Q about Springboard Int'l Recs

I somewhat recently acquired a copy of Tina Turner's The Queen on LP, which was released in the '70s by Springboard International Records, of Rahway, NJ. The sound quality is fine, the material sounds like it very well could be Ike 'n Tina Turner released versions (i.e., not demos). Here's my question: isn't all of that material held by different copyright holders, like United Artists, Sue, or even Philles? Advertised on the back of the LP are albums by Eric Clapton with the Yardbirds, Jimmy Page with Sonny Boy Williamson, Rod Stewart, and other big '70s era artists, which probably contained similarly obscure recordings.

Does anyone know how this indie company managed to not only release this material, but to do so without acknowledging others' copyrights? Has anyone else heard these LPs?

 

In our area, these were a fixture of grocery stores in the "70's. I have a couple of sets of Sun material, and the audio was decent, however I'm remembering some fake stereo.

 

I remember seeing lots of Springboard albums in the bargain bins. My brother had a few of them - one of them was called "Guitar Boogie" or something that was supposed to be Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton recordings. I don't remember what the stuff on there was, but IIRC it wasn't all that great. I think there was also some sort of James Taylor Springboard release that might have been recordings of his band prior to becoming famous.

 

Springboard, Trip, Upfront....all fixtures of the grocery store bins till they went under. They legally had title to Scepter/Wand and Musicor for a bit and licensed VJ material from I'm not sure. They also picked up almost anything cheap that had a connection to someone big like Hendrix for instance. Don't forget their horrendous 45 reissue series, bloody awful. The legally owned material ended up at Moe Lytle's Gusto label.

 

We were wholesale distributors for many budget labels (Springboard, Trip, Pickwick, ect). Nothing special about the way they got the rights to release the material. Just pay the fee to license the songs from the willing owner. Most of these labels kept their prices low by not allowing returns; keeping artwork simple; and not spending a lot on marketing/advertising.

I believe you may be confusing that one with another budget release. The original Guitar Boogie (with Clapton, Beck, Page) was an RCA compilation (LSP 4624) comprised of songs from 4 previous albums, British Archives Volumes 1,2,3,4. Pickwick released an LP by that title as ACL-7041 (not sure if all of the songs were exactly the same). To the best of my knowledge, Springboard never offered that title, however they did issue a similar album, Rock Guitar Greats (SPB 4061). Perhaps you are thinking of one of these.

 

Springboard reissued the 1961 Beach Boys recordings, padded out with instrumentals.

They had a subsidiary called Mistletoe Records (a specialty label for Christmas recordings), which re-released "Christmas With The Chipmunks" and "Christmas With The Chipmunks Vol. 2" in 1975. I had both and they were decent stereo, sounding like the original masters were used. The back covers have a credit stating they were licensed from United Artists. Oddly, the previous year, United Artists itself had reissued these two albums as a 2-LP set, and it was still available. For a few years afterwards, I used to see both versions available in stores.

 

Yup! You're correct. I used to get Springboard and Pickwick confused.

 

I bought a Springboard Rod Stewart and Faces album in the 70s. And I found the sound quality very good too.

At first I was disappointed because it was more The Faces with Rod Stewart Rod Stewart as a member of a band than Rod Steward pop star.

But it has become one of my favorites as Rod never wears out his welcome. And it showcases the band. Very pleasant surprise find.

I noted in my album notes: BUDGET BIN HISTORICAL INTEREST FAMILIAR ROD STEWART VOICE IS NOT PROMINENTLY SHOWCASED ON SIDE 1 SIDE 2 MORE PROMINENT. ACTUALLY SHARED VOCALS EFFECTIVE. POP AND SOULFUL. JAZZY and POP.

Here's the front cover and portion of the back cover that shows other catalog offerings (I don't have an album sleeve that I can remember maybe the catalog on the back cover might be a cost cutting measure?):
Hendrix, Billy Preston, Dr. John, Beach Boys, Guess Who, James Taylor
Animals, Canned Heat, Cher, John Lee Hooker, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Ohio Players

 

That was a reissue of an album on the Scepter Citation Series in 1972, which seemed to have been the predecessor to Springboard. Even earlier, there was an LP on Era records in 1969 with the same tracks.

You still see that kind of marketing today, with both special-products CDs and regular-label CD of the same material available at the same time.

I've got most of the Mistletoe catalog. They were all in the MLP-1200 series (I suspect the "12" because Christmas is in December). The ones I have are 1201-1221; 1227-1232; 1234; 1236-1238; and 1243. Many of the titles were reissued in the 1980s on the Holiday label.

 

A good portion of the Springboard catalogue was misleading reissues of pre-fame, pre-major-label appearances by then stars. Some of it was OK, some should have stayed out of print.

What makes me sad is Springboard albums are synonymous with the budget record bins you could find in just about every drugstore and every department store. Which is to say that drugstores and department store (Macys, May Co, Sears, Penny's, Wards, etc.) had record departments! I remember that every time I accompanied my parents to the store, I could spend my time in the record department (usually browing the cutout bins, which could be quite interesting back then!). In the late '70s/early '80s the record departments in all these stores disappeared.

Kwad

 

Yeah, I can understand that, especially if an album brought disappointment upon playing, but I see it more as a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. Uber-fans would acquire this material one way or another. At least the price was in line. Even if much of this music wasn't up to the artists' later work, you still have to look back fondly at a time when there was enough of a market to support companies willing to take a risk on releasing such product.

We continued to rack major department store chains for another decade or so (with both budget titles and regular releases). It was several years after CD long-boxes disappeared that we finally gave up on rack-jobbing. BTW, budget labels like Springboard weren't just found in drug stores and department stores. We sold tons of these titles to independent retail record stores, many of which were in college areas.

That Springboard Dr. John title looks like this one:



...but Springboard also released the one below on its own Trip label, with the same cover artwork. A lot of budget material got carved up and released in slightly different packages. BTW, there was a persistent (but false) rumor that Jim Stafford was the "Dr. John" voice on this album.

 

I think Springboard evolved into Audiofidelity, the company that released those horrible-sounding "Super Oldies" comps back in the early days of CDs.

 

I know this one. All but a couple of the songs are actually of the Small Faces with Steve Marriott, with no Rod whatsover. Some of the songs are even given the wrong title, with "Donkey Rides A Penny A Glass" being called "Sparky" or something like that.

 

Springboard-Trip

I think Springboard & Trip of Rahway New Jersey were the first phono labels [or among the first] to have true stereo recordings of "Runaround Sue" by Dion--the Laurie release. I think this was in the mid 70s. Their sound quality was great but ususally awful. Many seemed mastered from 45s. The vinyl was very good. You never knew what you were going to get on one of their LPs.
In the CD era they morphed into Mobile Fidelity. I recall that as having one of the first recordings on CD .of "Tonight I fell in Love" by the Tokens. Sound quality was the same as the LPs.

 

I recall the Eric Clapton & the Yardbirds album being on Springboard or Trip. It was the first time I'd heard "Five Live Yardbirds" because ordering the imports was a bit financially prohibitive for a poor college student. I bought it at the Bon Marche for something like 1.98 and was very pleased.

Frank G

 

I think you mean Audio Fidelity. I remember Springboard for some of the ugliest cover designs in the business. Think the first one I ever saw was a Cher re-issue where their "art director" traced the "Ch" off a Chicago album (!) then added the "er" in lopsided hand-lettering that didn't match, and filled the rest of the front cover with doodled leaves and flowers like a schoolgirl's notebook. For some reason, the cover was printed in silver ink on dark brown background similar to a Hershey Bar label. Some others I recall, like the Guess Who's "Shakin' All Over" and some of the Dionne Warwicks, were almost as bad. My recollection of the Springboard discs themselves were that they were even noisier than usual for budget product.

In addition to Springboard (rock/pop,) Upfront (soul,) and Mistletoe (which I think was later changed to Holiday,) they also had a country western label called Buckboard.

 

A dozen of their finest!

 

And the Grammy for art direction goes to Suzanne Kisslan / Springboard Records!

 

jeffmissinne You do not know what you are talking about! re Runaround Sue on Trip. NO! I DEFINITELY DO NOT MEAN AUDIO FIDELITY!!! The Dion "Runaround Sue" stereo Laurie session material WAS DEFINITELY ON TRIP RECORDS JUST AS I HAD REMEMBERED it (a photographic -eidetic is correct term- memory is interesting to have)(and I am amused and somewhat annoyed at being corrected unless the corrector -"jeffmissinne" this time has actual knowledge not just a hunch.) Dion's
"Runaround Sue" in true stereo WAS MOST DEFINITELEY on Trip SUPER OLDIES OF THE 60'S VOL.4-TRIP TOX 60-4 A Side # SLX 01598. Dion Stereo cut is DION-Runaround Sue. I am looking at Lp label right now! and it is just as I remember it even though more than several decades ago. Label in fact says stereo at top on each side, and as far as the Dion Runaround Sue it was true stereo(and may have been only one that was )-I do not recollect any of the other cuts being in stereo and likely was not interested in most of them! I do recall that "I Love You" by the Volumes was not in stereo (not has it ever been anywhere to my knowledge.) Dion & Belmonts "A Teenager In Love" was on Trip's owner's namesake but lowerpriced label Springboard ORIGINAL OLDIES VOL. 24 Springboard SP 2024, my recollection is that was not in stereo (this is based on my recollection of first hearing it in stereo on an ACE CD after ACE went through all the Laurie vaults located at RCA Records here in Indianapolis. Thomas J McKeon Indianapolis.

 

That's an awful lot of bold, underlined, uppercase and red text for a simple discussion about budget labels.

 

More importantly, I am not sure what the simple point here is. Is it that Runaround Sue was in stereo on some Springboard issue but has never been in stereo elsewhere? Or something else?

 

Mobile Fidelity (Sound Lab, aka MFSL) was/is a manufacturer of ultra-high quality (and price) limited edition audiophile LPS and CDS, often released in de luxe box sets. The company was originally created by Brad Miller, producer of the "Mystic Moods Orchestra" albums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Fidelity_Sound_Lab

Audio Fidelity's origins were actually very similar to MFSL; they were pioneers in hi-fi and released the first ever consumer stereo LPS. By the 70's, however, with changes in ownership and management, they eventually became a budget label similar to Pickwick. A complete discography of AF products (including a "Super Oldies" LP featuring Dion and the Belmonts) may be found at:

http://library.syr.edu/digital/afdd/ARTISTS.HTM

Two different companies, two different histories.

 

I just found a Staples Singers record called "The Other Side of the Staples Singers" and it can't be beat. Was trying to find out more about this label, was led here, and it all makes sense. I imagine all the licensed, expensive songs end up on Staples Singers' greatest hits and what not. And this is more off-beat, archival stuff but it's really, really good. And the cover art is about as cool (by which I mean really cool) as that Cher record. In any case, somebody on this label had pretty discerning taste, and ought to be commended. The only thing I'm missing is some liner notes. I'd like to know how they came to their decisions about the songs on this record, other than economics.

 

Buckboard/Springboard records released an album by Glen Campbell called "Glen Campbell Plays 12 String Guitar" (BBS 1010). It was a repackage of The Swinging 12 String by The In Group (featuring Glen Campbell on 12 string guitar obviously and Leon Russell on harpsichord), released in 1963. Campbell sued Springboard in november 1974, claiming he was not on the record (but he was). Don't know what happened to the lawsuit. My question is, there exists an almost completely identical record, also called "Glen Campbell Plays 12 String Guitar", same album cover, only difference is that it's released on a label called Onacrest Records (ONA 5001). Who can tell me more about Onacrest Records? Was it related to Springboard International Records? Any idea when Onacrest Records was active, and more specifically, which year this Onacrest album was released? Thanks!