Longboxes

Longboxes are a peculiar collectible. Back in the 80’s when CD’s were first being introduced, retailers needed a larger package to fit over the jewel cases for 2 reasons: 1) to help prevent theft (a larger box would be much more difficult to pocket than just a jewel-cased disc) and 2) so that the stores could continue to use their already installed 12″ vinyl shelves and racks instead of having to install new shelves just for CD’s (two CD longboxes side by side equal the width of one vinyl LP). Well, this may have worked for a while but eventually everyone realized that longboxes were a major waste of paper since consumers usually just tore through them to get to the product inside and threw them away. By 1994, longboxes had been phased out of American record stores. Since many of them were destroyed and thrown away, finding these boxes in good or sealed condition can cost you quite a bit of money. In addition to CD’s, cassette longboxes were also sometimes available for cassette albums albums and/or cassingles. Although highly collectible, the boxes themselves are actually fragile and prone to crushing since the tops of the boxes were empty save for some folded over cardboard to provide some bit of support. I already had the two Erotica CD longboxes, the Like A Prayer CD longbox and the “Who’s That Girl” cassingle longbox, but over the weekend I received this True Blue cassette longbox. It’s really quite beautiful! I’m not sure that any other Madonna albums on cassette came in a longbox besides True Blue. Unless I’m mistaken, I think this was the only one.

Ranking The Album Tracks Part 9: Music (2000)

In 2000, Madonna released her next album Music. It dived deeper into the world of electronic pop music that Madonna had first explored with 1998’s Ray of Light. In my opinion, along with Bedtime Stories, Music is one of her most underrated records. I still remember the day I bought this album. I couldn’t wait to get home and play it. It was a great era for the fans because it was actually cool to be a Madonna fan again after the success of Ray of Light. She was getting lots of radio and video play (probably the last time that happened in the USA for more than just a lead single). Music may be a short album, but I definitely think it packs a punch. Here are my rankings:

I’m breathless!

Don’t you love when you find a Buy It Now listing on ebay where the seller obviously doesn’t know what they have so the price is really low? Well, I scored this CD for only $7.50. This is the USA promotional copy of the I’m Breathless album. It comes in the standard packaging that accompanies the commercial release, but what makes this pressing unique is the graphics on the actual disc, which have a grey, glittery effect on the left side. The disc also shows a slightly different catalog number: 9 26209-2-DJ. I love these kinds of differences. There’s also a USA promotional copy of the Like A Prayer album with alternate disc graphics that I’d love to get one day. That one is a little more rare than this one, though.