AUTOBAHN (USA, 1975)
Vertigo VCR4-2003 0795


Here's the first US edition of Autobahn, the Vertigo edition from 1975.


As seen before, the US put out several different editions of Autobahn on cassette, on many record companies, and a couple of them came in variants as well - including this version. This one has yellow paper labels, but there's another version on Vertigo without labels; just the same grey shell with black on-body print. The label design is the same though, and notably Hütter and Schneider are credited differently on each label: The A-side claims that "All selections written by R. Hutter and F. Schneider" - well, Emil Schult helped enough with the lyrics to get credited for them on other editions - while on the B-side, they are credited for "Music, Concept & Production". In fact, these credits are repeated on the backflap of the J-card, along with the track list.
 

The  J-card was only slightly updated for the 1977 reissue, so there may be a sense of deja-vu here; 2-panel J-card, printed on both sides; a cropped section of the Schult painting on the front, tracklist only on backflap - btw the vandalism starts here, as the last minute of Autobahn is cut off the A-side and put on the b-side to make the sides of exactly the same length. The second panel of the J-card presents "other pop tapes" that you can buy should you want to, and it's a little surprising that the 1977 edition repeats several of the artists listed here, although they're out with new product.


 Early US tapes had a sticker on the top of the outer case. I expect this came in handy in shops or distribution facilities? Mine has a hole, I suppose it's a deletion, and not just an act of vandalism by a previous owner.








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