AUTOBAHN (France, 1975) reissue
Philips 7149 005


A personal favourite, the French edition of Autobahn, I'm surprised I haven't posted it here before - I've had the first edition for years, but only recently realised there was a later reissue, so today's post is a recent acquisition.


The French edition of Autobahn originally came in 1975, and while the first edition is not very hard to find, it did go out of production at some point, to be replaced with this second edition. Both have the same front cover, a tight crop of the Emil Schult painting, with band name and album title in blue. Both editions have 2-panel J-cards, printed on both sides. Labels and cassettes are identical. I suppose the French price code system must have changed in the mid-70s sometime, the only significant difference between the two editions seems to be the price codes. The first edition is marked with price code Y on the spine, while this has "PG 400" printed on the back flap. 


There are some small details that have been changed other places too; in the bottom corner of the back flap, the Phonogram logo appears, the circled Y on the spine is substituted for a dolby logo, and the "stereo also playable mono" information is moved from the outside of the backflap to inside spine. (It's difficult to explain; I'll post the other edition soon so you can compare!)
 

One fascinating feature is, the lyrics are printed inside the J-card. I don't think any other cassette editions have them! Practical of course, since many Frenchmen have only a rudimentary grasp of German (Except of course in Alsace, but you know what I mean!)







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