Today’s post dovetails nicely with my last post about different versions/different pressings of the same album.
Just over a year ago I posted a piece about some Partridge Family records I had recently purchased which included a version of their 1972 album “The Partridge Family At Home With Their Greatest Hits” that I had never seen.
Let me backtrack a little.
The Partridge Family was a TV show in the 1970s starring Shirley Jones and featuring her then stepson David Cassidy. Not only was The Partridge Family a high-rated TV show but there were also several singles and albums released under The Partridge Family name that were enormous sellers resulting in seven Top Forty US hits (three of them Top Ten hits including the No. 1 smash “I Think I Love You”) plus six gold-selling albums.
The songs from The Partridge Family featured David Cassidy on lead vocals plus Shirley Jones as part of the background vocal blend that became a signature of the sound of the records that came out under The Partridge Family name.
(Note: None of the other cast members of The Partridge Family TV show were a part of the recordings)
While the show lasted from 1970-1974, the recordings that were released as The Partridge Family had a much longer shelf life as their 1972 gold-selling album “The Partridge Family At Home With Their Greatest Hits” managed to outlive the TV show being reissued in the 1980s by Arista Records with not one but two different covers and catalog numbers.
(Note 2: All of the original issues of The Partridge Family records were released by Bell Records which was owned by Columbia Pictures who made The Partridge Family TV show. Bell Records became Arista Records in 1974 thus any Partridge Family recording issued after 1974 was on Arista Records)
Now I was a fan of the show during its first run in the 1970s and owned all The Partridge Family recordings on Bell Records. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I discovered that a lone 1980s vinyl reissue of “The Partridge Family At Home With Their Greatest Hits” existed and was released by Arista Records sometime in the early 1980s.
As The Partridge Family recordings have some sort of stigma as a relic of the 1970s bubblegum/teen idol era you don’t see much about their records online so there isn’t too much information about this particular reissue of the album. (And yes I think these recordings are pop/rock gems and feature exquisite pop tunes song superbly by David Cassidy who is a much underrated singer.)
It wasn’t until last year in fact that I even came across a copy which I featured in this very blog.
Well much to my surprise I was on ebay a couple of weeks ago and discovered another Arista pressing of this album! This pressing is obviously from the early 1980s as well (see photos of other Arista albums on the inner sleeve) and while it features the same basic cover as the other Arista reissue the back cover on this version has removed all the photos and fan club info that was on the original back cover from 1972 and this one features a different catalog number as well (see photos above and below).
I’m guessing by the second Arista reissue of this album since the other Partridge Family albums were out of print they decided to delete those album photos from the back cover as well as the now mute fan club information. Why they didn’t do that for the first Arista reissue I don’t know. Maybe that first reissue came out a couple of years earlier then the second Arista issue and they were just reusing original Bell album covers and slapping new catalog stickers on them, who knows?
The photos above feature the new version I just found of the album with the changes to the back cover while the photos below feature the first Arista pressing I found which mirrors the original album cover from 1972 but just changes the catalog number from the Bell issue.
Are you following me lol?
I know, I know practically no one besides me cares about this sort of thing but for the four or five people out there who do here’s your chance to see both Arista reissues. As I said in my previous blog post, I love these little vinyl variation discoveries and since there are other nutjobs like me out there feast your eyes!
Just a fun vinyl tidbit for fellow 70s pop music collectors and Partridge fans out there. And for those who are interested, both of these Arista issues sound great and both the copies I have are near mint and play super quiet and are very dynamic sounding records.
The original Bell Records issues were made of cheaper vinyl than these and tended to sound like Rice Krispies at times from the pop and static. If you want some Partridge hits in decent sound, try and hunt one of these down, you won’t be disappointed.
Well, that’s all again.
Be safe and well and see you soon!
Records, CDs and Music: 