All 19 pressings

Folder 146

Turkey

Catalogue number TCP 2186, read at native resolution off the spine. Normalised to TCP2186, it is the only entry in the master's full 388-row version list that matches, and the four other Turkish EMI cassettes of this title all carry TC-EMC3512 instead, so they are excluded outright rather than merely outranked.

Catalogue
TCP 2186
Label
EMI
Released
1987
Confidence
Likely
Why this grade

Turkey is established directly, not inferred from artwork: the inlay carries a printed Turkish distributor block, KENT ELEKTRONİK SAN.VE TİC.A.Ş / İ.M.Ç. 6.Blok No.6302 Unkapanı / İstanbul, and the shell carries the same firm again beside a diamond TSE mark and a RAKS tape. The spine reads TCP 2186, which normalises to TCP2186 -- the only string in the master's 388-row version list that does, and it separates this copy outright from the four other Turkish EMI cassettes of the title, all catalogued TC-EMC3512. That leaves exactly one candidate and nothing to hold a second detail up against: the version-list row carries only summary fields, so the shell's KB 87•34•Ü•008•TCP•2186 and 07782 had nothing on the Discogs side to be checked against. The owner's note says the cassette is sealed, and the clear outer wrapper over the case in IMG_3029 agrees with that. It does not decide between candidates, because only one survives -- what it does is cap the evidence: the rear inlay, with its barcode, rights society and rear catalogue block, cannot be photographed without breaking the seal. A lone survivor in a list that was never complete is not proof, so Probable is the honest ceiling here

Reference
Discogs 15093696
Worth
DKK 255, the lowest asking price (no recorded Discogs sale)
On sale now
2, from DKK 255
A photograph of pressing 146, Turkey

What the record says

Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photograph named beside it.

Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 5 of them

Front inlay, photographed through a clear outer wrapper whose folded edge runs down both sides of the case: IRON MAIDEN logo above SOMEWHERE IN TIME in the album's own lettering. No catalogue number, barcode or country line anywhere on the front panel

IMG_3029.jpeg

Cassette shell read through the clear case, side A: boxed EMI logo, TS-2240, a diamond containing TSE, the RAKS logo with master of music beneath it, STEREO, 07782, and along the bottom edge KENT ELEKTRONİK SAN. VE TİC. A.Ş. KB 87•34•Ü•008•TCP•2186. The inlay below it lists SIDE ONE 1- CAUGHT SOMEWHERE IN TIME 2- WASTED YEARS 3- SEA OF MADNESS 4- HEAVEN CAN WAIT and SIDE TWO 5- THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER 6- STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND 7- DEJA-VU 8- ALEXANDER THE GREAT, with a blue-ruled box reading KENT ELEKTRONİK SAN.VE TİC.A.Ş / İ.M.Ç. 6.Blok No.6302 Unkapanı / İstanbul / Telefon : 527 95 18

IMG_3030.jpeg

Same shell and inlay from a closer angle, every string above legible again, including TS-2240, the TSE diamond, 07782 and the full KENT ELEKTRONİK SAN. VE TİC. A.Ş. KB 87•34•Ü•008•TCP•2186 line

IMG_3031.jpeg

Spine along its length: boxed red EMI logo, IRON MAIDEN in yellow with SOMEWHERE IN TIME in red beside it, and at the tail TCP / 2186 / STEREO

IMG_3032.jpeg

Spine square on, cropped at native resolution: TCP / 2186 / STEREO printed in three lines, sharp enough to read digit by digit

IMG_3033.jpeg

The photographs

IMG_3029.jpg1 of 5READ FROM

The object, and what marks it out

Sleeve, labels and inserts

  • Standard clear-shell cassette on RAKS master of music stock, in a clear case, still sealed in an outer wrapper and unopened. The shell, the front inlay and the tracklist inlay were all read through plastic rather than out of the case.
  • Cassettes have no run-out or deadwax equivalent, so there is no etched matrix to photograph on this format at all.
  • No rear inlay photograph exists in the folder. The barcode, the rights-society mark and the rear catalogue block -- the three places a cassette usually carries its most release-specific print -- are unread, and stay unread while the seal holds.
  • A small blank white rectangle overlays the top right of the shell face in IMG_3030 and IMG_3031. It carries no legible print, so nothing is claimed from it.
  • The diamond TSE mark is the Turkish standards institute's, and the RAKS tape is Turkish-made -- both consistent with the printed İstanbul distributor address rather than independent of it.

What distinguishes this pressing

  • Catalogue number TCP 2186, read at native resolution off the spine. Normalised to TCP2186, it is the only entry in the master's full 388-row version list that matches, and the four other Turkish EMI cassettes of this title all carry TC-EMC3512 instead, so they are excluded outright rather than merely outranked.
  • The printed distributor block KENT ELEKTRONİK SAN.VE TİC.A.Ş / İ.M.Ç. 6.Blok No.6302 Unkapanı / İstanbul, repeated on the shell as KENT ELEKTRONİK SAN. VE TİC. A.Ş. -- a named Turkish firm at a Turkish address, which settles the country from the object itself.
  • Shell code KB 87•34•Ü•008•TCP•2186 -- quoted exactly as printed. Its tail repeats the catalogue number, which is what ties the shell to the spine. Nothing further is claimed from the leading groups: the version-list row carries no such field to check them against.
  • Shell number 07782 and tape reference TS-2240 -- recorded so they can be checked against a fetched release later. Neither did any work here, for the same reason.
  • STEREO on both the spine and the shell -- matches the row's Album, Reissue, Stereo format string, but a format descriptor is corroboration and never a discriminator.
Eight tracks, two sides, and the recording credits

Side A

  1. A1Caught Somewhere In Time
  2. A2Wasted Years
  3. A3Sea Of Madness
  4. A4Heaven Can Wait

Side B

  1. B1The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
  2. B2Stranger In A Strange Land
  3. B3Deja-Vu
  4. B4Alexander The Great

Bruce Dickinson - vocals · Dave Murray - lead and rhythm guitar, guitar synthesizer · Adrian Smith - lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals, guitar synthesizer · Steve Harris - bass, bass synth · Nicko McBrain - drums.

Produced, engineered and mixed by Martin Birch. Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound. Bass, bass synth and drums recorded at Compass Point Studios, Nassau; guitars, vocals and guitar synth recorded at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum; mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York. Sleeve illustration by Derek Riggs; sleeve concept by Derek Riggs and Rod Smallwood. Inner sleeve photograph by Aaron Rapoport. Published by Zomba Music Publishers Ltd.

Personnel and studio credits are sourced from Discogs release 1701390, the UK original, and apply to the recording rather than to this pressing. The producer, publisher and copyright lines are independently corroborated by this copy's own label, quoted above.

Condition, from the photographs

A photograph cannot grade a record - this is a description of what is visible, not a grade.

  • Case/inlay: general handling wear with some edge and corner softening; no cracks or splits visible in these shots.
  • Shell: light surface marks and handling wear are visible. No visible warping, tape spillage or shell damage in these photographs.

Nothing on this page comes from playing the record. No Goldmine grade is claimed for it, or any other. I have no record of where this copy came from.

What is settled, and what is not

The catalogue number did the whole job, and then ran out of room. TCP 2186 off the spine normalises to TCP2186, the single match in 388 rows, and the Turkish distributor block printed on both the inlay and the shell establishes the country directly rather than by rights-society inference. Release 15093696 -- Turkey, EMI, TCP2186, Cassette, Album Reissue Stereo, 1987 -- is the one candidate left standing, and the 1987 date on the entry comes from that row, not from anything read off the tape.

What is missing is a second detail that could be checked against it. The version list holds summary fields only -- no barcode, no notes, no manufacturer code -- so 07782, TS-2240 and the shell's KB 87•34•Ü•008•TCP•2186 had nothing on the Discogs side to be matched to, and the rear inlay that would normally carry the barcode and rights society was never photographed. The owner's note says the copy is sealed, and the clear outer wrapper over the case in IMG_3029 bears that out, so the rear inlay is not a missing photograph so much as one that cannot be taken while the seal is intact.

Two things would lift this to Confirmed without opening anything. A fetch of release 15093696's own fields would show whether it records the KB 87•34•Ü•008•TCP•2186 shell code or the 07782 number, either of which would then be a real cross-check. Failing that, a rear-inlay shot -- barcode and rights society -- is the shot that unsticks it, and that one costs the seal.

Standing caveat: the version list is incomplete by construction, so an uncatalogued Turkish pressing sharing this catalogue number cannot be ruled out. Cassettes carry less release-specific print than any other format here, and this one is no exception.