NOMADNESS - VERSIONS
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UK VINYL
UK release/stickered promo
Vinyl album: AMLH 68331 (A&M, UK, 1975). Single sleeve, with insert with lyrics. Silver label.
Front and back cover
Insert
Labels
Promo sticker
Unlike the US, A&M UK didn't really go in for separate promo releases of albums (they did for 45s), but just stickered up or overprinted ordinary UK release copies for promotional use. Here's Nomadness - nice touch, the sticker is angled to match the slant of the tiles!
Discount for students
To boost sales to students, A&M offered a special discount - they sent out the following info to dealers along with a "crack-back" display sticker".
White label copy
Vinyl album Plain card cover, plain white typed labels.
Labels
US VINYL
US releases
Vinyl album: SP 4544 (A&M, US, 1975). Outer sleeve is almost identical to UK sleeve - a tiny A&M logo and US cat number bottom right of front cover; US A&M address bottom left of back. Instead of the UK insert, the US gave you an inner sleeve with the lyrics on it, identical other than for some US info after "The Promised Land". Labels are US-style silver.
Monarch pressing labels
Three tracks above the spindle hole and 2 below.
Pitman pressing labels
Several variants are listed on Discogs, with different matrix numbers etched into the vinyl.
Two tracks above the spindle, three below.
Terre Haute pressing (*)
Listed on Discogs, no label images.
US promo releases
Vinyl album: SP 4544 (A&M, US, 1975). Pretty much the same as the UK release, but the lyrics are on an inner sleeve rather than an insert.
Monarch pressing - labels
The words "Promotion Copy Not For Sale" appear on the label at the top, not round the label rim and there are two tracks above the spindle hole and three above.
Pitman pressing - promo sticker and labels
"Promotion copy etc. wording is typeset round the label rim, and there are three tracks above the spindle hole and two above.
Terre Haute pressing
Now acquired a Terre Haute promo copy. Two tracks above the spindle hole.
US "R" "club" variant release
Vinyl album: R 123600 (A&M, US, date?).This is a Record Club "club" release. Same cover as main US release, with a basic sticker on the back cover with the R catalogue number. Inner sleeve with lyrics. Silver labels, but different typography and R catalogue number.
Known "R" Strawbs releases:
Detail on back cover & labels
CANADA VINYL
Canadian release
Vinyl album: SP 4544 (A&M, Can, 1975). Modelled on US release, has US address on back cover, with Canadian address overprinted. Silver Canada labels. No insert or inner sleeve in my copy, but assume it was the same as the promo.
Canadian promo release
Vinyl album: SP 4544 (A&M, Can, 1975). Promo release same as release, but with white label (Ghosts had a "DJ copy" silver label, but A&M Canada seem to have gone back to their roots with this one). The lyric insert is rather unusual, a textured, almost plasticised paper b/w insert. Came with brown A&M company inner sleeve, with English/French details.
Labels
Inner sleeve
EUROPE VINYL
German release
Vinyl album: 89 373 XOT (A&M, Germany, 1975). The copy I have has a blemish on the label on side 1, so the image is reconstructed here. German printer details back cover bottom left, catalogue number back cover top right. Lyric sleeve rather than insert.
Labels
Portuguese release (*)
Vinyl album (Portugal, 1975). The front cover of the Portuguese picture sleeve Little Sleepy single proclaims the track to be from the album Nomadness ("do LP Nomadness"). Anyone have one ?
Yugoslavian release
Vinyl album: RTB-YU LP 5555 (Radio Televisia Beograd, 1975).
Front and back cover (details)
Labels
ASIA PACIFIC VINYL
Australian release
Vinyl album: L 37515 (A&M/Festival, Australia, 1975). Back cover has Festival Records details in blocky type at botom right - the US address still appears bottom left. Catalgue number back cover, top right. Silver labels. Instead of a 2-sided insert with the lyrics, Festival have included a inner sleeve, made out of rather sturdy paper.
Back cover detail, labels
New Zealand release
Vinyl album: L 37515 (back cover)/L-36515 (spine)/L35715 (labels) (A&M, New Zealand, 1975). New Zealand release on silver labels. Both sides of the cover are shiny laminated, but the back cover is in black and white. Based on the US cover, it has Festival NZ details on the back cover, bottom middle right. No lyrics sheet in my copy but there may have been one. No great consistency as to catalogue number - three differnt versions on labels, spine and back cover.
Back cover
Labels
Japanese release
Vinyl album: GP 269 (A&M/King, Japan, 1975). As per promo release below. My copy of this has the obi intact. Silver labels of course, and side 1 has a Japanese stamp.
Obi and Labels
Japanese promo release
Vinyl album: GP 269 (A&M/King, Japan, 1975). Single sleeve - outer cover is almost identical to the US release, save for the Japanese catalogue number at the bottom right of the front. White promo labels. Two inserts with this release: a 2-sided Japanese insert, with sleeve notes on one side and some lyrics on the other. The other is a 4pp LP sized insert - the outer features the English lyrics from the UK release (with Japanese catalogue number). The inside has some sleeve notes, more lyrics and pictures of other Japanese releases. The intention seems to be to insert the first inside the second, effectively a 6-page insert, which is how I've reproduced it here!
Inserts p1 (outer front)
Same as UK lyrics first side
Inserts pp 2 & 3 (inside outer left and other insert front)
Inserts pp 4 & 5 (inside outer right and other insert back)
Inserts p6 (outer back)
Same as UK lyrics second side, with Japanese catalogue number, "manufactured in Japan" added
Labels
OTHER VINYL
South Africa release
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
Brazilian release
Vinyl album: SA&M 2161 (A&M/EMI Odeon, Brazil, 1975). Sleeve based on the US sleeve with US address at bottom left back sleeve. EMI-Odeon details bottom right, Brazil cat no top right. Also available on cassette.
The copy I have has a Promo stamp on side 2 - unlikely that a separate promo release was created. Unfortunately this was number 57 in someone's record collection with a sticky label on side 1 to prove it, which can't be removed. No lyrics sheet/inner sleeve in my copy but there may have been one.
Labels
Venezuelan release
Vinyl album: (LPS 88513, A&M/El Palacio de la Musica, Venezuela, 1975). Silver labels. Sleeve is the US version with local overprinting. On the front, the catalogue number at bottom right. On the back, the Venezuelan company logo "Hecho en Venezuela por ..." , the cat number and a "D" in a circle (a price code?). Also a square "Disco Es Cultura" logo. No insert, a scrunched polythene inner.
Whilst the track listing on the sleeve is in English, the labels are translated:
- Para Ser Libre (To Be free)
- Un Poquito De Sueno (Little Sleepy)
- La Salamandra Dorada (The Golden Salamander)
- Amigo Ausente (Como Te Necesito) (Absent Friend (How I Need You Now))
- De La Vuelta A La Granja (Back On The Farm)
- Asi Que Morira Nuestro Amor? (So Shall Our Love Die)
- Rosie De Tokyo (Tokyo Rosie)
- Una Opinion Mia (A Mind Of My Own)
- Colgado En La Galeria (Hanging In The Gallery)
- La Tierra Prometida (The Promised Land)
Labels
CASSETTE AND 8-TRACK
UK cassette release
cassette: CAM 68331 (A&M, 1975) Produced by A&M, not Precision Tapes, so running order as per UK LP
Cassette outer and inner cover
Cassette
UK 8 track release
8 track: YAM 68331 (A&M, 1975). The running order is very very different, with the two vinyl tracks from side 1 closing proceedings - the album starts with "Tokyo Rosie"! - and ending with "To Be Free".
Outer front and back
Front, back and head
Running order
Program A
Tokyo Rosie
Hanging In The Gallery
Back On The Farm
Program B
The Golden Salamander
Absent Friend
Promised Land (introduction)
Program C
Promised Land (Part II)
So Shall Our Love Die
A Mind Of My Own (Part I)
Program D
A Mind Of My Own (Part II)
Little Sleepy
To Be Free
US cassette release
cassette: CS-4544 (A&M, US, 1975). Same running order as the album. Minimalist packaging - the inside of the cassette cover is blank, onbody printing on the cassette.
Outer
Cassette
US 8 track release
8-track: 8T-4544 (A&M, US, 1975). Standard US 8-track packaging - black shell. Running order differs from vinyl and UK 8-track.
Outer front and back
Front, back and head
Running order
Program 1
Back On The Farm
Tokyo Rosie
A Mind Of My Own
Program 2
Little Sleepy
To Be Free
The Golden Salamander (begin)
Program 3
The Golden Salamander (concl)
Absent Friend
So Shall Our Love Die (begin)
Program 4
So Shall Our Love Die (concl)
Hanging In The Gallery
Promised Land
Canadian cassette release (*)
Delivery awaited.
Outer
Cassette
Running order
To equalise tape lengths, "To Be Free" is lopped off the beginning of side1 and pasted on at the end of side 2, with "So Shall Our Love Die" moving from the start of side 2 to the end of side 1.
Little Sleepy
The Golden Salamander
Absent Friend (How I Need You)
Back On The Farm
So Shall Our Love Die
Tokyo Rosie
A Mind Of My Own
Hanging In The Gallery
The Promised Land
To Be Free
Canadian 8 track release ? (*)
Was there such a thing?
Yugoslavian cassette release
cassette: LK 57136 (RTB, 1975?). This Yugoslavian cassette release follows the track litsing of the UK LP. The copy I have has been lovingly pre-owned by "Leon", who has signed and typed on the inner spine "Leon - September 1977", and typed the number "35" on the outer spine and front. He has also written "36" and "Leon" on the cassette itself, and in careful black felt tip on the top edge of the cassette "HANDLE CAREFULLY". I will.
Cassette outer and inner cover
Cassette
CD
Groove Master bootleg CD release, 2008
CD: (Groove Master (bootleg)). A very poorly recorded bootleg (audibly from a vinyl copy) with some unreleased Dave Lambert/Fire demo tracks/outtakes of even worse quality. Not recommended. See Nomadness bootleg for details.
Front cover & CD
Tray back
Progressive Line bootleg CD release, 2008
CD: PL 517 (Progressive Line (bootleg)). Standard jewel case CD, with inner (not including lyrics - which bears out the belief that it was reproduced from a cassette copy of the album). Very simple inner with some credits and a track listing and the "strawberry suitcase" image.
Booklet outer and inner
Tray back and inner
CD
Pete Cusumano comments:
I picked up the Progressive Line CD edition of Nomadness and was not impressed. I'm positive now it's a bootleg and here is its worst audio abnormality: At 1:03 into "The Golden Salamander" the left channel suddenly loses the high end. This is a common symptom when a tape goes out of alignment with the playback head. At 3:26 into `A Mind Of My Own' the same thing happens again. Suspicious, I dug out my old A&M cassette of Nomadness and these two spots are opposite of each other on side one and side two the cassette! I remember on ebay a while back someone was selling still sealed cassettes of Nomadness. My guess is someone at Progressive booted this from a cassette and didn't even listen while it was digitizing and missed the alignment problem. Twice!
Universal CD release, 2008
CD: A&M 75302822 (Universal, 2008). Long-awaited official 2008 re-issue on CD of a key Strawbs album with 2 bonus tracks, the already released "Still Small Voice" and "It's Good To See The Sun" which even Dave had forgotten existed. Superb sleeve notes by Mark Powell, and full lyrics (not bonus tracks) included.
A&M 2008 CD releases (Strawbs, Dragonfly, Nomadness)
These appear to have been bootlegged in Russia - identical packaging, except that there is a different pressing number starting "VO1 ..." visible from the bottom of the CD.
Booklet front (p1) and back (p16)
Booklet pp2 & 3
Booklet pp4 & 5
Booklet pp6 & 7
Booklet pp8 & 9
Booklet pp10 & 11
Booklet pp12 & 13
Booklet pp14 & 15
Tray inner and back
CD and sticker
Universal CD promo release (2008)
CD: A&M 75302822 (Universal, 2008). Promo CDs were passed to individual recipients, numbered and with their name printed on the CD.
Promo sleeve and CD
Sunrise bootleg CD release, 2008
CD: A&M SR80517232 (Sunrise, 2008). This bootleg most likely copies the 10-track Progressive line bootleg above (some of the styling and typography is similar), without the bonus tracks on the Universal CD release.
Digipak outer
Digipak inner left and CD
Universal Japan HMCD reissue (2018)
CD: UICY-78841 (Universal, Japan, 2018) Facsimile reissue including original lyric insert and Japanese booklet, based firmly on UK vinyl release. Obi mimics original Japanese release.
CD and Obi
