Here's a question for all you collectors. An English friend of mine who has moved to New Zealand says he owns an original UK pressing of the "I See Red" single that has a different picture sleeve from the familar B&W "cartoon" cover. And he insists it's not the NZ/Aus re-issue with the Maori pattern either. Unfortunately he left his record collection behind in England, meaning he can't show me the single in question. Does anyone know anything about this? A special promo sleeve perhaps?

There are four picture covers for I See Red- VINYL, the Reissue (that you had pictured), and the B&W 'cartoon' cover....that I can remember.
The B&W Cartoon cover has had three different versions...pretty much the same front cover but the back is different.
1/ UK -with the Illegal Records info etc.
2/ Mushroom records extremely limited edition release with the Mushroom info etc on back.
3/ The third which was a media copy, same cartoon front cover but with some Tour dates on it under where it says 'Red Alert'.

I can't remember any other cover being done, that isn't the above, so get your friend to send you a jpeg of the cover, be great to see something new, if it exists.

There is also the CD single which has I See Red/ History... on it...has the cartoon cover with green and yellow border.

Hope that helps.
Peter

quote:

There is also the CD single which has I See Red/ History... on it...has the cartoon cover with green and yellow border.

Here's the front cover of the CD single



...and the back

Yep, I own copies of all these different versions except that special "Red Alert" sleeve. So I was intrigued by my friend's description of an alternative UK 7" sleeve. Sadly, it's not possible to get a scan of this mysterious item because it's somewhere on the other side of the world, as I mentioned. Too bad.

hey flicker, get him to sort the mystery out and get a scan, blimey, takes 60 seconds......

dont recall anything diffo for the uk sleeve ? surely he cant be going on about the teensy differences in the uk/aust pencilled sleeve ? nah...

any description of this sleeve ? might ring a vague bell somewhere.. i think ive only ever seen the pencil thang

As I say, not sure my friend will be able to arrange a long-distance scan - I assume he left his record collection locked up in storage somewhere in Blighty - but I will ask him. He says it has the words "I See Red" in fancy lettering.

If he can't scan it he could describe it and include the catalogue number. I can always try and chase it up through our publishing/royalty statement.
So ask him to describe it...I'm with Lozza I can only remember the pencil one......
Gryph.

Did the original 1978 NZ issue of 'I See Red' ever have a picture sleeve? The Stranger Than Fiction discography says that 'I See Red' was the first Australasian single with a picture sleeve, also adding that it's "RARE AS HELL!", but doesn't specify whether it was Aussie only or Aussie/NZ. The same discography goes on to say that 'History Never Repeats' was the 2nd Enz single released in NZ with a picture sleeve. Does this mean 'I See Red' was the first? Must truly be scarce as hens teeth if so!

Some time ago I asked Mike Chunn this very question ... his theory was that Festival Records (Mushroom's distributor in NZ) might have imported a few copies of the Australian sleeve for a special promotional release in NZ. Maybe we could get a definitive statement from Ron Kane, who compiled the discography for STF.

While we're on the subject of rare Enz picture sleeves, what exactly is the background image we see on page 53 of Stranger Than Fiction? It also appeared in the booklet for the gold box set. It looks like something that could have been used as a picture sleeve for an early Enz single circa 1973, but was never used. Vertigo and Phonogram record company logos feature in the upper right corner, with drawings of the Finn/Judd/Wilkinson/Chunn/Chunn line-up in the foreground and Split Ends in flowing letters at the bottom. The whole illustration is a black and white hand-drawn artwork.

Hmm, I've always assumed that must have been some early tour poster.

UPDATE: I've just heard back from Ron Kane about the supposed NZ pic sleeve of "I See Red". He says he bought his copy second-hand in New Zealand, but he agrees that Mike Chunn's aforementioned theory is probably correct. Ron's copy has a special "demonstration record" sticker on the label.

Ain't vinyl trivia fun?