The wonderful ongoing series of releases from Rubellan Remasters continues in fine style with a long hoped for first time to CD edition of the third and final album from The Passions, ‘Sanctuary’. Truth be told, I had long given up hope of this extremely fine album by the band ever seeing light of day again – so, I was well pleased when I heard the news it was to be released at long last. And being a Rubellan Remaster, quality is a given, from the audio remastering by Scott Davies, through to the selection of tracks the release includes.
A unique 4’08” edit of ‘Confusion’, released as a promo-only 7″ contemporary with the original release of the single, which commercially was only available on 12″, released August 1983. This 4’08” ‘re-structure’ is to be found on both sides of the single, same labels each flip too and it all comes housed in a black, round hole cut-out sleeve. Somewhat plain in comparison to the now somewhat iconic 12” sleeve design.
Sometimes it is enough just to celebrate something for what it is without needing to explore any obscure variations. With this post, I focus on the first time Joy Division’s wonderful ‘Unknown Pleasures’ made an appearance on CD and where Factory attempted to overcome the tyranny of the ’80s CD jewel case and somehow tap into the spirit of the original sleeve design.
For starters, the ‘car carry case’ – a miniaturised revision of the original sleeve design. Shorn of any need to include the tracklisting on the reverse, it kept things minimal. The tracklisting was provided only on one of the jewel case inserts. Yes, in addition to the carry case, the CD jewel case comes with not one but two inserts. Both of which come printed on similar ‘textured’ card stock to that used on the original album sleeve and the car carry case this time round. I hope that the photos help to capture the textured card stock so you can see for yourself.
One odd thing about it though – at some point in the design process, it looks like the photograph from one side of the inner sleeve has gone awol from this redesign – the originally uncredited photo, ‘Hand Through a Doorway‘ by Ralph Gibson.
^ Joy Division ‘Unknown Pleasures’ original UK CD car carry case – front.
It was initially a surprise to me when the ‘Penthouse and Pavement’ LP was released that their second single, ‘I’m Your Money’,was overlooked for inclusion, whereas their debut single, ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’, was all present and correct. I was quite partial to ‘I’m Your Money’, its sequenced rhythm had a touch of the ‘Trans-Europe Express’ to it and it’s multi-lingual speech inserts also hinted at that Kraftwerk-like ambition to cross borders. But it was left off and that was that, until I came across this pressing that is…
^ Heaven 17 – Penthouse and Pavement – Canadian LP front cover design
When first released in the summer of 1981, ‘Fields’ was quite a challenging release for Skids fans to get used to and it never really gained the success the new vision that the remaining band members, Richard Jobson and Russell Webb, had in mind for the band. The departure of Stewart Adamson was obvious, his familiar sonic hallmark missing from the A side, replaced by a somewhat more twangy guitar and a more pastoral scene fashioned from acoustic guitar, flute, traditional drums and layered, choral vocals. In retrospect it is not nearly the radical departure it was made out to be, though much of the subsequent ‘Joy’ album certainly would be.
