I wonder if our moderator or anyone else can help me with a question regarding one of the first Japanese mini-lp series- namely the STAX series released by P-VINE in 1996-7. These releases were all gatefolds (even when the original albums were not- a characteristic that, strictly speaking, disqualifies them from being replicas) and came with a distinctive yellow obi, a JASRAC sticker on the back, and a code PCD-4401, PCD-4402, etc. up to and including PCD-4479. My question is this- were all the titles in this series actually produced? This seems a rather odd question, but there are some titles which appear in some listings on the Internet but not others, and are (to my knowledge) impossible to find on Amazon, eBay, etc. The specific titles I'd like to enquire about (as in, Does anyone know if they actually exist?!!) are PCD-4406 (RUFUS THOMAS, Walking The Dog); PCD-4411 (THE MAR-KEYS, Do The Pop-eye); PCD-4416 (ALBERT KING, Born Under A Bad Sign); PCD-4417 (CARLA THOMAS, Comfort Me) and PCD-4422 (BLACK OAK ARKANSAS, Early Times). Of these albums, only the Rufus Thomas is listed on this site, but without a picture. All other titles in this series are listed. And with the exception of the Black Oak Arkansas (1974), these titles are the earliest albums in the series, dating from 1967 or earlier. This means that the original masters are owned by Atlantic, which makes me wonder if P-VINE didn't come up against some licensing hassles and drop these titles before they were produced. Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

I own some of these STAX mini lps but not the ones that you ask for. For sure that if anytime I see Albert King´s Born under a bad sign I will buy or bid but I´m absolutely sure that I never have seen such album at ebay or at Yahoo Japan (the same that ebay in the japanese market). Never, and I have checked daily in the past 2 years all the ebay listings, and about 6 months the Yahoo Japan ones.

Thanks for replying, Kigonjiro. Like you, I have never seen any of the CDs I mentioned, either on the Internet or in the flesh! As far as I can tell, they exist only on some (but not all) of the P-VINE PCD-44-- lists on the Internet. I'm still inclined to believe that they were either never manufactured at all, or at least never released due to licensing problems with Atlantic (or whichever big conglomerate now owns the Atlantic masters).

I'll continue to investigate, and let you know if I find out anything. And if anybody reading this has any information or theories, please do likewise!

All the best,

Stuart

I will pressume that you guys know what you are talking about and add the ones that are missing and make them all "unreleased".

Thanks for the knowledge and insight!

Sam.