STRICTLY CASSETTES
A Completionists Tale
by: Dino Jones
It all started with ‘Strictly Inc.’ the cassette I didn’t think existed. Back around 2010, I was given a laminated magazine advertisement for ‘Strictly Inc.’ by my mate MGS. On the ad, it listed the album being released on CD & Cassette. I’d been on eBay a fair bit from 2007 onward to that point, and I’d NEVER seen ‘Strictly Inc.’ appear for sale on cassette. If I had, I know I’d have saved a photo of it to my early TB archive. I inquired about this with my mate, and he assured me that it was out there. I periodically checked online for it for years and still couldn’t find one photo of it to prove its existence. All I had was a catalogue number.
Flash forward to the fall of 2016, when I had some money in my pocket about ready to burn…Haha. So, I decided to get back onto eBay one day and look through the TB stuff for sale. I scrolled through the pages, and then BAM there it was…’Strictly Inc.’ on cassette! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I jumped on this listing immediately. The seller was from Poland, and I believe I paid around $20 US for it. A few weeks later, the cassette arrived, and I was in awe. This thing I didn’t think existed was finally in my hands.
Shortly after, I placed it on my shelf next to my TB CD collection…and I thought it looked rather lonely there by itself. So, I thought about setting out to complete the ‘Strictly Inc.’ set with the singles for “Only Seventeen” and “Walls of Sound.” Once those arrived, I decided why not go for some of the albums. Pretty soon, I had all of them. They varied from US to UK releases, I discovered, however, I was missing one single, or “cassingle” as some call them, for “I Wanna Change the Score.” The problem was I couldn’t locate that one anywhere for sale at that time. So, I had a glaring omission in my collection that I couldn’t fill.
Let’s fast forward again to March 2018. I was bombing around on Discogs this time looking through the TB pages, and I checked to see if someone had listed the single for “I Wanna Change the Score” for sale. Lo and behold, there it was reasonably priced. I again jumped on the listing, and a few weeks later, the cassette was from England, arrived thus completing my TB cassette collection…or so I thought.
In March 2022, I stumbled across an eBay listing for a test pressing or demo cassette of “Angel Face.” I was intrigued by this cassette but also skeptical…I’d never seen one of them before or heard of any made in my travels online. I discussed this find with my mate MGS. He was as skeptical as me. My mate pointed out he could make an identical cassette himself! It had no catalogue number and a plain cover stating Tony’s name, the song title, and playtime. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention was the fact the seller wanted $250 for this so-called demo cassette…so needless to say, I wasn’t biting on this one…at least at that ridiculous price. I reached out to the seller and inquired about it, but they couldn’t tell me much. They explained it was part of an estate sale…and that their boss was firm on the price. I couldn’t imagine anyone buying that cassette at that ridiculous price…and as of this writing, it’s still available on eBay!
It’s been an interesting journey acquiring all of these cassettes. I intend to do the same with the vinyl singles and CDs eventually…when I have some more money in my pocket!