Fool For Those Japanese Singles

Picking up that latest Krokus 7 inch totally sidetracked me from other goals, and suddenly the most important thing to me was chasing more singles. The seller had a couple more that caught my attention, so I quickly added them to my cart.

It has been about a year since I added my last Whitesnake single to the collection, so when I found a US seller that had this Japanese pressing of Fool For You Loving available, I didn't hesitate to snatch it up. Sure, I already had the UK pressing of this one, with the glow in the dark cover, but this Japanese one is nice as well. It is a pretty cool live shot, with the stage bathed in yellow lights, on the cover. Man, I love collecting these things and buying this single just makes me want more of them.

Mean Business is a killer b-side song.

OBI Blackout

Last year I made it my mission to pick up a Japanese pressing of a Scorpions album. I grabbed a copy of Taken By Force, and quickly followed it up with Virgin Killer plus an early Best Of record. I was struck by how great those pink and purple OBI strips looked with that little scorpion, and suddenly I needed all of my Scorpions record to be Japanese pressings.

I'm only missing a few Scorpions albums from my collection, and I didn't want to let the year slip by me without picking up at least one more Japanese pressing. When I was recently buying Y & T's Earthshaker from a seller out of Japan on eBay, I decided to check out what else they had available. As soon as I saw this copy of Blackout, I immediately added it to my cart.

The Blackout album has been a favorite of mine from the band, and given how big the record was for them, I'm kind of surprised that I hadn't grabbed a cheap US pressing at a local shop over the years. This is straight up an early 80's classic. I'm happy to finally have this copy on my shelves.

Japan Shaker

Y & T are one of those bands where my focus has shifted over the years. Initially I was content to just pick up cheap US pressings, and it has been kind of cool to pick up the majority of my collection for the band locally in second hand stores. However, I really like this band, and for the few records that I was still missing, I wanted to make things a bit more interesting and I moved my sights over to Japanese pressings. I don't know, there is just something about adding a record from Japan to the collection that makes it much more interesting.

I've wanted to pick up the Earthshaker album from Y & T for a few years now, but for one reason or another I've just never pulled the trigger. Seeing how the record was celebrating it's 40th anniversary this year, it provided a bit more incentive for me to get my hands on a copy. I love how the OBI incorporates the cover artwork into it's design, and it was one of the selling points that had me targeting a Japanese pressing for this record. It just looks great.

I've been listening to this album quite a bit over the past couple of years, and it has climbed a few notches in my Y & T ranking. Front to back, Earthshaker is full of so many great classic early metal songs.

Eye Of A Japanese Hurricane

When I was recently picking up a record from the No Remorse distro out of Greece, I knew that I was going to get hit with overseas shipping fees... so to make me feel better about it, I decided to add one more record to the cart. To my surprise, No Remorse didn't only stock new releases, and I was happy to pick up an older original pressing that I found in their store.

Loudness released Hurricane Eyes in 1987. It was a straight forward metal album, but at the time I wanted my metal to thrash, so I didn't pay too much attention to it. My friend, Bill, on the other hand loved the album, and I remember on one occassion going over to his house to play Bard's Tale on his computer and he dropped the Hurricane Eyes cassette into the tape deck and let the first track rip. While I don't remember much about the album from that time, but I'll never forget being blown away by the speed metal attack of S.D.I.. That song was killer. When I saw that No Remorse had a copy of the record available, I decided to revisit it some 30+ years later.

While the 17 year old version of me wouldn't have been too impressed with Hurricane Eyes when it was released, this album has been a blast to discover recently. I've wanted to collect Japanese pressings for the early Loudness records, but I've always ended up going with a cheap US pressing instead. It feels good to finally have a record from the homeland of Loudness.

Whitesingles

I never set out to collect Whitesnake records, yet somehow here I am adding a couple more singles to the collection. Given how much I dispised this band when I was a teen in the 80's, I find it amazing that all these years later here I am obsessing over Whitesnake now. Initially, I set out to buy those Whitesnake albums from their 70's and early 80's years, but now I'm just as excited to pick up odds and ends singles along the way as well.

A few years ago I picked up the debut Whitesnake 7 inch and I remember feeling like I'd just bought an important piece of history. When I recently found a seller with a copy of the Japanses pressing of the Snakebite EP...although it is apparently knows as the Bloody Mary EP in Japan, I knew that I was going to have to buy it regardless of the price.

I love the look of this 7 inch with the alternate cover. Japanese singles tend to do something different with the cover art, and this one does not disappoint. So good.

Although Whitesnake's Come An' Get It album is from that classic period that I have really grown to love, it isn't one that I've spent a lot of time with. When I saw that the seller also had the Don't Break My Heart single from that album, I figured it was time that I get more familiar with those songs.

While the Don't Break My Heart title may sound flat and generic the song is actually quite good, however it is the b-side of Child Of Babylon that really captures my attention. That song is amazing. Happy to add another Whitesnake single to the collection.

The Look Of Japanese Love

When I first started buying Japanese singles for those early MTV hits, I kind of assumed that it would be a fleeting obsession. I figured that I would burn out on it rather quickly. Yet, here we are, and after going a few rounds with these things, I still have a desire to keep this collection growing.

In continuing my obsession with these MTV singles, my first move was to pick up another 7 inch from Hall & Oates. I'm not sure exactly what it is about their songs, but man, I really dig them. It has to be some kind of deep connection to my childhood, or maybe it is just John Oates mustache, because that thing is glorious. Either way, their early 80's singles are mandatory, and the 1981 7 inch for Private Eyes is no exception.

As I was listening to the Early MTV playlist on Spotify, the song Abracadabra from Steve Miller Band came up in the rotation. Holy shit. I'd completely forgotten about this song, and it was a lot of fun to hear it again...plus the video for the song was state of the art technology for 1982.

I had no interest in Rod Stewart, and if someone had mentioned the song title for Young Turks, I would have shrugged my shoulder in indifference. Nope. I didn't recall that song at all. When it popped up on the Early MTV playlist on Spotify, I had my finger ready to hit the "skip" button and move on to the next song...then once I heard the familiar synth sounds, I figured that I'd ride it out and give it a chance. As the song progressed, it all came back to me, and unbelievably the lyrics were rolling off my tongue as if I'd been hearing this song regularly since the 80's. Honestly, this song was a huge surprise. I'd forgotten how much I'd loved it as a kid. As an awkward eleven year old, this song about teenage runaways, and the lyric "there ain't no point in talking when there's nobody listening, so we just ran away" was like a wild and dangerous fantasy at the time. Man, it was cool to discover this song again.

Before I closed out this run of MTV singles, I wanted to pick up a song that basically defined those early 80's MTV years. Big synths and wild videos defined that time, and I needed that represented in my collection. I really didn't care for the synth pop stuff at that time, as I preferred stuff with more of a kick, but going back and listening to those songs, I can't help but get sucked into them. I remember that the Poison Arrow video was kind of big on MTV during those early years, but once I started checking out the other ABC hits, I was surprised to find that I not only remembered them, but I was also fucking loving them. The video for The Look Of Love is a perfect snapshot of the time. It is just so over the top and weird...I can't look away from it...so I definitely needed the 7 inch single.

Guilty Of Loving Japanese Singles

I was recently feeding my obsession for Japanese singles, and as I was loading up my cart from a US seller on Discogs, I noticed they had a record from Whitesnake available. Given how much I've been listening to the band this year, it was an obvious choice to add it to my order.

This single is for a couple of songs off of Whitesnake's Slide It In album. The a-side song is Give Me More Time, which kind of surprised me, as I figured the b-side of Guilty Of Love was the bigger hit. Either way, I love the look of that front cover.

To be honest, I'd never really paid much attention to the Slide It In album, as I usually focused more on the earlier, more bluesy years from the band. That changed over this past summer. I was doing a lot of running at the time, and putting up around 40 miles a week. I was in love with this eight mile loop that I'd just discovered, and as I headed out the door at 5:00 one morning, I queued up a couple of Whitesnake albums to listen to on my run...and the second one on deck was Slide It In. As soon as the first song, Gambler, kicked in, I instantly perked up. Whoa. I didn't remember this sounding so damn good...and that feeling stayed with me for the entire album. It has been a mistake for me to overlook this album for so long. So good.

Call Me

One more post to finish off the latest round of Japanese singles that I'd picked up recently. There is definitely a theme for the records here in this post. Since this is the music from pre-teen days, I'm sure that twelve year old me would approve of these covers.

I don't remember Call Me as a big MTV hit, as it was released a year or so before the channel launched, but I'm still counting it as part of the MTV singles collection. I'm not a big Blondie fan, but there are a few singles that I find that I really enjoy, plus I couldn't resist those eyes on the front cover that just say "take me".

You're So Vain is an okay song, but it's about ten years too early to qualify as a part of my MTV singles collection. Still, seeing Carly Simon smuggling M&Ms under her shirt for the cover photo was reason enough to throw a few bucks at this 7 inch. The 70's were a liberating time.

The last 7 inch is an old beat up single from the record collection of my mom's boyfriend when he passed four years ago. I've had it set off to the side in a small pile of singles for years, but haven't made the move to "officially" add it to the collection. This seems like perfect batch of records to finally include it here. My Sharona is a bit overplayed, but the b-side on this single, Let Me Out, sounds like a great early punk song. I might have to check out more from The Knack. Oh, and you can't lose with a white tanktop.

I Want My Japanese MTV Singles

It has been an odd kind of year, and so to find my musical headspace turned upside down, shouldn't be surprising. I feel that with everything so fucking frightening and maddening this year, people have to find some solace where they can get it. So right now, I'm not going to over analyze my obsession with the early 80's MTV hits from my childhood...it makes me smile, so I'm just going to roll with it.

When I picked up a few Japanese 7 inch singles a few months ago, I wasn't sure where I was going with it or if I'd reallyl continue with that stupid obsession, but goddamn, it was a lot of fun and I couldn't stop thinking about expanding the MTV singles collection. I've spent more time on Discogs searching for these things over the past couple of months that I've probably spent looking at any other records, so inevitably I was going to pull the trigger on more of them.

With my first haul of MTV singles over the summer, I picked up a couple of Men At Work records. That band was a pretty big deal when I was eleven, and it was fun to revist the songs for those video that I'd watched countless times as a kid. When I started thinking about buying some more MTV singles, my first move was to grab another one from the band. Down Under is a bit cheesy and is probably overplayed, but it was definitely a part of my childhood, so I needed it in the collection...plus, that koala cover looks rad.

No lie. Lately, I've really been digging the Hall & Oats stuff from the early 80's. These guys were all over the radio and MTV at the time, and I guess it has wormed it's way into my subconcious because I have been loving their hits recently. If I'm going to invest myself into these Japanese singles for the early MTV hits, I needed some Hall & Oats. It's funny...I've always despised the saxaphone, and always thought it killed any song when it showed up, but man, here on Maneater, that shit is smooth. Apparently, I can dig some 80's pop sax. Who knew?

In reminiscing about those early MTV video hits, I remembered that Huey Lewis and the News were pretty big at the time. I had kind of forgotten all about this band but since I figured they kind of defined this era, I decided to revisit them. Wow. I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I listened to a couple Huey Lewis singles, and eventually just listened to the entire Sports album. Not onlyl was I surprised to find that I knew just about every song on that album, but I was also having a blast with those songs. I needed to get something from this band into my Japanese singles collection. I found the I Want A New Drug single and didn't hesitate to grab it. I'm not sure how deep this obsession will go for these MTV hits, but one thing is for sure...I'll be tracking down more Huey Lewis singles.

Japan Singles Like Never Before

A little while back I happened to pick up a couple of Japanese singles for Deep Purple. I mean I've been obsessing over Japanese records for a bit this year, but grabbing those two 7 inches really fueled me to get more. They looked so damn cool. I wanted to build a collection of them and set out to see what I could pick up from US sellers.

One of the cooler records that I was able to pick up was the single for Never Before. This is such a great and underrated Deep Purple song. I was kind of surprised to discover that this song was actually a single...especially coming from the Machine Head album, which had it's fair share of hits. I'm also a fan of that cover photo...just a shaggy bunch of young and loud brits for their time.

The b-side is the amazing When A Blind Man Cries, which didn't make the original pressing of Machine Head.

The next single that I added to the collection was the live version of Black Night, that appeared on the 24 Carat Purple compilation, and based on the cover photo from the single, it was obviously cut from the classic Made In Japan album. I wish they had used a different photo than the album, but it is still a good look.

I managed to find one more Deep Purple single from a US seller, and this time it was for the song Burn. This was the song that initially gave me an appreciation for David Coverdale, which completely surprised me, since I'd grown up with a passionate hatred for Whitesnake. This shit though, this got down to fucking business. An absolute killer of a song. Again, I wish that the single cover was different than the album, but at least the Japanese characters for the title "Burn" looks cool.

Hot Girls At Work

This may be the oddest post I've even put up on this blog. In fact, I considered not even doing it at all since it is way off my regularly beaten path of punk, hardcore, metal and rock. In the end, this is my blog and I do it as a document to my own record collecting history, so fuck it, here it is.

The past couple of years I've been more and more nostalgic for that music from my youth. I spent a good deal of time last year listening to those bands that really introduced me to heavy metal around 1983 or so, and recently I've slipped back even further...to those early 80's MTV days. I was a kid of that time period, and at 11 and 12 years old, I lived and died by the radio and music videos. As a young kid, secluded in Maine, songs from Billy Idol and Joan Jett had some swagger and attitude, and I was drawn to that stuff...but all the music from that time period left such an imprint on my brain, and lately I find that I want to immerse myself in the music of those days. I found a playlist on Spotify called Early MTV (80's Hits), and I've been having a blast revisiting old songs that I would watch the video for over and over back in the day. Even the stuff that I didn't really care for back then has been so much fun to listen to again these days.

I was having such a great time listening to those old songs, and while I wasn't interested in checking out the full albums from those bands, the idea of picking up some of the singles did start to take root in my brain. Initially, I figured that I'd only pick them up if I saw them out in wild...but with all the record shops closed, and the itch growing more intense for some of these singles, I started to check to see what Discogs had available and toyed with the idea of only picking them up if I could find them cheap...and then the obsession kicked up a notch when I started to look into what the Japanese singles looked like...

Eleven year old Mike was a big fan of Loverboy. These guys were the coolest, and the video for Hot Girls In Love, complete with boys wearing bandana headbands and hot blondes driving fast cars...fuck yes, it was everything that this pre-teen boy needed. This was one of the gateway bands that set me down the path to search for heavier and heavier music. When I started wondering where I should start when collecting my "MTV singles", Loverboy was one of the bands that I had my sights on.

Another Loverboy single that I picked up was The Kid Is Hot Tonight. This was another killer song that was just massive for me at the time. No one was cooler than Mike Reno. You better fucking believe it.

This single didn't get a Japanese pressing, so I was content with the regular US picture sleeve pressing.

Men At Work were another favorite for me in the early 80's, before I discovered hard rock and metal. By the time their second album, Cargo, came out in '83, I was starting to move on from that kind of pop, so when the song Overkill popped up on the MTV spotify playlist, I wasn't initially familiar with it. Once the song started to kick in, I started to vaguely remember it, and by the time the song was finished I was fucking loving it. Wow. I was not expecting to enjoy that as much as I did. Goddamn. I kept returning to the song, and loved it with each spin. Time to buy the record.

I was feeling pretty good about my initial haul of MTV singles, but man, that Overkill song really had me hooked, and since I remember how much I loved the early Men At Work songs in '81, I decided to grab Who Can It Be Now to finish off this run. I must have watched that video 100 times when we got MTV, and Colin Hay's lazy eye freaked me out every damn time. Classic!

Picking up these four singles was fun, and I don't know how much time and money I want to end up sinking into this dumb project...but still, I want more.

Japanese Virgin

To start 2020, I put the Japanese pressing of Taken By Force from Scorpions on my Top 10 Want List for the year. I had become obsessed with the original cover that ended up being censored, and I wanted that shit in my collection. The OBI strip was a very cool bonus. Once I had that record in my hands, suddenly I wanted all of my Scorpions records to be Japanese pressings.

I don't own all the Scorpions albums that I'd like to have in my collection, and most of the ones that I have are US or German pressings, but there is just something cool about the prospect of lining up all those OBI strips. At some point, I'm going to have to upgrade those albums that I own that aren't Japanese pressings.

One of the bigger holes in my Scorpions collection was their Virgin Killer record. I love that album, but I've been on the fence if I wanted to grab a pressing with that original cover featuring the prepubescent girl. Sure it tends to offend people, but come on guys, what are you going to do, settle for that a censored cover? Whatever. Give me that original cover. I'm not going to lie...I did have to secretly open the box when it arrived and quickly get that shit into my music room, away from the eyes of my family. I have no problem owning this, but they don't need to know that I have no problem owning this.

Okay, I got confused when I was buying this on eBay, and thought this was a first pressing. I wasn't paying close attention to the OBI differences, and it turns out that this was the '82 reissue and not the '77 pressing. Oh well, the price for each is comparable, so I'm not going to sweat it.

Included with the Virgin Killer album, the seller also had a Japanese pressing of the Best Of Scorpions. I don't typically care about Best Of records, but with a cover that features some kind of spotlight scorpion shooting a laser from a tanned and glistening woman's ass, I guess I'll get down with that.

Originally released in '79, this compilation basically covers the three album stretch of In Trance, Virgin Killer and Taken By Force...plus the best song from Fly To The Rainbow. It is a solid collection.

Japan Double Dealer

I've been on a Deep Purple kick lately. The band have a new album coming out next month, and while I haven't generally been that interested in newer Deep Purple albums, for some reason this one has me curious. On top of that, I've really been digging in with the first few albums with the Mark I line up featuring Rod Evans on vocals. Then, I've also been heavily obsessing over the Mark III Coverdale albums. Needless to say, I've been listening to a lot of Purple this year. Combine that with my interest in singles and Japanese pressing and it was inevitable that they were all going to converge.

Man, I've been loving anything Coverdale lately, including Whitesnake and his albums with Deep Purple. When I was obsessing over singles earlier this year, I stumbled upon a few eBay auctions from a Japanese seller and there were a few Deep Purple 7 inches that caught my eye. Damn, these things looked cool, and since I was feeling pretty loose with my money, I threw a winning bid on this single for Lady Double Dealer. There is just something about those 7 inch picture sleeve covers that capture my attention, and this one from 1974 looks great.

I actually ordered this Deep Purple single from Japan back in March, and like the AC/DC record that I'd ordered from Australia around that time, the COVID-19 pandemic put international shipments on hold so this 7 inch sat in Japanese customs for two months before it even started to make its way over to the US. This record didn't come close the price tag on that AC/DC album, but it was still a relief when it finally arrived.

Picking up this Highway Star single was much easier from a US seller on Discogs. The price was very reasonable and it was delivered within a week.

Highway Star was originally released as a single back in '72. For some reason, Japan reissued the single in '76 with a different cover and changed out the b-side track to Strange Kind Of Woman. Love the clean pink layout for this one, but I'm going to need the original single cover as well at some point.