Compilation albums

21 December, 202321 December, 2023

Side by side: New Order: (The Best Of) New Order 1994 EU and 1995 US CDs

It’s all about the versions on VersionCrazy and sometimes you come across releases that you make an assumption on, that they will be pretty much standard fare but – somehow, it turns out that they manage to throw up some weird and wonderful regional variations of interest. One such example is this ‘(The Best Of) New Order’ compilation CD from the band, the first fruits for London Records of their deal to acquire the band after the sad demise of the original Factory Records. I guess it was to be expected that after the band was scooped up by a major label (well, in some territories, since they were already on Qwest/Warner Bros. in the US) they would work that back catalogue hard. ‘(The Best Of) New Order’ was the first such example from this deal with London Records, a compilation first released in November 1994 on CD, cassette, LP and video cassette even. But of interest to this article are the differences between that 1994 edition and the American release that followed in 1995.

Side by side: New Order - (The Best Of) New Order EU and US compilation CD front insert designs — ^ Side by side: New Order – (The Best Of) New Order EU and US compilation CD front insert designs

The November 1994 edition tracklist on CD goes like this and is notable for including a number of new ’94’ remixes of some of the tracks; (which I have highlighted in bold text) Continue reading “Side by side: New Order: (The Best Of) New Order 1994 EU and 1995 US CDs”

28 October, 202327 December, 2023

John Foxx compilations across the years Part 2

The second part of this series looking at John Foxx’s music as compiled over the years… 1989’s (presumably) self titled promo video clip collection and 1992’s compilation CD, Assembly’.

John Foxx video compilation (Virgin Music Vault, VVC582, 1989)

This odd little release was one in a series of short video compilations of Virgin label catalogue artists issued in 1989, while VHS was still the format of choice. Amongst other acts of interest in the series (at least for me…) were Skids and Magazine. This video was the first time I was able to view again some promo videos I had seen only a handful of times anyway back in the very early ’80s, and some I had never seen before, so it was a welcome purchase, despite the brevity (clocking in around 25 minutes). Being a UK based Top Of The Pops viewer, the videos were less common sights due to the frequent and memorable John Foxx appearances in the TOTP studio, not least for ‘Underpass’, ‘No One Driving’ (the latter with no less than four Yamaha CS80’s for the backing band!) and ‘Europe, After The Rain’. Continue reading “John Foxx compilations across the years Part 2”

7 October, 20237 October, 2023

John Foxx compilations across the years Part 1

With a post-Ultravox solo career now into its 43rd year, John Foxx has a rich back catalogue to his name and along the way there has been many a compilation that gathered up his work and sliced and diced it salted with tasty, unreleased or hard to come-by morsels. This series of posts will examine each of these compilations in detail and summarise what each one has going for it and therefore worth your time seeking out.

^ A selection of John Foxx compilation albums

Starting with two releases dating from 1981… Continue reading “John Foxx compilations across the years Part 1”

21 August, 202320 August, 2023

Side by side: Tones On Tail – ‘Tones On Tail’ US compilation CD and cassette (Beggars Banquet/RCA, 2410-2-H / 2410-4-H, 1990)

Another compilation that sifts through the Tones On Tail back catalogue panning for gold… this time out it was on CD and cassette formats only – and the cassette version included three extra tracks. This was issued in 1990 in the United States – and was the third compilation released in the US by this point (preceded by ‘The Album Pop’ in 1984 and ‘Night Music’ in 1987).

^ Tones On Tail – ‘Tones On Tail’ US compilation cassette and CD front cover designs side by side

Continue reading “Side by side: Tones On Tail – ‘Tones On Tail’ US compilation CD and cassette (Beggars Banquet/RCA, 2410-2-H / 2410-4-H, 1990)”

28 May, 202329 May, 2023

New Musik ‘From A To B – The Sony Years’ 2023 CD box set (Lemon Recordings, CDLEMBOX249, 2023)

New Musik will always be a favourite of mine and there has been no shortage of previous VersionCrazy coverage, what with ‘The Planet Doesn’t Mind’ version craziness, ‘Greatest Hits’ Promo 7″ EP (GTO, XP112, 1981) and New Musik ‘Anywhere’ UK cassette (GTO, GTMC044, 1981) posts. They have also been relatively fortunate in that their back catalogue has been re-issued fairly regularly since the 1990s onwards, so they have never been left behind and forgotten about. My slightly sanguine ‘relatively fortunate’ is because over the years the re-issues have had a tendency to play a little fast and loose when compiling extra tracks as bonuses to the standard album track lists.

New Musik 2023 CD box set - front box design — ^ New Musik 2023 CD box set – front box design

Continue reading “New Musik ‘From A To B – The Sony Years’ 2023 CD box set (Lemon Recordings, CDLEMBOX249, 2023)”