A very rare album on YJA: 3D Hot Rally LP

The listing is right here:

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/285953019

As far as I can tell, not a single copy of this album has sold on YJA in the last 10 years.  The product code also doesn't exist on amazon.co.jp, so it's never been available there either.  No one on vgmdb claims to own it in their collection.

I'll go out on a limb and predict this sells for 90,000 yen.

The final hammer price was an amazing 139,000 yen.  Wow.

Yeesh.

I honestly wasn't shocked, hence my prediction of 90,000 yen.  If you're a collector who really wants this album, you might wait a decade before seeing another one.

Woah nice one. Love that large oversized obi there. Makes you wonder how many copies they actually printed. There are some albums which appear to be commercial releases like this one, yet they are so scarce I sometimes wonder if they were really ever released in shops, or if they didn't, or maybe something happened (like Tecmo GSM) that explains why they are so scarce.

Out of curiosity, do you know what happened with Tecmo Game Music (28XA-95)? I read that it was discontinued due to a “copyright problem” but I don’t know anything further than that.

I have no idea, and that is still a rumor to me, until it gets proven in one way or another. Was that information found in a seller's listing on Yahoo? I forgot.
If that is the case, it's still a pretty "common" album, I've seen a few of all variants, CD, tape and vinyl. Some other albums are way harder to find, just not as hyped. I think it's mostly Japanese collectors that are interested in it, hence the high prices? To us it's mostly just another G.S.M. album.

I saw that info in a YJA listing.

FWIW, Tecmo Game Music seems pretty available (and inexpensive) in vinyl format.  It’s the CD version which is really hard to find.

That's curious. Would that mean they changed the offending track(s) in the vinyl release, and maybe tape release?

Have a look at the Japanese Wikipedia page for Bomb Jack:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ボンジャック

Google's translation says:
The first song is the ending theme of the anime " Aunt Spoon " ( 1983 - 1984 ) " kittens of the apple forest " (1983, composition: Tomomi Kyohei [2] ), the second song is the Beatles ' Lady Madonna 1968 , composition: Lennon - McCartney ) has been used, the third song is the original song of the game. In the following rounds, these three songs are repeated. Furthermore, looking at the instructor card and promotional leaflet, I understand that it was officially accepted by JASRAC rather than unauthorized use. However, as described later, BGM was changed or deleted in many models due to the issue of rights. TECMO games · chronicle (SRIN - 1104) "released on June 7, 2014, as well as BGM collection" TECMO GAME MUSIC (28 XA - 95) "released on September 25, 1986 It is recorded including copyright tune.

The use of these copyrighted sounds could be the reason for the recall, if there ever was one. Not sure what to make of the last sentence, seems that SRIN-1104 also uses the copyrighted sounds, but maybe by 2014 they were able to settle the issue? That leaves the question of what's inside the vinyl and tape releases.

Regarding SRIN-1104, looking at the notes at the bottom
https://vgmdb.net/album/45624
Seems the Beatles sound was acknowledged properly in this release, along with 2 other copyrighted sounds.

So I'd say the offending tracks are

BOMB JACK BGM 2, which uses the staff roll fromt the anime "Mrs. Pepper Pot"
original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PyKElIFXQA
anime info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Pepper_Pot_(anime)
bomb jack version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_i1cnU_-Bw

BOMB JACK BGM 3, which uses Lady Madonna from the Beetolz
original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLRiGX3L-kw
bomb jack version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYTVc7bCXUs

2 more tracks use copyrighted/existing stuff:
Track 65 of TECMO CUP uses Jerusalem by Hubert Parry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ8xMFq8U10
Track 68 of TECMO CUP uses Perfect Kiss ©by BE MUSIC, which should be this 1985 song
https://www.discogs.com/New-Order-The-P … aster/4686
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3XW6NLILqo

Is TECMO CUP from SRIN-1104 the same as WORLD CUP from 28XA-95? It's all so confusing I want to turn off my PC right now.

And why isn't Mrs. Pepper Pot NOT mentioned in the copyrights of the SRIN-1104 release? One more reason to switch off my PC.

Yes, cross-checking the credit, TECMO CUP and WORLD CUP should be the same game. So, these 4 tracks are all potential reasons for the suggested recall of the original Tecmo Game Music CD release (1986).

Although Mrs. Pepper Pot's track is probably the most likely to have triggered problems? In fact I have absolutely no idea, we should get in touch with some old Tecmo staff.

Those are some great leads!!

As for the vinyl end tape versions, those had release dates which were a full month earlier than the CD version.  Even if all three versions were pulled at the same time, they might have sold a lot more of the vinyl and tape versions by then.

I also saw this site:

http://www.bomb-jack.com/history_of_bombjack.htm

which says:

Round 2 features the music of 'Lady Madonna', by The Beatles. Tsuruta-san, recalls that rights were paid for the licensed music at the time; still, later ports (PS2 and Xbox) come with a replaced soundtrack (mostly the Vs. Mighty Bomb Jack score).

That suggests it’s the Beatles song which caused issues.

Actually, your post suggests that both songs were pulled, it might just be a question of who exactly raised a copyright issue.  My money would be on the Beatles given their deeper pockets to go after that kind of thing.

I haven't played new versions of the game, so I'm not sure if 1, 2, 3 or 4 songs were replaced.

I totally missed that the release date of the CD version was later! That's funny but it now makes more sense that this version is harder to find, if they were all pulled at the same time, or maybe just the CD version was pulled (you know... maybe the tape/vinyl was 1 print run only, so they had no way to recall them? Dunno).