All 113 pressings

Folder 67

Thailand

The 119 บาท EMI price sticker - the strongest thing here, and weaker than it first looks. Thai baht on an EMI-branded sticker fits 14268944, the row credited to EMI (Thailand) Limited and noted Original Thailand edition cassette. But a sticker is applied at the point of sale: it establishes where the copy was sold, which is not the same as where it was made, and an imported UK copy would carry an identical one.

Catalogue
7243 8358754 4
Label
EMI
Released
1988
Confidence
Likely
Why this grade

still sealed, so every string here was read through the wrap. The shrink carries a red EMI price sticker printed 119 บาท with Thai consumer text - Thai baht, and the only country statement on the object. The spine barcode reads 7 243 8 35875 4 4, which is 14268944's recorded 72438 35875 4 4. That row is the one credited EMI (Thailand) Limited [Distributed By], and its note ends Original Thailand edition cassette where 2322864, the UK row, shares the catalogue number, the barcode-less 17-track programme and an otherwise identical note. The sticker is good evidence and not conclusive: a retail sticker travels with the shop, not the pressing, so an imported UK copy sold in Bangkok would carry the same thing. Probable rather than Confirmed, and the honest alternative reading is that both rows survive

Reference
Discogs 14268944
Worth
DKK 326, the lowest asking price (no recorded Discogs sale)
On sale now
1, from DKK 326
A photograph of pressing 67, Thailand

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 — 2 of them

Sealed, front: standard cover artwork under shrink, with a red EMI sticker reading 119 บาท over four lines of Thai consumer text, and an ifpi logo

IMG_1463.jpeg

Sealed, spine and rear through the wrap: the album's eight titles, then SIDE TWO listing BLACK BART BLUES, MASSACRE, PROWLER '88, CHARLOTTE THE HARLOTTE, INFINITE DREAMS, CLAIRVOYANT, THE PRISONER, KILLERS and STILL LIFE, with the barcode 7 243 8 35875 4 4

IMG_1467.jpeg

The photographs

IMG_1463.jpg1 of 6READ FROM

The object, and what marks it out

Sleeve, labels and inserts

  • Sealed - the only unopened tape on the shelf. Nothing below describes a surface that could not be read through the shrink, and the shell has never been seen.
  • Case - standard library case, shrink intact but slack at the top edge.
  • Sticker - red EMI retail sticker on the front of the wrap, 119 บาท.
  • Condition - sealed; the wrap is scuffed and the card has a slight bow visible through it.

What distinguishes this pressing

  • The 119 บาท EMI price sticker - the strongest thing here, and weaker than it first looks. Thai baht on an EMI-branded sticker fits 14268944, the row credited to EMI (Thailand) Limited and noted Original Thailand edition cassette. But a sticker is applied at the point of sale: it establishes where the copy was sold, which is not the same as where it was made, and an imported UK copy would carry an identical one.
  • Barcode 7 243 8 35875 4 4 - matches 14268944's recorded barcode. The UK row records none, so it corroborates; but a barcode is shared across pressings of one commercial release, so it does not carry the identification on its own.
  • The 17-track programme - the album plus nine live bonus tracks. Both candidate rows describe it identically, so it establishes which edition this is and not which row.
  • Everything here was read through shrink wrap. The shell, any inner printing, and any plant code are unseen. Opening it would settle more; it is sealed, and that is worth more than the certainty.
Eight tracks, two sides, and the recording credits

Side A

  1. A1Moonchild
  2. A2Infinite Dreams
  3. A3Can I Play With Madness
  4. A4The Evil That Men Do

Side B

  1. B1Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
  2. B2The Prophecy
  3. B3The Clairvoyant
  4. 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.

  • 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

Thailand is likely and not proven, and the deciding evidence is sealed inside. Two rows share the catalogue number 7243 8358754 4 and the 17-track limited-edition programme: 14268944 (Thailand) and 2322864 (UK). Their notes are identical but for 14268944's closing line, Original Thailand edition cassette. Nothing in the printing visible through the wrap distinguishes them.

The EMI price sticker in Thai baht is what points at the Thai row, and it is a weaker class of evidence than it first appears: a retail sticker records where a copy was sold. An imported UK copy sold in a Thai shop would wear the same one. That is why this is Probable rather than Confirmed - and a reader who declines to accept a sticker as country evidence at all should read this as Narrowed between the two rows.

What would settle it: the shell, which is sealed inside, and any inner printing with it. This is one of the few cases where the deciding photograph exists and should not be taken - the seal is worth more than the certainty.