Strawbs

Single sleeve, with broadly same front and back - white panel on top left of front cover modified to include larger A&M logo and SA catalogue number. Back cover has SA cat number top left and a "STEREO also plays mono " panel bottom right replacing text on other editions. No address. An a tiny unreadable logo "Ariona Press" at bottom right under the A&M logo (could be Arione, Arions). Front cover only is laminated - my copy is a bit worse for wear and the lamination is peeling off. Clear plastic protective inner.

I'm pretty certain from the catalogue number that this was released at more or less the same time as the UK release, sometime in 1969. Other A&M SA records tracked online include:

Nat Adderley - Calling Out Loud, released in South Africa 1969 [A&M Records AMC 2071],

the first Carpenters release - Offering, only issued under this title in the US and South Africa in 1969 (elsewhere known as Ticket To Ride) [A&M Records AMC 2154 STEREO]

Labels

Dragonfly

South Africa dropped the ball here

Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curios

(*) Vinyl album: AMC 2152 (A&M, South Africa, 1970). The South African release has the small grey A&M logo at top right (like US releases), with the SA catalogue number at top left of the cover. Nothing more known - anyone got this?

Front cover

Vinyl album: AMLS 64288 (A&M, South Africa, 1971?). No red A&M logo at top left, this has the small A&M logo at top right (like US releases), with this SA catalogue number below it. The cover is single sleeve, modelled on US/Canada sleeve, with track details and credits at bottom right of the back cover. An "interpack" logo at bottom right. Brown labels, with an amusing typo on the credit to "Fingertips" - step forward D Cupsins!

Labels

From The Witchwood

Vinyl album: A&M AMLH 64304) (A&M, South Africa). Gatefold sleeve: the South African sleeve was modelled on the US sleeve with the broad orange banner across the top. Unlike the UK sleeve the album number appeared below the grey A&M logo on the front cover. Otherwise inside pretty similar, Text below the lyrics credits RPM Pty as the distributor, and the US address is Scrappy inside spread, as per US, but with US address obscured (badly). Back cover also lists tracks like the Canadian release and has an "Interpak" logo at the very bottom centre of the back cover. The label dates the release as 1973. Brown labels.

Front cover

Labels

Vinyl album: A&M AMLH 64304) (A&M, South Africa). Gatefold sleeve: As above, except with silver labels.

Labels

Bursting At The Seams

Vinyl album: AMLH 68144) . Laminated single sleeve. Lyrics inner sleeve, as per UK release. The back cover has South Africa details - note that an unusual version of the A&M logo is used on SA releases - one colour, no red box around the letters & trumpet. No lyric sheet in my copy, but have seen one on Ebay.

Back cover

Labels

Hero And Heroine

Vinyl album: AMLS 63607 (A&M/RPM Pty, South Africa, 1974). Front and back covers come from US release: on the front you can see the little white A&M logo bottom left, which has been overprinted in back with the SA cat number. The back cover has the US address, but with overprinting telling us that it was distributed by RPM (Pty.) Ltd., and there's an "interpak" logo. The labels are silver, and instead of an inner lyrics sleeve, there's a 2-sided lyrics insert printed on high quality thick card, same as UK typography except that the times of the tracks have been overprinted, and there's a black logo and SA cat number underneath the logo at the bottom of side 1.

Insert

Labels

Ghosts

Vinyl album: AMLH 68277 (A&M/RPM, South Africa, 1975). Pretty much the same as US release, except that catalog number appears with tiny A&M logo bottom right of front, with US address on back cover below details about RPM Pty. Rather tha an inner sleeve, there's a single page insert with the lyrics.

There's a reference on the back cover to cassette and 8-track formats (ZCAM 68277 and Y8AM 68277 respectively) - not clear whether those refer to US releases or South African releases (they don't appear on the US sleeve). They're not UK releases, cat nos: CAM and YAM respectively - see below.

Note that the South African release (like the US) seems to have been slightly later than the UK and various other places (including Canada) - in 1975 rather than 1974.

Labels

Nomadness

Vinyl album: AMLH 68331 (A&M, South Africa, 1975).. Outer sleeve is laminated on front but not back, very thin card, but otherwise identical to UK except for Interpak logo, back cover bottom right. Inner sleeve has lyrics, but LP is inserted to the side and overlaps from glueing the inner together mean that lyrics and credits for side 2 are partially obscured. Silver labels.

Labels

Deep Cuts

Vinyl album (South Africa): 2391 234 (Oyster, 1976). Not much on the sleeve or labels to indicate it is a South African release other than a logo on the back cover, bottom left "Marketed by Polydor Division" and bottom right an Interpak logo. Inside there's a copy of the UK insert except that it is in black and white on moderately stiff white card, rather than bright red.

Insert

Labels

Burning For You

(*) Vinyl album (NZ): no details (Oyster, 1977). Spotted online - back cover with interpak logo.

Deadlines

Vinyl album:(*) Spotted online.

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