Australian Albums 1st press CDs – Japan | Music, Musicians and Bands

After contributing regularly to Mondie’s  Collecting Early Production CDsover the years, I thought I’d specifically concentrate on Australian albums pressed in Japan for the Australian market (next thread – West Germany).

There are many Aussie albums which have been pressed in Japan but are for distribution in  the European or American markets – ie: Little River Band, Men at Work & ONJ are good examples.

As most would know the first CDs were manufactured in Japan in 1982 (Sony/CBS) and West Germany (Philips/Polygram) in 1983 for world distribution.

By 1985 Japan had around seven CD production plants in operation- CTA, Toshiba EMI, Sanyo, Nippon Columbia (Denon) and JVC were all supplying CDs for the global market.

Australian music has been fairly well represented in the early years of CD particularly considering our small global presence in the music industry and the lack of a domestic production plant.

Australia’s CD manufacturing started with Disctronics (an Australian Co. – Distronics Limited), which opened in Melbourne in mid-1987. Prior to 1987 our local music had to be pressed O/S.

A good illustration of this is John Farnham’s Whispering Jack – 1st pressed in Japan for the Australian market, then highlighted by Disctronics as Australia’s 1st CD pressing.

I have been collecting Australian album first pressings for quite a while due to the historical significance, sound quality and it was my music heyday – the 80’s pub rock scene.

The following are known Japan pressings so far (to save space I’m only uploading 3 images from each band). I’m always recording the new finds on DISCOGS.

Please contribute if there are any I have missed – bands or CDs (I’m sure I have missed some).

AC/DC

High Voltage, T.N.T., High Voltage, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock, Powerage, Highway to Hell, Back in Black, For Those About To Rock (We Salute You), Powerage, Fly on the Wall, Who Made Who