Category: Region crazy

The French edition of Kraftwerk’s wonderful ‘Computer World’ album of 1981 is unique for its inclusion of ‘Mini Calculateur’, the en française rendition of ‘Pocket Calculator’. This is one of the four language variants of the song officially released on vinyl, the others being German, English and Japanese. The band also recorded an Italian language version (‘Mini Calcolatore’) and performed it in 1981 on the RAI television show ‘Discoring‘, but this language mix was not released on record. A pity, as it sounds great. (There have been additional live performance variations too, but these were the recorded ones.)

Continue reading “Kraftwerk – ‘Computer World’ (Pathe-Marconi EMI, 2C 070 64370, 1981)”

This little curio has passed me by until recent times I must admit, since to my knowledge this particular remix has never been re-issued on CD format at all. For its release in the United States, Geffen Records had a remix of ‘Cities In Dust’ made and it found its way on to this 7″ single as well as a regular edition 12″ EP edition and promo-only 12″ single. Given that the sleeve and label credits quite clearly namecheck the ‘Tinderbox’ LP, I would wager that this single release is from 1986 rather than the UK’s original late 1985 debut – but as I say, this particular variation passed me by altogether, so anyone else who knows for sure is more than welcome to comment.

Continue reading “Siouxsie and the Banshees – ‘Cities In Dust’ (Bob Rock Remix) US 7″ (Wonderland/Geffen, 7-28813, 1986)”

It was initially a surprise to me when the ‘Penthouse and Pavement’ LP was released that their second single, ‘I’m Your Money’,was overlooked for inclusion, whereas their debut single,  ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’, was all present and correct. I was quite partial to ‘I’m Your Money’, its sequenced rhythm had a touch of the ‘Trans-Europe Express’ to it and it’s multi-lingual speech inserts also hinted at that Kraftwerk-like ambition to cross borders. But it was left off and that was that, until I came across this pressing that is…

Continue reading “Heaven 17 – ‘Penthouse and Pavement’ Canadian LP (Virgin VL 2225, 1981)”

An odd choice of single perhaps, not the most immediate song to shout ‘single’ release from ‘Telekon’ – but then, neither was ‘This Wreckage’, was it? This 12″ single was only released in the then West Germany and was immediately of appeal to collectors worldwide due to its attractive sleeve design and unique pairing of tracks. Remember, for me anyway, this was the era of interesting import releases that would be listed in the back pages of music papers such as Sounds, NME, etc with excitingly brief descriptions as ‘diff pic bag’ indicating some (variable) picture sleeve design from the familiar UK versions.

Continue reading “Gary Numan – ‘Remember I Was Vapour’ (Live) West German 12″ (Beggars Banquet INT 126.600, 1980)”