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 Post subject: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD!
PostPosted: 26 Oct 2011, 21:57 
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Of all the concerts that I wish had been released on laserdisc this is the one that I wanted the most:

Giuffria - Japan Tour '85

Image

There was an official Japanese VHS release as above and I can confirm it is superb quality.
So good in fact that many bootleggers actually claim their VHS or DVD copies are taken from laserdisc!
Unfortunately no laserdisc version was ever produced and that is perhaps the greatest loss to the world of music I can imagine.

This band were superb but ultimately failed to generate the sales they so justly deserved so are consigned to history now.
Sadly even the official VHS release of this concert is virtually impossible to find these days, although bootleggers would have you believe otherwise!
Some clips of this legendary concert have been uploaded to youtube.
I really hope this one gets the 30 year special deluxe remaster treatment some day, complete with gatefold laserdisc for the collector!


Last edited by laserdisc_fan on 28 Oct 2011, 21:04, edited 2 times in total.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 28 Oct 2011, 01:58 
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Great AOR band. I never knew Greg Giuffria played a keytar in concert!
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 29 Oct 2011, 09:43 
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Thanks for posting this bit of history.
At least you were able to score a copy !
Preserve it man, deserves archive status, maybe make some copies......?
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 29 Oct 2011, 15:40 
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I just wanted to dispel the myth created by bootleggers that this title exists on laserdisc.
I spent a significant amount of time trying to track it down but it was all in vain as it definitely doesn't exist!
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 29 Sep 2016, 23:03 
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I was searching through some laserdiscs in my collection last weekend and what should turn up - Gregg Giuffria playing his keytar on laserdisc!.......wow I wasn't expecting that.

Now I just want to clarify this is not Giuffria - Japan Tour '85 as previously discussed.
That title is ONLY available on Japanese VHS and was never released on laserdisc.
So don't waste your time searching for it on laserdisc - you'll never find it.

What I'm referring to is other concert footage of Gregg from a much earlier period when he was in the band Angel in 1980 - this is genuinely available on laserdisc. I can see some of you already own the laserdisc in your collection! Anyone know the laserdisc title I'm referring to?


Last edited by laserdisc_fan on 30 Sep 2016, 19:31, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 30 Sep 2016, 13:40 
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Well I'm going to give you a few more clues about this title featuring Gregg Guiffria and the other band members of Angel.
First it was released on laserdisc in 1998 so I'd classify it as a late release.
It was also only issued in USA.
It features two songs by Angel.
The bank of keyboards from the footage look almost identical to the gear he was using in 1985 with Giuffria.
5 other people own this title in their collection.
It's not a particularly valuable title but I would rate it as fairly difficult to track down on laserdisc these days.
I haven't seen a copy of it on Ebay in quite a while.

Anyone know what it is?


Last edited by laserdisc_fan on 30 Sep 2016, 19:31, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 30 Sep 2016, 14:02 
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Too many titles released in 1998...we need another clue :)
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 30 Sep 2016, 18:37 
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Drumroll please!...............its the movie "Foxes" starring Jodie Foster and Cherie Currie (from the Runaways).
In the movie Jodie's father is the tour manager for the glam rock band Angel which of course really did exist at that time. So this was the big screen debut for both Cherie and Angel.

In the film there are snippets of Angel performing two exclusive tracks "20th Century Foxes" and "Virginia". Angel's 1979 album Sinful did not originally feature those tracks so they were specially commissioned for this movie.

I can honestly say I never knew Gregg Giuffria was in this movie until I recognised the synthesizer part for "20th Century Foxes" and knew that was Angel instantly as I have all their albums. Both tracks were written to have a disco feel to them to complement the rest of the soundtrack. Greg is seen up front at one stage with his legendary keystar!

So this is a late release (1998) of a cult early movie (Foxes 1980) on laserdisc featuring the glam rock group Angel - Gregg's first supergroup. The sound of the band whilst glam during this period is very similiar to Giuffria which he formed in 1983 and also House of Lords which he formed in 1987 because of the use of synthesizers. The logo for Angel might just be the coolest rock logo ever - it reads the same when turned upside-down as when viewed normally.

Now all I need to do is find some House of Lords on laserdisc!!
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 30 Sep 2016, 20:02 
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Some more info about the Giuffria Japan Tour '85 VHS for any music collectors who might be interested.
It's a Comstock TOEI Video release, catalogue number TE-M352 issued in 1985 only in Japan as part of the Super Star Series.
The original street price on the tape is 12800 Japanese Yen.
The photograph of the cover was taken by K. Hiki.

So what's so special about the content?

Well it features 2 totally exclusive tracks not found on any other Giuffria release - "Rock Rules" and "Straight To The Top". Both are killer tracks that match anything Giuffria ever recorded yet somehow these are only unavailable on this Japanese VHS.

In addition you get a:
- an interview with all the band members
- a very lengthy guitar solo by rock legend Craig Goldy - one of the underrated guitar players ever.
- an impressive Drum solo by Alan Krigger who is accompanied by Charles Wright on bass
- a Keyboard solo by rock genius Gregg Giuffria who at one stage is playing a bank of about 7 or more synthesizers- almost simultaneously!!!

See Gregg's keyboard solo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXNNqucAl-s

He eventually breaks loose on the stage with his keytar for the finale!!! The keyboard solo is seriously dramatic stuff very similiar to the stage theatrics of Angel in the 70's only this is 1985.

There are many Comstock TOEI Video releases already available on laserdisc so for a long time I hoped, prayed that a missing catalogue number might be added to LDDB.com that indicated Giuffria Japan Tour '85 did exist on laserdisc.

I considered the following as possible candidates:
TE-D053 1985 **
TE-D075 1986
TE-D076 1986
TE-D077 1986
TE-D092 1985 **
TE-D096 1985 **
TE-D100 1985 **
TE-D122 1985 **
TE-D123 1985 **
TE-D127 1986
TE-D128 1986
TE-D129 1986
TE-D130 1986
TE-D136 1986/1987
TE-D143 1987
TE-D147 1987
TE-D151 1987
TE-D154 1987
TE-D156 1987/1988
TE-D162 1988
TE-D165 1988

The ones with ** seemed the most likely because they would have been issued in 1985 (the same year as the tape) but the others were possible candidates too as sometimes LDs are issued later. As you can see there a sizeable gap in that series so plenty of room for Giuffria and other rock gems to surface. But I searched and searched for almost 10 years and I have never been able to find anything about this concert on laserdisc. :(

In fact at one point (before I owned the original VHS) I was starting to doubt even the VHS was genuine. It is though and the quality is superb which is why bootleggers often claim it is taken off laserdisc - its that good. For the record I never found the original VHS tape in Japan. It turned up one December on Amazon.com from good old USA. What a Christmas present for myself that was....exactly what I always wanted!!! A rock fan was selling his treasured collection of rock VHS tapes and I begged him to allow me to buy his Giuffria tape from the UK. He agreed and the rest is history as they say! I didn't waste 1 second hitting the purchase button since it is the ONLY original copy I've EVER seen for sale ANYWHERE in the world.

Prior to this I owned a bootleg on VHS and later DVD. The funny part is the bootleg VHS was actually better quality than the DVD! All the DVD copies I've seen out there have horrible sound spikes and the same picture flaws so are taken from the exact same copy. The VHS bootleg I originally got did not have these so was taken from a better copy. When I tracked down the genuine VHS I made sure to make a master digital copy to preserve this treasure forever, given how rare it is.

I will repeat what I've said before - this release is crying out for an original remastered release on Blu-ray. I would gladly pay any amount for it. In my opinion this is the best rock concert ever filmed.


Last edited by laserdisc_fan on 30 Sep 2016, 23:24, edited 3 times in total.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 30 Sep 2016, 21:03 
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Although I know of no more actual video footage of Giuffria on laserdisc to date, other music by them does exist on laserdisc :thumbup:

The movie Gotcha! (1985) [40188] also released in 1985 features 2 more exclusive audio tracks by Giuffria only on the soundtrack for the movie:
- Never Too Late
- Say It Ain't True

In fact in the Giuffria Japan Tour '85 concert during an interview sequence Gregg talks about the band doing some more songs for another movie - that turned out to be Gotcha!

If you are a completist you will want to track down an unofficial release of the Gotcha! soundtrack on CD as well which features a further 5 bonus tracks by Giuffria not available anywhere else:
- What's Your Name
- Fools Paradise (Demo)
- Only A Memory (Demo)
- Reach Out (Demo)
- The Rock Don't Stop (Demo)

Although Giuffria only recorded 2 official albums, some of the tracks for a third Giuffria album that was ultimately shelved eventually surfaced in 2001 as David Glen Eisley ‎– The Lost Tapes. You get to hear David (the vocalist from Giuffria) singing the original versions of "Slip Of The Tongue" and the classic "Pleasure Palace" which were redone by the new singer (James Christian) when Giuffria disbanded and House of Lords formed. The overriding theme throughout all these bands was always Gregg Giuffria - his very distinctive keyboard style ever present.


Last edited by laserdisc_fan on 30 Sep 2016, 23:17, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 30 Sep 2016, 23:01 
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I'm not sure if I've heard of any of these people but now I'll probably look them up.

While I'm nowhere near as hardcore as you, I think we both get a rush from LD because of how poorly catalogued 1980s JP discs are. With you it's music, with me it's anime. I'm always finding stuff that...I would have already been looking for had I know it existed in the first place. It's astounding how much pre-internet information from Japan still hasn't been posted online... and I hope it never really is. :) As much as I want to see LDDB "completed" it will take a lot of fun out of things.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 30 Sep 2016, 23:12 
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signofzeta wrote:
I'm not sure if I've heard of any of these people but now I'll probably look them up.


Gregg is no longer in the music industry and last photos I saw of him he is barely recognisable with the long hair long gone and wearing a suit and tie! Angel, Giuffria and House of Lords were all commercially unsuccessful but highly regarded and have become almost cult bands today. He went on to make a fortune in Las Vegas with various patents to do with gaming machines!

Giuffria recently reformed (minus Gregg) and toured the UK. Not surprisingly they got terrible reviews as Gregg was the genius behind this band and always will be. Without him it is NOT Giuffria since the synthesizers were core to their sound. I would love to see the original lineup reform and release some new material.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 01 Oct 2016, 01:08 
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Did not search in that your Ebook?
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 01 Oct 2016, 07:51 
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cold_sleeper wrote:
Did not search in that your Ebook?


Yes cold_sleeper I checked it for those missing catalogue numbers and found nothing.
Of course we know the LD EBook is far from definitive and had some mistakes of its own but having searched online for a very long time I can only conclude that it was never released on laserdisc which still baffles me because it would have the perfect title to issue in Japan because:
- Gregg was well known in Japan having visited several times before as part of the band Angel
- the band were highly regarded and their style of music would have been very popular in Japan
- The concert was filmed in Japan
- There was a VHS issued so why not a LD version?
- Far lesser known bands like Rox Diamond (who sound very similiar) did get a Japanese LD release even with even less commercial success

It's really very sad this one somehow got missed in the laserdisc shuffle. It should have been one of those Comstock TOEI Video releases with a nice red corner OBI! This is the only title I want pressed if we ever get the 100 million we need raised to get a new laserdisc pressing plant built! :think:


Last edited by laserdisc_fan on 05 Oct 2016, 11:43, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 02 Oct 2016, 14:33 
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I couldn't find a picture of the original sleeve and tape for Giuffria - Japan Tour '85 VHS anywhere online so I've posted my own.
This is what the original VHS cover looks like without the distortion caused by a bootlegger stretching the image to fit a DVD sleeve!

Image

The guy from America I bought this from certainly looked after his tapes as this was 26 years old when I obtained it in 2011 and its now pushing 31 years! It's a typical Japanese thick card box with a sealed flap unlike the US boxes which tend to be quite flimsy and more like a slip case with one end open. The outer cover of the sleeve is also plastic coated so very resistance to wear.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 19 Oct 2016, 15:05 
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Here's the unofficial CD version available for the Gotcha movie that features a staggering 7 exclusive Giuffria tracks.

Image

Image

3 done directly for the movie.
4 other tracks from the studio outtakes for their second album Silk & Steel.

Anyone even remotely interested in Giuffria will want to hear these.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 19 Oct 2016, 23:26 
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oooh, Bill Conti tracks..maybe I should check out this Giuffria.?
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 05 May 2017, 21:06 
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I couldn't resist purchasing the original Japanese Tour Program for Giuffria from 1985 as I hoped it might contain a few more nuggets of information about this legendary release. I was not wrong!

Aside from the glossy pictures and plenty of text in both English and Japanese........

Image

Image

Image

Image

there was this page which was fascinating.
Could someone translate the Japanese text around the Giuffria black and white picture above the other releases?

Image

It shows a series of new releases by other metal bands all on VHS from the TE Comstock series alongside Giuffria the Tour above.

Image

Now the interesting thing to note is all of those releases also made it to laserdisc:

Metaledge: Heavy Metal Superstars (1985) [TE-D098]

Rainbow: Japan Tour '84 (1984) [TE-D030]

Michael Schenker Group (M.S.G.): Hammersmith Live (1983) (Uncut) [TE-D027]

Alcatrazz: Metallic Live '84 (1984) [TE-D026]

Billy Squier: Live - Billy the Rock (1982) [TE-D085]

Giuffria also got released on VHS (TE-M352) which raises the question why no laserdisc version?

Comparing the VHS and LD cat numbers......

First I sorted by cat number, lowest first:

Billy Squier: VHS TE-M333
Metaledge: VHS TE-M342
Giuffria: VHS TE-M352
M.S.G: VHS TE-M549
Alcatrazz: VHS TE-M570
Rainbow: VHS TE-M585

Alcatrazz: LD TE-D026
M.S.G: LD TE-D027
Rainbow: LD TE-D030
Billy Squier: LD TE-D085
Metaledge: LD TE-D098

As you can see there was no obvious correlation between VHS releases and their equivalent LD releases which would
make guessing when/if a Giuffria release could have been issued very difficult.

Still it is possible one of these could have been it as I had concluded previously:
TE-D053 1985
TE-D075 1986
TE-D076 1986
TE-D077 1986
TE-D092 1985
TE-D096 1985
TE-D100 1985


Last edited by laserdisc_fan on 06 May 2017, 07:26, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 06 May 2017, 02:15 
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Oh wow that cover photo!

"No hairdriers or bananas were harmed in the making of this photograph!"
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 Post subject: Re: The greatest music concert that never got released on LD
PostPosted: 06 May 2017, 08:29 
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I'd like to see that Rainbow one. I didn't realize Rainbow still existed in 1984 but I guess they did.
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