AUTOBAHN (1985, South Korea) Unoffical
Shilla Records – SCM-1023


Yay, a new country added today: I haven't had anything from South Korea before. I have more questions than answers about this one, but it's a nice item anyway so let's get to it!

South Korea has had both an "official" record industry and an unofficial one. Both have been putting out Kraftwerk cassettes to their markets (not sure how different the markets have been? I mean, if they were sold in the same shops, or if the shops concentrated on official product and the pirate material was only sold at market stalls or what have you). This was released by a label called Shilla, which Discogs informs me is a pirate label. Interestingly though, the statement "Approved by the Government" is printed on the card - whether this indicates that Shilla pay their taxes, or what else it could mean, is again anyone's guess, but an unofficial release would obviously not be "approved" by, say, a western European government - on the contrary, it would be in violation of law.


This release is from 1991, which of course was the year The Mix was released, so one might speculate that it came out after The Mix raised public awareness over the band's earlier output. I said speculate, though, and that's what I am doing. I have seen nothing to suggest The Mix was released in South Korea, although of course it could have been widely imported. BTW the right hand panel and labels indicate that the album title is "The World Of Kraftwerk"? Whether they thought they were releasing a best-of compilation, or if this was intended as part of a series, again... No idea.


The J-card is fascinating - it comes out of the case, and is folded around the back. The only benefit I can see to this, is that the spine is wider, allowing for a better display in a shelf? Curious. Kind of cool though. I suppose this counts as a 2-panel card, but with a backflap and the two spines - the same length of card would normally be folded into a 3-panel J-card. Labels are turquoise, and as mentioned, repeats that "World of Kraftwerk" legend. Would love to find out there was a series of Kraftwerk cassettes under that name!





 

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