What was the Last Columbia House Reel to Reel?

As horrible as Columbia House 3.75 ips reel to reel tapes from the 80s sounded, I'm fascinated whenever I see one... especially any from the post retail 8-track era (1983).

I've seen the following on eBay:
Man At Work - Cargo
Billy Joel - Innocent Man
Yes - 90125
Footloose (Original Soundtrack)

Has anyone seen any other 1983/84 (or later) titles? Is it known what the last title they offered was and/or when they discontinued offering reel to reel tapes?

 

The very last pre-recorded reel that Columbia House issued was a mid-80's hits compilation on the Realm label. The title was 'Gold & Platinum' from 1984. I bid on it on Ebay (and lost) a few years ago.



I have the Cargo and Footloose reels, btw

-Aaron

 

I don't mind if this thread's title/ topic are modified, but (back to the first post) I'm curious...
Aaron, do you remember what the Gold & Platinum reel went for? Does demand from Beatle fans factor into its value? Any idea what month it was first offered from Columbia House? (I think the latest hit on that album was "You Might Think" by The Cars.) Did Columbia House go from having this as a selection of the month one month to having a reel to reel close out sale the next?

 

Springsteen's "Born In The U.S.A." was among the last Columbia House reel-to-reels, if not THE very last. I was a member of the club at the time (mid to late 1984) and received the club magazine every month. I remember very clearly that the first month they had BITUSA listed, reel-to-reel was one of the available formats. Knowing it wouldn't be available that way anywhere else, I ordered it. The very next issue, all the reel-to-reels were gone; they'd dropped the format! I hadn't yet received the BITUSA reel, so I figured I never would. Then, surprise, some weeks or maybe even another month down the road, it shows up in the mail!

I still have it, but have never played it. In fact, I've never even opened the box. So I can't comment on the sound quality. For all I know, it could be a needle drop!

Over the past decade, I've seen a BITUSA reel show up only a handful of times on eBay. It always brings a substantial premium over the other Columbia House Springsteen reels. I can't imagine there are very many of them out there.

 

It went for over $50. (I think I threw in the towel at $30).

No idea about the Beatle factor, I assume it would be for Macca's appearance on 'Say Say Say'...

I believe it was from the later part of '84, around September maybe (exact date unknown)

I have no idea what happened to the remaining Columbia House reel to reel stock after they discontinued offering them.

-Aaron

 

The aforementioned 'Gold & Platinum' reel (CH catalog number 1R1 7679) was THE very last released CH reel to reel title.

Forum member ubsman can corroborate this fact.

FWIW, Born In The USA was CH catalog # 1R1 7674.


-Aaron

 

It might be possible that Born in the USA and Gold & Platinum were both first available around at the same time, with the former featured to "Rock" members and latter featured to "Pop" members, with "Rock" members receving their mailings before "Pop" members. Pure speculation here.

 

Or it may be that both were first available the very same month in the very same issue of the club magazine, so they might have had concurrent release dates for all intents and purposes. I don't remember whether I was a "Rock" member or a "Pop" member. Whichever type of member I was, the "Gold & Platinum" albums were available to me, as I bought several of the later volumes (e.g., Volume 2, which included Springsteen's "Cover Me").

The bottom line, though, is that "Born In The U.S.A." was available for only that one month -- and it took them a loooong time to fill the order, much longer than normal.

 

Sorry to thread-crap but I just had a total memory lane moment:
My mother got that comp on a casette back in the day. She used to be a long-time Columbia House member.
Some of my favorite tunes of the 80s are on that comp.

 

Damn!!!
Didn't know they kept them going that long.
I saw Face Dances & Wholigins once,I thought THOSE were late!
Anybody ever see a STOCK 'Rumours'?-According to the Billboard Chart at the time,it was available on reel at the retail level.

 

Yep... with the Dolby logo and all.

 

YOW!--Any links to a picture?
And any idea about a stock Phil Spector's Greatest Hits?(the one on Warner/Spector,with the parade cover).

 

Quality pre-recorded open-reel tapes had to be recorded at 7 1/2 ips to really show case its superiority over both LP's and pre-recorded cassette tapes. All my pre-recorded classical open-reel tapes on the Barclay-Crocker label had all been recorded at 7 1/2 ips. They sound great.

 

They did the Spector cover in black and white.

I can confirm that Gold + Platinum was the last 3 3/4 ips reel. CRC # 1R1 7679

The last 7 1/2 ips reel CRC # 1R1 7675 is this one pictured.

 

Ask and ye shall receive ...

 

It was $10.98 thru the club. Quite the rip-off for a 3 3/4 ips tape that didn't even sound as good as a cassette tape.

The last one on ebay didn't go for much.

 

FWIW, what were some catalog numbers of stock (non-CH) reel to reels for CBS labels (as an example, Columbia record formats used a PC prefix, 8-tracks used PCA, cassettes used PCT, etc)? For WB/Elektra/Atlantic?

 

For Columbia...

CQ, HC, CR, GR, MR, MGR

Those six mean...

7 1/2 ips, 3 3/4 ips, 3 3/4 ips non-classical, double-length 3 3/4 ips non-classical, 7 1/2 ips classical, double-length 7 1/2 ips classical

There's also C2Q, H2C, OQ, SR

 

For Elektra...EST
For London (US)...LON K

Getting a little off-topic here, but I posted an extensive list of CBS prefixes/list prices for LPs & cassettes as of January 1983 at this link. We handled reels only as special orders by then, so those prefixes aren't listed. Sorry for the stain on the pages. I tried to fix them.

 

My dad had somewhere around 20-30 Columbia House reels (half were either Pery Faith or Ray Coniff) that dated from the late 60s through the early 70s, however he maintained his membership for years w/o getting a tape. I remember the only tape he got post 1973 was Captain & Tennille's Song of Joy. I was only about 6 or 7 years old, but focused (obsessed?) enough to know that until that time his A&M tapes stood out because they were recorded at 7 1/2 ips, and therefore sounded better, but Song of Joy @ 3 3/4 ips bummed me out because I felt A&M was no longer better than the other labels.

 

How does it sound?

 

With a properly calibrated Dolby NR unit, it sounds pretty darn good, but I wouldn't say fantastic. I don't think I've ever heard a release of the album that lives up to what I'd LIKE it to be, but the RTR is better than any vinyl or CD I've heard. (I'm really looking forward to Steve's forthcoming Warners remastering!)

FYI, the tape has Dolby tones at the beginning for calibration. If you don't process it through a Dolby unit, the highs will drive you up a wall. And if you don't take the time to adjust the unit properly, you can easily roll off some of the highs. And, yes, it can be a pain to set the levels each and every time you play it.

 

I presume Columbia House is the same entity as CBS Records and CBS MasterWorks. In the good old vinyl-ONLY days, I avoided CBS pressing like a plague, as it always had the worst quality among all classical labels. The Dutch subsidiary of CBS MasterWorks, however, made wonderful pressing.

 

There was a thread over in the hardware formum a while back discussing vinyl vs. R2R:
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=104609

However before CDs I prefered factory 7.5 ips reels to vinyl probably because I had a cheap system w/ a vintage R2R deck and I hated surface noise on vinyl.

 

Vinyl vs. 7 1/2 ips open-reel. The competition is not even close.