Kraftwerk cassettes

AUTOBAHN (1985, France) EMI/ Pathé Marconi 2400704 Another recent acquisition today, a French reissue of Autobahn. I had no idea this existed until I stumbled upon it - although that says more about me than about the item I suppose. As we've seen across this blog, most countries would put out different versions of an album, changing the label or J-card as the old ones sold out. The 1985 reissue of Autobahn was more like a full-scale reissue, sanctioned and remixed by the band, and with an updated version of Emil Schult's landscape painting on the front (without the VW dashboard from the 1975 original). While some cassette editions would crop the image, this one has the full LP image, facsimile-style on the front. Below, the band name in large red letters is more in keeping with other designs from the record label than with how Autobahn was presented everywhere else... , The lower inch or so of the sleeve is made up of logos, three record labels and two indicating loads of soun...

THE TELEPHONE CALL (UK, 1987) EMI (no cat.no) So. Yeah. It's been a while. What I have here today though, is something quite special: An Abbey Road Studios cassette from 1987, featuring their single The Telephone Call. The single was released on 7" and 12" in the UK (and in many territories), but not on cassette - neither in the UK, nor, as far as I know, anywhere else. And this cassette isn't actually  a "release" in the standard definition, either - certainly not available in shops, or even sent out as a promotional item...     As often happens in this blog, actual fact is hard to come by, and I can't say I know exactly what this cassette is or does. At a guess, it is a listening copy for studio use, to check the mastering prior to pressing up acetates or white label promos. At least, this is not a factory print of a cassette. In fact, the cassette is a TDK AD C-46, probably the sort you could buy in shops in 1987, and the cover is printed or colour co...

RADIO-ACTIVITY (Spain, 1976?) Unofficial Crown (no cat.no.) And we're back, with another unofficial item. It's been a quiet autumn for my cassette collection, I don't find much new to add, and what I do receive is generally pirate stuff. When I started collecting, I wasn't really that interested in the unofficial side of things... That said, I was glad to receive this Spanish boot of Radio-Activity!   I haven't posted any Spanish pirate cassettes before, simply because I didn't have any. Furthermore, this is my first unofficial cassette of Radio-Activity! For some reason, even the Polish pirate market seems to have given Radio-Activity the miss, Discogs has ONE Polish boot of this album listed. Compare that with other albums like The Mix or The Man Machine... As Spanish pirate cassettes go, Discogs has only one entry? Which is another Radio-Activity - ie, no Autobahn, no The Mix, nothing else in between. I suspect we're treading unchartered territories here,...

AUTOBAHN (Poland, 1996?) Unofficial Reggae, 90208 Although there has been a lot of Polish releases on this blog before, I can't remember even one Autobahn? Well, here's the first, then, and it's on the surprisingly titled "Reggae" label. Apparently based on the German 1985 edition , same front illustration at least. The cassette is clear, without any info, not even which side you're looking at. The cover is a simple 1-panel J-card, on fairly cheap-looking thin paper, and printed on one side only. In fact, the only actual connection to the official item is the "motorway sign" design on the front; they haven't even bothered to put the track list on the cover! It just says "Autobahn I-V", which surprises me, as if they had access to the illustration on the front, surely they had the tracklist too? Maybe they were sent a postcard of it. I stated above that this came out in 1996, I base this on a stamp inside the cover. However it's bar...

RADIO-ACTIVITY (Portugal, 1976) Capitol 11C274 82 087 Every blog should have a certain amount of posts starting with "I haven't been posting in a while", for the benefit I suppose for readers who do not posess a calendar. It's summer, I was busy and I haven't received a lot of items recently to fascinate me. But sure, here's an item, a nice return to Portugal and to Radio-Activity!   I love these Portuguese items , they have their own style! At least during the "Capitol years", ie the albums Radio-Activity, Trans-Europe Express and The Man-Machine, each cassette came out in several slightly different editions. Each one presents the LP cover quite simply, except where Portugal gives us a coloured stripe across the upper front of the J-card. Bright, clear colours, and whenever one edition sold out, they changed the stripe. Hence I've seen red, yellow and blue editions of The Man-Machine, and at least a red and this blue one of Radio-Activity (if y...

ELECTRIC CAFE (Romania, 19?) Unofficial Poker 443 Another pirate edition today, but this time it's a country that hasn't featured here before: Romania! Here's a Romanian cassette of Electric Cafe. Admittedly it looks a lot like a similar release from Poland; I'm not sure whether Poker Sound was an actual label, with a Romanian office or - if this is a "bootleg of a bootleg"... Apart from the country of origin, today's cassette is fairly straightforward - the J-card has the LP design centre front, against a blue background, and band name and album title in coloured boxes over and under the image. There is a Polish edition of this, and the J-card for that looks exactly the same as this. The J-card is on glossy, thin paper, printed on one side, but with a stamp on the white inside (the significance of which is sadly lost on me). The track list both on the back-flap and the second panel is amended to make the sides of similar length.   The cassette has a ...