A series of 12" laserdisc titles called Compact Laserdisc Audio/Video Albums appeared in 1986 which were produced only in the US and came with paper OBIs:

Starship: Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1986) [CLD-86-001]
Mr. Mister: Welcome to the Real World (1985) [CLD-86-002]
Dream Academy,The (1986) [CLD-86-003]
A-Ha: Hunting High & Low (1986) [CLD-86-004]
Chicago: 17 (1983) [CLD-86-005]
Colonel Abrams [CLD-86-006]



They featured 2-3 music videos + the full audio tracks of the respective album as recorded on a CD.

I laughed when I first saw the title since calling a Laserdisc 'compact' was stretching the imagination, but I guess they were trying to appeal to the Compact Disc buyer rather than referring to the size of the disc. It seems to have been a mid 80's attempt to revive the ailing laserdisc format as the OBI also featured a picture of a new CD/LD combo player as CDs were really starting to take off!

Still it was an interesting concept releasing essentially a CD in LP sleeving complete with some videos!

They seem to have been produced in high numbers because even today they are easy and cheap to locate. The only exception is the Colonel Abrams title which took me 5 years to find. I've never seen another copy of that one anywhere.

As far as I am aware only six were issued as above. Does anyone know of any other titles like this available?

I believe this could therefore qualify as the shortest lived commerically available (as in non promotional) laserdisc derivative format!
This would make MUSE LDs look like a roaring success story!

What is the image on screen during the audio portion of the program? I have heard that it is just a still photo of the album jacket, & that a few insufficiently careful people got that burnt into their TV screens.

Yes the image is a picture of the LP artwork with some text detailing the track. The text changes as you move to the next track but the album artwork remains static.
Some of the titles have a little sticker on the back of the jacket which says Made in Japan, whilst others don't.
All of the jackets are quite thin construction equivalent to a typical US release and they originally came packaged in a tight shrinkwrap.
The OBI was a bit unusual - is it wider (2 inches) than normal - reminiscient of Japanese LP OBIs. The OBI also tended to be placed on the right hand side of the sleeve rather than the left when sold which is also different from convention.

The LD player featured on the OBI strip was a CLD-909 described as 'one of those once-in a-lifetime products'.
All of them feature both digital and analogue sound.

I have the Mr Mister one, and was quite supprised when ran across it by accident, to see it was laserdisc.

So Japan then never made any of these?

There is a Japanese Mr. Mister laserdisc which features all 3 videos from the 'Welcome to the real world' album as opposed to just 2 on the US disc I mentioned above.
It is also in CAV format but does NOT include the audio only tracks from the album.

Ill have to check to see if any of mine are the ones you mentioned. I have a few of those kind.

I added a pic of the titles to my original posting for anyone interested.

I've also got the USA Demonstration 5" CDV for Mr Mister which has 1 video track and 2 audio tracks.

I'm quoting myself!

Here is that Japanese Mr. Mister laserdisc I mentioned previously with the extra video 'Is It Love' not included on the Mr. Mister LD from the series above.
It is also is CAV format:



It is a personal favourite in my entire collection.

"Cocker" from Joe Cocker was also released in this format. I had it at one time and would like to buy it again, but have NEVER seen it on ebay in all these years.

laserdisc fan, you have some great pictures of your LDs.
i love seeing them all out and the large pic of them.

Would that be an issue on LCD tv screens? I know early Plasma tv's had burn in issues from still images, which Plasmas now are suppose to be improved to that issue.

i just re-read this and see what these are.
i sort of remember them when going to tower video back in the day.
i also remember a friend asking about these, they were posted inside of older CDs, saying to get the
album and videos.
but that's all i remember him asking, i thought it was just a normal video disc not like these.
pretty cool

2nd that ! Thanks for the pics !!!

You are right and yes it is very rare. I did however manage to find a near mint copy though from one of my many sources recently:



This appears to be last in the series with the highest catalogue number CLD-87-007.

It features 4 videos :
Shelter Me (from his 1986 album 'Cocker')
Don't You Love Me Anymore (from his 1986 album 'Cocker')
You Can Leave Your Hat On (from his 1986 album 'Cocker')
Civilized Man (from the earlier 1984 album ' Civilized Man')

So it contains 1-2 mores video than the other titles in the series.
Interestingly the 3 audio tracks for the videos from the album 'Cocker' are not included in audio only form on this laserdisc - just the other 7 tracks from the album are present.

I got the Dream Academy LD in this series. It appears to be the only Dream Academy related Laserdisc on LDDb.

Anyone know if this version of the music video for "Life in a Norther Town" (not the version on the Compact Laserdisc Album) is on any LD?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5uxQElYu68

There are a few other LDs that feature Dream Academy videos:

3M Promotional Music Videos - Videobox Networks Inc: Disc 107 (1986) [VB 107]

Audix Soundware Promo Music Compilation [M-04156]

New Wave Hits of The 80's (1994) [ID2962RH]

I haven't seen that other version on youtube on any LD so far.

Those Compact LD albums were a really cool idea - I wish they had issued more of them!

Dream Academy "Life In A Northern Town" (UK Version) is done very well on the VJ remix service (now defunct)
MixMash 80's Classic Vol. 15 in PCM. Even if it was on LD (which it isn't if laserdisc fan confirmed) it wouldn't equal that MixMash remaster. Love this version.


Elvis

I got A-ha but it was cracked so I decided to frame the jacket.

I have this CDV too. It is totally rotted and doesn't play anymore.