Category: Region crazy

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Danielle Dax – ‘Up Amongst The Golden Spires’ Japanese CD (Vap, 85009-32, 1987

Once again, time to focus on the ever wonderful and enduring work of Danielle Dax. A relatively straightforward playing-catch-up release, ‘Up Amongst The Golden Spires’ is a Japan-only compilation album that pooled together all of the tracks originally released on the ‘Pop-Eyes’ album (1983) and the ‘Jesus Egg That Wept’ mini-album (1984), released on vinyl format late 1986 and on CD format in February 1987 on the Japanese VAP label. 1987 would be a pivotal year for Dax, with the release of the ‘Inky Bloaters’ album and ever increased media profile. The VAP label would go on to release the exclusive album ‘The Chemical Wedding’, covered in detail in an earlier post,  in November 1987 which as well as mingling some previously released material also included versions unreleased elsewhere to this day, as well as the initial release of material that would surface in other territories until later.

Danielle Dax - 'Up Amongst The Golden Spires' Japanese CD - front insert design and disc label
^ Danielle Dax – ‘Up Amongst The Golden Spires’ Japanese CD – front insert design and disc label

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Talking Heads – ‘Take Me To The River’ / ‘Psycho Killer’ UK cassingle (Sire, SPC 9, 1981)

This curious little release was issued as part of a series cassette format singles of WEA label artists, such as Gary Numan and Tubeway Army as featured in a pervious post. Packaged in cute little flip-top box packs, the series shared a common theme of design/layout and would pair two the best tracks by each of the artists chosen. As well as this Talking Heads release, the series featured The Pretenders (two releases, no less), Angelic Upstarts, Rezillos, Tubeway Army, The Ramones, Gary Numan, Saxon and finally Jane Birkin.

Talking Heads - 'Take Me To The River' / 'Psycho Killer' 1981 UK Cassingle - flip-top pack front
^ Talking Heads – ‘Take Me To The River’ / ‘Psycho Killer’ 1981 UK Cassingle – flip-top pack front

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Kraftwerk ‘Kometenmelodie 2’ 1981 UK 7″ (Vertigo, VER3, 1981)

1981 and Kraftwerk’s world tour and new ‘Computer World’ album was easily the band’s highest profile moves in several years and so it also acted as an impetus for the band’s previous record label to cash in with a new compilation album (‘Elektro Kinetik’) and accompanying single, ‘Kometenmelodie 2’. This would be the last hurrah for Vertigo Records in the UK with regards to Kraftwerk releases, as after 1981 the band acquired the rights to their earliest work and there would be no further re-issues of the Philips/Vertigo era material at all.

Kraftwerk 'Kometenmelodie 2' 1981 UK 7" front cover
^ Kraftwerk ‘Kometenmelodie 2’ 1981 UK 7″ front cover

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‘Times Square’ – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack US LP (RSO RS-2-4203, 1980)

‘Times Square’ was one of those movies that tapped into the late ‘70s music scene vibe and fashions and which I read about in the pages of ‘Smash Hits’ and ‘Record Mirror’, my two go-to music rags of 1980, rather than actually see at the time. I had been to see the UK film ‘Breaking Glass’ in August or September of 1980 (memory is hazy on dates) and this US flick while quite different and a whole other story and perspective had a similar appeal. But funds were tight back then and it passed by its cinema release and it wasn’t until a few years later that I saw it in the days of home VHS rental, which is more likely a 1982/1983 timeframe, long after the hype.

'Times Square' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - front cover design
^ ‘Times Square’ Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – front cover design

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Side by side: New Order: (The Best Of) New Order 1994 EU and 1995 US CDs

It’s all about the versions on VersionCrazy and sometimes you come across releases that you make an assumption on, that they will be pretty much standard fare but – somehow, it turns out that they manage to throw up some weird and wonderful regional variations of interest. One such example is this ‘(The Best Of) New Order’ compilation CD from the band, the first fruits for London Records of their deal to acquire the band after the sad demise of the original Factory Records. I guess it was to be expected that after the band was scooped up by a major label (well, in some territories, since they were already on Qwest/Warner Bros. in the US) they would work that back catalogue hard. ‘(The Best Of) New Order’ was the first such example from this deal with London Records, a compilation first released in November 1994 on CD, cassette, LP and video cassette even. But of interest to this article are the differences between that 1994 edition and the American release that followed in 1995.

Side by side: New Order - (The Best Of) New Order EU and US compilation CD front insert designs
^ Side by side: New Order – (The Best Of) New Order EU and US compilation CD front insert designs

The November 1994 edition tracklist on CD goes like this and is notable for including a number of new ’94’ remixes of some of the tracks; (which I have highlighted in bold text) Continue reading “Side by side: New Order: (The Best Of) New Order 1994 EU and 1995 US CDs”