Ok it's taken me awhile to get this worked out, as Mushroom was bought by Warners so I've had to piece together our various sales.

As of today, it looks like MENTAL NOTES has shipped 32,104 copies in Australia since it's release.
A Gold record is 35,000 here. For decades we have been pushing Mental Notes to try and get the ol' girl to Gold. This is as close as it has ever been.
So we are 2900 copies short. It would cost the club around $32,000 mark to buy that much stock, so for the moment we can't just do that.... anyway will keep working on this. I've always wanted the original Enz guys to all receive a Gold award for this- and hell the album deserves to be Gold.
I'll put the Gryphon thinking cap on, see what we can come up with. I know Frenz have been asking if this debut ever made Gold so here is the answer. We are close gang!
Gryph.

What a shame! Bought 3 copies of "Frenzy" accidentically but it seems I should have done that with "Mental Notes". OK, wait and see. I think I'll give away one "Frenzy" copy to a friend as a gift, because he showed some interest in Split Enz when I made him listen to the "History Never Repeats" best-of. Might need a second copy of "Mental Notes" later on. As I now do my purchases directly from Australian internet shops, I hope this counts.

gryphon, could you please tell me how much the other LPs have shipped, hopefully this isn't too off topic...

do the signed copies purchased from the club count towards that figure?

Simple! the Enz do a Mental Notes original line-up tour, flog off the album at the merch tables. Oh I'd pay double for that.

quote:

Originally posted by Kelly Timtam:
Simple!

Ah... if only it was simple...

But yup, I'm thinking that would do the job to shift a few thousand more units... and that would be something worth a ticket to Australia for... even a one-off performance should generate enough attention.

it certainly is feasible, Tim's not touring, Wally, Phil and Noel are in Melbourne, Emlyn, Eddie and Mike aren't doing anything... I VOTE FOR A MELBOURNE MENTAL NOTES LINEUP GIG, AT AN UNDER 18'S VENUE!

quote:

Originally posted by Kelly Timtam:
Simple! the Enz do a Mental Notes original line-up tour, flog off the album at the merch tables. Oh I'd pay double for that.

Yep, and add a few European cities to the tour as well, may I suggest Helsinki, FINN-land??

Actually Gryph, looking at all the posts above, and combining a few of the things mentioned...wouldn't it be possible to issue another signed fan club release? I have no idea how many copies that would sell, but maybe we can do a poll? I'd buy one!

quote:

it certainly is feasible, Tim's not touring, Wally, Phil and Noel are in Melbourne, Emlyn, Eddie and Mike aren't doing anything...

Only if they're all on speaking terms.

Are Phil and Tim on speaking terms?? They are the only problem I can think of.

This is very interesting news, Peter. The fact that such a monumental album is so close to being gold and hasn't quite made that status after all these years is a very newsworthy story in itself. Are you going to distribute a press release about this? I think that you should.

Some mentions in key newspapers and magazines down that way would surely stir up interest and encourage those sales needed to achieve the gold status.

I also encourage anyone who has any sort of friendly banter with their local record store clerk or online music seller in NZ or Oz to let them know about this news. I've already informed Musiquarium (newzealandcds.com) and Marbecks (marbecks.co.nz) in Auckland and am hoping they'll maybe give it a mention in their newsletters and spread the word in general.

quote:

Originally posted by Finnatically:
Are Phil and Tim on speaking terms?? They are the only problem I can think of.

Not sure on the current situation but there was another blow up last year just before the Enz tour (mentioned elsewhere if someone else is feeling well enough to go looking). Given that these things seem to go in anything up to 10 year cycles, I'd say the odds aren't too good for anything happening real soon now.

quote:

Originally posted by gryphon:
As of today, it looks like MENTAL NOTES has shipped 32,104 copies in Australia since it's release.

Oh, so does this figure only count the number of copies shipped *within* Australia to various retail stores? I'm unclear on how this works. I guess NZ sales don't count toward an Australian sales figure then unless a shop gets their copies from a 2nd-party distributor in Oz rather than direct from Mushroom? Hmmm...a bit confusing this is.

quote:

Originally posted by Electric Elf:
Oh, so does this figure only count the number of copies shipped *within* Australia to various retail stores? I'm unclear on how this works. I guess NZ sales don't count toward an Australian sales figure then unless a shop gets their copies from a 2nd-party distributor in Oz rather than direct from Mushroom? Hmmm...a bit confusing this is.

I was wondering this too. My copy of Mental Notes is from Australia, but does it count since it was purchased online through an American site? I know that probably sounds like a stupid question, but since I bought an Australian CD through an American site, you never know how that stuff works.

If I had the money, I'd buy a bunch of copies to hand out to people or just keep as a back up. This album definitely deserves to go gold though, it's a shame it hasn't already.

It all could depend on the reporting to ARIA of the Australian store that sold the CD's to the American store

So, Mental Notes must have been certified gold (7,500 shipped) in New Zealand or maybe even platinum (15,000 shipped) by now? Does anyone know?

Not that I think gold and platinum certifications are any real measure of quality, but I do think it's a nice little honor for the original Enz guys to get and it's interesting to know the sales figures for the very first Enz full-length.

quote:

Originally posted by Electric Elf:
So, Mental Notes must have been certified gold (7,500 shipped) in New Zealand or maybe even platinum (15,000 shipped) by now? Does anyone know?

According to the Split Enz DVD, Mental Notes is Gold in New Zealand.

Yeah Mental Notes is Gold in NZ (pretty sure it's not Platinum even with the several record company combined sales).

The problem that happened with Australia, Mental Notes was about 1200 units from Gold here way back in the late Seventies and the quanity of records needed for a Gold award changed. I think from memory itw ent from 25,000 to 35,000 or soemthing like that...so it rose to such a degree that it was going to take forever to reach Gold.

Over the past few decades by far the majority of Mental Notes sales have coem from fanclub sales.
(thanks Frenz). Yes we will continue our support and we will get it to Gold, and just pray ARIA don't raise the bar again at the 11th hour.... I think with CD sales slowing worldwide they won't.

Just good for those original members to have a Gold record- I can't recall seeing them with Gold records from NZ and the earliest NZ Gold I have in the office is for Dizrythmia and that was given May 1981!

Gryph.

a reunion tour of the original line up should edge those sales up...sure you can arrange it mr green

Thanks for all the info, Peter. So, do you think this news is worthy of a press release? A great and classic album that surprisingly hasn't hit the gold mark yet makes for an interesting story that could help drum up more sales outside the fan club.

Now that Merv Griffin's gone, you are the Number One Gryphon of the World, matey! But watch out for the basilisks!??!?!