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Todd Ireland
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| Posted: 31 March 2011 at 3:07pm | IP Logged
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Just an FYI for database consideration... The full song title as listed on the commercial 45 record label is "Earache My Eye (Featuring Alice Bowie)" by Cheech & Chong.
Here's another instance where I'm wondering if a shorter radio edit was ever issued to radio stations on an official promo 45 release? The song did reach the Top 10 on Billboard, but it seems the standard 5:18 run time would have been considered a bit lengthy for many stations in 1974.
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 31 March 2011 at 8:25pm | IP Logged
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Whether there was a dj edit or not, I wonder if some stations edited out the rock song portion of the record and just played the spoken comedy part by Cheech & Chong.
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jimct
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| Posted: 01 April 2011 at 4:51pm | IP Logged
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Todd and Gordon, both excellent points - I've long wondered about those
issues as well. Personally, obtaining (or even garnering details for) a promo
45 for this song has proven 100% fruitless, despite many years of both
brick-and-mortar/Internet scouring. For me, this has proven to be the single
most elusive 70's Top 10 hit, as far as locating a DJ 45 goes. Perhaps Steve
(Hykker), John (Yah Shure) or some other kind soul can help us finally crack
this case!
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Yah Shure
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| Posted: 01 April 2011 at 5:57pm | IP Logged
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Jim, I'm glad that you chimed in, as I'd been awaiting someone else's experience with "Earache" before responding. I was serviced with a stock copy at my college station, but A&M was one of those labels that typically suspended service to college radio during the summer - when this single came out - and sent a "care package" each September that included those singles and LPs which had become hits during the summer hiatus. The majority of the singles in those annual care packages were stock copies.
The first commercial station I worked at also had been serviced with a stock copy. I, too, have often wondered whether a DJ 45 ever existed.
On the plus side, the stock copy did come in that lovely (?) picture sleeve. And its B-side, "Turn That Thing Down" has always proven to be a big hit at Name That Tune parties! :)
There were four top-40 stations here in the Twin Cities when "Earache" was a hit, and I never heard anything other than the complete single.
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 01 April 2011 at 8:18pm | IP Logged
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I have to confer with Yah Shure that my Boston stations only played the full single versions, too.
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Paul Haney
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| Posted: 02 April 2011 at 3:59am | IP Logged
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This was the very first 45 that I ever bought! I was 8 years-old at the time and me and my older brother would ride our bikes to the local Target store every Saturday to buy records. I also only remember the full version being played on the local Top 40 stations. After all, "Alice Bowie" WAS the featured "artist" and if you cut off the "song", you don't get the full Alice experience.
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 02 April 2011 at 12:27pm | IP Logged
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I always liked the "Alice Bowie" combo of "Alice Cooper" and "David Bowie". And btw, I didn't even know there were Target stores back then in the mid '70s! I never knew of the chain until I moved out to California in 1989.
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Yah Shure
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| Posted: 02 April 2011 at 9:43pm | IP Logged
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EdisonLite wrote:
| I didn't even know there were Target stores back then in the mid '70s! I never knew of the chain until I moved out to California in 1989. |
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Gordon, the Northeast was one of Target's last areas for expansion. To give you an idea how long it took them to get there, here's the first 45 I ever bought at Target (Store #2, to be precise.)
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 02 April 2011 at 10:22pm | IP Logged
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Ah, that explains it. I grew up in Massachusetts!
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Hykker
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| Posted: 03 April 2011 at 2:50pm | IP Logged
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EdisonLite wrote:
| I didn't even know there were Target stores back then in the mid '70s! I never knew of the chain until I moved out to California in 1989. |
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Well, I've got you beat...I've lived most of my life in New Hampshire, and I don't recall seeing a Target until they opened up the one in Hooksett in the late 90s.
Getting back to the original topic, ISTR the station I worked at playing a somewhat shorter version with the "Alice Bowie" segment shortened. We played it off cart so it may have been a station edit...we did do some custom edits. I don't have the single myself, but somewhere in the disorganized pile of boxes in the garage I'm pretty sure I have a reel-to-reel dub of the version we played. When time permits I'll take a look.
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The Hits Man
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| Posted: 03 April 2011 at 7:38pm | IP Logged
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I can't imagine anyone editing that single. It just
doesn't work unless you hear the entire thing. I'm glad my
local radio station played it all.
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jimct
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| Posted: 01 June 2013 at 3:30am | IP Logged
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Today on eBay I saw my first non-commercial 45 pressing for this song,
ever. A Monarch test pressing for "Earache My Eye!" Over the years, A&M
and their associated labels (Ode among them at that time), had serviced
our station with far more of these items than any other label did, back in
the late 70's/80's. (Columbia was probably #2). Although this 10/1974
chart peaker pre-dates my own pro radio career by a few years, it now
appears that this practice was in effect farther back than I knew. (The
"Sharpie" writing style on it even looks familiar to me. I bet the Monarch
plant receptionist with the best printing got stuck with the awful task of
re-purposing these copies as quasi-promo copies, and having to add the
record's essential details, in longhard, to each one. Hopefully we're not
talking a large number of copies here.)
The (5:17) listed 45 time was also written on this copy. I just bought it. It
was very expensive. But I would've kicked myself if I didn't go for it; I'll
surely never see another. Only one side of the record was pictured. I am
quite sure it will end up as a mono/stereo situation.
It looks like we'll soon be able to 99.99% eliminate the possible existence
a shorter DJ 45 v here, and finally write off anything shorter that was
heard as just an in-house station edit. Once I get it, I'll report back with
confirmation on details. (Although I do now know from a sticker on it that
"Earache..." was this station's #83 song, on their 1974 yearend Top 100!)
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Yah Shure
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| Posted: 01 June 2013 at 6:57am | IP Logged
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Jim, you're in for a big surprise! I checked out that eBay listing: there are three thumbnail photos, two of which show the other side of your newest acquisition: no stickers, "Earache" and... a listed time of 3:15! Thanks for purchasing this one. Can't wait to find out the details!
This discovery raises the question of whether or not the 3:15 edit ever went beyond the test pressing stage.
As to the handwriting on the test pressing labels, the poor schleps pulling handwriting duty sometimes were the local label reps. I got a chuckle out of your comment about recognizing the handwriting, as two of my former bosses' handwriting grace a number of the test pressings in my collection. I immediately recognized the writing on the first blank white RCA test pressing label I received; Gloria, my boss at Heilicher Brothers/Pickwick, had left for the local RCA promo gig. Similarly, my first PD, Tom Kay, had gone over to "the other side" in independent promotion, and his handwriting and "Thanks!/Have Fun!" stickers grace several Monarch A&M test pressings.
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 01 June 2013 at 10:08am | IP Logged
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Interesting stuff, guys. I'd love to see the pic of the 3:15 side. Can you post it here, or include a link to the ebay item in question. I just looked at the "completed items" section for Earache My Eye and there were 100 45s! (And it seemed like the most recent one was from 4 days ago - and that didn't have any other pics.)
Before Jim gets his 45, anyone want to take guesses as to what exactly was edited out of the short side? I never truly liked the Alice Bowie section of the song, so my own personal copy edits out most of the song (and clocks in less than 3:15).
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aaronk
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| Posted: 01 June 2013 at 10:28am | IP Logged
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cheech-Chong-Alice-Bowie-TEST-PRESSI NG-Earache-My-Eye-White-Label-7-Record-45-/330750077135
Edited by aaronk on 01 June 2013 at 10:30am
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jimct
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| Posted: 01 June 2013 at 12:10pm | IP Logged
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John (Yah Shure), thanks for pointing out the two other photos on
there!!!!! I know they often do appear. Don't know how I missed them,
other than I had my zoomed my screen to a larger setting (cutting the
small pics off at bottom.) And I was just so totally focused on sorting
through/buying one of these, "Make An Offer" (and someone else already
had)/Buy It Now combo listings. (I much prefer this to a straight auction.
Fair to everyone. If you're hoping for a bargain, take your shot. You may
get it, but there's risk. But if someone else is willing to pony up the full
price a merchant has in mind, then that gets it done, also.)
John, to your point about the (3:15) side of the TP perhaps not making it
out of the TP stage, you're much more familiar with pressing plant
activities than I. But in my own radio travels, I can never recall an instance
where we later got in an "official" promo 45 for a song that we'd first
gotten in as a TP (which happened often), where the official promo wasn't
an exact clone of the TP's audio contents. (Not for A&M, but for Columbia,
a TP would often be on vinyl, whereas the regular promo would be
styrene. For example, I remember we opted to play Boz Scaggs "Miss Sun"
from a vinyl TP, which didn't cue burn, instead of a styrene promo, which
quickly would.) My understanding was that a TP was done to make sure a
new stamper was A-OK, before it was used to press up a batch of singles,
be it promo or stock. (And where in the heck did all those "official"
Earache My Eye" promo copies go, anyway?)
I know now that this merchant is based out of San Diego. So that precious
little piece of vinyl cargo has a long trip ahead, to get up here to CT -
crossing fingers! Jeez! To appear to be finally solving one of our final Top
10 hit long/short promo v mysteries - for me, as a collector, it just
doesn't get much better than this!!!!!! :)
Edited by jimct on 01 June 2013 at 1:02pm
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The Hits Man
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| Posted: 01 June 2013 at 9:22pm | IP Logged
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NM - just realized that this is an old thread and I
already posted the same thing earlier.
Edited by The Hits Man on 01 June 2013 at 9:23pm
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Paul Haney
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| Posted: 03 June 2013 at 4:21am | IP Logged
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I'll also be very interested to find out what's on that B-side, Jim. I noticed that the Alice Bowie portion runs slightly over 3 minutes. Could it be just the song and the first bit of the skit ("you ruined my record, man, I just bought it")??? Guess we'll find out soon!
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 03 June 2013 at 9:02am | IP Logged
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If that's the case, it doesn't mention the title "Earache My Eye", which seems odd to me. Also, they were a comedy act, so it's also odd they'd edit out the comedy portion of the record. (The rock song portion wasn't supposed to be considered hilarious, was it?)
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Hykker
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| Posted: 03 June 2013 at 4:45pm | IP Logged
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EdisonLite wrote:
Also, they were a comedy act, so it's
also odd they'd edit out the comedy portion of the record.
(The rock song portion wasn't supposed to be considered
hilarious, was it?) |
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ISTR the version we played had the rock song considerably
shortened, though it was almost 40 years ago so memory may
be hazy. As I'd mentioned earlier, all our music was on
cart, so what we played could have been a house edit too.
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Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board
Topic: "Earache My Eye..." - Cheech & Chong
