Lot 11BLUE RIDGE RANGERS (EX-CCR) -SAME (+BOOKLET)-1973-FIRST PRESS JAPAN-FANTASY-NMINT/NMINT

ARABESQUE-ARABESQUE-1978-THE FIRST SCANDINAVIA-TALENT-TLS3051 PRESS.  A very rare Scandinavian original of the first album of disco giants. Arabesque I (Friday Night) is the debut studio album by the West German disco band Arabesque. It was released in 1978 on EMI Electrola in Germany and on Victor Record in Japan. The Arabesque disco group was founded in 1977 (registered in the German city of Offenbach in a recording studio owned by legendary producer Frank Farian). At that time, there was a fashion in Europe for "girl groups” in which female vocals were dominant: Baccara, ABBA, Boney M. The debut album of the Arabesque trio was recorded with the following line-up: Karen Ann Tepperis, Michaela Rose and Mary Ann Nagel. After recording the first record, Tepperis and Nagel left the band, and Jasmin Vetter and Heike Rimbeau became new members of the trio. In 1979, Arabesque joined the seventeen-year-old and still unknown Sandra Lauer, who replaced vocalist Heike Rimbeau. Sandra immediately became an informal leader in the band - in the vast majority of songs, the main vocals belonged to her. Arabesque were very popular in Japan; in Europe, however, until the release of "Marigot Bay" in 1980, the band could not boast of "frenzied" success. After that, they gained real popularity, but they never rose to the "Japanese" level. I must say that the girls from the group complemented each other surprisingly precisely: they seemed to represent "three elements", three different types - dark-skinned Southerner Michaela, blonde Northerner Jasmine and, finally, Sandra with her "Japanese" cut of the eyes.In 1984, Sandra's five-year contract to work at Arabesque expired. She, with the support of her future husband Michael Cretu, decides to start a solo career, and the band, which rose due to Sandra's talent, ceases to exist. In the same year, the band's last album "Time To Say Good Bye" was released. Michaela Rose and Jasmine Vetter, trying not to miss their chance, create a new band called Rouge, but it was not successful. Rouge disbanded in 1988. Popularity in the USSR. Despite the lack of popularization of disco in the Soviet media, it had a lot of fans in the USSR. Arabesque were one of the favorite bands in Soviet discos. The popularity of the band was so great that in 1984 the Melodiya company released a record with ten songs from different albums. The record quickly became, as they said at the time, "scarce", and it could only be bought with a huge overpayment. Most of the band's songs were distributed across the country in tape recordings. In 1989, in the wake of Perestroika, Sandra was invited to Moscow, where she was greeted by a full house of enthusiastic fans. Arabesque songs are still often heard on Russian radio in retro programs dedicated to the 1980s. ...more

EGBERTO GISMONTI-SOLO -1979-GERMANY'S FIRST PRESS- ECM-ECM1136. A rare original of the iconic jazzman. Solo is a solo album by Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti, recorded in November 1978 and released on ECM in January of the following year. In the AllMusic review, Stephen Cook gave the album 4 stars, noting that "here Gismonti is in perfect order, he takes off without any companions, offering listeners a provocative and often meditative solo program." ...more

ABBA-WATERLOO-1974-SECOND PRESS 1976 SWEDEN-POLAR--POLS252. A rare Swedish second press of the iconic album, after which ABBA became famous all over the world. Waterloo is the second studio album by Swedish pop band ABBA, the first to be released internationally. It was originally released on March 4, 1974 in Sweden on the Polar Music label. The album's title track won ABBA the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 and became a worldwide hit, launching the band's career. "Waterloo" won the Swedish qualifying round, and the band represented Sweden in Brighton at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. ABBA won the competition, and "Waterloo" became a hit not only in Europe, but also around the world (for example, taking 6th place in the USA). The album has already been released in Sweden and topped the Swedish charts for 12 weeks, becoming one of the best-selling Swedish albums at that time. In the UK, the album peaked at number 28, becoming the first album by a foreign artist to chart, and performed well in the rest of Europe. ...more

URIAH HEEP-FIREFLY-1977-THE FIRST JAPAN-BRONZE P-10312B PRESS. A very rare Japanese original of a cult album. Firefly is the 10th studio album by the British rock band Uriah Heep, released in February 1977 on Bronze Records in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the USA. It was the band's first album without David Byron, the former lead vocalist and also one of the band's founding members, replaced by John Lawton. Bassist Trevor Boulder made his debut with Uriah Heep on this album and, apart from an 18-month hiatus in the early 1980s, he was a member of this band until his death in 2013. The album was successful and placed in the top 20 charts in Europe. It ranks 166th in the Billboard 200 rock Albums of All Time. ...more

STARR, RINGO-RINGO THE 4TH-1977-THE FIRST JAPAN-POLYDOR-MPF-1104 PRESS. A rare Japanese original of a cult album. Ringo the 4th is the sixth studio album by English musician Ringo Starr, released on September 20, 1977. Its name is sometimes associated with the fact that Ringo was the fourth member of The Beatles. Others suggest that this is his fourth mainstream album, not counting Sentimental Journey and Beaucoups of Blues. Ringo the 4th is a dance record created for him by his producer from Atlantic Records Arif Mardin. ...more