Kraftwerk ‘Computer World’ Japanese bonus track CD (Toshiba-EMI, TOCP-8974 / 0777 7460402 4, 1997)

To this day, Kraftwerk remain an act that does things its own unique way and more often that not flies in the face of the norms of the music business. If you expect to be able to find the band’s back catalogue re-issued every few years with a multitude of bonus tracks added, you will be very mistaken. For the most part, the albums come as the album’s were originally released, with no extra tracks such as remixes, alternative versions, etc. In some cases, you simply cannot find official releases at all – e.g. the bands first three albums (‘Kraftwerk’, ‘Kraftwerk 2’, ‘Ralf and Florian’) have never received any official re-release since 1980 and never on CD/digitally. One exception to Kraftwerk’s otherwise strict behaviour however is this CD dating from January 1997, a Japanese CD edition of ‘Computer World’ that contains… hold your breath… a bonus track!

Kraftwerk 'Computer World' 1997 Japanese CD re-issue - front cover and obi
^ Kraftwerk ‘Computer World’ 1997 Japanese CD re-issue – front cover and obi

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Button Badge Goodness: Bauhaus (Part 1)

Can hardly believe it has taken this long to get round to posting the first in a series of button badge goodness from one of my all time favourite acts, Bauhaus…

Bauhaus button badge selection 1
^ Bauhaus button badge selection 1

This first badge in the selection features an archive photo from a theatre production produced by Oskar Schlemmer, from the original Bauhaus period – I first came across it with its use on the cover of the book ‘Performance: Live Art, 1909 to the Present’, by Roselee Goldberg, from 1979 – the band plundered a detail of this photo for press adverts for the ‘Spirit’ single in 1982 but which wasn’t used on the final (rather disappointing, if I may say) sleeve design. Continue reading “Button Badge Goodness: Bauhaus (Part 1)”

New Order ‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ UK CD single (Factory, FACD193, 1987)

‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ was one of a handful of tracks by New Order included on the soundtrack to the movie ‘Salvation’. Released as a single in December 1987, it was remixed for the occasion and also acted as the follow-up to the surprisingly big chart success that ‘True Faith’ had gifted the band a few months earlier.

New Order 'Touched By The Hand Of God' UK CD single front cover design
^ New Order ‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ UK CD single front cover design

Continue reading “New Order ‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ UK CD single (Factory, FACD193, 1987)”

Button badge goodness – Post-Punk Selection 2 (New Order, The Passions, John Foxx, Talking Heads)

A second instalment of a small but historical set of period badges, of a Post-Punk flavour, following on from the initial post in this series. Once again, I can vouch that all of these designs pictured date back to 1981/82, which is when I picked them up and would have almost certainly been from 1-UP records in Aberdeen, when they were still to be found on Rosemount Viaduct, or the Other Record Shop, when it was located on Union Street (and is infamous in history as being the location that witnessed the walk-out by John McKay and Kenny Morris from the 1979 ‘Join Hands’ Siouxsie and the Banshees’ tour.

Button badge goodness - Post-Punk Selection 2 (New Order, The Passions, John Foxx, Talking Heads)
^ Button badge goodness – Post-Punk Selection 2 (New Order, The Passions, John Foxx, Talking Heads)

Continue reading “Button badge goodness – Post-Punk Selection 2 (New Order, The Passions, John Foxx, Talking Heads)”

Kraftwerk – ‘Tour de France’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single (Kling Klang/Parlophone, 2023)

The fourth example in a series of exclusive 7″ Kraftwerk singles made available from the German ‘MusikExpress’ magazine has just been released for the August 2023 issue. Celebrating 20 years since the release of Kraftwerk’s most recent album, ‘Tour de France Soundtracks’, the 7″ is a one-sided single with an exclusive edit of the album’s closing track, ‘Tour de France’.

Kraftwerk – ‘Tour de France’ MusikExpress magazine August 2023 issue German 7? single - front cover design
^ Kraftwerk – ‘Tour de France’ MusikExpress magazine August 2023 issue German 7″ single – front cover design

Of course, the detail there is that the closing track to the album was a 2003 re-recording of the version of ‘Tour de France’ first issued back in 1983, not the new 2003 album track Etape 1 / 2 /3 versions. UPDATE: And, thanks to a comment courtesy of Staggboy, to be more precise, the edit is derived from the 2017 3-D The Catalogue/Der Katalog version, rather than the 2003 ‘Tour de France Soundtracks’ album version. Continue reading “Kraftwerk – ‘Tour de France’ MusikExpress magazine German 7″ single (Kling Klang/Parlophone, 2023)”