pressings back then with colored vinyl, light flimsy album covers, and wrong lyrics on the back. That's pretty much consistent with Asian vinyl pressings back then. I have 3 or 4 of them on "Liming Records", which was a label from Taiwan. The label catered to US soldiers stationed in Taiwan in the 60's and 70s. Covers were often photocopied from Japanese or US issues with altered colors. Many releases are on colored vinyl. They were later pressed on black vinyl. In the early 70's, the label changed their spelling to "Li Ming Record". Somebody here a couple of weeks ago displayed their "Shut Down II" album which had "Shut Down" printed on the cover and an orange background and blue painted under the cars. You can still find Japanese and Taiwan pressings in used record stores and on Ebay of course.

All good info, except for referencing them as "Japanese pressings"; Japan released very good quality recordings for the Bach Boys ( and other artists), with nost of the First run Toshiba label issues being on Red Vinyl, and highly sought after today. Priced accordingly. 

[sockittome]

A few years ago I saw a Taiwan release of All Summer Long in an antique shop on the Oregon Coast.  What caught my eye initially was the fact that the front cover featured the collage of photos pretty much like the US edition, only framed in dark blue rather than white.  On closer examination I noticed "Don't Break Down" in the song list on the front.  I got a little excited for just a moment, but then I had a gut feeling (judging from the cheapo look of the packaging) that this was probably no rarity.  The deal killer for me was when I slid out the Lp (which was black, and if memory serves me, with an orange label, much like the Today! vinyl pictured above) and noticed that it looked as if it had been played several times with a roofing nail, or used as a Frisbee! 

[metal flake paint]

Cool finds, Shane! Interesting to see that Pet Sounds and Today (and possibly others) have a vinyl variation.



Summer Days... hails from Seoul, Korea whilst Shut Down Vol. 2 was manufactured in Taiwan. The sellers claimed at the time that Surfer Girl, Today and Pet Sounds are Taiwanese, but I can't be certain of that.

Seems that the rear cover of the Japanese Surfin' Safari LP was used as the basis for your copy of same.

[Mikie]

All good info, except for referencing them as "Japanese pressings"; Japan released very good quality recordings for the Bach Boys ( and other artists), with nost of the First run Toshiba label issues being on Red Vinyl, and highly sought after today. Priced accordingly.

I know about the Toshiba Japanese vinyl and I know about the fairly recent ones with OBI strips. No, I referenced correctly. I have a few Japanese pressings (red vinyl) with crappy thin paperish carboard sleeves with funny interpretations of the lyrics on the back that I picked up in the 70's. Good quality vinyl to be sure. The newer ones are obviously even better but you gotta pay for them. How about this one, there, Bgas? You got this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGP8vnQrKGo

[Shane]

So just for the record- Japanese pressings have high quality vinyl and are quite collectable.  Pressings from Taiwan are of lower quality, but there is still some demand for them.  After all, where else are you going to find a green or orange vinyl pressing of Pet Sounds from the 1960s?

The cover I showed for the Surfin' Safari LP is indeed the back cover.  The front cover is a poorly reproduced copy of the regular one.

The vinyl on my copy of the "Today!" album is red towards the outside of the disc, but it is darker as you go towards the center.  Looks like it may have been made while transitioning colors on the presses.

 

[smile-holland]

I have copies of Party, Sunflower and Surf's Up. Will post pictures later today.

[smile-holland]

 

 

 

[leggo of my ego]

And now,  I know this isn't BB related, but I had to share this.  Another Taiwan LP I picked up in the stack features an "artist's rendition" of the cover of Jefferson's Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow.  Absolutely crap-tastic.

Isn't that the Liberty Records logo? Funny as that LP was issued on RCA and I would imagine the Japanese pressing would be on Victor.

The Korean LPs should be easily distinguishable from the Taiwanese - Korean looks much different than Chinese.

If nothing else you have to admit these boots are Colorful... Collect all 57 colors! Impress your friends and neighbors - hang them in your den or recreation room!

[Mikie]

The Beach Boys Party album above is on the Taiwanese "Liming Records" label. The Sunflower and Surf's Up albums above are on the Taiwanese "CSJ Records" label, which was a subsidiary of "Chung Sheng Records". Covers were often photocopied from Japanese or US issues with different colors. Most were colored vinyl. Again, they were pretty much illegal but readily avilable to the US troops in Taiwan serving in the 60's and 70's.