Celebrating vinyl / CD / cassette / memorabilia releases of musical gems and curiosities from the punk era onwards
A week ago I posted about the 2017 MusikExpress magazine exclusive of ‘Die Roboter’ (3-D edit) 7″ single and trailed the release of another addition to the ongoing series of exclusives, ‘Heimcomputer’, due for release with the June 2021 issue of the magazine. A week on and I now have a copy of that arrived to hand…
What is it? A one-sided 7″ single with a 3 minute 33 seconds edit of the ‘3-D’ re-recording of ‘Die Roboter’ given away exclusively with the German magazine MusikExpress in its August 2017 issue. The flipside, rather than completely blank, still has a red label design with the pixelated band members logo and has an etched artwork design on the vinyl, with ‘KRAFTWERK’ (top) and ‘12345678’ (bottom) in the familiar pixelated font so beloved of many a Kraftwerk release from 1981 onwards.
This is the first of what now appears to be something of a biennial series of 7″ releases for Kraftwerk in MusikExpress magazine. It was followed in 2019 with a new edit of ‘Autobahn’ on blue vinyl 7″, which was featured in a previous post. Continue reading “Kraftwerk – ‘Die Roboter’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single (Kling Klang/Parlophone, 2017)”
A small but historical selections of period badges, of a Post-Punk flavour this time round. None of your recent eBay purchases here, I can vouch that all of these designs pictured date back to 1981/82, which is when I picked them up and swiftly fastened them to lapel or pocket flap to sport around town. They would have almost certainly been from 1-UP records in Aberdeen, when they were still to be found on Rosemount Viaduct.
Continue reading “Button badge goodness – Post-Punk Selection 1 (Joy Division, Gang of Four, Wire)”
1982 into 1983 was when I first really got the Bauhaus bug. Summer of 1983 into Autumn of that year in particular it reached fever-pitch, with having been able to see Bauhaus live and with the release of the band’s final album and various solo project releases from Tones On Tail and David J. This would continue for some time as I delved back into the band’s previous releases and other solo project releases.
Amongst them was the release in focus here. It sounded intriguing, from what little I knew about it. René Halkett, original member of The Bauhaus (or Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar’ to be more formal) makes contact with bass player of Bauhaus and a friendship emerges that leads to a collaborative single. Bauhaus were regular pilloried in the music press for their assumed pretentiousness and… oh my… this surely came with a capital P in their eyes!
The Human League’s fine second album, presented here in the altered version released in Canada alone that saw a different sleeve design and altered tracklisting. All in all, added up to an appealing import temptation from the racks of HMV. Whether it was to the band’s liking, I don’t know – can’t be very satisfying to spend all that time and effort sequencing a running order and sleeve design only to have a record label change it – even retitling one of the tracks!
First off, the altered sleeve design… ditching the more familiar design used for the front in most other territories, this version chose to re-use the cover photo used for the ‘Holiday ’80’ EP, tweaking the title graphics to keep the regular ‘Travelogue’ titling. Meanwhile, the back cover kept the layout, though with an alterations to the colourway to tone in with the front cover, I presume, with block blue background instead of a golden yellow. Continue reading “The Human League – ‘Travelogue’ Canadian LP (Virgin/Polygram VL 2202, 1980)”