Category: Small objects of desire

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John Foxx ‘Burning Car’ Japanese ‘Pic Label’ series 12″ single (Virgin, VIP-5903, 1981))

A companion release from the same series as the Flying Lizards ‘Move On ‘Up’ 12″ documented in a previous post. Taking the usual cavalier attitude to track selection and sleeve design that many Japanese releases of this period had, this little beauty gathers together a selection of tracks from three of John Foxx’s 1980 singles (‘Miles Away’, ‘Burning Car’ and the extra single from the ‘No-One’s Driving’ double-pack 7 inch) in a sleeve/label design unlike any other Foxx release.

John Foxx 'Burning Car' Japanese 12 inch mini-LP
^ John Foxx ‘Burning Car’ Japanese 12 inch mini-LP

Along the way, it has also managed to include a different mix of ‘Miles Away’, the same one as used in the promo video for the single, I believe. (This mix finally made it on to CD with the late-2008 2-disc re-issue of ‘The Garden’.) Continue reading “John Foxx ‘Burning Car’ Japanese ‘Pic Label’ series 12″ single (Virgin, VIP-5903, 1981))”

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Rema-Rema, ‘Wheel In The Roses’ CD EP (4AD, BAD 5CD) / Various artists: ‘Natures Mortes’ (4AD CAD 117CD)

The original release of the ‘Wheel In The Roses’ EP was one of the earliest 4AD releases, coming after the initial batch of four singles that had gone under the label’s original name of ‘Axis’. It was the only release from Rema-Rema, a short-lived band but from whom the seeds of a good few other acts would evolve or intersect, including Wolfgang Press, Renegade Soundwave, Psychic TV and of course most famously Marco Pirroni’s saddle-up with Adam Ant.

'Wheel In The Roses' CD EP - front cover, inner sleeve (front), insert (front) and CD label
^ ‘ Wheel In The Roses’ CD EP – front cover, inner sleeve (front), insert (front) and CD label

What I love about this small object of desire is that despite it being so wilfully obscure and the band’s only proper release (two other songs did appear as live recordings on a tape-only compilation, ‘The Men With the Deadly Dreams’) (the songs from which can be heard on the Rema Rema MySpace site), 4AD saw fit to lovingly reproduce it in CD form. Perhaps it could be down to the fact that despite it’s obscurity, two of the songs had been covered subsequently – ‘Fond Affections’ appearing on the first This Mortal Coil album, ‘It’ll End In Tears’, with Big Black taking on ‘Rema-Rema’ itself. Continue reading “Rema-Rema, ‘Wheel In The Roses’ CD EP (4AD, BAD 5CD) / Various artists: ‘Natures Mortes’ (4AD CAD 117CD)”

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Flying Lizards ‘Move On Up’ Japanese ‘Pic Label’ series 12″ single (Virgin, VIP-5902)

Japanese releases have always been fabulously exotic and collectable to me, with their disregard for replicating the exact same releases elsewhere and willingness to mix and match tracks into new combinations, such as 12″ mini-albums and so on. Plus of course the extra attention to detail with the quality of sleeve designs, inserts and packaging in general. Virgin released a series of ‘pic label’ releases by a few of my favourites such as John Foxx, The Human League, Japan, and, in the subject of this post, The Flying Lizards.

Flying Lizards 'Move On Up' Japanese 'Pic Label' series 12" single front sleeve with Obi
^ Flying Lizards ‘Move On Up’ Japanese ‘Pic Label’ series 12 inch single front sleeve with Obi

Hailing from late 1980, this 12″ compiles various tracks from all of the Flying Lizards singles up to that point and comes in a die-cut sleeve with an over-sized 6″ picture label on show (front only) – ‘Move On Up’ (Single edit) and Portugal from the A and B side respectively of the ‘Move On Up’ 7″ single, ‘All Guitars’ from the B side of the ‘Summertime Blues’ single, ‘Money’ (the longer, album version though) from the ‘Money’ single (which was available on 12″ in some territories) and ‘Tube’ from the B side of the ‘TV’ single. Continue reading “Flying Lizards ‘Move On Up’ Japanese ‘Pic Label’ series 12″ single (Virgin, VIP-5902)”

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Gary Numan – ‘I Assassin’ Jap mini LP sleeve (Beggars Banquet/Imperial, TECI-24262)

The last of these entries on the Numan Japanese replica mini-LP sleeve editions – ‘I Assassin’, originally issued on vinyl and cassette in 1982.

Front sleeve, inner sleeve front, additional booklet, obi (front) and CD label design

This CD release comes with 15 tracks in total – the 8 from the original album plus the same seven bonus tracks as per the UK Beggars Banquet re-issue from 2002 (BBL40CD). As for packaging – it pretty faithfully recreates the UK LP sleeve design, as shown in the photos – outer and inner sleeve. There is also an additional black and white Japanese text-only info and lyric booklet (8 pages), plus an extra record company contact card and of course the outer ‘obi’ band. The label design is as per side one of the original UK vinyl issue, even down to still including the ‘Dance’ text at the top. Continue reading “Gary Numan – ‘I Assassin’ Jap mini LP sleeve (Beggars Banquet/Imperial, TECI-24262)”

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Gary Numan – ‘Telekon’ Jap mini LP sleeve (Beggars Banquet/Imperial, TECI-24261)

The subject of Gary Numan’s ‘Telekon’ album on CD is worthy of an article of its own and I will come to that in a future post to try and document the various mixes that have appeared on each. It has been re-issued on CD so many times and along the way different mixes of tracks have sneaked on without being highlighted. Meanwhile, in this current series on the Japanese mini-LP issues, I’ll concentrate on documenting the packaging that these fabulous little objects come with.

Outer sleeve (front), inner sleeve (front), additional booklet (front), Obi (front), CD label design

^ Outer sleeve (front), inner sleeve (front), additional booklet (front), Obi (front), CD label design

The cover and inner sleeve are pretty faithful to the original vinyl issue from 1980 – the CD label design is too (at least for side one of the original vinyl), except for it being blue instead of black, for some reason. But… that is the original UK label design! The Japanese vinyl LP actually had a standard Atlantic records label design (green/white/red)when first issued in Japan. It is also worth noting that while it comes with an additional booklet, this is not the same as per the additional insert that came with the vinyl LP. Continue reading “Gary Numan – ‘Telekon’ Jap mini LP sleeve (Beggars Banquet/Imperial, TECI-24261)”