Category: Region crazy

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Fast Forward 008/009: Annual Report (Australian 2 x Cassette Magazine Compilation, December 1981)

This snappily packaged little item was attached to the wall of the wonderful 1-UP Records back in the days of their shop on Rosemount Viaduct for a long, long while. I would hardly dare guess quite how long it was sellotaped up on the wall (which hasn’t done the soft vinyl pack too much good), but it seemed to be up there forever. I can’t recall how it came to be that I decided to investigate it further, but at some point I think I became aware of the presence of Kraftwerk and The Cure in particular on it. And when it became clear that these were exclusive items, well, it was time to buy.

Fast Forward 008/009: Annual Report cassette magazine - pack front
^ Fast Forward 008/009: Annual Report cassette magazine – pack front

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Human League – ‘Only After Dark’ West German 7″ (Virgin, 102 148-100, 1980)

‘Only After Dark’ should have been the second single released from the ‘Travelogue’ album in the UK – and indeed copies were pressed up, complete with a long version of ‘Toyota City’ on the B side, catalogue number VS351. But it appears that it was a record company choice and so much to the displeasure of the band that they objected to its release (as told in the wonderful Blind Youth website). Instead, Virgin went with the re-press and re-release of ‘Empire State Human’ instead (and also on 12″ too this time) with the same VS351 catalogue number as ‘Only After Dark’ and shrink-wrapped copies of that and ‘Only After Dark’ together as another value for money double-pack limited edition (15,000, apparently) like the ‘Holiday ’80’ EP before it. That’s the version I bought anyway and I must admit, I never realised that officially it was ‘Empire State Human’ as the lead single – I always assumed it was ‘Only After Dark’.

Human League - 'Only After Dark' West German 7" front cover design
^ Human League – ‘Only After Dark’ West German 7″ front cover design

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Kraftwerk – ‘Computer World’ (Pathe-Marconi EMI, 2C 070 64370, 1981)

The French edition of Kraftwerk’s wonderful ‘Computer World’ album of 1981 is unique for its inclusion of ‘Mini Calculateur’, the en française rendition of ‘Pocket Calculator’. This is one of the four language variants of the song officially released on vinyl, the others being German, English and Japanese. The band also recorded an Italian language version (‘Mini Calcolatore’) and performed it in 1981 on the RAI television show ‘Discoring‘, but this language mix was not released on record. A pity, as it sounds great. (There have been additional live performance variations too, but these were the recorded ones.)

Kraftwerk - 'Computer World' Pathe-Marconi EMI French vinyl LP, 1981 - front sleeve design.
^ Kraftwerk – ‘Computer World’ Pathe-Marconi EMI French vinyl LP, 1981 – front sleeve design.

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He Said – ‘Could You?’ versions

Some while back I posted about the wonderful (thought of its time) He Said album, ‘Take Care’. The supporting single release for the album was the uneasy ‘Could You?’. Who knows for sure what the ‘text’ by Graham Lewis really alludes to, but for me it has always leaned towards some cryptic confession of murder/mercy killing. Despite the opaque nature of the lyric, it looks like there were high hopes for its commercial success as a single and it provides rich pickings for version craziness to be uncovered, with no less than six mix variants across the ‘Could You?’/’Could You (Too)’ main variants.

He Said - Could You? - UK 12 inch single front sleeve design.
^ He Said – Could You? – UK 12 inch single front sleeve design.

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Siouxsie and the Banshees – ‘Cities In Dust’ (Bob Rock Remix) US 7″ (Wonderland/Geffen, 7-28813, 1986)

This little curio has passed me by until recent times I must admit, since to my knowledge this particular remix has never been re-issued on CD format at all. For its release in the United States, Geffen Records had a remix of ‘Cities In Dust’ made and it found its way on to this 7″ single as well as a regular edition 12″ EP edition and promo-only 12″ single. Given that the sleeve and label credits quite clearly namecheck the ‘Tinderbox’ LP, I would wager that this single release is from 1986 rather than the UK’s original late 1985 debut – but as I say, this particular variation passed me by altogether, so anyone else who knows for sure is more than welcome to comment.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - 'Cities In Dust' (Bob Rock Remix) US 7
^ Siouxsie and the Banshees – ‘Cities In Dust’ (Bob Rock Remix) US 7″ – front sleeve design

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