I'm just trying to figure something out...

I've been noticing lately that there seem to be "limited edition" box sets of the Japanese paper sleeve issues by certain artists.

I can't quite figure out whether they are official or not. I just ordered 2 box sets of the recent Carole King ODE/Sony reissues, and am waiting for them to arrive. From what I could see in the picture, it looked official... Whether the box is official or not, it was still a relatively good price ($95/each) and good way to get them all at one time...

But, I recently wrote to a place I deal with in Japan (MUNDO), as I was trying to figure out if the 4 upcoming Laura Nyro mini-album reissues will come in "box set", as I've seen advertised on Ebay. There was also information on the Sony Japan website that indicated a catalogue number of SET-229 for something by Laura, but being I don't know Japanese, I asked for their help. Anyway, they answered that there is no box, but Sony has a special if you buy all 4 reissues and send in a coupon, you will get an alternate cover of "New York Tendaberry". As far as the box set by Laura and others I mentioned to them, they wrote "But other box sets are not made by the maker. A certain CD shop makes a box and put the CDs into it and sell it as a box set. As those box sets are not official ones, we don't deal in them."

I just wondered if perhaps this was the kind of thing where a certain Japanese retailer gets an exclusive on this, like BestBuy or Circuit City here?

Any thoughts or information?

It is probably Disk Union box sets that you they are talking about. They are a retailer that provides the boxes if one purchases a set of mini lp sleeve discs. They are pretty nice looking but of course have no label info on the box itself.

The boxes eventually sell for pretty good coin on EBay (for collectable artists)

If they're really Japanese editions they're likely legit. On the other hand, the Russian spin offs often look very similar to the real editions, so be careful on ebay.

My understanding is that the disc union box sets are official in the sense that they need the ok from the label to produce them. Not all labels say "yes".

As most of these mini LP sleeve cds themselves are normally produced in limited runs (most are 5000 i think, some less), when a box is approved for any particular series of titles (as explained above), they are produced in even more limited numbers (usually numbering in the 100's). And with releases for which boxes are available, there are usually only certain Japanese retailers (on ebay) who offer them (this is why other sellers such as Mundo, with whom i have also done business, may never have access to any of the boxes or other promotional extras).

For many box packages, they may also include reproductions of the original Japan LP obi strips as bonuses, as well as alternate album cover sleeves (such as the Laura Nyro mentioned). A good example of this was the first box issue for the Yardbirds-related Renaissance and Illusion albums (Armageddon was also included in this first run). A second issue was just released, without any extras, and not including Armageddon, but with a much more desirable box - the first issue box was of the Illusion album "Out Of the Mist", a cover which only featured a photo of Jane Relf, a fairly lame cover by most standards - but the new box features the excellent artwork from the first Renaissance album. But in that first box set, you actually got TWO alt LP covers (the U.S. covers of the two Renaissance albums), and repros of the original LP obi strips. The new issue has no such extras and does not include Armageddon, but hard core collectors will likely buy it for the Renaissance box artwork.

As mentioned above, many of these boxes become even more collectible (and pricey) than the mini LP sleeve cds which they hold. The Beck-Ola box, if you can find it, will run about $200 these days. There is one Japan seller on eBay who regularly sells the empty boxes, it's amazing to watch how high some of those bids go. So, if you're into the boxes at all (i only seek them for certain "most favorite" artists), the best way is to buy the full set with box included when it's released, the price differential normally being about $30 more than if you just bought the individual cds without any box. Of course, only certain boxes end up commanding the ridiculously high resale prices, so seeking them purely for investment/resale purposes can be dicey. (just-released boxes for the new Renaissance and Blue Cheer sets presently have active bids on eBay over $40.00, even though there are still full sets with boxes for sale there as well, running from about $110 to $180)

I think the Laura Nyro titles have been out for a while now, so likely when they were first released someone was probably selling it with the box and the alt LP sleeve (and possibly LP obi repros). On the Carole King boxes, $95 each is pretty cheap, but if you ordered them from a seller in Japan they should be the legit ones. Knock-off copies of these are most commonly sold on eBay by sellers in Russia, China, SIngapore and Hong Kong.

Recently i even saw a set of three LP obi repros from the first ELO box, sell for almost $50.00, just for the obi's. I think it's safe to assume that most really serious collectors of these are pretty well-healed financially, which is why i try and snag any desired box sets upon their release for "Buy It Now" prices. If you get into a bidding battle for the collectible extras that are hard to find after the fact, unless you are very well off, those bids can get ridiculously high.

P.S. - I just checked eBay, was mistaken thinking these had been released a while ago. There are 4 or 5 Japan sellers selling the 4-cd set with the promo box (the box is of the "Eli and...." LP cover) for under $100, and two of them have the box AND the alternate LP cover, which they list as "More Than A New Discovery" (there's a photo of the front of it). Get 'em while they're hot!

thanks everyone for the information. i got my carole king box sets today, and there is not anything that says "sony", but they still look somewhat official... and the paper sleeve editions, as always, are just remarkable for their accuracy!

regarding the nyro, rick w, i did see that advertised on ebay and i am intrigued by the alternative cover of "The First Songs" (aka, "More Than A New Discovery"), but the one I was talking about is for "New York Tendaberry" and is pictured on the Sony Japan website link here...

http://www.sonymusicshop.jp/detail.asp? ... 0000000229

Incidentally, it looks as though "More Than A New Discovery" is being reissued on CD by Revola in the UK in January 2008.

I've got the Disk Union box of the ten James Brown mini sleeves that were reissued in the summer, and that cost me something like $100 more than if I'd gotten the titles individually. It's a nice box but nothing special and certainly not worth $100 extra. I only got the box because the individual titles were OOP.

Pghmusiclover, i see what you mean, the sleeve pictured towards the bottom right of the page. I believe that in a case like this, what is likely to happen is that some Japanese retailers will purchase the set, then redeem the coupon, and sell the set with the alternate LP sleeve included on eBay (but this won't occur until post-release). If this is one of those cases where the box wasn't produced and sold with the Sony set (independently produced by Disk Union as mentioned above), the folks selling them with the extra sleeve may not be able to include the box (if that is at all important to you). But then again, some of them may. Frequent eBay searches should keep you ahead of the situation, in any case. Wishing you the best of luck in your quest!

I bought all of the 2003 Japanese Led Zeppelin mini-sleeve albums seperately, paying far less than I would have assumed I would had I not shopped around first...I'm seeing a Japanese Springsteen box with ten mini-sleeve titles (including everything from "Greetings" through "Tunnel" along with the 1995 "Greatest Hits" compilation) for $300+ from several sellers, but as the previous posts have noted, you could essentially save about $100 if you shopped around for these titles individually, even with seperate shipping charges (and a mini-sleeve release for a CD-era title like "Greatest Hits" seems sort of pointless, IMO).

Well, now I've ordered the box set of the Laura Nyro reissues ( in addition to the individual discs I already have on order from MUNDO)! I wouldn't do this for many artists, but she's definitely a favorite! I have to have both alternative covers... According to Dusty Groove's website, which has the individual titles in stock, reproductions of the original inserts are included...way cool! Wish Sony had included "Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat", since "Gonna Take A Miracle" came after and is included, but oh well...

As with the Bruce Springsteen, I find it unnecssary to include Carole King's "Songs Of Long Ago" hits compilation, and wish they had included the Carnegie Hall live concert released a few years back instead. Again, oh well...

Incidentally, the Buy-it-now source on Ebay that I used for the Carole King, Sushi-Sashimi, provided excellent service! Also, their prices seemed to be more reasonable than some of the others out there...

I've been moving this month, and I've stumbled across a Who item I've had squirrled away for a few years--a Japanese "box set" that appears to be quasi-legitimate in that the CDs and book included are apparently official. However, the cheaply made, poorly glued, faux vinyl-coated box itself appears to be...um...Japanese. I found an Ebay listing for one of these at http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Who-Collection- ... p1638.m118 although I know I didn't pay $650 for this and definitely don't think it's worth that much. Still...the discs include goodies for anal-retentive completists such as the full legnth studio version of "Magic Bus" and the original 1980's CD mix of "Won't Get Fooled Again", while the "Maximum R & B" book is the original version which includes the "My Generation" demo on a flexidisc. An updated version published in the late 1990's dropped the flexidisc and added an extra chapter about the 1989 tour, but unfortunately did not enlarge the teeny-tiny text font of a book well worth reading.

Maybe a few late, but I discovered this forum today.

The situation of the Laura Nyro Boxset is: Disk Union released the boxset including 2 promo items, the box and the cover sleeve for "More Than A New Discovery".

The CDs included a coupon, sending the 4 coupons to Sony Japan (these offers are available only for japanese adresses), Sony mail back the other promo sleeve: "New York Tendaberry".

Some japanese sellers have sold the CDs without the coupons (noticed in his auction or BIN pages, of course), so the other way to have the "New York Tendaberry" promo sleeve is to bid on auction for it. Amanzingly the first one in auction reached the crazy price of 148 USD as you can see here: http://cgi.ebay.com/Japan-PROMO-Mini-lp ... dZViewItem

This is my first post here, so hello to all members.

yup -- i ended up with 2 sets of the laura nyro reissues: one with the box and the alternate "more than a discovery cover"; and one from another online retailer who was kind enough to send in the coupons so i could get the alternate "new york tendaberry" cover -- the offer is not available outside of japan. wouldn't do that for many artists, but laura is a favourite! now i have a second set of the cds to give to a deserving friend -- ha ha!

Or to put on sale at ebay. Maybe waiting a few time to have more chances.

I was in the same situation than you with some bands. First I had the highligths from some bands and finally I was able to have the complete boxsets, so I ended auctioning all the duplicates.

Right now I buy more boxsets that individual tittles from the start. In the case of Laura Nyro my dealer don´t paid attention to the coupons, so I mailed them back to him to receive the 2nd promo cover. Usually he does this for me like right now with the AC/DC box, or before with the The Doors box. Other people takes the coupons without ask before and some time later you need to pay a lot of money as Buy It Now or in auction to have the mail in promo items.

I pictured the Nyro´s boxset here, including the Disk Union promo cover and will include the NY Tendaberry after receive it from my dealer.:

http://www.minilps.net/japan-box-offici ... ml#content

I'm running into mass confusion regarding the recent Laura Nyro reissues, both the Japanese mini-LP paper sleeves and the Revola UK "More Than A New Discovery". Can anyone help?

My questions:
1. Are the 4 Japanese mini-sleeve CD's all remastered? The Eli, NY Tendaberry, and Miracle mini-sleeves have the same bonus tracks as the US remastered releases from a few years ago. However, The First Songs was not reissued and remastered in the US. Is this Japanese mini-sleeve of The First Songs indeed remastered?

2. A curious look at Amazon US for Japanese paper sleeve The First Songs shows yet another different track listing, where the previous 4th song Blowin' Away has been pulled out and tacked onto the end so that it's now track 12. Amazon UK shows this as well for what appears to be a non-Japanese version, as does All Music Guide. Can anyone who bought this Japanese mini-sleeve confirm this?

3. FYI, the NY Tendaberry alternate cover mini-sleeve is the one that also came out on the US LP. That is to say, there were 2 LP covers of NYT, the alt sleeve wasn't just a promo. I don't know the exact history of it, but I bought the LP with the alt cover in a mall chain record store in Roanoke VA in 1980, at a regular retail price.

4. A 2-11-08 review on Amazon US says Revola UK has made a huge goof with their reissue of More Than A New Discovery. According to Glyn Styler (hope it's OK to quote him here), "Revola really screwed this one up. We now have the original artwork and title, but the tracklisting doesn't match the CD. We get tracks 6-12 first (side 2 of the LP) and then tracks 1-5 (side one). It credits the "sound recreation" to some joker, but I'll be damned if this CD sounds any better than the old "First Songs" CD I replaced it with. What a waste of $30!" So it appears this music now has yet another (4th?) sequencing order, and it has not been remastered here. Has anyone else bought this Revola UK More Than A New Discovery, and can they confirm the track listing is not as the original More Than LP, and that it has not been remastered? Plus I'm also seeing another release date for this on some web sites as being sometime in March. (Is Revola pulling this, fixing it, and rereleasing it again?)

Oh what a world, what a world...

Thanks a buncho...

I bought the first LP on mini LP as it is a new DSD mastering. The others are all supposedly the exact same as the USA discs. You can save your $$ unless you want the fancier packaging.

I was very happy with the First Songs DSD disc. It is pretty nice.

Blowing Away is track 4 on the disc

Thanks eelkiller!