| Based in New York
City the Tomorrow label appears to have only released eleven albums
(though there may be unknown collections). The documented discography
starts with catalog number TVI-132 and ends with TVI-142. It'd be
interesting to know if TVI-130 and TVI-131 exist.
Regardless, most of the Tomorrow catalog is
fairly rare and hard to locate with a couple of these releases commanding
rather high prices.
Like other tax loss outfits, Tomorrow's
product was all over the musical spectrum, including pop (Joey Dee),
rock (Goliath), and soul (The Exciters). Similarly the musical
quality of material ranges from near-throwaway to quite impressive.
At least part of the Tomorrow catalog is
linked to the New York City-based Opal Music which included former New
York Rock and Roll Ensemble members Clifton Nivison and Martin
Fulterman (aka Mark Snow) on its mid-1970s payroll. Working for Opal,
Nivison and Fulterman undertook a broad array of assignments,
including writing material for other artists, preparing and recording
demos, recording tracks under various aliases, and producing
material. Frustrated with the lack of recognition, Fulterman apparently
quit Opal in 1974, relocating to Los Angeles where he found work
scoring music for television and film.
Regardless of whether they had legal
rights to the material, at some point in the mid-1970s Opal
management sold the Nivison and Fulterman material held in its vaults to
the Tomorrow label which released some of the results under the
"Former Members of the N.Y. Rock Ensemble" LP.
More Nivsion and Fulterman material showed up on the "Shawn
Elliot" LP.
Not only was the music suspect, but it
turns out that much of the artwork was also purloined from New
York-based artist Sonja Eisenberg. I actually tracked Ms.
Eisenberg down and she was kind enough to tell me about her role with
Tomorrow:
"I
didn't know [my work had been used] until someone sent me a few copies.
Never even knew they used it. A friend of mine once
asked me for some transparencies. I gave them to him, at the time probably
feeling that they had no value. Forgot all about it until a
gentleman sent me a copy of one of the LPs . Don't even know how he knew
where to contact me. Just have worked almost every day, sometimes 12
hours at a stretch . No one ever promoted my art and I was too ill
to do it. Soooooo -- I get oodles of compliments, which do not pay
my rent. But, then you are well aware of this in your own life."
By the way, Ms. Eisenberg's
work is fascinating. I'm sure she won't mind it if I provide a link to her
website:
http://sonjaeisenberg.net/
Good luck finding copies of Tomorrow
releases.
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