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/ News

Razor & Tie Hires a Bunch of Stiffs (and ZTT, Too)

March 5, 2013 By Mike Duquette 3 Comments

ZTT Stiff logos"If It Ain't On Stiff, It Ain't Worth a F***!" declared a famous slogan for the venerable punk and New Wave label. This month, that worth-a-f*** spirit extends to catalogue label Razor & Tie, who today announced a brand-new licensing agreement in North America with both Stiff and equally iconic British label ZTT.

Stiff, of course, was best known for putting out early works by The Damned (their "New Rose" is considered by some scholars to be the first punk rock single), Kirsty MacColl (some of her early singles appeared on the recent compilation A New England), Ian Dury and, of course, Elvis Costello. (Costello famously controls his own masters, having distributed them in the United States on the Columbia, Rykodisc, Rhino and UMe labels between 1978 and the present, in varying configurations of "deluxe.")

Just as exciting, of course, is Razor & Tie's partnership with Zang Tuum Tumb Records, the quirky U.K. dance-pop label celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Early singles "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and "Moments in Love" by The Art of Noise redefined pop music for the 1980s (the former was famously banned by the BBC for its saucy lyrical content), and latter-day bands like 808 State and Propaganda remain favorites by discerning rock lovers to this day.

ZTT has seen a great deal of U.K. catalogue work since The Second Disc started in 2010, with expanded reissues of works by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Art of Noise and others earning general acclaim among catalogue connoisseurs.

While exact details for either label's physical reissue plan have yet to be ironed out, Razor & Tie's strategy, according to a statement, includes "newly expanded editions this year," "licensing opportunities for the catalog" and "new, direct to consumer ZTT Records and Stiff Records online merch stores which will feature an array of newly created, limited-edition items including classic logo shirts and much more to be announced soon."

Categories: News Tags: Propaganda, The Art of Noise

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Mike Duquette

Michael Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he discovered there was more than one version of John Williams' soundtrack to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, with bylines on catalog at Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Prince and credits on titles including the Grammy-winning 'Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic.' Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with an ever-expanding collection of music.

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Comments

  1. Tyler says

    March 5, 2013 at 4:15 pm

    I wonder what on earth Razor & Tie can do with the ZTT catalog that Salvo hasn't-even more Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Propaganda "best ofs"? A lot of the Stiff catalog could definitely use a redo...

    Reply
  2. John says

    March 6, 2013 at 6:11 am

    I may be wrong on a couple, but most of the bigger acts on Stiff - Devo, Madness, Ian Dury, Lene Lovich, the Pogues, Elvis Costello, the Damned (etc) regained control of their catalogs years ago. What's left is stuff like Lew Lewis, Any Trouble, Jona Lewie, the Plasmatics (etc) - some decent artists (and some awful!), but mostly material that won't sell very well at this point, or material that's been compiled before and probably has satisified most of the fans they have. I welcome this anyway, but I don't kow what the point is . . . several labels have announced similar reissue programs for Stiff catalog, only to see early efforts fail and for planned reissues never to happen.

    Reply
  3. Dean says

    March 6, 2013 at 12:54 pm

    I'm continuing to hope for an expanded "Slave to the Rhythm." There is at least the one single, and I'd be happy to have that and whatever artwork or other mixes/alternate versions ZTT has in its vaults.

    Reply

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