This curious little release was issued as part of a series cassette format singles of WEA label artists, such as Gary Numan and Tubeway Army as featured in a pervious post. Packaged in cute little flip-top box packs, the series shared a common theme of design/layout and would pair two the best tracks by each of the artists chosen. As well as this Talking Heads release, the series featured The Pretenders (two releases, no less), Angelic Upstarts, Rezillos, Tubeway Army, The Ramones, Gary Numan, Saxon and finally Jane Birkin.
^ Talking Heads – ‘Take Me To The River’ / ‘Psycho Killer’ 1981 UK Cassingle – flip-top pack front
What a complicated tale there is to Kraftwerk’s ‘Tour de France’ single. So many versions! This post takes a brief dip into the story to focus on only one release, the rather novel cassette single edition that came out in the UK for the single’s original release in 1983. The mixes of the song featured on this cassingle mirror those to be found on the original 1983 UK 12” single, these being;
Side One:
Tour De France (Long Version) (6’30”)
Side Two:
Tour De France (3’00”) (NB: This was the same mix as on the A side of the 1983 UK 7” single too.)
Tour De France 2è Étape (2’40”)
Now then, it’s important to point out from the off that the first two tracks on this release are the French language versions. The third track – ‘Tour de France 2è Étape’ – is listed as ‘Tour de France’ (Version) on the 12” record label and cassette shell instead, for some odd reason. This 2è Étape mix is NOT the same as the mix that was on the B side of the 1983 7” UK single, despite having a similar duration of 2’40”. The 7” B side is a genuine, shorter instrumental mix whereas ‘Tour de France 2è Étape’ doesn’t really feature the music and is more of an electronic percussion and effects workout.
^ Kraftwerk – ‘Tour de France’ 1983 UK cassette single front cover design
Three years on from the previous compilation release, ‘Metatronic’, 2013’s ‘Metadelic’ was very much a companion piece that chose to focus on the ‘warmer’ periods of John’s solo material, seemingly psychedelic infused as opposed to the more influential, cold and dystopian works his solo work started off with (and would revisit later), and managed to include some previously unreleased exclusives, as well as bring some video materials back into circulation. Or as Foxx describes it in the sleevenotes; “The cyber-punk they called John Foxx’ has dissolved a little and defrosted. He has become healthy and splendored, drifting free.”
The annual Record Store Day orgy of new and limited edition releases has come and gone and once more served up a new ZTT label release that has proved too tempting to resist, in this case an album-length release dedicated to eight versions of one song alone, ‘Dr. Mabuse’. What do you mean who needs an album of eight different versions of one song?! This is only ‘Part 1’ – there’s even more to come at some future as yet unspecified date! It is the single’s 40th anniversary too, don’tcha know?!
^ Propaganda – ‘Die 1000 Augen Des Dr. Mabuse’ RSD 2024 LP front cover
1981 and Kraftwerk’s world tour and new ‘Computer World’ album was easily the band’s highest profile moves in several years and so it also acted as an impetus for the band’s previous record label to cash in with a new compilation album (‘Elektro Kinetik’) and accompanying single, ‘Kometenmelodie 2’. This would be the last hurrah for Vertigo Records in the UK with regards to Kraftwerk releases, as after 1981 the band acquired the rights to their earliest work and there would be no further re-issues of the Philips/Vertigo era material at all.
^ Kraftwerk ‘Kometenmelodie 2’ 1981 UK 7″ front cover
