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British Electric Foundation ‘Music for Stowaways’ UK cassette (Virgin, TCV2888, Released: 1981)

Originally a cassette-only album release, the first following the departure of Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware from the original Human League line-up. 1980/81 saw the cassette as a format very much in-vogue, with other acts such as Bow Wow Wow making much publicity from cassette-only releases such as ‘Your Cassette Pet’.

BEF ‘Music for Stowaways’ UK cassette

This was all no doubt fuelled by the revolution that was the Sony Walkman, first introduced in 1979. The title of ‘Music for Stowaways’ came from Sony’s originally planned UK name for the device, the Stowaway, but what would eventually be the Walkman. Continue reading “British Electric Foundation ‘Music for Stowaways’ UK cassette (Virgin, TCV2888, Released: 1981)”

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Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ West German 12″ (Polydor/Metronome, 883-413-1), 1985

To this day I still don’t know what the story is behind this single and why it was never properly released, seemingly withdrawn at the last minute back in late 1985 – no doubt why it is extremely difficult to come by.

Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ West German 12″ front sleeve design

This particular copy is the West German 12″ edition. The tracks on this 12″ are;

To Breathe (Extended Version) (5.46)
Metal And Flesh (5.30)
To Breathe (Instrumental) (3.50) Continue reading “Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ West German 12″ (Polydor/Metronome, 883-413-1), 1985”

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Skids: ‘Days In Europa’ Jap promo CD (Virgin VJCP-23105)

A curiosity, to be sure. ‘Days In Europa’ has a bit of version history to it from not long after its first release. Originally issued on vinyl in late 1979 it was re-issued in remixed form and a new sleeve design within six months! The original version was produced by Bill Nelson and came in a sleeve design copied from a magazine cover (Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung) from the time of the 1936 German Olympics, the Skids appropriation of which came in for some flak about flirting with Nazi imagery. The remixed version changed the sleeve design radically (though the original design makes a cameo appearance as a painting on the wall), removed one song (‘Pros And Cons’) and replaced it with an earlier single, ‘Masquerade’, and generally fiddled about with the sound somewhat. I have to say that I much prefer the original Bill Nelson production.

Skids: ‘Days In Europa’ Japanese promo CD front cover design and OBI

This Japanese CD dates from 1991 and was the first appearance on CD for the album. On first look you’d expect it to be the remixed version from 1980, since that is the sleeve design (and tracklisting!) that the CD features. It is actually the 1979 Bill Nelson produced version included in the CD however and only comes with the ten tracks from the original issue. Therefore, despite the fact that the sleeve design lists ‘Masquerade’ as one of the songs, you won’t find it on there and ‘Pros and Cons’ is included instead. Continue reading “Skids: ‘Days In Europa’ Jap promo CD (Virgin VJCP-23105)”

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: ‘Architecture & Morality’ USA LP (Epic/Virgin/DinDisc ARE37721)

US 'Architecture & Morality' front sleeve design

When it comes to version craziness, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark win in spades, what with their numerous colour variations for their first few LP sleeves and later CD issues. We’ll come to those in more detail on another occasion. This time round, a calling card – here is the American issue of ‘Architecture & Morality’. Musically, it is no different – but as you can see from the sleeve reproduced above the cover design is a variation on the UK edition – with the photograph much larger and the titles above and below it.

Label design, inner sleeve and rear cover design

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Various ‘First Edition’ LP (EG records EGED 15 (2335 238))

‘FIRST EDITION’ was a compilation album from the EG records label, released in early 1982. It featured a sample of the artists to have appeared on EG records over the years, more slanted towards the Eno/Fripp axis or Eno-produced artists along with Phil Manzanera, Penguin Café Orchestra, Lounge Lizards and even Adam and the Ants showing face courtesy of the Jubilee soundtrack outing, ‘Deutscher Girls’. A nice sleeve design courtesy of Stylo Rouge, it comes complete with an inner sleeve.

'First Edition' LP front sleeve design

At the same time, EG re-issued a number of albums and I picked up their promotional ‘Editions EG Catalogue’ which listed this series of re-releases. A nice little fold-out, multi-page pamphlet, a record shop freebie, EG styling themselves as an eclectic label of taste and adventure, now Editions EG. The inner sleeve of ‘First Edition’ printed the sleeves of this particular reissue collection, the catalogue also shows them along with tracklisting, brief description and also a cut out and post order form. Continue reading “Various ‘First Edition’ LP (EG records EGED 15 (2335 238))”