CD-Rs on Hot Productions label?

Aaron, I'll capsulize the story I told you privately a while back. I own several "Hot Productions" CDs (although none are shiny top CD-Rs with fingerprints!!!) The unofficial scuttlebutt I was told in my travels was/is that Florida music business legend/one-hit wonder Steve Alaimo is/is involved with the "Hot Productions" CD label. I even have his "Steve Alaimo's Greatest Hits" CD on this label (he had many major label 45 releases in the 60's, and they got LOTS of 60's Florida Top 40 back in the day.) But they all sound like they were dubbed from scratchy 45s to me - same thing with a Dickie Goodman comp that I own on this label. To me, these two CD both appear to not be properly licensing tracks. On the other hand, Alaimo and T.K. label founder Henry Stone are allegedly very good friends, of many years, and my "Ritchie Family" comp, also on Hot Productions, does sound to me like it comes mainly from tape sources (probably provided by Stone as a favor, whose T.K./Marlin label originally released their 1976 hit, "The Best Disco In Town".) My overall assessment is that if there's a T.K./Associated label link to a group, a "Hot Productions" CD is probably mainly from a tape source. But if not, I'm 99% sure the CD contains obvious vinyl dubs, of dubious licensing origin, so I suggest you buy with caution!   

I have many many Hot Productions CD's as they have released alot of disco labels comps. I've never had any problems with sound quality and up until several months ago, they all looked like regular cd's to me.......UNTIL......I recently bought (on ebay) SEALED copies of both Dickie Goodman Best of Fables CD's. To my surprise, they both looked like CDR's.

I always wondered if they were bootlegs or not but Pat does make note of them in the book and database. So I assumed they weren't but never understood why they were CDR's.

Edited by Fetta

EdisonLite wrote: This is very interesting because it brings up the same situation for Renaissance Records. I bought the "Juice Newton Anthology" and "Louise Mandrell Anthology" directly from Renaissance through ebay and when I got them, both were CDRs! I've also gotten quite a few Renaissance CDs previously that were NOT CDRs. Anyway, I immediately asked the owner of Renaissance why my J Newton & L Mandrell CDs were CDRs, and he said it was because they ran out of the initial pressings and they couldn't afford the cost of running off another batch so now he basically just makes CDRs when someone wants to buy these CDs (but obviously he doesn't tell anyone ahead of time that they are CDR copies they'll be getting!)

Drat! I'm glad I caught your post, Gordon, because I was about to purchase Lindisfarne's Anthology CD directly from the Renaissance label on eBay, but I certainly do NOT want to get stuck with a CD-R copy. I mean, if I wanted to buy the Lindisfarne album on a CD-R, I'd be better off just downloading my desired tracks from the MusicGiants retail website for less money and burning them onto CD-R myself. I'm not a big fan of storing music on CD-Rs to begin with because the discs often made from inferior materials compared to their silver factory-pressed commercial counterparts. I've heard numerous anecdotal stories about how CD-Rs can degrade into an unplayable condition in as little as a few years and this is why I prefer to purchase my music on silver factory-pressed commercial CDs when possible. Hmmm... I'm wondering if the Renaissance discs sold by other retailers are CD-Rs as well?

Edited by Todd Ireland

Aaron, what problems exactly have you had with Maxell? I've used those and really don't run into problems. And I've had many for quite a few years. I also find TDK to be quite reliable (for me).

Maybe there are other factors in why we've had a different experience -- like maybe Maxell doesn't go well with your CD burner. And are you careful to never store your CDRs in hot places and do you never get fingerprints and scratches on them?

I have had the same experience you've had with Memorex and Sony. I would never use those.

Hard drive back up is a great idea, Todd!

Gordon, I've had a number of Maxell's go bad for me, but most of them were manufactured with gold color dye. Additionally, the CDs tended to slightly bow in the center, causing the disc to not be flat any longer. My CDs are always stored in the jewel cases at room temperature, and none of them have scratches or fingerprints. I'm sure it's a manufacturing problem.