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)”

Brian Eno, ‘Textures’ CD (Standard Music Library, ESL 003)

If you are not already familiar with it, ‘Textures’ is a CD by Brian Eno that has never been commercially available to the public, instead only a limited, promotional-only release, intended as a stock library music source for licensing by film and television makers, released by Standard Music Library, cat. no. ESL 003.

'Textures' CD front cover
^ ‘Textures’ CD front cover

Despite its limited availability, it appears that it has been issued a few times, so this particular sleeve design is not the only one available. Continue reading “Brian Eno, ‘Textures’ CD (Standard Music Library, ESL 003)”

Associates – ‘Associates’ 4 track promo CD (V2, VVR5011563P)

A four song promo CD dating from 2000, released on V2 records to promote their re-issue programme of the Associates back catalogue (‘Sulk’, ‘Fourth Drawer Down’ and ‘Double Hipness’).

^ Front cover scan of the CD
View this image at a larger size

It is curious because a couple of the mixes are not the ones present on the CD albums that this release is promoting. The tracks featured on this release include Continue reading “Associates – ‘Associates’ 4 track promo CD (V2, VVR5011563P)”

Ultravox! ’12” Mini-Album’ Australian Mini-LP (Island/Festival, L 20003 / IEL-8)

On first sight you’d be forgiven for thinking that you are just looking at the regular UK 7″ of Ultravox!’s ‘Retro’ live EP from 1978…

Front cover of the Australian 12" mini-LP from 1981
^ Front cover of the Australian 12″ mini-LP from 1981

But look closer though and you’ll then notice that only the ‘Ultravox!’ text is included (no Live / Retro text) and there is also a ‘Mini LP’ logo. Continue reading “Ultravox! ’12” Mini-Album’ Australian Mini-LP (Island/Festival, L 20003 / IEL-8)”

Love and Rockets ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ Canadian 12″ Remix single, (Vertigo/Beggars Banquet, SOVX 2363)

I’m putting together a longer post looking at the various releases on CD of ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’, which was the first album by Love and Rockets, but ahead of that, a quick focus on a Canadian 12″ remix edition of the first single from the album, ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’.

'If There's A Heaven Above' Canadian 12" remix single sleeve - front
^ ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ Canadian 12 inch remix single sleeve – front

This Canadian 12″ issue is radically different in all respects from the UK editions. For starters, the A side features a remix of the song (titled ‘U.S. Mix’ on the label, timed at 4 mins 26 secs), while the B side features ‘Inside The Outside’, which in the UK was released on the B side of the various versions of the earlier ‘Ball Of Confusion’ single instead. Continue reading “Love and Rockets ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ Canadian 12″ Remix single, (Vertigo/Beggars Banquet, SOVX 2363)”