Sweet And Tender Hooligan US promo CD-R

[beau]

A friend picked this up for me recently in Los Angeles. I thought it strange I had never seen or heard of it before. "Boy Racer" is the first Moz promo on CD-R that I'm aware of, which was released the same year as this. Interestingly, the engineer mentioned on the front insert lists Morrissey as one of his past clients.

The disc itself is all gold, which my friend tells me he recognizes as being an "old school" style of CD-R.

 

[Dave2006]

Wow. It took me a while to figure out what it is.

It's great that stuff like this can turn up now - 15 years after it was produced - that no one knew about.

If you think about it, it makes sense that there will be CD-Rs of all Morrissey and Smiths CDs - even if they press just a few to make sure they work. Only later has it turned into a mini industry to satisfy the needs of collectors... sorry the needs of journalists and DJs that make full use of the advance copies.

Dave

 

[roky]

A friend picked this up for me recently in Los Angeles. I thought it strange I had never seen or heard of it before. "Boy Racer" is the first Moz promo on CD-R that I'm aware of, which was released the same year as this. Interestingly, the engineer mentioned on the front insert lists Morrissey as one of his past clients.

The disc itself is all gold, which my friend tells me he recognizes as being an "old school" style of CD-R.

huh, that is a great find. I was under the same impression that Boy Racer was the first CD-R promo. These gold CD-R's must of been used by the engineers before CD-R's were available to the public. If I remember correctly, the Boy Racer was a gold CD-R as well.

 

[Stephane]

It should not be called a promo because this sort of thing was never used for promotion. It's a reference cd for in-house use. They are usually made in very small numbers, that's why none has surfaced publicly until now.

good catch, Beau...
Stephane

 

[mikael]

The earliest Morrissey reference discs I've seen are for TMYIM and Interlude. Looking at existing reference CD-Rs for other artists, there should be even earlier ones.

 

[beau]

Do we know they weren't used for promotional purposes? If 1 was sent to Richard Blade at KROQ, could they then be considered promos? Or just that one?

It seems odd to call a Hatful Of Hollow UK test pressing a promo LP, even though the vast majority of them were just that.

It should not be called a promo because this sort of thing was never used for promotion. It's a reference cd for in-house use. They are usually made in very small numbers, that's why none has surfaced publicly until now.

good catch, Beau...
Stephane

 

[mikael]

"Hi there, yes this is what we are planning for our artists next step/single. This is what it's going to sound like, Do NOT give it out to anyone but a few "key" people who might get a sniff." Something like that (not really a promo). Oooooh, how I love splitting hairs though

Example that never happened

Btw my workplace just hosted the Swedish Grammys for the first time, complete shite!

 

[Stephane]

The earliest Morrissey reference discs I've seen are for TMYIM and Interlude. Looking at existing reference CD-Rs for other artists, there should be even earlier ones.

There's one from 1992 with "You've Had Her" and live versions of "Family Line" and "Cosmic Dancer". I think it's the earliest I'm aware of.

Beau, I know, the line between promo and test pressing can be fine. But it's not as fine between promo and in-house cd/reference cd. For simplicity's sake, I consider something to be a promo if it was sent to general media and/or retail. One-offs sent to John Peel or Janice Long and perhaps one or two other very important media people are usually closer to in-house items although they do serve some form of very early promotional purpose. They are closer in appearance, but also in production number.

Stephane