Music for Pleasure is dead

March 6, 2020 1:03 AM

The second LP I ever bought, which I thought was by The Beatles, turned out to be, when I got it home and put it on, a Music for Pleasure record with orchestral renditions of Beatles songs. At age 9 or 10 I'd been fooled by the cover which had 'THE BEATLES' in very large letters and 'songs performed by the something or other orchestra' in very small font. To say I was disappointed, or deeply embarrassed, would be an understatement.

Nevertheless for a young lad it was useful lesson about the evils of capitalism, not to mention bitter irony in light of the name of the company, which has served me well ever since.

Subsequently I always closely inspected every record I was considering spending my hard earned pocket money on, for the dreaded MfP logo.

I note in the obituary in The Times that the man who invented Music for Pleasure had one 'foible' : during games of golf and croquet was not averse to moving the ball to a more advantageous position when nobody was looking.

Aha!

posted by toycamera (35 comments total)

Guest Star Records was even less honest. I once bought what I thought was a used Louis Armstrong record, only to bring it home and find out there was only one track actually performed by him. The rest featured an embarrassingly corny imitator singing over some competent but bland studio band.

I still have that record, and showed it off a few times to friends. You have to admire that the company got away with selling that garbage.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 2:04 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

There's a scene in the documentary "Salesman" where, during one of the saleman's visits to a couple's home, the husband puts on a warped (!) copy of the orchestral Beatles album. It's a truly David Lynch moment to watch a 1960's Bible salesman try to make a sale while "Yesterday" warbles painfully in the background.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:59 AM on March 6, 2020 [7 favorites]

Ha ha! Thanks. I'll have to track that doco down. At least mine wasn't warped, Not that it was listenable at all...
posted by toycamera at 4:06 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

The same thing happened to me. But for the life of me I can't remember what band was being destroyed by annoying elevator music. T-Rex? The Kinks?

I know exactly how toycamera felt, as I was also disappointed and embarrassed. And angry, for spending my money on a crap record. No, I couldn't return it. My dealer had a rule that you couldn't return a record because you didn't like it. There had to be something wrong with it eg: warped, scratched etc.
posted by james33 at 5:08 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

Not music related, but in a similar vein, back when my wife was considering going into pharmacy, she bought a PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) study guide on Amazon. She remarked how surprised she was at how inexpensive this one was compared to some of the others and hoped that it would still be useful to help her prepare for the test. We were still young and pretty strapped for cash at the time so saving every dollar possible felt very important.

I was there when it arrived, probably watching TV or something while she opened the package. After flipping through it for a few seconds she started uncharacteristically yelling expletives and tossed the book away in disgust. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she didn't want to talk about it. I grabbed the book after she stormed off and took a look at the cover.

Big giant letters: PCAT Study Guide

Slightly smaller underneath: Pop Culture Aptitude Test

It was basically a trivia book about actors and pop stars, a totally pointless throw-away book. She was upset at the time, but at least we can laugh about it today. Well, I can laugh about it today. She just glares at me if I mention it.
posted by rudism at 5:38 AM on March 6, 2020 [17 favorites]

The first CD I ever bought when I was 14 or 15 and got a CD player for Christmas around 1989 was one of those "performed by a cover band but the front looks like original artists" CDs, which I think I listened to twice before realizing and never listened to it again; later I bought a Jefferson Airplane CD from the cut-out bin at Musicland for dirt cheap; the first track was the original album cut of White Rabbit; the rest was apparently edited down from a live album or was bootleg concert material, hard to listen to and a lot of their less-popular songs. That CD also maybe got only one or two plays -- but those were the days, right? To find music not on the radio you either had to know somebody who listens to a lot of albums, or you had to be the one to buy albums you've never heard before and listen to them to know what's on them.
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:06 AM on March 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

As a teen, James Last was my nemisis. I thought I had found a treasure trove of classic rock in my grandfather's LPs, only to realise that most were the James Last version.

I should have realised my grandfather (born 1916) was unlikely to have a collection of of 1960s and 70s rock, even if he did DJ the local seniors' dance. But, in my defense, by the early 90s they were shelved with my dad's (born 1952) records - and he did have several great classic albums (including a copy of the White Album, and that Alice Cooper one shaped like a school desk, complete with fake paper underwear).
posted by jb at 6:27 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

Relevant and hilarious: Fake Beatles Records by WFMU DJ Gaylord Fields (vimeo link).
posted by jabah at 6:35 AM on March 6, 2020 [5 favorites]

I remember a friend of mine buying an album of anonymous remakes of the soundtrack to the Bee Gee's and Frampton's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie. So it was a ripoff of a ripoff.
posted by octothorpe at 6:38 AM on March 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best of the Beatles, 1965, was an album briefly investigated for fraud in the US, but dropped because it was by Peter Best, formerly of the Beatles and recently kicked out to make room for Ringo.
posted by Brian B. at 6:42 AM on March 6, 2020 [18 favorites]

I was just typing a comment about Best of the Beatles. I have a grudging admiration for whoever thought up the title — it is technically not wrong but misleading as hell.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:45 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

Ah, like when I decided to finally watch Psycho and rented Psycho.
posted by oulipian at 6:50 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Bought an Abba greatest hits one time that was not. At least I only paid a couple of dollars from the bargain bin, but it's hard to listen to enough of the real thing to drown out the uncanny valley imitation.
posted by blue shadows at 6:51 AM on March 6, 2020

Music for Pleasure also (re-)released folk, rock and jazz albums in the 70s - John Lennon, Ian Campbell, Procol Harum, even Pink Floyd's "Relics" - and the impression I've got from buying them second hand is that they did a decent job for the price. The LPs I've got of theirs are well-mastered and on good-quality vinyl, which isn't something I can say for some of their competitors.
posted by offog at 6:57 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

But yes, it's not just music where they pull that marketing crap. Like when you're looking for a natural sugar alternative and see something called Raw Stevia but after buying find it's half cut with the usual chemical sugar substitute.
posted by blue shadows at 6:58 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I had this experience trying to buy classic black and white comedies in the early 00s. There were whole box sets of 'Laurel and Hardy' DVDs made up of silent Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy shorts - just none where they actually appeared together.
posted by pipeski at 7:13 AM on March 6, 2020 [6 favorites]

Talk about bait-and-switch -- I clicked on this thread assuming it was a critical discussion of the second album by The Damned.
posted by Devoidoid at 7:19 AM on March 6, 2020 [5 favorites]

My kid bought me the Best of the Beatles DVD for my birthday one year, probably thinking it was some kind of Fab Four retrospective, not realizing it was actually about Pete Best. Turned out to be pretty good though, especially if you're into that how John and the boys fucked over Pete to get Ringo into the band whole thing.
posted by e1c at 7:48 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

I remember coming home from Wal-Mart, having just bought a Beatles CD and being so excited to play it on the boombox I had saved up for. And then as track 1 played, the confusion and disappointment in myself as I slowly read over the jewel case more carefully. I ended up giving the CD to my grandma, who loved it.

Now I'm re-listening 25 years later and laughing my head off.
posted by onehalfjunco at 7:56 AM on March 6, 2020

Talk about bait-and-switch -- I clicked on this thread assuming it was a critical discussion of the second album by The Damned.

To be fair, that album was also a bit of a disappointment.
posted by incster at 7:58 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Am I the only one who happily sought out orchestral versions of bands (notably Pink Floyd and Led Zeplin)? This was after the Metallica S&M album, so I was partial to the idea of orchestral covers of rock at the time. I have fond memories of them, although I haven't listened to a CD in ages.
posted by Hactar at 8:07 AM on March 6, 2020

My little brother—way back when—(he was 6, I was 7) loved the song "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire. He heard it on the radio back when the song was new, and wanted the record. My dad, who was Very Square and a Naval officer at the time, bought him the record at the Navy Exchange at Great Lakes.

My older brother (who was about 12 at the time) saw that the record was not really Earth, Wind and Fire! It was something called "Sounds Like: Earth, Wind and Fire" which was exactly right! We played it and it Sounded Like Earth, Wind and Fire. But it was not the same. It was close, but not the same at all.

This was a long, long time ago, and I'm sure that LP got thrown away or donated somewhere. Does anyone know what the hell was going on with "Sounds Like" bands back in the late '70s? Was it truly commercially viable to produce a rip-off record and sell it in stores? Was the purpose to deceive? Or were these like remixes or something? And this was sold in a US Navy store, this wasn't bought off the street like a fake Gucci purse! I don't remember the exact record, we were kids, we just knew it sounded "off".

Sorry for the derail. But this post made me remember this and now I'm really curious.

Google isn't working because it's giving me results of different real bands that kind of sound like Earth, Wind and Fire.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:07 AM on March 6, 2020

There's a whole trove of information at Copycat Cover Records.
posted by pipeski at 8:43 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

On music and capitalism: The very first record I bought was a Beatles single. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was on one side, and "I Saw Her Standing There" was on the other. Even at age 11, in 1963, I remember being surprised they put both their big hits on one '45, instead of maximizing their profits with a couple of B-sides.
posted by kozad at 8:52 AM on March 6, 2020

I'll never forget the surprize, confusion and embarrassment when I brought The Rutles album home at 13 or 14 years old.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:04 AM on March 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

Wow - I thought MfP was just a budget repackager, not a re-recorder?

In the 70s, the UK had a series called Top Of The Pops, compilation albums with seductive ladies on the cover that were re-recordings of the hits of the day.
posted by mippy at 9:06 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

My parents had a copy of the Baroque Beatles Book which I hadn't thought about until today.

Completely non-fraudulent approach to a similar concept it seems. Looking it up on Wikipedia I just learned it was done by Joshua Rifkin, who I mostly know from his Joplin recordings that did a lot to help highlight ragtime.
posted by mark k at 9:12 AM on March 6, 2020

I felt ripped off finding Act Naturally on the flipside of my Yesterday but loved There's a Place behind Twist and Shout.
posted by maggieb at 10:27 AM on March 6, 2020

as I'm actually a bigger fan of Baroque music than I am of the Beatles, the Baroque Beatles Book is amazing. Just what I needed to work on a dreary Friday afternoon.

Rock music always needed more woodwinds and polyphonic repetition of themes.
posted by jb at 12:17 PM on March 6, 2020

gets me thinking about The Moog Cookbook, a moog-only pop / rock tunes cover record I bought in the nineties. tbh, part of the appeal to 90s me was their spacesuit-heavy branding. and they were honest about their thing, no one could pick up that album thinking that it contained actual Soundgarden and Neil Young performances.

interestingly, those guys were the second generation of moog cover artists. per wikipedia:

The project was a parody of and tribute to the novelty Moog records of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which featured cover versions of popular songs using the then-new Moog synthesizer.

posted by Sauce Trough at 12:30 PM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

also gets me thinking about the terrible Rock Band cover versions of songs that were "made famous by Giant Band X."

I think that Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast got this treatment. The rock star fantasy of Rock Band really took a hit when one was clicking along to some other band that was living the rock star fantasy of pretending to be Iron Maiden in front of a massive audience.
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:35 PM on March 6, 2020

Let's not forget all those comps with the words (in very small print of course) "may contain re-recordings from one or more original members of the group" on the back insert. (As opposed to those comps/'greatest hits' that didn't even bother to tell you that some/all of their tracks are re-recordings).

Say what you will about those "A ____ tribute to _____" comps that were ubiquitous a decade or two ago (e.g. "A Bluegrass Tribute to Radiohead"), at least they didn't mislead you re: what you would be getting into.
posted by gtrwolf at 4:20 PM on March 6, 2020

I'll never forget the surprize, confusion and embarrassment when I brought The Rutles album home at 13 or 14 years old.

Yeah, it’s weird to think that album came out 42 years ago. We were all so young and so much has changed since then. Well, time goes by as we all know, naturally; people come and people go, naturally.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:43 PM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

My experience with this was asking for "the Star Wars music" when I was a young child and the first movie just recently released. Apparently the store was sold out of the motion picture soundtrack and that is how the very first album I was ever to own turned out to be Meco's Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk.

The title was somewhat literal: side one was disco versions of excerpts from John Williams' score for the movie and side two consisted of three tracks: "Other", "Galactic", and "Funk."
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:45 PM on March 6, 2020 [5 favorites]

Of course these knock-off recordings gained a second life in the early digital music era. Before most mainstream music was licensed for sale online people would search for whatever came to mind (thinking that they were a kid in an infinite candy store) and invariably dredge up some weird imitation. This was especially problematic on emusic.com which didn't carry major labels at all.
posted by anhedonic at 12:24 PM on March 7, 2020