Friday, December 7, 2012

Canada part one – the GRT years

Under the early years before Warner acquired Sire records in 1978 the distribution was in the hands of ABC records in the U.S. and Phonogram i most parts of the rest of the world – but not in Canada. Here the Ramones releases was distributed by GRT of Canada Ltd. GRT stands for General Record & Tape and was a division of GRT of California between 1969 and 1979. 
"GRT in Canada acted very independently. The American company was primarily distributing tapes (8 tracks, cassettes, reel-to-reel) while the Canadian company signed Canadian acts and distributed labels like Sire in Canada which were not distributed by GRT in the States", a former Promotion Manager for GRT records in Canada tells me.
The Ramones did not sell very well in the country.
"Except for myself they were not promoted or promoted very lightly in Canada", he says. 
The first three albums and three singles came out on Sire/GRT before Warner took over and rereleased the albums again. This is the original pressings of the first three albums in Canada. 
Here is the complete list of Ramones records released on Sire/GRT:




Songs: I wanna be your Boyfriend//California Sun/I don't wanna walk around with you
Number: Sire/GRT 1147-734
Year: 1976
Country: Canada
Notes: Released in a GRT company sleeve with straight top.



Songs: I wanna be your Boyfriend//California Sun/I don't wanna walk around with you
Number: Sire/GRT 1147-734 PROMO
Year: 1976
Country: Canada
Notes: Released in a GRT company sleeve with straight top.




Album: Ramones
Number: Sire/GRT 9147-7520
Year: 1976
Country: Canada
Notes: Inner sleeve with lyrics. Later rereleased as QSR 6020.



Songs: Sheena is a punk rocker//I don't care
Number: Sire/GRT 1147-1006
Year: 1977
Country: Canada
Notes: Released in a GRT company sleeve with rounded top.



Album: Leave Home
Number: Sire/GRT 9147-7528
Year: 1977
Country: Canada
Notes: Inner sleeve with lyrics. Later rereleased as QSR 6031.



Songs: Rockaway Beach/Locket love
Number: Sire/GRT 1147-1008
Year: 1977
Country: Canada
Notes: Released in a GRT company sleeve with rounded top.




Album: Rocket to Russia
Number: Sire/GRT 9147-6042
Year: 1977
Country: Canada
Notes: Inner sleeve with lyrics. Later rereleased as QSR 6042.






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