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Japan – ‘Nightporter’ remix single, 1982

UK 7″ single (Virgin, VS 554), 1982
A: ‘Nightporter’ (Remix) (5’02”) / B: ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ (Remix) (4’58”)

UK 12″ single (Virgin, VS 554-12), 1982
A: ‘Nightporter’ (Remix – Extended) (6’48”) / B: ‘Methods of Dance’ (6’53”)

UK 7″ promo DJ edit single (Virgin, VDJ554), 1982
A: ‘Nightporter’ (Remix – Edit) (3’38”) / B: ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ (Remix) (4’58”)

Japan 'Nightporter' UK 7 inch single sleeve
^ Japan ‘Nightporter’ UK 7 inch single sleeve

Japan were rich pickings for collectors in their heyday, due to the large amount of single releases that competing record labels issued to try and capitalise on the market that existed for a band who’s time had finally come, with the rise of all things New Romantic. Yet, as many flopped as would succeed. The band had been signed to the German label Ariola-Hansa and put out three albums and a handful of accompanying, and non-LP, singles between 1978 and the start of 1980, only to jump ship to Virgin, where a further two studio LPs would see a release. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to what hit and what didn’t. ‘Life In Tokyo’, easily one of the bands most commercial efforts was released and re-released several times over and never became anything more than a minor hit in the lower reaches of the Top 40 of the day, while the genuinely eerie sounding ‘Ghosts’ which you would never imagine as single material proved to be the bands biggest ever hit single, when it peaked at number 5 in the Top 40 in early 1982.

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Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ unreleased UK 7″ (Sonoscope/Polydor, HARD 2, 1985)

Hard Corps 'To Breathe' UK 7
^ Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ UK 7″ sleeve design – front

Some while back I posted about the West German 12″ single of ‘To Breathe‘, with a promise to blog on the UK edition too sometime. This time round the focus is the UK 7″ single. To recap, ‘To Breathe’ (a re-recording of the track ‘Respirer’ which was one side of their first, self-released single along with ‘Dirty’ in 1984) should have been the second single from Hard Corps and their tenure with Polydor (via the band’s own ‘Sonoscope’ imprint), the first being ‘Je Suis Passée’. But something clearly went wrong with the band/label relationship, as the single never made it to the shops. Clearly some copies did leak out though, this UK 7″ edition amongst them. I came by it at a record fair many years back – it cost a fair bit really, but it was good to finally see a copy as up till then I had only come by a 12″ pre-release promo copy (which never came with a picture sleeve). There is also a UK 12″ of the ‘standard’ release, but I have never come across one of those on my travels as yet. Continue reading “Hard Corps ‘To Breathe’ unreleased UK 7″ (Sonoscope/Polydor, HARD 2, 1985)”

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The Cure ‘Seventeen Seconds’ UK Cassette (Fiction, FIXC004, 1980)

In selecting the items that appear on this blog, there’s no particular rhyme or reason. Sometimes I’ll choose to focus on genuinely rare and elusive items, other times go into almost forensic detail in displaying the contents of a particular re-issue or special edition – and on occasions like this, choose something that is not especially rare or unique but just has a little something odd from the more common release.

Cassettes are often one of those things that people could care less for. And with good reason – for a good long while they were (in the UK at any rate) very much the poor relation of the format family – often more expensive than the vinyl LP, but coming with only a a bare minimum of packaging – lyrics? inner sleeve? picture label? poster? gatefold? Nahh… just a simple J-card inlay with nary so much as any picture apart from the front. And more often than not hissy in the sound quality department. Little wonder they had their detractors.

This particular Cure cassette is a prime example of the bare minimum of packaging. (Not, I hasten to add, that the original vinyl LP pushed the boat out either, it didn’t even come with an inner lyric sleeve initially.) To be fair though, cassettes did have their moment in the sun for a period in the ’80s with the advent of the Walkman – then fold-out lyrics inserts, chrome quality and extra tracks would regularly be added as enticements.

The Cure 'Seventeen Seconds' cassette
^ The Cure ‘Seventeen Seconds’ cassette

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Button badge goodness: Propaganda

Sold on their 1985 ‘Outside World’ tour, this small metal/enamel badge, delightfully inscribed with the legend, ‘The Propaganda Wish’ adds a dash of icy cool ‘Abba from Hell’ synth rock sophistication to any lapel!

'The Propaganda Wish' -metal/enamel badge sold on the Propaganda 1985 'Outside World' tour
^ \’The Propaganda Wish\’ -metal/enamel badge sold on the Propaganda 1985 \’Outside World\’ tour
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Wire – ‘IBTABA’ UK ‘Chain With No Name’ limited edition postcards and print LP edition (Mute, STUMM66, 1989)

Wire’s ’80s releases on Mute records seem to have been the source of much debate on their worth, in print and amongst the Wire community, the most common complaint being the ’80s production sheen. Wire have been the subject of various biographies and the views of the members themselves have surfaced in these, often with certain levels of distance and disdain to the Mute era work evident. ‘It’s Beginning To And Back Again’ (IBTABA) is a curious release in that it appeared within a year of 1988’s ‘A Bell Is A Cup Until It is Struck’, containing five re-recordings of LP tracks and a B side of that period, the first inklings perhaps of unease with the previous album’s production. The title itself is recycled, hailing from the lyric (or text, as Graham Lewis might prefer it) for ‘German Shepherds’.

Wire 'IBTABA' LP front cover design
^ Wire ‘IBTABA’ LP front cover design

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