King Of Suede Video

[weird user]

Wow, I can't remember if I knew about that japanese Eat It video (I recall looking at every page on the rare stuff section back in 2000, so if info was there then then I have read about it). And it's from 1984? I thought The Compleat Al was the first commercial video release of Al's music videos.

I wonder why they only did a photo gallery montage of one song (not enough photos to use?) as opposed to including Ricky.

[Teridax]

I wonder why they only did a photo gallery montage of one song (not enough photos to use?) as opposed to including Ricky.

Actually, the tape does include Ricky...but not under the name "Ricky." (See bottom of my post)

I'm really interested in this video. I've been looking around for it on Japanese auction/retail sites and only found a page on Buyee (a service that lets people outside of Japan buy from said sites) that was indexed by Google but no longer exists.

As for information, it appears the tape was rental-only (even though the spine says it costs ¥4,500), so you couldn't just buy it. There's a scan of the entire cover, front, spine, and back, here:
http://k-plus.biz/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/025.jpg

Note "Riciky." Ah, Engrish...

[stardrop]

I did do a quick search in Japanese(well, I'm Japanese) but I did not find a stock other than the rental site you posted. Someone seems to have sold one on Yahoo Auction while ago, but the page is gone.

...Maybe I'll try renting it to confirm what the video is like.

[Teridax]

If you can rent it, yes, please do. Is that a trustworthy rental site?

[stardrop]

I assume so. It seems to be a very small company, but it specializes in collecting/preserving out-of-print video tapes.

I'll try renting a copy by the end of this month.(I'm going to be very busy this week...)

[stardrop]

IMG_0043.JPG

So this thing is in my hand right now. Pity they only sent me the tape without the original case...
The tape itself says that there is no video for KING OF SUEDE due to "Yankovic was touring" but instead there are new photos.
Tamio Kageyama, a popular TV script writer around the era, is credited as video jockey/lyric translation.

...I need to dig up my vhs player...

[TMBJon]

!! The world awaits!

[Yankomaniac]

Man that's cool! You sure your VCR works?

[stardrop]

King Of Suede video is indeed a slideshow(photos + corny transitions) and it's not full length - just about 1 min long.

It starts with the single cover pic then shows pics like Al in studio playing keyboard(with his leg behind his head), several on stage pics(one looks like the set of I Lost On Jeopardy - Welcome To The Fun Zone), and typical(?) Al in Hawaian shirt artist profile pics. For some reason there are 4-5 pics of Al on phone pics(from slightly different angles).

Just FYI, Tamio Kageyama introduced the King Of Suede video as "There are still some minutes left on the tape, so here is something exclusive just for the Japanese audience. You won't be able to watch this anywhere else" - then after the video he said "Sorry I did not know what it is. This terrible thing is not actually a video. They just used the cover and other pics. No I did not make that, this is a PONY CANYON's work. I was just hired to be here and talk, it's not my fault" - then someone threw a pie to him, the video tape ended with he taking the blame.(And the on-screen text promoted the Japanese version of In 3-D that has sleeve notes from him)

(BTW, I like how Tamio talked in the introduction that parody is not easy, and a good parody should be enjoyable to people even when they do not know the original material - and he praised the excellence of Al's works. Aw, I also like his remark that there should be more comedy videos than porn videos.)

[anthontherun]

If you have any way of uploading it (with the introduction and ending), that would be amazing. Any of the Tamio content would be interesting to see, even if I wouldn't understand it. Either way, thanks for finally solving a longtime Al mystery!