Today's WELCOME TO THE SHOWROOM:

THRILLER

SOUTH AFRICA CD

EPIC CDKSF2819

 

Good news in the Showroom! The "Thriller" cds saga continues with a newcomer:it's a South African edition with slightly differences in the back insert, and a deeper blue artwork on the cd. With its unique catalogue number, this is truly a nice addition to the collection!!!

 

 

 

 

 

SNAP-PACKS FROM JAPAN : 

THE BAD ERA 3'' SINGLES

 Among all the rare cds a collector can wish to find, the 3'' cd singles from Japan are, certainly, the most interesting and lovable; their unique snap-pack case, with the little picture sleeve is amazing - a true gem for each collection - and then, almost every release have lyrics printed on the back side. Some of them come with a special sticker on the barcode, and a writing on the cd ring stating that they are promo copies. In a few words, rarest than the already rare commercial ones.

In the picture, you can see all the commercial 3''s singles released from the album "BAD".

These are some guide lines:

1 - "Liberian girl" is the only promo among them.

2 - "Leave me alone" wasn't released in Japan. That's why is missing.

3 - "Another part of me" got 2 releases:1 with 2 tracks (pale yellow artwork) and 1 with 4 mixes (named "maxi 3''cd)

4 - Similar to "Man in the mirror", but with several artwork differences, is the "3-inch special", and it contains 4 tracks; one of them, is "Todo mia mor eres tu", very hard to find at the time in digital format.

Pictures below show an example of commercial "Dirty Diana" release, and the "Liberian girl" promo 3''. And if you need more details on each release, just click on the JAPANESE 3''SINGLES section of this blog!

Today's ON THE AIR:

"STRANGER IN MOSCOW"

STRANGER IN MOSCOW CD SINGLES PARADE

 

Click on the "Cd singles" section here, to get details of each release pictured in the ensemble!

 

 

 

"I was wandering in the rain

Mask of life, feelin' insane

Swift and sudden fall from grace

Sunny days seem far away

Kremlin's shadow belittlin' me

Stalin's tomb won't let me be

On and on and on it came

Wish the rain would just let me

How does it feel (How does it feel)

How does it feel

How does it feel

When you're alone

And you're cold inside?

Here abandoned in my fame

Armageddon of the brain

KGB was doggin' me

Take my name and just let me be

Then a beggar boy called my name

Happy days will drown the pain

On and on and on it came

And again, and again, and again

Take my name and just let me be..."

 

STRANGER IN MOSCOW (VIDEO) 

SOUTH AMERICAN 
COMPILATION REISSUES : 
STAR COLLECTION - VENEZUELA 
SONY MUSIC/SONO RECORDS 008
LOS NUMEROS 1 - COLOMBIA 
SONY MUSIC M2300414

 
In the infinite jungle of unofficial & official releases, here they are 2 cds that, in my opinion, are ORIGINALS.
These 2 rare South American presses, "Star Collection" released in Venezuela, "Los numeros 1" produced in Colombia, are a part of a series of releases taken from Sony music artists infinite catalogue. 
Both cds have been released recently in 2013, and both are officially licensed products by Sony (see back details). I opened my copy of "Star collection" and even though the pink 'Bad' artwork picture cd seems to be fake, I could see the matrix numbers on the back and I noticed too that the tracklists of both cds are the same of Number Ones (Star collection) and HIStory greatest hits Vol.1 (Los numeros 1), so these are special reissues with different artwork of the well-known best of cds released worldwide.

As I said, there are a lot of similar releases by other artists (Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, for example) , all from Sony Music. And beware, these are cheap "nice price" cds in South America, but hard-to-find worldwide, often sold for high prices.

THE RECORD OF THE WEEK & 

BLAST FROM THE PAST:

WILL YOU BE THERE

SPAIN 12'' MAXI SINGLE

EPIC/SONY 659222 6

 

 

From the Showroom's archive, here it is again one of the rarest MJ 12'' singles EVER! Released only in Spain, "Will you be there" contains the same 4 tracks included in the cd single version, with its astonishing & iconic picture sleeve.

This is truly a must-have for every King of Pop collector!

 

 

 

 

 

THE RECORD OF THE WEEK & 

THE SHOWROOM'S 

BLAST FROM THE PAST:

GONE TOO SOON AUSTRALIA PROMO 

EPIC/SONY 659986 1

Released worldwide on December 1st (excluding the U.S. market, where only promotional copies have been distributed) in conjuction with the World AIDS day, the 9th and last single taken from the "Dangerous" should have been released in Australia with a variant of the well-known Ryan White picture sleeve. After the child molestation allegations, Sony Australia decided to release the single with a different cover (a detail of the 'Dangerous' album artwork - the mask with MJ eyes), a choice taken because they probably thought that a cover picturing MJ with a child could be too controversial (!).

A small quantity of promotional copies have been distributed to radio stations with the original "Ryan White" artwork sleeve.