Kraftwerk cassettes

THE MAN·MACHINE (India, 1995?) HMV/ Capitol STCS 890103/ SW 11728 This just in: Here is another Indian re-edition of The Man·Machine, the first cassette I've shown here which comes in an outsize "snap pack".  These snap packs seem to have been fairly commonplace in India in the mid-90s, and it's easy to see the attraction: The plastic used here is not as brittle as normal jewel cases, and less prone to crack and get broken; furthermore, the box is slightly bigger, so the design is more prominent in shops I suppose? Nicer. The card has a spine twice the normal breadth, and instead of the back flap we get a full-size back cover with tracklist and credits. The card is only printed on one side. Labels are clear with white print. As said earlier , India is home to a large amount of different variants of each Kraftwerk cassette, both because they are dated - as mentioned in this previous post on Indian releases - and the price would also normally be stated on the release.

RADIO-ACTIVITY (Netherlands, 1985?) Fame 1A 238-1575024 The Netherlands produced the mid-80s range of FAME reissues, on cassette and LP, on behalf of a few European countries. Although Spain, the UK and France all had their own reissues, I have a notion these Dutch cassettes were distributed throughout the EU. Well, it's kind ot the whole point with a common market that stuff is made in one country, and sold in all the others, isn't it? So, should you choose to get one of these, what you get is a cream-coloured item: Cassette and outer case both cream, and the 1-panel J-card (thin glossy paper) has the LP front printed against a cream-coloured background. I know of Fame reissues with white inserts in some cases, too, but the all three Capitol albums came in this Cream-coloured design. They used to be fairly common even a couple years back, but I haven't seen any around in a while so who knows what they'd fetch on the market... I can't see them as indispensable thoug

GREATEST HITS (Poland, 1989) Unofficial Exton EX-052 OK, so I do love me a Polish pirate cassette,  I've featured quite a few here on this blog before - and there's more to come! The anything-goes attitude when it comes to design, spelling, and even track listings - sometimes featuring bonus tracks, sometimes especially the 65 minute "The Mix" album was shortened down - anyway, it's a gift that keeps on giving. Even more so I in this case, I suppose, as we now get Kraftwerk's "Greatest Hits"; an idea that was put forward - and leant on with some weight - by Kraftwerk's official label at the time, supposedly culminating in the re-recordings album "The Mix" in 1991. This is from 1989 though, and what we get here is... A simply baffling selection of tracks!  The front cover has the photo of the band from the inner sleeve to the Mensch-Maschine album (also used on some cassettes including this double pack ), and the first side of the ca

TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS (Greece, 1977) Capitol 2J-262 82306 Here is an interesting item I've been looking forward to posting here: The Greek edition of Trans-Europe Express. Quite rare, in fact I wasn't sure of its existence until a few months back, when it was listed on Discogs. The cover is a full-sized two-panel J-card, on glossy card stock, print on one side only. Let us marvel at the print in question for a second: The b/w version of the cover (ie. the one used in most European countries, but not in the UK, Americas N and S, Japan... or Sweden) is slapped in the lower part of the front panel, actually at a slight angle, and above it, the band name and album title in the most garish "70s" letraset typeface imaginable. I mean, it looks more out of place even than the "wild west" letters from the spine of the original German Ralf & Florian cassette. On the other hand, it looks different, and together with the rarity of the item, I suppose it's sort o

AUTOBAHN (Spain, 1985) EMI 266 2400704 I don't get a lot of requests, if I'm honest, but this one has been requested: The Spanish 1985 reissue of Autobahn. Autobahn was released on cassette in Spain for the first time in 1979. That version was one of my first posts to this blog, which may be one reason I didn't present this before I guess? The 1985 issue is interesting though, it has a few nice features. The J-card is a cheap-and-simple 1-panel, printed on both sides. The spine and backflap have a bright blue background colour, pretty much the norm for Spanish releases, and the front has (most of) the 1985 re-touch of Emil Schults legendary landscape painting, without the car dashboard from the 1974 original. This is set against a grey background, with the band name and album title in white letters. Turning the J-card, we find the track list and a surprising selection of the standard credits - in most territories, the 1985 edition had credits for Ralf, Florian and Wolfgang