https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:38:49 +0000 Sun, 21 Dec 2014 05:19:55 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.07 360 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=1460 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum//images/Top-40-Music-on-CD-Forum-Logo.png https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=42775&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#42775 Author: 80smusicfreak
Subject: 1460
Posted: 21 December 2014 at 5:19am

Despite this thread from 7-8 years ago, it seems that no one has ever noticed that the original parent album for this #1(!) hit from 1987 is missing from the on-line database. (And when I say "original parent album", I'm of course referring to the one that was put out during the song's huge revival in 1986-87 as a re-issue on Rhino 74403, and NOT its initial run in 1981 on Alfa 7005, when it missed the top 40...)

In fact, I see that jimct's detailed post above from 04 October 2007 actually MENTIONS the CD in question:

jimct wrote: eriejwg wrote: I saw that notation for the 1981 release in the database, but figured that was a studio version, perhaps. John, "At This Moment" got brought back from the dead, 5+ years later, due to being repeatedly featured on the then-top-rated 80's TV show starring Michael J. Fox, "Family Ties." That's why the 1986/87 release was on Rhino, normally a re-issue label. The initial 1981 45 release was on a Japanese label that took a brief stab at a U.S. operation, Alfa. Vera's work had long been respected by many within the music business, and he had a loyal, long-standing fan base, established over many years (he'd had some chart successes, from as far back as the late 60's, on Atlantic, both as a solo artist and as half of a respected, controversial-for-its-time "interracial duet team" with Judy Clay.) Among these Billy Vera fans were the Rhino Records founders. They were very aware that his "Billy & The Beaters" live 1981 Alfa LP was already long out-of-print, and felt it would sell well as a catalog item. And with the CD format starting to take off around this time, Rhino licensed those 1981 Alfa masters, and included most of the tracks on that LP on Rhino's repackaged "By Request: Best Of Billy Vera & The Beaters" CD. And when the "Family Ties" thing happened, Rhino responded to it by putting the song out as a 45, giving the label their only "current" #1 hit...

As jimct indicated, it was a compilation titled By Request: The Best of Billy Vera & the Beaters, on Rhino 70858. The Rhino single debuted on Billboard's "Hot 100" chart in the November 8, 1986, issue, and By Request: The Best of... followed on the magazine's "Top Pop Albums" chart just four weeks later, in the December 6 issue (although as jimct's post indicates, it appears the album was actually released FIRST, in the summer or early fall of '86, and charted only after the single took off). The collection would go on to peak at #15, and be certified gold a few months later (bought it on cassette myself at that time). However, it's now long out-of-print, and is thus somewhat tough to find today - and because it was a fairly early CD, all copies that I've seen to date were Japan-for-U.S. pressings. There are currently a few used copies of Rhino RNCD 70858 listed on eBay, w/ this one being the cheapest: BILLY VERA & THE BEATERS - "By Request: The Best of..." (U.S. CD) I happen to have this CD already, so if Pat wishes to add it immediately, I can report that "At This Moment" has an actual time of (4:18), and is of course the "LP version" (w/ the :05 spoken intro)...

As a side note, By Request: The Best of... also features the group's moderate 1981 hit, "I Can Take Care of Myself", which did crack the top 40 in some areas, but didn't do quite well enough to qualify for entry in Pat's db (hit #39 in Billboard, but only #42 in Cash Box and #50 in Record World)...

jimct wrote: Andy, a studio version of "At This Moment" can be found on a 2002 Varese CD, entitled "Billy Vera & The Beaters--At This Moment: A Retrospective". It is currently being offered on Amazon.com. Whether it is THE same studio version that was used on "Family Ties", that I do not know.

db currently states:

(S)      (3:53)      Varese Sarabande 302066340 At This Moment - A Retrospective (live but not the ”hit” live version)

Hmmm, I don't own Varese Sarabande 302066340 myself (so I don't know the correct answer), but I noticed we clearly have a conflict here...]]> Sun, 21 Dec 2014 05:19:55 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=42775&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#42775 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14352&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14352 Author: MCT1
Subject: 1460
Posted: 05 February 2008 at 9:02am

jimct wrote: Arista noticed Rhino's success, and tried to duplicate this "from the vaults" success with the Monkees, as they owned the group's original Colgems master recordings.

An interesting side note to this: while Arista owned the rights to the Monkees' back catalog, they had actually licensed the individual albums to Rhino, who was in the midst of a reissue program when "Monkee-mania '86" hit. Rhino's reissues of the group's self-titled debut and second LP More Of The Monkees both managed to crack the top 100 of the Billboard album chart when they were released that fall. Arista's The Monkees' Greatest Hits also charted, reaching #69 on the album chart before Then & Now.... superseded it.

Rhino was also able to outflank Arista and get the group (minus Nesmith) under contract to record a new album. The end result, 1987's Pool It, was a commercial and critical disappointment, however. For its part, Arista took the individual albums back and reissued at least some of them themselves a couple of years later (circa 1988), after Rhino's license had apparently expired, but interest in the Monkees had cooled down considerably by then.]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:02:20 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14352&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14352 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14039&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14039 Author: Todd Ireland
Subject: 1460
Posted: 11 January 2008 at 10:11pm

Great stuff! Thanks for posting that terrific label scan, Yah Shure!]]> Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:11:29 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14039&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14039 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14035&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14035 Author: Yah Shure
Subject: 1460
Posted: 11 January 2008 at 8:41pm

jimct wrote: BOTH of these promo 45s had the EXACT same deadwax info: "ASI-9505-SA 39" on one side, and "ASI-9505-SA 82" on the other

My blank white label promo 45 came in a standard stock picture sleeve with the "A brand new 1986 recording..." wording printed on it - no sticker. The deadwax info on this Allied pressing differs from yours: "AS1-9505-SA 10" and "AS1-9505-SA 11." The latter side's matrix number was first etched with an "8" as the last digit, which was stricken through and replaced with the "11" squeezed into the space between the "SA" and the crossed-out "8."

I bought the UK picture disc 45 (Arista 4673) on November 21, 1986. The familiar Monkees guitar logo is pictured, as is...Davy Jones!


]]> Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:41:41 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14035&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14035 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14024&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14024 Author: crapfromthepast
Subject: 1460
Posted: 10 January 2008 at 8:22pm

I read that the song "That Was Then This Is Now" was originally done in 1985 by a group called the Mosquitos. Can't verify, though, I don't have a copy myself.]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:22:33 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14024&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14024 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14021&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14021 Author: jimct
Subject: 1460
Posted: 10 January 2008 at 7:49pm

jimct wrote: ....The first promo 45 we got in to the station simply had a blank white label, with NO writing on EITHER side of it.....I also have a "standard" Arista promo 45 for this song, with the "correct" artist listing....

Hykker, since I did two very long posts about this song earlier, I'm sure that these previously-noted details simply got buried among all of the other information. So, yes, you are indeed correct. As I had very confusingly tried to explain before, there was both a blank white promo 45, and a "standard" Arista promo 45 issued for "That Was Then, This Is Now" in 1986. ]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:49:13 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14021&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14021 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14016&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14016 Author: Hykker
Subject: 1460
Posted: 10 January 2008 at 5:46pm

jimct wrote: the artist on my 45 indeed showing as by "Micky Dolenz And Peter Tork (Of The Monkees)". My deadwax info is "AS1-9505-SA B9". That "original Monkees" 45 artist listing/sleeve must be pretty darn rare, and was replaced very quickly indeed!

My 45 of TWTTIN is a promo copy on the standard Arista label (not the white label you describe), and it's also labeled the same as your stock copy. ]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:46:43 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14016&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14016 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14011&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14011 Author: eriejwg
Subject: 1460
Posted: 10 January 2008 at 12:27pm

Was there a specific reason the change on the label from The Monkees to Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork... was made? ]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:27:53 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14011&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14011 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14010&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14010 Author: TimNeely
Subject: 1460
Posted: 10 January 2008 at 11:16am

I remember being really surprised to see it. It was in an obscure rack of 45s at a long-gone Woolworth's store in a suburban Philadelphia mall, and it's still the only copy I've ever seen. I rarely bought singles at that store because they were more expensive than most other places (strange, but true). But that one I had to get!

I have used both the sleeve and the record at different times as illustrations in past price guides.]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:16:13 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14010&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14010 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14007&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14007 Author: jimct
Subject: 1460
Posted: 10 January 2008 at 12:27am

Tim, I absolutely purchased my stock 45 within a day or two of its original summer 1986 release. I still own it, and have just pulled it. My latest Whitburn Pop Singles Book also states the same thing that you've just stated, but I personally had never been able to confirm that info. My pic sleeve does appear to be exactly the same as the "second issue sleeve" you describe, Tim, with the artist on my 45 indeed showing as by "Micky Dolenz And Peter Tork (Of The Monkees)". My deadwax info is "AS1-9505-SA B9". That "original Monkees" 45 artist listing/sleeve must be pretty darn rare, and was replaced very quickly indeed! But if someone as credible as either you, or Record Research's Paul Haney, actually do own a stock copy that states the artist as "The Monkees", it'll be good enough for me, and I will then accept it as fact.

Edited by jimct]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:27:14 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1460&PID=14007&title=billy-vera-at-this-moment#14007