Lot 74STYX-CORNERSTONE-1979-FIRST PRESS UK-A&M-NMINT/NMINT

KINGDOM COME-IN YOUR FACE-1989-First press EU-GERMANY-POLYDOR number 83912-1. A very rare European original of the cult album.. The second album by the German-American hard rock band Kingdom Come. Singles from the album charted in the UK. ...more

LED ZEPPELIN - LED ZEPPELIN II-1969-MISPRINT "LEMON SONG" SECOND PRESS UK-ATLANTIC-588198. A very rare British original of the second version of the iconic A-2/B-2 matrix album Led Zeppelin II is the second studio album by the British rock band Led Zeppelin, released on October 22, 1969 on Atlantic Records. The album was recorded in several studios located in the UK and North America from January to August 1969. The album was produced by Jimmy Page, who had already directed in this role on the band's debut CD. The musicians collaborated with sound engineer Eddie Kramer, who made a great contribution to the unique sound of the longplay. Led Zeppelin II demonstrates the evolution of the band's musical style — the guitar sound based on riffs takes center stage. Many critics consider this album to be the most "heavy" in Led Zeppelin's discography. Led Zeppelin II had good sales and became the band's first album to reach the top of the UK and US charts. In 1970, the album's art director, David Juniper, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Album Design category. By November 15, 1999, the album had sold over 12 million copies. Since its release, writers and music critics have regularly ranked Led Zeppelin II among the greatest and most influential rock albums of all time. ...more

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

WILLY TOKAREV - GOLD-1983-ORIGINAL PRESS 2015 -EU-MIRUMIR-MIR100470. A rare anniversary edition of the iconic album. "Gold" is the fourth studio album by Soviet, American and Russian author-performer Willy Tokarev, released in 1983 on the Sava Recording Corporation label in the USA. The producer is Willy Tokarev. At the age of 40, in 1974, Willy Tokarev emigrated to the United States with $100 in his pocket. He was sheltered for 2-3 weeks by the Tolstoy Foundation, headed by Alexandra Tolstaya, daughter of Leo Tolstoy. There he was a courier, a cleaner in a bakery, sorted through the Russian library of a millionaire, a newspaper deliveryman, became unemployed because he did not know English well, so he began to learn the language by reading American newspapers, graduated from a nurse's course, learned to drive a car, passed a taxi driving test and began working as a taxi driver to earn money for recording records, writing songs in his spare time, he was robbed four times (once, on Christmas Day, he was almost killed by a black man). He played at Carnegie Hall on a balalaika, which he bought at a souvenir shop on Fifth Avenue for $ 50, then played and sang in restaurants and nightclubs.  In 1979, the first record "And life is always beautiful!" was released, which was not particularly noticed. In 1981, the second album "In a noisy booth" was released, which brought Tokarev fame among Russian-speaking emigrants. In the 1980s, he worked at the Russian restaurant Sadko, and then at the restaurants Primorsky and Odessa, accompanied by Irina Ola. He was called the "honorary Jew of Brighton." Willy founded his own label, One Man Band, and recorded about twenty albums there.In 1989, Willy Tokarev flew to the USSR with concerts. A major role in organizing these tours was played by the famous entrepreneur Viktor Shulman, who himself also performed "Odessa songs" from the repertoire of Leningrad "tape recorder" bards, Boris Sichkin and other veterans of the genre. 70 concerts throughout the Soviet Union were a success. ...more

INXS-LISTEN LIKE THIEVES-1985-THE FIRST PRESS HOLLAND-MERCURY-824957-1. A rare European original of the cult group. Listen Like Thieves is the fifth studio album by the Australian rock band INXS, released on October 14, 1985. It is considered the breakthrough album in the band's career, it was on it that the single "What You Need" was released, which hit the Top 5 of the US charts (the best result for INXS at that time). This album also marked the beginning of the band's successful collaboration with producer Chris Thomas, who had a hand in recording the band's next most successful albums, Kick (1987) and X (1990). In the USA, the album received double platinum status. The album had a circulation of 2 million copies. ...more