Rock This Town 7" single

Rock This Town, second single by the Stray Cats, really don´t need introduction. This masterpiece of rock music history always exploded the crowd. Here are some pressings.

France  102971   Arabella Eurodisc

French pressing with beautiful picture sleeve. First, blue-tinted plastic centre label is of first, French-made pressing and second, Arista paper label is of second, German-printed pressing. Same sleeve for both, though.

Germany  102890  Ariola Eurodisc

German release with nice picture sleeve.

Australia  K-8218 distributed and manufactured by Festival Records Pty

Australian single was released without picture sleeve.

New Zealand   ATA 725 distributed and manufactured by EMI Records New Zealand

New Zealand also released this without picture sleeve.

Canada  EMI B-8132

Canadian release by EMI of Canada, without picture sleeve.

USA     EMI B-8132

 USA release with utterly stunning picture sleeve.

USA     EMI  P-B-8132

USA  double-sided promo single, no picture sleeve.

USA     X-7109

Capitol Records Silver Spotlight Series re-pressing and it´s
jukebox version, no picture sleeve.

Ireland    Scat 2

Irish pressing with black paper labels, no picture sleeve.

Scandinavia    Scat 2

Sleeve and centre label similar to UK issue, but this was manufactured in Holland by CBS Records for Scandinavian market.

Spain    A-102890  Ariola Eurodisc

 Spanish release with fantastic picture sleeve, one of my favourites. Normal version centre label and white label promo.

Spain    B-102890

Spanish "Serie Delfin"  budget-priced re-pressing with
decolorized sleeve. Interesting one and nice to have.

Japan  7RS-16 manufactured and distributed by Nippon Phonogram

Japanese pressing with colourful front cover and lyrics and info on the back side of the leaflet. There is also a white label promo but I don´t have it ( yet ).

Mexico  S-559

Mexican "Rock En La Ciudad" with spanish printing on cover.

Holland   102890 Ariola Eurodisc

Holland release, nothing spectacular here.

UK      Scat 1

UK release with it´s quite crude and plain sleeve and all three centre label variants with which it was released.

Italy     ARS 37080   manufactured and distributed by CGD Messaggerie Musicali Spa

Italian single with Baby Blue Eyes as b-side. This was released in 1982, so later than anywhere else. Really fantastic picture sleeve, my copy is unfortunately quite bad, but I had to take it because this one really is HARD to get.

 Austria 102890   Austro Mechana

Austrian release with Austro Mechana logo and Made in Austria text on label, but little "Made in Germany" text on matrix which has been tried to scrape off and also another, smaller serial number 102971 which is for French pressing. It has also been tried to scrape off. So, Austro-German-French mutant ? Whatever, I´m glad I finally got it !

South Africa   AAJ1104 

South African press of which I wasn´t even aware of. Former radio station copy, that´s why marks and numbers. Released without picture sleeve.

And Rock This Town is declared finished ! Next on the line will be Stray Cat Strut !

Runaway Boys 7" single part II

A few more Runaway Boys pressings to the gallery.

Holland  102621

The basic version, regular cover.

Ariola centre label version, still regular cover.

Green vinyl, regular cover.

Clear vinyl, regular cover.

There are, at least, light brown/peach, limegreen and mintgreen vinyl versions. I remember seeing a red vinyl long ago, but can´t be 100% sure.

The strange thing is that all these singles have on their matrix a little stamped text "Made in Germany". So pressed

in Germany for Dutch market.

Japan  7RS-11 manufactured and distributed by Nippon Phonogram

Typical beautiful Japanese vinyl release with totally different cover art. There are lyrics on the backside of cover leaflet and single itself is housed in Arista blue-grey company sleeve. There is a white label promo with very special "wrap-around" promo sleeve containing pics and info of artist but I´m still hunting for that one.

Scandinavia     Scat 1

Now, this one is a little strange. It is pressed in Germany but not for German or Dutch sales. If my memory and info are correct this was pressed for Scandinavian market. Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Later these Scandinavian vinyls were mainly pressed in Holland. If someone has better info about this, please let me know.

And with these additions, Runaway Boys is quite much handed and over. There is single from Bolivia ( yes, Bolivia ) with serial Ariola ASS-1110 backed with Rock This Town as b-side and similar sleeve to debut lp. I even don´t dare to dream of getting that one day.....

Next thing on this blobloblo.. will be, of course, second single "Rock This Town". Again, plenty of different versions.

To be continued....

 

Runaway Boys 7" single part I

In closing months of 1980 the music world , world of synthpop and bubblegum softies, got a new player. They were young, they were furious and they were playing real music. The Stray Cats had introduced themselves to the world. First single Runaway Boys struck like lightning and rest is history... Here are some pressings of that legendary single.

UK         Scat 1

 Front cover, common to almost all releases.

 Centre label versions, first the classic paper "pin-up" one and silver injected plastic one. Some singles also showed to  be translucent dark red plastic when held close against     strong light.No idea if this was intentional or just pure coincidence.



Ireland        Stray 1

Irish pressing with black paper labels. Released without picture cover.



Australia   K-8140  manufactured and distributed by Festival Records Pty.

  Aussie release was without picture cover.
 

New Zealand  ATA 722 manufactured and distributed by EMI records New Zealand.

  New Zealand also without picture cover.


Germany 102621 Ariola Eurodisc

 Very basic release with regular picture cover.

France 102627 Arabella Eurodisc

 Blue-tinted plastic centre label, otherwise nothing fancy. Regular cover.

Italy    ARS 37049  manufactured and distributed by CGD Messaggerie Musicali Spa 1981

Italy was a little bit late, since they released this in february 1981. Very nice and unique labels, regular cover.

And that´s for now,to be continued....

Stray Cats s/t lp, various releases part III (final)

Just a couple more to add and then the debut album is quite much finished. I will add one or two later ( when I get `em ) but at the moment, this is it.

Japan     25RS-117 manufactured by Nippon Phonogram

Typical Japanese lp, with beautiful obi-strip and extra inner sheet with lyrics and info in Japanese. White label promo also exists but I don´t have it ( yet ). Soon, I hope...


Israel     BAN 170001  manufactured by Hed-Arzi company

This Israel pressing is unique having the b/w back cover and
hebrew printing on it and on centre labels. It´s a pity that cover in my copy is in terrible condition, I´m trying to get another one in better shape.

There are also at least German pressing from 1981, German re-press from 1986, Dutch pressing from 1981 and possibly a Greek one. If anyone who happens to read this, is aware of more versions, please contact me. Like I mentioned at the beginning, I will add few more to this section sometime. Dont´know when. But now it´s time to concentrate to single that took the world by storm in 1980. Yes, You guessed...
Runaway Boys !

Stray Cats s/t lp, various releases part II

Well, after a little break ( 2 and 1/2 years to be precise ) I am slowly trying to add some more material to this blog. And I will of course continue with the first lp with it´s different pressings from around the planet. Special thanks to Jon for giving me the boost to continue with this blobloblob.. thing.

UK              Stray 1

Maybe the most famous pressing of debut lp, although nothing fancy here. Except the original merchandise sheet which my copy still has.


Ireland       Stray 1
   

      The only different thing to regular UK issue is the centre label,typical Arista blue-grey with "Made in Gt.Britain" text.


Spain     I-203.295     Ariola Eurodisc

The white label promo of Spanish pressing. Regular cover.

France     203295      Arabella Eurodisc

Very basic issue with only minor different details.

South Africa    ASTJ103   licensed to and distributed by RPM record company

Again, there is nothing greater than life with this release but having a South African pressing is... well, nice !

Yugoslavia    LPS-1039 Sokoj    (manufactured by Jugodisk)

What really makes this one collectable is that side A only has five tracks. Storm The Embassy was omitted for political reasons. Yugoslavia was part of socialist block ( although it was probably the most "western" ) and they couldn´t release a song which was a straight attack against Soviet Union and Iran. Bright dark-yellow labels are also nice : )

Mexico         LAE-355

Back cover of Mexican press has the song names printed in Spanish, centre label typical early pin-up style. Otherwise very basic.

Mexico     MLM-5385  Rockollector series 3

Mexican re-pressing from 1988, part of Rockollector series of lp´s. Different cover, different Arista label and insert sheet with info about the artist written in spanish. Yummy, to say the least : )

And that´s all folks for now. Next update sometime in future, sooner or later. Still some pressings to add before moving to next stage. Whatever it will be...