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PopArchivist
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| Posted: 22 November 2020 at 8:59pm | IP Logged
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I see this song was mentioned in another thread involving Paul Haney and the discovery of the 1979 bubbling under track, but this single has never been discussed in great length. Considering how rare it is, and how it seems like it will never see a lossless release it is worth a discussion, no?
Those who post here know I have been on a mission to "digitize" the entire Hot 100 from 1955-2020 free of the vinyl snap crackle and pop. I was not brought up anti-vinyl but quite the opposite, my dad played vinyl records and 45's and I used to listen. So did my brother during the 80's onward. I went on shopping trips with both as they bought the oldies and newest 80's hits of the time.
So while vinyl is great there are few of us (looking at Aaron and Mark) who can made a vinyl sound like it was mastered to a digital form by the record company. That helps when you are in an era where everything is digital and trying to assemble an era before the CD single or CD was common place. I say that because as almost anyone could probably tell you, physical CD albums/singles are near extinction unless your name is Taylor Swift or Katy Perry or you are a huge group/act and can fit in the tiny space Walmart and Target have assigned you. I had to go digital to get Juice Wrld, Pop Smoke etc as these artists don't really cater to a physical CD. In fact Trollz was completely digital. I doubt NOW is adding it to their NOW 77, so digital is the way to go. The CD single is no longer a go to for the latest hit single assembly. The 2020's acts signal the rise of the digital single.
So anyways back to the story and why I am posting. So far I have made it back to 1985's Hot 100. I can say that 1985 has a better chance of being assembled from CD quality stuff (LP version edits) than 1986. Apparently that year, 1986, saw the last gasp of LP and 45 production which explains why I have a huge want list of stuff that never made it to CD after the top 40. The CD promo only got into production the last quarter of the 1986 year and into 1987. So CD promo's of that year are very little help when you are trying to assemble.
With that being said, obtaining an entire 1981 CD quality Hot 100 assembly(whether from releases or well made snap crackle and pop free dubs) presents one major problem - the song above. Seems like its a MAJOR obstacle of assembly!
The song has a bit of a history to it, as it charted on the Hot 100 and supposedly only 10 copies are in existence. My understanding is Joel Whitburn has one of those copies, right Paul? So besides being the rarest Hot 100 hit, there is NO CHANCE this song will ever get to a CD (or Eric Records) and no chance anyone will post a better quality dub of it. Which is a shame for us collectors who want better quality of every hot 100 hit.
So I guess I am wondering if anyone on this board or anyone who reads it actually has a copy of American Memories that has been cleaned up. I would be interested to know how they got it, so please share. I'm sure Paul has a Whitburn story to share here.
So this deserves its own post and discussion and maybe one of these days Aaron or Mark will be lucky enough to be able to dub a perfect copy of it (assuming the pressing is not to hot or some other issue exists...).
For those who have never heard the song, here it is in all its vinyl glory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogjqFTBZscs
Edited by PopArchivist on 22 November 2020 at 9:02pm
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"I'm a pop archivist, not a chart philosopher, I seek to listen, observe and document the chart position of music."
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Paul Haney
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| Posted: 23 November 2020 at 5:54am | IP Logged
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I think I've told the story before, but Joel had a very hard time tracking this one down in 1981. He
finally got a hold of Shamus (real name: Richard Doyle) himself and he sent Joel a couple of copies of the
single. I guess Shamus got a few DJs to report the single to Billboard and Cash Box, and that's how it
got on the charts. He must not have gotten to Record World though, as it never even bubbled under in that
publication. I've heard there were anywhere from 10-100 copies pressed, but who can be sure nowadays?
Edited by Paul Haney on 23 November 2020 at 6:02am
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PopArchivist
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| Posted: 23 November 2020 at 4:17pm | IP Logged
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Paul Haney wrote:
| I think I've told the story before |
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If you did, I never heard about it. That's why I asked.
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"I'm a pop archivist, not a chart philosopher, I seek to listen, observe and document the chart position of music."
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Glenpwood
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| Posted: 26 November 2020 at 10:09pm | IP Logged
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I posted this a few years back & found it buried in the Ready & Steady
discovery thread....
Not to sidetrack into the also rare Shamus M'Cool
territory but the mentioning of him upthread made me just
notice something interesting concerning "American
Memories" brief journey up the chart in 1981. The common
story is that this song got onto the chart due to Shamus
getting Los Angeles DJ's to playlist it and those
stations market share being big enough to force it to
chart. However, upon reviewing the Singles Radio Action sections in
Billboard I found this didn't get added at the L.A. stations that
were posted in the magazine at least. Instead it shows as
getting playlisted in markets as diverse as Portland,
Dallas, Detroit, Cleveland, & St. Paul. It never shows up
as moving up those stations charts - just the paper adds.
It also surprisingly is listed as an overall Breakout in
the Pacific Northwest region on 7-11 (the week it got the
Dallas add) and the Midwest on 7-18 (the week it got the
St. Paul report). Since Perspective was essentially
Shamus pedaling his own record this gives me hope that he
at least had to have pressed up more than ten copies to
get this record into different areas of the country to
wind up on their playlists. That or he somehow paid the
right promotions guy to get it going just enough to chart
even if there were no actual record in those markets to
buy. It also should be noted that M'Cool tried to keep
the record going the week after it fell off the Hot 100
by buying a full page ad in the magazine hyping the song.
He also bought his own smaller self congratulatory ad at
the end of the year noting the success of the song as
well as the flip side in the 12-12-81 issue as well.
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Paul Haney
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| Posted: 27 November 2020 at 3:47am | IP Logged
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Yeah, I never really bought the "10 copies pressed" claim. Firstly, what pressing plant is only going to press only 10 copies of anything? Also, why would he send Joel Whitburn more than one copy if he had so few?
He obviously had a little bit of money behind his efforts. The story that I always heard is that he sent copies to stations that he knew reported either to Billboard and/or Cash Box. Unlike the D.A. situation, we know for sure that copies were pressed and distributed at the time, albeit in very limited quantities compared to other low-charting hits.
On a slightly related side note, there are quite a few low-charting Country singles that I've never actually seen. Some of those are actually harder to find than "American Memories"!
Edited by Paul Haney on 27 November 2020 at 3:50am
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aaronk
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| Posted: 17 May 2021 at 10:39pm | IP Logged
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I can also debunk the "10 copies" myth. A record collector and friend of mine said that when he was collecting the charts in '81, he had to go directly to Perspective Records to obtain a copy, and he told me he personally purchased 10 copies. While he no longer has all 10, I know he has more than one. Another chart collector who has sadly passed away recently has three copies, and I have all three on loan at the moment.
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Aaron Kannowski
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Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board
Topic: Shamus MCool - American Memories [OT]
