The Japanese record industry, much to the delights of collectors such as I, always seems to have acted with impunity when it comes to its releases, never shying away from taking a grab-bag approach to compile releases which probably have the artists themselves holding their faces in horror. Yes, we are talking about these albums and mini-albums that have no equivalent releases elsewhere and the early ’80s in particular was a great period for this.
This gem is just such an example, being a full length album that collated a number of Ultravox (mark II) tracks from single releases of 1980 and 1981 which had hitherto mostly not seen an album format release.
Although there is nothing here that you can’t get hold of any number of other releases now, wrapped in a suitably stylish sleeve design (an adaptation of the the design used for the single release of ‘The Voice’ and which would subsequently be adapted again for the ‘Rage In Eden’ re-issue when problems with its original sleeve prompted a redesign) this was if nothing else a very stylish release which never saw the light of day in this format in any other region.
Tracklist:
Side One:
- The Voice (7″ Single Version)
- I Never Wanted To Begin (7″ Single Version)
- Paths And Angles
- Passionate Reply
- All Stood Still (Live at Crystal Palace)
Side Two:
- Private Lives (Live at Crystal Palace)
- Herr X
- Alles Klar
- Waiting
- New Europeans
The tracks all come from the following UK released singles; ‘Sleepwalk’, ‘Vienna’, ‘All Stood Still’ (7″ only), ‘The Thin Wall'(7″ only), ‘The Voice’.
Other than gifting it the title, why is ‘New Europeans’ there then, you may ask, since it never saw light of day on any of the UK single releases? It was released as a 7″ single A side in Japan, in a unique picture sleeve design.
Although a good selection, it might leave completists a tad disappointed – neither of the B sides from the ‘Passing Strangers’ single (‘Face to Face’ and ‘King’s Lead Hat’), nor ‘Keep Talking’ from the ‘All Stood Still’ 12″ are included (perhaps on the reasons of sonic quality for the latter, its source being a rather rough rehearsal tape recorder after all). Still, lets not quibble – if it were to accommodate those tracks too you’d be talking about a double album, given the limitations of vinyl duration. (Though you could argue that it would allow for opening up to also include 12″ mixes (e.g. ‘All Stood Still’, ‘I Never Wanted to Begin’ and even the 7″ edit of ‘All Stood Still’ too.)
As you’d expect, the release also comes with a custom lyric insert and an obi strip on the outer cover, the insert with a great picture of the ‘Rage In Eden’ era group working that’30s/ ’40s noir chic look good and proper. As is customary with many Japanese releases of this era, the lyrics have suffered a bit from the lack of any original lyric sheet to copy from – so there are some rather, ahem, ‘unique’ interpretations to be found on some lines!
I was so delighted to buy this LP in import back in the day because I had not yet crossed over to buying tons of expensive import singles, so this offered a decent selection of the b-side material in a handsome, high-quality Japanese pressing format. Surely, that ain’t hay! They topped this one with the etched vinyl “Hymn” collection two years later. By then I have every single they mined for that release but it was so damned beautiful, you just had to buy it!
The Japanese ‘Hymn’ laser-etched item is very nice. I remember it came with an insert with little handwritten messages from each band member too about the release, which they referred to as a ‘Magnum’ single (maybe that was what those unique mini-album releases in Japan were referred to as?). That’s a good point you make about buying the album and saving on having to buy the individual singles on import.