After I had finally taken to the charms of the silver CD disc as a format, there was no stopping me, and that included re-issues of all kinds – even these rather generic, budget-price compilation series – not least because on occasions they were useful for tracking down hard to find versions (or even hitherto unreleased versions, in the case of another Japan CD-only compilation, ‘Souvenir From Japan’ and its exclusive mix of Life In Tokyo’ – another story…
^ Japan ‘Old Gold’ 3 Track 5″ CD Single front cover design
These two small objects of desire were 1988 era 3” CD format singles from a range of releases by Virgin that ostensibly looked to mimic original vinyl releases from back in the day. But the devil is in the detail…
^ Side by side: 1988 Japan 3” CD singles – ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ and Ghosts’ front cover designs
First up was ‘Ghosts’ (Virgin, CDT 11, 1988) and it is the more interesting of the two releases by way of its inclusion on CD of the 3’55” single remix of ‘Ghosts’ as well as the 1981 live ‘version’ of ‘The Art Of Parties’ that was the B side of the original 1982 UK 7” and 12” singles. The live take is an interesting alternative as this was the tour that saw Steve Jansen play a Simmons electronic drum kit (as briefly mentioned on Steve’s excellent Sleepyard blog and on stereoklang.se) while the scorching lead guitar duties are from the wonderful David Rhodes on a short-lived stint as live guitarist with Japan on the 1981 ‘Visions of China’ tour, his distinctive tones more familiar from his work with Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk and Kate Bush amongst others. There is a third track this CD by way of ‘Visions Of China’ (in its familiar 3’38” album mix) – it bears no relation to the original ‘Ghosts’ single and seems an odd inclusion here. Continue reading “Side by side: 1988 Japan 3” CD singles”
Three albums in to Peter Murphy’s solo career, 1989’s ‘Deep’ brought the ex-Bauhaus frontman a high degree of well-earned success in the US, having put in the stateside touring miles the year before and with the new LP a strong piece of work. Success to such an extent that a series of single releases in addition to the pre-album single ‘Cuts You Up’ saw light of day in the US. These were of high appeal to a fan and collector such as I, on the other side of the Atlantic, where ‘Deep’ wouldn’t even receive a UK release until 1990, and would merit only the one accompanying single release, such were the disparity in fortunes for Murphy between homeland and the US.
^ Peter Murphy – A Strange Kind Of Love US promo insert front cover design
It’s a particular favourite of mine, this album, what with its high-tech, high-sheen finish of meticulously crafted pop – it got a vinyl re-release last year on Rough Trade and for some reason the CD issue was delayed… and now there is a Japanese issue too with one extra track…
^ Scritti Politti ‘Cupid & Psyche 85’ 2022 Japanese re-issue CD – front cover design and some of the additional inserts/disc
It was going to be just a straight re-release of the existing CD incarnation, which featured the original album tracks plus four additional bonus tracks of some of the ‘Versions’ from the contemporary single B sides. As it turns out, it is not just a straight re-issue and there are differences… and to add to that, there is this, the Japanese CD re-release which comes with an extra bonus track for Japan only. Continue reading “Scritti Politti ‘Cupid & Psyche 85’ Japanese re-issue CD [Rough Trade / Beat Records, RTRAD695CDJP, 2022]”
The recent announcement of yet another re-issue of ‘Sulk’ (this time to mark the 40th anniversary of its first release) got me reaching back to 2016’s selection of CD releases to refresh the memory banks of what versions were out there… and reminded me of this curious compilation and what it had to offer to justify the shelf space…
Did we need another Associates compilation? There were already ‘Popera’, ‘Double Hipness’ and ‘Singles’, after all. It was part of the 2016 CD re-issue campaign that saw the Associates first three albums issued on double CD sets with a welter of extras. This set pre-dated the new re-issues by a month or so, presumably to whet the appetite. Turns out, this ‘The Very Best Of’ 2 x CD set was a curious item. First off, the title – perhaps you might argue that CD 1 of the set could possibly fit the bill of the title – but it has nothing post-1982 in its tracklisting. And as for CD 2 – a round up of all kinds of odds and ends with the bait of three previously unreleased recordings as the lure for purchase. A rum do indeed… perhaps ‘Associates Anthology’ might have fit the bill better as a title.
^ Associates – The Very Best Of – front cover design
