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
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.
^ Outer sleeve (rear), inner sleeve (rear), additional booklet (rear), Obi (back), CD label design
The CD is largely based on the UK 20th anniversary re-issue from June 1998 for its musical content, but has a slightly re-arranged track order – ‘We Are Glass’ comes after the original album running order on this Japanese issue (i.e. after ‘The Joy Circuit’), whereas on the 20th anniversary re-issue it is sequenced between ‘Sleep By Windows’ and ‘I’m An Agent’. (Just like the original cassette edition, i.e. ‘at the end of side one’!) Other points to note; the mixes of ‘Remind Me To Smile’, ‘Remember I Was Vapour’ and ‘The Joy Circuit’ are also as per the 20th anniversary re-issue – so, they are different to the original vinyl and and first two Beggars Banquet CD issues. (NB: I have to say, I can’t hear what the difference is with the mix of ‘Remind Me To Smile’ – the copies of the CD I have heard all sound the same as the original vinyl mix – can anyone help shed some light on what the differences are?) The mix of ‘I Die: You Die’ is labelled ‘Video Version’ instead of ‘Alternate Version’, but is the same mix as found on the 20th anniversary re-issue – not, in fact, the mix that was used on the promo video