Category: Region crazy

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Suzanne Vega – ‘Live In London 1986’ Australian Mini-Album (A&M, L20054, 1986)

‘Live In London 1986’ is a curious yet appealing release I spotted amongst the racks way back in the day, styled to fit in with the UK single releases of ‘Left Of Center’ and ‘Marlene On The Wall’ (1986 re-release) by the looks of it. Turns out that it was only issued in Australia, New Zealand and Japan and it is made up of a variety of live recordings that in some cases found themselves spread across various B side and 12″ singles in the UK – but also a couple that look to be exclusive to this release. My copy is the Australian vinyl mini-album, picked up on import.

Suzanne Vega - 'Live In London 1986' Australian mini-album front cover design
^ Suzanne Vega – ‘Live In London 1986’ Australian mini-album front cover design

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Xmal Deutschland – ‘The Peel Sessions’ UK 12″ EP / US CD EP [Strange Fruit, SFPS017, 1986 / Dutch East India Trading, DEI8313-2, 1991]

The Strange Fruit label series of John Peel Sessions was a real godsend… so much good stuff made available from a fate of home recorded cassettes taped from (at best) occasionally hissy FM or dull and crackly medium wave radio broadcasts. This particular release of Xmal Deutschland and their spring 1985 John Peel session is an interesting one in a number of respects.

Xmal Deutschland - 'The Peel Sessions' UK 12" EP / US CD EP front covers
^ Xmal Deutschland – ‘The Peel Sessions’ UK 12″ EP / US CD EP front covers

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Public Image Ltd. – ‘Seattle’ Japanese CD single (Columbia, 15CY-5013, 1987)

The first single to be lifted from PiL’s 1987 album, ‘Happy’, ‘Seattle’ was a a lively, punchy track that sadly failed to provide much of a hit to match the momentum that the previous year’s ‘Album’ and ‘Rise’ releases had. Bolstered with a resurgent John McGeogh on guitar, its a highly polished production, courtesy of Gary Langan, and his high-tech, meticulous touches are one thing, though how well it fitted with earlier PiL sounds is a point of debate.

Public Image Ltd. - 'Seattle' Japanese CD single front cover design and OBI.
^ Public Image Ltd. – ‘Seattle’ Japanese CD single front cover design and OBI.

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Kraftwerk – ‘The Robots’ Brazilian 7″ EP (Capitol Records, 31C 016 85870, 1979)

From 1979, and an era where releases could be weird and wonderful depending on the region of the globe they hail from and how that region liked to do things, a unique picture sleeve four track 7” EP from Kraftwerk. This is the kind of release that, from roughly 1986 onwards, became something of a rare occasion for Kraftwerk, the more that they standardised releases across the world with the ‘Musique Non Stop’ single and ‘Electric Cafe’ album.

Kraftwerk - 'The Robots' Brazilian 7" EP front cover design
^ Kraftwerk – ‘The Robots’ Brazilian 7″ EP front cover design

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The Human League – ‘Holiday ‘80’ Japanese ‘Pic Label’ series 12″ single (Virgin, VIP-5906, 1981)

Another post documenting one more of the ‘Pic Label’ series of Japanese 12” compilation mini-albums that were such a collector’s delight – so far we have covered The Flying Lizards, John Foxx, and Japan – this time around the release is less unique, as it is based on the existing ‘Holiday ‘80’ EP from 1980, though no less appealing.

Human League - 'Holiday '80' Japanese Mini-LP - front cover design
^ Human League – ‘Holiday ’80’ Japanese Mini-LP – front cover design

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