Kraftwerk cassettes

TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS (Italy, 1977) Capitol 3C 264 82306 Statistics are weird. In order to show the scope of Kraftwerk cassettes, I want to try and have different items on my blog, ie. not just the "canonised" German issues... It's been chosen at random, more or less, but I want to present some early works and also some later ones, some first issues and some reissues, a rarity and a comparably disposable item, and to try and have each different album featured, and not just a dozen of the same album. And here I present the second version of Trans-Europe Express, and they're both from the same country! Well, Italy is a fascinating territory for Kraftwerk cassettes. Most albums came on cassette in Italy (From Autobahn to Electric Cafe), and many different variants exist for each album, with some items being fairly easy to find if you're on the lookout.  Today's featured cassette is an early edition. I know of several variants, but there are two catalogue numbers f

THE MAN·MACHINE (The Netherlands, 1978) Capitol 5C 262-85444 Time for an early edition; I won't say "first edition" because I find it hard to tell! I think this came in 1978, and I do not know of any variants of this edition, so I guess it's at least "one of the first", but we're crossing the border between philately and philosophy here, so maybe just leave it. The Netherlands saw many different versions of The Man·Machine on cassette, which I take as a sign it didn't really stop selling; year after year, they had to print up another run of cassettes to meet the market demand. I know of many different versions that appear to be from the early eighties; not unnatural that after Computer World came out, listeners would be interested in checking out what their previous album was like. Several later editions have the "XDR Quality System", a sound-improving process which was introduced in 1982, and you find this album released under many record

   THE MIX (United Arab Emirates, 1991?) Thomsun Original EN - 4243 Long summer holidays without posting anything, but here at last is another Kraftwerk cassette - and it's another The Mix bootleg! This one I think comes from the United Arab Emirates - I'm not sure, as it doesn't say anywhere on cassette or J-card where it was manufactured, but Thomsun Original is known to be a U.E.A. label. And again, I'm just assuming the cassette was not issued in connection with Kraftwerk's record label or representatives, I have no way of knowing for sure. It would surprise me if Kraftwerk had sanctioned the release though, with the "Thomsun Original" logo scrawled across the front cover and jumbled running order of tracks... The J-card is just one-panel, one-sided print, and looks somewhat cheap and easy. The cassette itself has the appearance of one of those blank cassettes you'd buy to DIY... The cassette shell has both the Thomsun logo and Maxell's UR-60 p