All 113 pressings

Folder 69

Saudi Arabia

Catalogue number EN-2291 - the match axis, on the inlay and both labels. It returns exactly one row.

Catalogue
EN-2291
Label
Thomsun Original
Released
1988
Confidence
Likely
Why this grade

the catalogue number EN-2291 appears on the inlay and on both shell labels, and the programme is the unusual one 9106503 records: eleven tracks, the album's eight with Massacre, Black Bart Blues and a Can I Play With Madness (Ex.Mix) folded in. That matches the row exactly. What the object never states is a country - THOMSUN ELECTRONICS is a Gulf distributor and the shell says only MADE IN JAPAN BY maxell, which describes the blank tape stock, not the release. The country above is Discogs', not this copy's

Reference
Discogs 9106503
Worth
No recorded Discogs sale
A photograph of pressing 69, Saudi Arabia

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

Inlay, laid flat: THOMSUN ORIGINAL twice, EN-2291, STEREO, a Dolby device, the cover artwork inset, and both sides' tracklists - side one running to 5.Massacre and 6.Black Bart Blues, side two ending 5.Can I Play With Madness(Ex.Mix)

IMG_1484.jpeg

Shell, side B: black shell with a cream label - boxed B over EN-2291, the five side-two titles, STEREO, THOMSUN ELECTRONICS, a DOLBY SYSTEM device, and beneath the window THOMSUN with MADE IN JAPAN BY maxell and a red LN 60

IMG_1488.jpeg

The photographs

IMG_1484.jpg1 of 5READ FROM

The object, and what marks it out

Sleeve, labels and inserts

  • Shell - black plastic, screwed, with a cream printed label strip on both faces and the THOMSUN wordmark in gold beneath the window.
  • Tape stock - a Maxell LN 60 shell, named as such on the label: the release was duplicated onto commercially bought blanks.
  • Inlay - thin paper card, English throughout, with the cover reproduced as an inset panel inside a printed border.
  • Condition - card browned and soft at the edges; label strips clean and fully legible.

What distinguishes this pressing

  • Catalogue number EN-2291 - the match axis, on the inlay and both labels. It returns exactly one row.
  • The eleven-track programme - the album plus Massacre, Black Bart Blues and an extended Can I Play With Madness. 9106503's tracklist is eleven tracks; the other Gulf row in the master, 15476028 (Thames Original, TE 331), is ten and carries a different catalogue number.
  • MADE IN JAPAN BY maxell - the tape stock's origin, not the release's. Recorded here precisely so it is not mistaken for a country statement: the shell is a bought-in Maxell LN 60.
  • No country appears anywhere on the object. Thomsun Electronics traded across the Gulf, and Discogs files this row under Saudi Arabia; the country field above therefore rests on the matched row rather than on anything read off the tape.
  • Discogs classifies this row as an Unofficial Release - the format descriptors on 9106503 read Album, Unofficial Release. Thomsun's Gulf tapes are widely catalogued that way, and the extended-mix track and bought-in Maxell shell fit that reading. Recorded because provenance is part of what a pressing IS, not a footnote to it.
  • No plant or date code is visible on the surfaces photographed.
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

The release is identified; the country is inherited rather than read. EN-2291 and an eleven-track programme with two Piece Of Mind-era additions and an extended mix match 9106503 and nothing else in the master. That is a strong match on two axes.

It stops short of Confirmed for two reasons. Only one candidate survives, so no discriminator had to do any work; and the object states no country at all, which means Saudi Arabia above is Discogs' filing rather than this copy's own evidence. MADE IN JAPAN BY maxell on the shell refers to the blank it was duplicated onto and would be a misreading as a country.

What would settle it: a distributor's address or a local price on some surface, or a second Thomsun row appearing to test this one against.