Lot 72RAINBOW-BENT OUT OF SHAPE-1983-FIRST PRESS UK-POLYDOR -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

URIAH HEEP-RETURN TO FANTASY-1975-CONTRACT PRESS UK-BRONZE-ILPS9335. Matrices A-1/B-1. A rare original of the CBS contract press. Return to Fantasy is the eighth studio album by the British rock band Uriah Heep, released on May 13, 1975 by Bronze in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the USA. The album is known for the title song "Return to Fantasy". On the eve of the recording, there was another change of composition. Bassist Gary Thane left by mutual consent, because due to drug addiction he was physically unable to cope with a tight schedule of touring and recording. Later, on December 8, 1975, Gary Thane died at the age of 27 from an overdose. He was replaced from Roxy Music by bass guitarist John Wetton, who had previously played in the bands Family and King Crimson. Return to Fantasy is the only album of the band that hit the top ten in the UK charts, rose to 7th place. At the same time , the album received devastating criticism in the British press ...more

REA, CHRIS-NEW LIGHT THROUGH OLD WINDOWS...-1989-THE FIRST PRESS OF USA-GEFFEN-GHS24232. A rare American original compilation of the best tracks over a 10-year period.  The first compilation album by British singer and songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1988. The album consists mainly of re-recorded songs from Ri's previous albums, as well as the new track "Working on It", which reached number 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and became Ri's only hit to reach number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song "On the Beach" reached number 9 on the US Adult Contemporary Singles Chart and number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached number five on the UK Albums Chart, staying there for over a year, and was triple platinum by the BPI until 1992. He entered the top 10 in New Zealand, Australia and West Germany. ...more

SWEET-DESOLATION BOULEVARD-1974-FIRST PRESS UK-RCA-LPL1 5080 Rare British Original . Desolation Boulevard is the third studio album by the British glam rock band Sweet, originally released in the United Kingdom in November 1974. Two markedly different versions of the album were released: one by RCA Records in Europe, and the other by Capitol Records in the United States, Canada, and Japan.The RCA version contains the single "Turn It Down" and the original recording of "Fox on the Run"." The Capitol version, released in the United States in July 1975, includes the 1973 hit single "The Ballroom Blitz "and the single version"Fox on the Run"." In the United States, the album peaked at number 25 on October 25, 1975.Desolation Boulevard is considered by many to be the band's best album. Andy Scott, Sweet's guitarist, said of Desolation Boulevard: "Such diversity only proves that the band never intended to be just a template, giving this album a definitive place in Sweet's history." ...more

JOPLIN, JANIS-IN CONCERT (2LP'S)-1972- FIRST PRESS USA-COLUMBIA-AL31162.  A rare American original of the cult album. In Concert is a live album by Janis Joplin. It was released in 1972, after Joplin's death, as a double album. The first record contains performances with Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the second with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, recorded in different locations in 1968 and 1970. There are no live recordings from her first solo work with the Kozmic Blues band on the album, although the songs produced with this group were performed in Full Tilt Boogie Band recordings. The photographs used for the gatefold album were taken by photographer David Gar in New York in 1969 and 1970. The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 in the US. ...more