UK & Europe

Sleeve, labels and inserts

• Standard jewel case, opened, with the full 1998 reissue booklet - lyrics, live photographs, press cuttings and the Derek Riggs artwork pages.
• No front sticker, and none of the multimedia stickers some European copies of this reissue carry.
• Rear inlay reads Printed in E.U. and is marketed and distributed by Parlophone rather than EMI - the packaging was reprinted after the catalogue moved to Parlophone.
• Condition: the case is clear and unyellowed, the inlay is clean with light surface scuffing over the barcode, and the disc face shows only fine handling marks in the raking-light frames.

What distinguishes this pressing

• The mirror ring, 4968640 AB56988-01 manufactured by optimal media GmbH - the discriminator that cuts the field to two. Read off four raking-light frames (IMG_3112-IMG_3115) that each cover one arc of the ring. On a CD this etching is the deadwax, and this string is recorded for only two rows in the whole master: 7400798 (all eight variants) and 10366435 (both variants). Every EMI row of the same reissue is pressed elsewhere - EMI UDEN 4968640 @ 1 ... at Uden, 4968640 . 1 : 2 : 7 EMI SWINDON at Swindon, www.imsgroup.it 4968640 in Italy - so the plant name in the etching does the work.
• LC 0299, bel BIEM and the Parlophone logo on the disc - what separates the two that survive. Read off a native crop of the disc face. 7400798 is the Parlophone row and records LC 0299 with bel BIEM; 10366435 is an EMI row recording LC 0542 with BEL/BIEM/S.I.A.E. The A Warner Music Group Company line in the same rim text says the same thing, since that wording only exists after the catalogue moved.
• Mastering SID Code ifpi L574. 7400798 lists it on variants 5 and 7; 10366435 lists ifpi L573 on both of its. Corroboration of the row already chosen on branding, and it agrees.
• The Parlophone line on the inlay, Place of manufacture as stated on label Marketed and Distributed by Parlophone. A second, independent statement of the same fact as the disc's branding, on the packaging rather than the disc - the two components agree.
• Barcode 7 24349 68640 3, UK: 496 8640, F: PM 520 and Printed in E.U. - the match axis, not a discriminator. Better than a dozen rows of this master carry the same barcode, and the price code is shared right across the European reissues.
• The mould SID code was not read. None of the four raking-light frames catches it, so no IFPI four-character code is claimed here. It would not change the grade: 7400798 records eight of them and 10366435 two, and the row is already settled on branding.

• Case/inlay: general handling wear with some edge and corner softening; no cracks or splits visible in these shots.
• Disc: light surface marks and handling sheen catch the light. No visible deep scratches or disc-face damage in these photographs.