civiclx

i'm going through this phase where I'm trying to build up my cd collection after thinking I was done purchasing cds. I thought Itunes would satisfy my needs but I'm craving the real thing again and I'm considering getting some imports, but there seems to be so many different ones out there.

Does anyone know of good websites that list complete discographies for artists including their imports?

Do most Japanese issued cds come with the OBI strip?

Does anyone own any Dido, Sarah Mclachlan, U2, Billy Joel or John Mayer imports?

Thanks in advance

Giles

I'd check out CD Universe they've got a good database of what's been released

civiclx

thanks for the suggestion. do any of you guys own imports?

Tscott

In the 90s I was buying a ton of import singles. I had to get every song I could find by Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, Bjork and Siouxsie and the Banshees. They were almost all bought at various indie record stores- most of which no longer exist.

Now days, I don't have the time or desire to track down imports and most b-sides aren't worth it. The only time I get imports these days, is if I somehow get turned on by an artist who doesn't have an album out in the states yet. I've got a couple albums by Katie Melua that are imports because they weren't released in the US until 1 or 2 years later.

Giles

what I can't stand are the album reissues or actual albums that are soley comprised of a band's b-sides - it may be water under the bridge, but to think all the money I had spent only to have those songs become available all at once on one release. I own too many imports to mention here.

islandclaws

I used to buy a lot of imports as a kid. I've got lots of singles and albums w/ bonus tracks that I was able to find at Tower Records (for retardedly high prices) and this place called CD Listening Bar that was in Irvine that specialized in bootlegs and imports. The majority of the ones I own are from Metallica, but I also have some Slayer, White Zombie and other metal bands.

The Bus

Yeah. It would take me way, way too much time to track down what I have in imports. It may be enough to say that I have the majority of the Radiohead, Coldplay, and Badly Drawn Boy discography in import form (EPs, singles). I would say I've got easily over 50 import CDs, if not over 100.

Giles

albums or CD Singles? I think I must have close to a thousand CD singles - not counting the one's on vinyl. As well as the very brief release of DVD singles from the UK.

The Bus

Baller.

I stopped buying so many CDs once I got to 200 or so. At this point, I don't know how many I have since once I buy them I put them away somewhere. All my music is on my computer.

wendersfan

Yes.

Giles

civiclx

what's the most expensive import that you own and what country do most of your imports come from?

wendersfan

I know I paid a lot of money for The Jam boxset which I bought as an import. I'm guessing most of mine come from Britain.

The Bus

Using MSRP, probably Badly Drawn Boy's How Did I Get Here? Japan import. I found it at Amoeba for ~$25, when most sites had it for $50 or more.

In value today, that would be Mince Spies.

ChristopherS

I've got 2 Kylie Minogue 2 disc remix CDs from Japan that I think I paid $50 each for.
Most of my imports are UK/Europe just because I tend to like those artists.

civiclx

let's see pictures if you have them. I've only got 1 so far and that's a Japanese reissue of Billy Joel's River of Dreams

The Bus

Fat chance. All my CDs are in a binder or a box somewhere, unless I got them recently and they're waiting to be put on my computer. Even when my car CD changer was working, I'd put copies in there just so I'd knew nothing would happen to the originals.

Rex Fenestrarum

I was a big record collector in the 80s, and I still have tons of Japanese, British, German, Dutch and Italian imports, as well as a few "oddball" discs from Venezuela and Chile thrown in for good measure.

I was really into Duran Duran at the time and still have Japanese copies of most of their albums, as well as a few of their singles (both 12" and 7"). I also own a Japanese copy of Arcadia's So Red The Rose because that was the only way to get it on CD back in the late 80s.

I also have a ton of Madonna stuff. I actually didn't start liking her music until after Erotica came out, but back in the day there were a metric ass-ton of imported Madonna picture discs, shaped records, colored vinyl releases, 3" CD singles, etc. I'd often buy 'em just to "flip" them into something I really wanted, like the original release of R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe" on Hibtone Records, or a 7" single of The Cure's "Catch" on clear vinyl. I managed to keep a lot of the Madonna stuff, which was cool, 'cos I actually ended up liking her music, and it's kind of neat having a picture disc of the True Blue album from Hong Kong or the British 7" picture disc that's shaped like her (see this.

As for your actual question(s)...

I used to own a few U2 imports, but sold them long ago. I guess my favorite was the British version of Boy with the original cover (and not U.S. "We're afraid of child molesters, so we'll change the artwork" cover). It wasn't valuable, but it was still a way to flip at finger at the "suits" at US record companies.

Most of the Japanese CDs and albums I have owned have come with an obi. I can only think of 1 CD that didn't (The Cardigans' Other Side of the Moon). Most Japanese 7" singles didn't come with an obi per se; they usually came in a generic record company sleeve with a plastic outer sleeve, and had a 7"x7" insert that sometimes had the original artwork on one side and the lyrics (in Japanese and English) on the other. Sometimes, the artwork for singles would be tailor made for the Japanese market (see this Japanese cover of Duran Duran's "My Own Way" single for instance.

Having said all that, I haven't bought that many Japanese CDs in the past few years. One was a Japanese copy of Madonna's Ray of Light album (which comes with a bonus interview disc) and Bananarama's True Confessions album. Both were eBay "Buy It Now" purchases - the Madonna disc was $17.97 (Amazon wanted $45) while the Bananarama disc was someting silly, like $7.97 (and, with shipping from Japan, was only like $1 more than buying the US version from Amazon).

BTW, the main reason that Japanese records were so big in the 80s was that Japanese records were much thicker than their US\European counterparts. Records in the 1950s and 1960s were thick (that's why they sometimes called the "platters"), but the oil crisis of the 1970s caused the US\European record companies to start skimping on the vinyl. By the mid 1980s, it seemed that you could warp a US record simply by leaving it in the car when the temperature got above 70F. Japanese records were much more sturdy, and sounded much better than US\European records. Also, Japanese consumers demanded that almost every record come with a lyrics sheet (in English and Japanese), so they'd know what the artists were saying (although there was a lot of Engrish in those lyrics). For some reason, lyrics only came with some US records in the 80s, and from some truly inexplicable reason, you usually got lyrics with an album you could easily understand (like a Bryan Ferry album), but almost never with an album even native English speakers had a hard time with (most Dead Kennedys albums).

I'm sure that there are people out there that still collect Japanese CDs for the occasional "only available in Japan" material, or for the sake of completeness (if you're really into an artist)... but I'm not sure that people buy them for "quality" like they used to.

Random stupid trivia:

You know how albums have the artist and title along the spine (edge) of the album cover? Dutch and German albums and singles also print )printed?) that info on the top spine of the record, so you could read them if you kept your records in a milk crate.

The British version of the Psychedelic Furs "Dumb Waiters" 7" single came with a standard 45rpm single inside the sleeve... but also had a flexidisc built right in to the sleeve with an extra track on it.

Not an import, but R.E.M.'s Reckoning album came in "standrd black" vinyl... but also came in a limited "deep purple vinyl". The color was so deep, in fact, that you actually have to hold the record up to the light to make sure that it was purple.

One of the most beautiful albums I ever saw was this Kate Bush album. It's a copy of Hounds of Love on "marbled vinyl". The picture from that link just can't capture the true beauty of the disc - every one I've seen in person looks just like real marble.

Thanks a lot for this thread, by the way. Looking over that last site I linked to, I found this, which I would have killed my mother for back in 1982. That stupid site tracks how old each album in their catalog is, and I looked down and saw "Year of Release: 1981 - 27 years old". Now I feel fucking ancient!

hotsexyboi

it's really late here so i'll list the ones I can think of right now...lol!

LeAnn Rimes - The Best Of Remixed
LeAnn Rimes - The Best Of [Hong Kong; + Bonus VCD]
LeAnn Rimes - Whatever We Wanna
Cher - All I Really Wanna Do [released: Oct 14, 2002]

thats all I can think of right now as like I said its really late here and my brian isn't working right now and I don't feel like looking through all my cd's as I have thousands..LOL!

Rocketdog2000

Jeez, for me the question might be more easily answered by what imports don't I have.

Throughout the 80's and 90's I bought a ton of imports - especially if they were of bands I really liked. I was far more of a "completest" then, and had to have everything a band put out. Usually, this was because the import versions had bonus tracks, or in the case of singles, b-sides that you couldn't get anywhere else.

These days I'm not nearly as aggressive. Now I tend to get imports only if that's the only way I can get the album. For instance, the new Feeder album that came out this week (and for that matter, many of their albums) likely won't get a U.S. release. Or, if it does, it won't be for another 6 months to a year, and I want it now. Or, if I may want an album on vinyl, it may only be available as an import, too. That, or I still try to track down that illusive bonus cut or b-side.

I also get them mostly from the UK, Europe and Japan.

civiclx

well for the sake of giving this one more bump and because I'm curious, how do you keep track of all the different imported versions out there? one album may have 2 different japanese versions and a couple of different UK versions. are there any good sites that deal with artists' import discographies?

maxfisher

I've maybe got 15 or 20 imports. My favorite is probably a U2 one called 'The Working Tapes'. It's early versions of songs when they were coming up with Achtung Baby and is pretty cool.

orangecrush

The Cure have a book called On The Record which lists every release (including promos and such) up to the Wish era (I think). Your best bet for most bands would probably be fan sites or the official site. Last I checked, Beck had a very extensive discography on his site.

civiclx

thanks for the replies. U2 was one of the bands I was looking for. I have checked a couple of official sites for some of the artists that I'm interested in but most seem to only list their US releases.

I will check some stalker...I mean fan dedication sites. I'm not that into Beck but I'm going to check his site since you mentioned it.

Thanks again

Rocketdog2000

Sounds far more like a bootleg than a true, legitimately released import. Some dealers get around calling releases 'bootlegs', and instead tag them as 'imports' because they are usually made in places like Italy, where the same copy write laws don't apply. Trust me, if you've got any CD's by U2 that aren't on either the Island or Interscope labels, then they are bootleg recordings, not imports.