Atlantics - "Come On" strange rumour

[bosshoss]

I heard a story last week that an Australian collector (or hoarder, I'm not sure), is sitting on 1,000 original mint copies of The Atlantics "Come On". Not the recent re-issue, but original '60s copies. The story is second hand, but the "friend of a friend" claims to have seen the 1,000 copies himself.

It would cause quite a drop in the value of original copies, if it is true.

 

[gregk25]

being late in the game would eventually pay off....

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

It would even cause a drop in the value of the Blank Records reissues.

 

[bosshoss]

It would even cause a drop in the value of the Blank Records reissues.

Actually it is not the Blank Label reissue causing the rip-off prices. It is the MGM reissue that is getting the high bids, because it's virtually indistinguishable from the original, visually. However the MGM is apparently not from the master tape even though it claims to be, whereas the Blank issue definitely is.

 

[Sancho Panza]

I had too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op3vUpWIANA

 

[Michael W]

If a hoarder was said to have 100 copies it might be believable, depending on the credibility of the source. I doubt Sunshine even made 1,000 of this 45 so that number is too far fetched.

 

[Mr.Segment]

Wow, I hope that is true. I need one, even if it would make it the Australian equivalent of the the Beckett Quintet. Just much better of course.

 

[Michael W]

I better sell mine now for fifty bucks, before it's worth nothing.

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

Actually it is not the Blank Label reissue causing the rip-off prices. It is the MGM reissue that is getting the high bids, because it's virtually indistinguishable from the original, visually. However the MGM is apparently not from the master tape even though it claims to be, whereas the Blank issue definitely is.

Didn't know about that one!

 

[bosshoss]

If a hoarder was said to have 100 copies it might be believable, depending on the credibility of the source. I doubt Sunshine even made 1,000 of this 45 so that number is too far fetched.

I can only agree. I'll see if i can find out any more about the source of the rumour.

 

[jeffs11375]

I had too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op3vUpWIANA

That can't be the singer's real hair.

 

[mojogogo]

I would be very happy if it turns out to be even 10% true, as 100 copies on the market may make it drop into the obtainable category for me. Please do keep us posted.

 

[diggingtheslowness]

would be great! such a great 45. happy to have Its a hard life for now

 

[Lewis]

I find this hard to believe. As said above, pressing runs would not have been big for the Australian market in the first place. Even in the much bigger UK, pressing runs for flop 45s were in the hundreds, hence demos being more common for some titles, and runs for demos were thought to be around 3-500 only.

 

[Mr.Segment]

Even in the much bigger UK, pressing runs for flop 45s were in the hundreds, .

Has this ever been documented? If you are talking abut fer instance Deram or Fontana freakbeat flops. I recently read that the early 70s Vertigo flops that sells for $$$$$ had a minimum pressing run of 5000 copies, often more than that. Yet they are pretty thin on the ground today.

 

[mojogogo]

Did unsold copies get sent back to the record companies for recycling / destruction?

 

[chas_kit]

Doesn't seem to appear in the Go-Set top 45 charts, and someone on 45cat posted this:

Australian (Kent) Music Report (Top 100): Bubbled under.

Adelaide Charts: Did not chart.
Brisbane Charts: Did not chart.
Melbourne Charts: Did not chart.
Perth Charts: Entry date 24 Mar 1967, Peak 57, Weeks 2.
Sydney Charts: Did not chart.
---------------------------------

#57 in Perth in 1967 probably meant it sold, what, 50 copies if that?

Normie Rowe had the best selling Australian single of the '60s (Que Sera Sera/Shakin' All Over - great version!), #1 for weeks and on the charts for half a year, and it sold between 80,000 and 100,000 copies. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normie_Rowe)

Still, many Australian artists hit the charts in '67, and when I see a single like the Masters Apprentices "Undecided" at #12 for the year in Go-Set, just following hits by the Monkees and Fifth Dimension, then a press run greater than 1,000 is very plausible.
(http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1967/top1967.html)

 

[Lewis]

Has this ever been documented? If you are talking abut fer instance Deram or Fontana freakbeat flops. I recently read that the early 70s Vertigo flops that sells for $$$$$ had a minimum pressing run of 5000 copies, often more than that. Yet they are pretty thin on the ground today.

I have no hard evidence for this to hand, this is information gained from various collectors and message boards over the years and my own experience. Most recently I remember a discussion about this on 45cat where somebody who had worked in the industry quoted the 3-500 number for demos, which if you consider were for DJs/reviewers would be about the right number for the UK. But if we also look at the relative rarity of, for example, copies of Mike Stuart Span, where we know there were 500 pressed, it is comparable in terms of rarity to the rarest major label psych/freakbeat such as Factory, One In A Million, Winston's Fumbs etc.

 

[Lewis]

I think there is a bigger market for prog LPs and they have been heavily collected for 30 odd years. They are also much more common than the rarest psych/freakbeat 45s - there is nearly always a copy of Affinity, Cressida et al on ebay at any time. So 5000 is probably about right. Unsold LPs went into bargain bins at the time, much like cut outs in the US, but by the early 70s, unsold LPs were being recycled. This is what I have been told by a few collectors who were around then.

 

[buckeyebeat]

Also, established artists could get bigger press runs than groups on their 1st 45. The Atlantics had a track record of hits and the label could have assumed that it would be a bigger seller than, say, the Moods (I know they are on different labels but I couldn't think of a group on Sunshine that issued one or two 45s.
Yes, Atlantics singer Johnny Rebb is wearing a rug...he was in his mid 20s at the time.