Folder 46
Hungary
The mirrored-price-code misprint. The rear BE is printed Ǝᗺ - the one thing that separates the two Hungarian pressings, and the only printing error in this collection.
What the record says
Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photograph named beside it.
Run-out photographed, across twenty-two frames. The fragments that resolve include SLPXL, 37213 and -A, read a few characters at a time across successive macro shots of side A. Discogs records effectively the same side-A string for both Hungarian entries - SLPXL 37213-A 1 P HP against SLPXL 37213 - A 1 P HP, differing only in spacing - so the run-out corroborates the pressing family and discriminates nothing. The string that would discriminate is on side B, and side B's deadwax is not among these frames.
Barcode and Other Identifiers: Matrix / Runout
As Discogs records them for release 32039438. Green: in my collection (1 of 2). Red: missing.
| ✓ | Matrix / Runout (Runout of Side A) | SLPXL 37213-A 1 P HP — this copy |
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (Runout of Side B) | SLPXL 37213-B 1 1 P HP 1-15 |
Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 12 of them
Rear cover: the circled price code is printed MIRROR-REVERSED - Ǝᗺ where the other Hungarian pressing reads BE
IMG_1210
Rear cover, in the same frame and the same orientation, printed the right way round: …HAT MEN DO, …NLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG - which is what establishes that the code is reversed and the photograph is not
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Rear cover: Manufactured under license of EMI, Made in Hungary ℗ 1988 EMI
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Label, side A: SLPXL 37213-A and 19'52"
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Label: MADE IN HUNGARY ℗ 1988 and ③③ STEREO (two overlapping circled 3s)
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Label: the GONG device and the EMI box, both in circles
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Label: 1. MOONCHILD (A. Smith – B. Dickinson) 2. INFINITE DREAMS (S. Harris) 3. CAN I PLAY WITH MADNESS (A. Smith – B. Dickinson – S. Harris) 4. THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (A. Smith – B. Dickinson – S. Harris)
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Label: Az EMI Ltd. Records felvétele
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Label rim, Hungarian and English: A HANGFELVÉTELT A TÖRVÉNY VÉDI · ARTISJUS · UNAUTHORIZED COPYING OF THIS RECORD IS PROHIBITED
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Front sleeve: the GONG device and SLPXL 37213
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Shop price sticker on the rear, handwritten 285,-
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Inner sleeve: a plain white company bag with a small orange label, not a printed lyric sleeve
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The photographs
IMG_1208.jpg1 of 31READ FROM
The object, and what marks it out
Sleeve, labels and inserts
- Outer sleeve - standard artwork, locally printed, with the Gong device and the catalogue number on the front.
- The rear price code is upside-down in the mirror sense: the circled
BEis printed asƎᗺ. Everything else on the cover prints correctly, which is what makes it a misprint rather than a photograph problem. - Inner sleeve - a plain white company bag with a small orange label. No lyrics, no artwork.
- Labels - orange-tan paper with dark brown text, the Gong device at the foot and the EMI box at the head. Nothing like the eye/Eddie artwork used across most of this collection.
- Vinyl - black.
- A shop price sticker on the rear reading
285,-, in forint.
What distinguishes this pressing
- A mirror-reversed price code. The only copy in this collection whose sleeve carries a printing error, and the error is what identifies it.
SLPXL 37213- a Hungarian catalogue number in the Gong series, unrelated to the EMI numbering used almost everywhere else here.ARTISJUS- the Hungarian authors' society, on the label rim.- Durations printed on the label,
19'52"for side A, shared here only with the European copies and the other Hungarian. - Gong, a Hungarian state label pressing under EMI licence - the only Gong record in this collection, held twice with folder 47.
Eight tracks, two sides, and the recording credits
Side A
- A1Moonchild
- A2Infinite Dreams
- A3Can I Play With Madness
- A4The Evil That Men Do
Side B
- B1Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
- B2The Prophecy
- B3The Clairvoyant
- B4Only The Good Die Young
Bruce Dickinson - vocals · Dave Murray - lead and rhythm guitar · Adrian Smith - lead and rhythm guitar, synth · Steve Harris - bass, string synth · Nicko McBrain - drums.
Produced, engineered and mixed by Martin Birch. Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York. Recorded at Musicland Studios, Munich. Sleeve illustration, concept and design by Derek Riggs (with Rod Smallwood). Inner-sleeve photograph by Ross Halfin. Published by Zomba Music Publishers Ltd.
Personnel and studio credits are sourced from Discogs release 576952, 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.
- Sleeve: general handling wear with some edge and corner softening; no splits or seam separation visible in these shots.
- Vinyl: light surface marks and handling sheen catch the light. No visible deep scratches, warping or edge damage in these photographs. The labels are clean and unmarked.
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
Confirmed, on the one thing that separates the two Hungarian pressings.
The master holds exactly two Hungarian vinyl entries, both SLPXL 37213 on Gong, and Discogs' note on the 1988 one says what the difference is in a single sentence: “Similar to [r=1367898] except the price code at the back is mirrored.” Its identifiers record that code as Ǝᗺ, circled; the 1989 entry records BE.
How the other candidates were ruled out
| This copy | 32039438 | 1367898 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rear price code | Ǝᗺ, circled | Ǝᗺ circled | BE |
| Year | - | 1988 | 1989 |
| Format | - | LP, Album, Misprint, Stereo | LP, Album, Stereo |
Why the mirroring is a fact about the print and not about the photograph - and why the obvious argument for that is wrong. It is tempting to say a rotation cannot flip an image, so the reversal must be real. That is false for this string: turn BE through 180° and the letter order reverses while each letter turns over, which for these two near-symmetrical shapes lands very close to Ǝᗺ. A rotated camera would explain the appearance perfectly well.
What actually rules it out is in the same frame. The crop was taken wide enough to hold the code and the tracklist, at one orientation, and there …HAT MEN DO and …NLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG read the right way up and left to right. A 180° rotation would have turned that text upside down; a mirroring would have made it read backwards. It does neither. So the frame is neither rotated nor flipped, and the reversal is on the sleeve.
The run-out cannot help and was never going to. Both entries record essentially the same side-A string, and this folder's twenty-two deadwax frames are all of side A.
Folder 47 is the same release. Its price code is under a shop sticker and no photograph in that folder can show it, but the owner read it off the sleeve directly and it is mirrored too. So the shelf holds this misprint twice and the ordinary 1989 pressing not at all - which is the opposite of what the folder order suggests, and worth knowing before buying another Hungarian copy.
Standing caveat: this method cannot exclude a pressing absent from Discogs.