Folder 47
Hungary
The misprint, a second time. The rear code reads Ǝᗺ here too - read off the sleeve by the owner, since a 280,- shop sticker hides it from every photograph in this folder.
What the record says
Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photo named beside it, except where the source column says otherwise - those rows come from the record itself, by reading it or by playing it, and each says which.
Run-out photographed, across twenty-five frames - but of side A. Fragments spelling SLPXL, 37213, -A, 1, P and HP resolve across successive frames, which assembles to the side-A string both candidates share. Discogs separates them on side B, where the 1988 misprint's entry appends 1-15 and the 1989 entry does not. 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 — copy 46 |
| ✗ | 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
Label, side B: SLPXL 37213-B and 24'08"
IMG_1248, IMG_1249
Label: MADE IN HUNGARY ℗ 1988 and ③③ STEREO
IMG_1249
Label: the GONG device and the EMI box
IMG_1249
Label: 1. SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON (S. Harris) 2. THE PROPHECY (D. Murray – S. Harris) 3. THE CLAIRVOYANT (S. Harris) 4. ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG (S. Harris – B. Dickinson)
IMG_1249
Label rim: A HANGFELVÉTELT A TÖRVÉNY VÉDI · ARTISJUS · UNAUTHORIZED COPYING OF THIS RECORD IS PROHIBITED
IMG_1249
Rear cover: Manufactured under license of EMI, Made in Hungary ℗ 1988 EMI
IMG_1241, IMG_1245
Front sleeve: the GONG device and SLPXL 37213
IMG_1246
Rear cover: a shop price sticker reading 280,- sits directly over the circled price code, in all three frames of that corner
IMG_1241, IMG_1242, IMG_1243
Rear cover: below the sticker's edge the two letter-bottoms read [flat arm pointing left] then [bowl] - the order a mirrored Ǝᗺ gives, where an upright BE would give [bowl] then [flat arm pointing right]. Thin evidence to grade on alone, but it agrees with the owner's reading and with folder 46's fully visible code
IMG_1243
Rear price code: Ǝᗺ, mirrored - read directly off the sleeve by the owner, who can see past the sticker in a way no frame in this folder can. Not photographed; see the confidence section
owner's reading, not a photograph
Rear cover, opposite corner: ℗ 1988 Original Sound Recordings made by EMI Records Ltd, © 1988 Iron Maiden (Holdings) Ltd. and the printer credit MAHIR – Sylvester J. Ny.
IMG_1244
Inner sleeve: a plain white company bag with a small red label
IMG_1247
The photographs
IMG_1241.jpg1 of 34READ FROM
The object, and what marks it out
Sleeve, labels and inserts
- Outer sleeve - standard artwork, locally printed, Gong device and catalogue number on the front.
- The rear price code is mirrored,
Ǝᗺwhere the 1989 pressing readsBE- the same printing error as folder 46. - A shop price sticker reading
280,-on the rear, positioned - unhelpfully - squarely over that code, which is why the photographs in this folder cannot show it. - Inner sleeve - a plain white company bag with a small red label.
- Labels - orange paper with dark text, the Gong device and the EMI box, in the same setting as folder 46.
- Vinyl - black.
What distinguishes this pressing
- The mirrored price code, the same printing error as folder 46 - so the shelf holds the Hungarian misprint twice, and the ordinary 1989 pressing not at all.
SLPXL 37213in the Hungarian Gong series.ARTISJUSon the label rim.- A
280,-sticker where folder 46 carries285,-- a different shop price, which says nothing about which pressing it is but does say the two copies did not come off the same shelf.
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.
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 - but on the owner's reading of the object, not on a photograph, and the difference is worth being precise about.
Hungary and SLPXL 37213 were never in doubt. The master holds exactly two Hungarian entries under that number and Discogs separates them on one feature: whether the circled price code on the rear is printed mirror-reversed. On this copy a 280,- shop sticker sits over that code in all four frames of the corner, leaving only the bottom two or three millimetres of the two letters.
That strip is not quite nothing. A B ends in a bowl and an E in a flat arm, so the order in which those two shapes appear distinguishes the forms: upright BE gives bowl-then-arm, mirrored Ǝᗺ gives arm-then-bowl. What shows below the sticker is a flat arm pointing left, then a bowl - the mirrored order, and the same pattern folder 46's fully visible code makes. It is thin evidence to hang a grade on by itself, blurred and cropped as it is, and this entry does not hang the grade on it.
What the grade rests on is that the owner has looked at the sleeve and reports the code reads Ǝᗺ, mirrored. That is a better instrument than any frame here: a person holding the object can tilt it, catch the light, and see past a sticker in a way a fixed photograph cannot. It is recorded as what it is - a direct reading of the record, made by the person who owns it - and it is the basis of this grade.
How the other candidates were ruled out
| This copy | 32039438 | 1367898 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rear price code | Ǝᗺ, mirrored (owner's reading) | Ǝᗺ, circled | BE |
| Side B run-out | not photographed | SLPXL 37213-B 1 1 P HP 1-15 | SLPXL 37213 - B 11 P HP |
| Side A run-out | photographed, matches | SLPXL 37213-A 1 P HP | SLPXL 37213 - A 1 P HP |
What this grade does not have, and what would give it that. Every other Confirmed copy in this collection rests on a string somebody can re-read from a photograph in its own folder. This one does not: the evidence is in the room with the record. One frame taken from a low raking angle, or with a light behind the sticker, would make the dossier self-supporting. Failing that, side B's deadwax would do it independently - Discogs appends 1-15 to the misprint's side-B string and nothing of the kind to the 1989 entry, and this folder already proves the deadwax photographs well.
Do not peel the sticker to get the shot. It is part of the object, and folder 15's till receipt is in this collection precisely because someone kept the paperwork.
And the consequence for the record on order. Release 1367898, the 1989 pressing, is on its way. With both copies here now identified as the 1988 misprint, that order does not duplicate anything - it is the one Hungarian pressing the shelf is missing, and it closes the country.
Standing caveat: this method cannot exclude a pressing absent from Discogs.