Talk: Sesame Street discography

First ever Digital Albums

From Sesame Street's Facebook:

"Check out Sesame Street’s first ever Digital Album, “Christmas Collection,” with all your favorite Christmas songs brought to you by everyone on the Street!"

I don't know if/how/where we put this, but I thought I'd bring it up. -- Brad D. (talk) 06:32, December 19, 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Brad! We'll treat it like A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (soundtrack). That's also download-only (sniff). -- Ken (talk) 06:52, December 19, 2011 (UTC)

Label names

I wanted to bring up some stuff regarding label names. Going by the discussion farther down on this page almost a year ago, we're using "Sesame Street Records", and we're not using either CRA or Distinguished, for the reasons stated in the discussion. We are, however, mentioning the fact that the label had two distributors over on the Sesame Street Records (label) page. As far as Columbia, I think we should go with the name of the label as it actually appeared on the label itself. CBS (the TV network) was the owner of the label in the 1970's, but I think using the "/CBS" is confusing, since there were also some other separate labels that were actually called CBS over the years. There was one which was a classical/new age label (with people like Philip Glass and Andreas Vollenweider), and there was also the international Columbia division that was also called CBS (that put out the UK Muppet Movie soundtrack, and Bob's pop LP's in Japan, as well as Sesame albums in other countries). So to keep things simple, I think we should keep early US Sesame LP's as Columbia. -- Ken (talk) 23:05, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree with all that. As it stands, from the info we have here, I'm not sure whether the "/CBS" is at all accurate. We know the Bob records and the UK soundtrack were released by them, but the others seem unlikely, and even then, it would be better to note that individually as "other releases" on the album page, if it can be proven. I'd also agree with taking out CRA, Distinguished, and pretty much any and all cases where either the distributor or a larger corporate owner is mentioned (Sony Wonder/SME), and only mention the actual label. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 00:34, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Sesame Road reissue?

This page lists the 1995 Sesame Road as a reissue, but the Sesame Road page doesn't say when it was originally released. Is it a reissue, or was that a mistake? -- Danny (talk) 12:16, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks to the scans you sent me, I can tell you that this was a Golden tape-only release in 1993, and then it was reissued by Sony Wonder in 1995 on tape and CD. However, 2 songs were changed. So I guess this is supposed to have a place in the Golden tape-only section. If I make a place for it, can you scan just the cover? Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 06:14, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I added it! -- Danny (talk) 13:12, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Susan and Bob

I forget: are we listing Susan from Sesame Street with the Bubble Gum Singers or not? Because I notice that Bob McGrath from Sesame Street and Susan Sings Songs from Sesame Street are still here. —Scott (talk) 03:51, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

My personal feeling is that we should take all the unofficial Susan and Bob stuff off the main chart, and put them somewhere else. But I think other people may have different thoughts about that. I know that we've talked about this a lot, but nothing has been decided yet. Wendy and I have talked about it a lot, and we even came up with some categories. I think that conversation is on the talk page for Bob's 1970 album. -- Ken (talk) 04:02, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

What if we kept the Susan and Bob albums here and just kept the pages in the separate categories? Or am I complicating things? It is kinda nice to look at the full list and have them here. I know there's been talk about it, so I don't want to trump any non-decisions. —Scott (talk) 04:12, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean by keeping the pages in the separate categories. Could you explain that? I would like to keep the 1970 Bob and Susan albums here, since they came out in the summer of 1970, along with SS1, which shows the cultural phenomenon the show was, when there was a ton of stuff coming out at once. I don't really like the Bubblegum album, since I have a feeling that that was not legitimate. But people will get confused if you put the Scepter here, but not the Bubblegum. I don't know. I'm really torn. I don't even like all the cover albums, since I feel they were done to cash in, and confuse people. But I guess some were done in tribute to the show, and now that Thurl Ravenscroft's no longer with us, I kind of like his version of "Green". Sorry if I'm getting off topic. As far as Susan and Bob, I would keep all of their albums here, because they were such a big part of the show. I just don't like giving the Bubblegum album a slot on the picture chart, although it's mentioned and linked on the Scepter page. -- Ken (talk) 04:29, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Per your message on my talk page, I see that the Bubble Gum album just wasn't here because it just hasn't been added yet since started its page on the wiki. Sorry for any confusion. —Scott (talk) 04:38, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Album numbers that may not exist

I found a first pressing of Somebody Come and Play today, and I'm in shock! Upon reading the back cover, it seems that there are four albums that had numbers assigned to them, but apparently never got released. These four titles are the missing numbers from the first series of LP's in 1974. They are:

• CTW 22053-Bob and Susan Sing Songs from Sesame Street
• CTW 22054-Tu Me Gustas (I Like You)
• CTW 22063-Sesame Street Story Time
• CTW 22065-Sesame Street Zoo

Does anybody know anything about these? Other numbers have been skipped through the years, but this is the first time that I've seen a record from the first series with these numbers and titles included. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 01:29, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Looks like the third one was eventually released as Sesame Street Story Time with a later catalogue number. A best guess would assume that they were planned titles that never made it into production on time. The second one may have eventually become ¡Sesame Mucho! while the first may have been a repackaging of the Bob and Susan albums. All speculation, but we don't really have anything official to go on. —Scott (talk) 15:20, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Since these made it to the back cover, is there a place we could put this information? I'm old enough to remember looking at the 1974 SS records in the stores all the time, and these were never made. I would hate for a beginning collector to be chasing after "phantom" albums. -- Ken (talk) 15:43, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

This might be a good time to add some introductory text to the beginning of this article. A brief history to come before the massive list. Once that's in place, I'd think it to be a good spot for the unreleased catalogue numbers. —Scott (talk) 16:02, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

How's that? -- Ken (talk) 16:50, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Very nice! —Scott (talk) 18:05, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

"Unofficial" albums

Did we ever decide what to do with the albums not made under the direction of CTW? I would propose that we make two small discographies. One would be called "Sesame Street Related albums", and have Bob's and Susan's non-Sesame Street Records albums (Affinity, Scepter, A&M) on it. The other would be called "Unofficial Sesame Street albums" and have all the "cover version" children's records on it (Peter Pan and Disneyland). What does everybody else think? -- Ken (talk) 04:50, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

For now they've been going here. —Scott (talk) 23:36, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I think the general preference seemed to be towards Unofficial. That's my feeling. I personally hate the phrase "Sesame Street Related Albums" It's clumsy and vague, and could in fact just as easily cover the Peter Pan duck records. I don't think we need a seperate category just to cover Bob and Susan's other albums. If we do, I'd prefer to call it what it is, "Bob and Susan Discography." -- Andrew Leal (talk) 23:56, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Label name/owner?

I didn't know if I should put this in Current Events, and if anybody wants to move it there, that's okay with me. But something has always bothered me about the Sesame Street records, and now that I'm working on the record section, I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I'd like to see what everybody else thinks. (I tried to keep the following as brief as possible.)

When Sesame Street started to make their own records in 1974, the actual manufacturer was Children's Records of America, at 159 West 53rd Street, New York, NY, according to the back covers. But the logo at the top of the label is the Sesame Street sign, even though the bottom of the label says "Manufactured and Distributed by CRA, Children's Records of America, Inc., New York." The label is yellow, with a blue circle around the edge. The SS sign is olive green outlined in blue, with white letters.

In 1977, CRA either closed or stopped making SS records, because at that point, records start to say, "Manufactured and Distributed by Distinguished Productions, Inc.", and the back covers give the address as 1 Lincoln Plaza, New York, NY. The label design also changed. The label is still yellow, but now the border is blue-green, and the SS sign is dark green, outlined in white, with white lettering. Albums made between 1974 and 1977 are also now reissued with the new copyrights and labels.

Since there were two distributors during the 10-year run of the label, I feel that it would be inaccurate to put CRA in the label box, because all 1974-1977 titles also exist with Distinguished Productions credits. But Distinguished Productions doesn't really sound like a label name either, because you have to look for it in the fine print. And really, as far as average people are concerned, either label variation looks like the company would be called Sesame Street Records, since that's what the label looks like. I can't find out any info on the Web about either company, so I assume they're both out of business. So to make the big picture chart (and each individual entry) more consistent, I would like to use "Sesame Street Records" as the label for all titles in this series. It will fit well with the Columbia Records already in the list, and it will reflect what the logo on the label actually is. How do other people feel about this? -- Ken (talk) 06:36, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

That sounds fine to me. I think you've made a good argument. -- Danny (talk) 16:52, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, Danny! -- Ken (talk) 23:34, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Sesame Street label history

I was talking over on the Arthur Shimkin page with Danny, and I decided to open it up over here, so more people would see it. Does anybody have info about the history of Sesame Street records? I was wondering things like how and why they started with a couple of major labels, and then how and why they decided to go off on their own, and who the people in charge were, and how making the records fit in with putting the actual show together, and stuff like that. I was hoping that people who are covering the early years of Sesame Street would know something about it. Thanks. -- ErnieBert 07:26, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

I looked at the stuff that I got from the CTW archives, and I can't find anything about the history of Sesame Street records yet... I may be able to find something next time I go. I think I've seen Shimkin's name in the archives' box inventory, but now that I'm looking for it, I can't find it.

Ken, if you're anywhere near Maryland and can take a trip to the archives, you should definitely go. I think you'd love it. -- Danny (talk) 16:30, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'm in California, but don't tempt me. That sounds like a vacation. Actually, I'm been thinking about going to Sesame Place one of these days. I wonder how far apart they are? (Oops, I think I'm kind of off topic.) Does anybody know if the CTW archives and Henson's family archives are in the same place, and how much overlap there is? -- Ken (talk) 22:07, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

The Gang's All Here!

Sorry to put this here, but that record's page is locked, so I can't put a talk page box on it to tell you that I can't get in. Thanks. -- ErnieBert 05:07, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Ok I unprotected it. -- Wendy (talk) 05:12, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Things to do on main page

I'm starting this section up here, so it doesn't get buried way down there. I think we need to reorder this list chronologically, and then in numeric order by label. Right now, all the CTW releases from 1974 are alphabetical, and I think they should be in numerical order, like on the backs of the albums. Since I don't have all the albums (I wish I did!), can people confirm that the years are accurate? If this doesn't make sense, I'll write some more this weekend. Also, can we call this album section Sesame Street albums, so it matches the Sesame Street singles? I didn't even know there was a singles section until I ran across it in the alphabetical listing. It would be nice if the whole section was called the Sesame Street Discography, and then have that broken down into pages for albums and singles. I've only been here since Monday, so I'm still learning stuff, so if anybody could help me with that part, I'd really appreciate it. My strong point is typing and checking data, and I'll be starting to check each title this weekend. Thanks. -- ErnieBert 07:56, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

It is usually advised that new topics on talk pages be posted at the top of the pages, rather than the bottom. Good job. --Minor muppetz 15:39, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

I think the albums should be arranged alphabetically within each year. That makes more sense for the reader, and I think it makes a particular album easier to find within that year.

It's a good point about the Sesame discographies -- I just made a new category, Discographies, which should make the connections a little clearer. -- Danny (talk) 16:44, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, actually, this really isn't a new topic; I just didn't want it to get buried under all the record stuff I already talked about with Danny way down on this page. By the way, Danny, this page is locked, too, so I can't get in to fix the labels, numbers, and add mising entries. Please help! Thanks. -- ErnieBert 05:09, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Main page of album covers

Hi. My username is ERNIEBERT, and I'd like to help work on the pages having to do with Muppet records. I have a question. On the main page with pictures of SS album covers, there is a column that says, "Produced by", but each album has its label (and sometimes record number) in that column. Do we want to change that column heading to say "Label and Number" or something like that? Thanks. -- Ken 27 February 2007

My opinion is that we should actually take the record numbers off this page, and just have them on the individual album pages. Some records have a few different numbers, and I think it's silly to load up this page with them. -- Danny (talk) 14:35, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Each record should only have one catalogue number. Any other numbers could be UPCs or ISBNs (some albums have them). But the cat. no. should be consistent. —Scott (talk) 15:44, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey, Danny! Tonight I went through and put a catalog number on every CTW release, and checked the few that were already there. Since you mention missing album covers, I just realized that we're missing an entire album! (It's a 2-LP reissue of 2 older LP's, something they did a lot of toward the end.) I'll make a note of it, since tomorrow night I want to double check the albums that have been issued more than once, mostly the Columbia LP's between 1970 and 1974. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you or somebody could help me make a similar picture chart for the Muppet records. I'll have to figure out a chronological list first, but that'll be after I get Sesame Street how I'd like it to look. Sorry if this is long, but it's midnight and I'm probably rambling. But I feel really good that all the CTW's now have numbers!ERNIEBERT 07:59, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Cool, that's great! I just set up the framework of a Muppet discography. Most of the information is missing, and the albums aren't in chronological order, so it needs a lot of work. -- Danny (talk) 13:54, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Danny, can somebody add The Count Presents Numbers to this chart? It's on the alphabetical list, but it's not here. Thanks. By the way, people are adding more missing album covers! We're almost there! -- ErnieBert 07:26, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Do you know what year The Count Presents Numbers was released? That's why it's not on here. Same for Susan from Sesame Street with the Bubble Gum Singers. -- Wendy (talk) 05:22, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

No, I thought I had that one, but I don't. Does the person who scanned it know? -- ErnieBert 06:23, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Actually it looks like I grabbed the image off ebay awhile back. There's a new listing up with a better pic and the date, which is 1975,1977, so we're all set. -- Wendy (talk) 00:32, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Scratch that date; they were just giving the copyrights, which are of course the date of the two albums included. It doesn't actually say what year the double album came out. At least there's a better picture now. -- Wendy (talk) 01:57, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

It came out between 1981 and 1983, when they were releasing a bunch of 2-record sets. Maybe I'll get lucky and run across one. -- ErnieBert 04:48, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Album of Uncertain Date?

Susan from Sesame Street with the Bubble Gum Singers is missing from the discography page. I was going to add it but noticed that the year for it is vague (mid 70s), so I'm not sure where it goes ... at the end perhaps? Or was it excluded for some other reason? -- Wendy (talk) 01:08, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, the issue is just that we don't know the actual date. If you want to put it on the page, then maybe just put it between 1975 and 1976, with a "mid-1970s" date"? -- Danny (talk) 23:31, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Attention

I've put all the information we had here into this pretty table -- and now we can easily keep track of which albums we still need pictures for. Can anyone rustle up some of the missing album covers? -- Danny (talk) 01:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)