TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS (France, 1978)
Capitol 2 S 266 - 82306


France is another good source of items for the Kraftwerk cassette collector. France was one of their biggest markets, famously their record label representative there had a very German sounding surname (Maxime Schmitt) and would work closely with them, even helping them adapt some of their lyrics to French. Kraftwerk's earliest documented concerts outside of Germany were in Paris, where they played several times in 1973. The first two albums eventually came on cassette here (in 1977), and of course the Trans-Europe Express goes from Paris to Düsseldorf in the title track on today's cassette.
 
Many Kraftwerk albums had multiple French editions, and TEE is no exception. After the original sold out, it seems to have been marketed again, as it was re-issued with a new catalogue number (well, prefix - the original is "2C" instead of "2 S", a different colour on the spine and back flap of the J-card, and the legend "Reedition de 1978" printed on the back flap. All French cassettes of TEE that I know of feature Showroom Dummies in its French translation, entitled Les Mannequins.
 
In Germany, the front cover of both LP and cassette used a photograph of the band by Maurice Seymour, and a photo montage by J. Stara on the back cover of the LP. Some countries would use a colour version of the J. Stara photo on the front, but for the French cassette edition yet another option was explored: The front of the J-card shows the train from the TEE 7" single, in a somewhat amended and "stylised" version. The two first French cassettes have this train graphic; 80s reissues on the Fame label has the Seymour album cover, as per the French original vinyl album. Interestingly, the 2009 (and beyond) reissues of TEE would use a different train graphic. (The original is prettier, as is often the case with Kraftwerk product!)

I'm always confused as to Kraftwerk's licencing agreements, often, two or more record companies are involved in each release. The copyright here seems to lie with Capitol Records, and the Capitol logo is on the spine of the J-card. The first edition has "Pathe Marconi" and "EMI" printed on the top of the front panel; on the second edition, the catalogue number is pasted over this, while the original cat.no is scrawled over. EMI and Pathe M are still involved, apparently, as they are mentioned inside the J-card.

A simple 1-panel J-card is printed on both sides, blue on-body print on grey cassette. In fact, the print on the label is the same as per the first edition, except the colour, both edition have the cat.no "C 266 - 82.306".









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