Ive always wondered why the U.K release of certain singles never appeared in a picture sleeve? when other releases around the world did , well most anyway. It just seemed odd...when picture sleeves were becoming the norm to help promote a release, surely it couldn't have been down to cost? Even early singles in other territories got a sleeve even though few were pressed. Just wondering.
In UK, the first 7" who had a picture sleeve is Boh Rhap and there is a lot of UK Boh Rhap 7" which didn't even have a PS (and some later releases like TYMD and LOML didn't even have a PS). In US, it is even later as the first is WWRY/WATC (and many others don't have any PS). I guess a PS means more financial investment and they probably felt it won't help selling more records. I also guess that UK and US are big markets so more PS to produce so more investment. The other countries are most likely smaller markets and third world countries generally don't have any PS.
It used to be such a thrill going into Woolworths and looking for singles and wondering what the picture sleeve would look like. I've got all of Queen's original UK singles and some of them come with great looking picture sleeves but it always bothered me that TYMD didn't have one at all. After the massive success of their last few singles (which all had pic sleeves) it seems odd that TYMD came in a generic black sleeve. It didn't have a proper video either, having little more than a bit of concert footage edited together to fit the music. Is this because the single was released to keep the record company happy with little input from the bad?
raucousmonster wrote:
It used to be such a thrill going into Woolworths and looking for singles and wondering what the picture sleeve would look like. I've got all of Queen's original UK singles and some of them come with great looking picture sleeves but it always bothered me that TYMD didn't have one at all. After the massive success of their last few singles (which all had pic sleeves) it seems odd that TYMD came in a generic black sleeve. It didn't have a proper video either, having little more than a bit of concert footage edited together to fit the music. Is this because the single was released to keep the record company happy with little input from the bad?
I'm working from memory here, but isn't the TYMD video a mimed stage performance specifically for the video for the track, as opposed to genuine live concert footage? Either way, it's still pretty unispiring... I suppose they may have just wanted to reemphasis their 'rock' roots after Bo Rhap and Somebody To Love, or they may have been on tour and unable to create anything other than an on-stage promo?