NewsPaul McCartney / Japanese ‘paper sleeve’ mini-LP CD vinyl replicas
The eight Paul McCartney/Wings albums that are due to be reissued on (coloured) vinyl and CD next month will also be issued in Japan as limited ‘paper sleeve’ vinyl replica CD editions.
The albums in question are McCartney, RAM, Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, McCartney II, Tug of War and Pipes of Peace – i.e. all the studio album reissued since 2010, except Flowers in the Dirt.
These rather collectable CDs (also commonly referred to as mini-LP CDs) will faithfully replicate the first pressing UK vinyl pressing, so expect textured covers, inner sleeves, posters and the like to be present and correct. There will also be lyric sheets/booklets in Japanese (and sometimes additional lyric sheets in English). Each CD will also have a Japanese ‘OBI’ strip which replicates the design from the Japanese first vinyl pressing.
This will be only the second time that McCartney’s non-Beatles output has received this treatment. In 1999-2000 all his albums from McCartney to 1986’s Press To Play were reissued in this format. I actually had about five or six of these (including an excellent Give My Regards To Broadstreet) but stupidly sold most of them, so I for one, welcome the opportunity to collect these without paying inflated prices on the used market. Unlike the previous editions from 17 years ago, these new issues will be SHM-CDs (Super High Material) and they will of course use the latest remasters (presumably Tug of War will include the remix).
All eight of these albums will be issued as these Japanese ‘paper sleeve’ editions on 13 December 2017.
CD Japan pre-order: McCartney / Japanese mini-LP CD
CD Japan pre-order: RAM / Japanese mini-LP CD
CD Japan pre-order: Band on the Run / Japanese mini-LP CD
CD Japan pre-order: Venus and Mars / Japanese mini-LP CD
CD Japan pre-order: Wings at the Speed of Sound / Japanese mini-LP CD
CD Japan pre-order: McCartney II / Japanese mini-LP CD
CD Japan pre-order: Tug of War / Japanese mini-LP CD
CD Japan pre-order: Pipes of Peace / Japanese mini-LP CD
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[…] The attempts to market these eight coloured vinyl Paul McCartney reissues have been nothing short of farcical, and fans are expected to pay a premium price, too. Nevertheless, they are inevitably going to be desirable to many collectors. A series of vinyl replica Japanese ‘mini-LP CDs’ are also being issued. […]
Must have WINGS albums, RAM and McCartneh!!!
These are now on amazon.co.uk for £61.99 each….
That’s why I didn’t even bother with Amazon UK links!
I’ve just fallen and I can’t get up
Im not really interested in them but I tried ordering 4 of them (McCartney,McCartney II,Band on the run and Tug of war, with slight variations in terms of price among them)just to see how much would they mean on Amazon Japan once delivered to Spain and that would be 88,51€ (thats 22,12€ per cd) with shipping cost and all customs taxes included. If you order more it might be even a better price…or not.
They are released on the 17th Nov. And youre given an estimate delivery around the 30th though my experience tells me Id get them sooner than that, possibly around the 25th.
Anyway, I think this would be a good choice for those of you interested in them as there would be no extra hidden cost. I dont know if shipping to the Uk or any other European country would be similar or not but thats what you pay if you order from Spain.
Why not order them on Amazon Japan?
For the past few months I’ve been purchasing Japanese SACDs such as Roxy Music’s,Bryan Ferry’s and John Lennon’s(all in mini-lp replicas),Miles Davis’,Queen’s and The Rolling Stones'(in jewel cases) and I usually ordered 3 or 4 at the same time. That meant each of them was around 34-36€ but they were deliveredcto Spain in 4 days by DHL and with prepaid customs taxes, VAT and import duties so I knew I wouldnt be ripped off by any other hidden costs.
What? No limited japanese vinyl replica coloured CD’s??
Does anyone know why he hardly ever plays live in the UK? He seems to be constantly touring USA, South America & Japan…but years between UK gigs. Why?
Not sure to be honest. The USA do love Macca though!
I have all the SDE’s of the albums along with the 2 CD versions for the ‘day shelf’, but guess what, I still want these. What is wrong with me?
That said, I have the Lennon Signature box, but still bought the SHM mini-LPs as well and they sound superb and the packaging is first class (as is usually the case with Japanese CDs). Didn’t get the Beatles SHMs though, as the solo stuff means more to me, probably because I got some of the albums growing up as they came out and I have a stronger overall connection.
Japan mini lp’s are wonderful. Japanese are really THE specialists in miniaturized things of all kinds.
Usually not cheap, about 22 to 23 euros excl. shipping but worth buying as their value usually inflates overtime. I have some McCartney Japan mini lp’s from the first release which was much wider than what’s going to be released now. I’m not sure there will be a Disk Union box though.
Best addresses to purchase those is of course CD Japan (be careful on the customs fees) or eBay where a few Japanese record shops are selling brand new mini lp’s. Also they’ve very friendly and accept to declare a lower value to avoid paying customs fees.
I have been buying mini lp’s since 2004 and now have a collection of 500+ titles.
This is one instance that I have to agree that eBay is definitely worth a scour for Japanese sellers – the one’s I have found are extremely helpful and ordering one/two at a time does appear to get missed by customs over here – especially when the word USED is on the package.
And for some reason it’s so much cheaper to have stuff sent from Japan to UK than UK to Japan (perhaps they go the short way ’round?!?)
Alain..like yourself I have been collecting Jap mini lp sleeves since 1995..my first set were Queen.. now I have over 800.
Very tempted.
Hopefully there will be a promo Disk Union box to store them in.
Macca is getting ready for retirement!
Paul ,
With these titles being released on vinyl and SHM cd , do you know if there are any plans to release any more archive sets .
The reason im asking is because the albums that havnt been re released are not available at all except on the second hand market , and could also do with a remaster .
I believe the archive series will continue in 2018. Next one (my guess is Flaming Pie) is likely to be in March/April. This is all speculation, mind.
Thanks Paul .
Shame hes ignoring anything before Band On The Run .
Scott Rodger did drop some big hints to me about “Wild Life” so I’m not sure he’s ignoring that era, but it’s true that he hasn’t been back there since 2014.
Fans of Paul’s “other” band may also be interested to note the reissue of the 16 Beatles albums originally released in this format (mini-LP SHM-CDs) back in 2014.
Those sold out fast and were already reissued in 2015. On December 6, they’ll be released again, the only difference this time around being the obis.
Whereas in ’14 and ’15, the obis replicated the design of the respective original Japanese vinyl issues, this time they will be fitted with “Forever” series replica obis, originally used for mid-70s vinyl reissues.
Good call. Meant to mention that, but forgot. I got the 2015 versions.
I too have the 2015 complete Beatles SHM series and I have to say that they are the best sounding Beatles discs you can buy, apart from the recent Pepper’s disc. Absolutely gorgeous packaging and sound. You can practically hear the background “humm” change, at tape edits, or track drop-ins, when turned up to a sufficient volume.
Well worth springing for the entire set.
I used to travel to Japan a lot and would love picking these Mini-Sleeve editions up from the stores there. I have managed to snag complete collections for Bowie (I think they only did up to Tin Machine), Kate Bush, Godley and Creme + some 10cc albums.
However, since I stopped going Japan I have ordered from CDJapan and I invariably get stung for customs charges. This makes the purchases incredibly expensive unfortunately (especially once the Royal Mail have added their random ‘handling fees’).
Would love to get some of these but not knowing how much they are likely to end up costing is somewhat off-putting.
Yep, I just got stung £13.60 to have a ‘bargain’ £21 U2 Joshua Tree prised from the Royal Mail.
I do not see the point in these reissues. Nothing added bonus content I assume, so why bother?
Nice packaging is my answer to the ‘why bother’ question. But in terms of musical reasons, there aren’t any, really.
And the packaging is indeed REALLY NICE! The attention to detail is really good.
If you have got rid of the original vinyl (or in my case even if you haven’t) it is nice having the mini-sleeves as they really do capture the essence of the original packaging (albeit in miniature).
For example in addition to the collections I mentioned above I just remembered that I also have a complete set of XTC mini-sleeves:
– Black Sea came in a green paper bag
– English Settlement has the original textured sleeve
– The Big Express has the round sleeve
etc etc…
Admittedly I am not sure that McCartney’s collection has quite the range of ‘special details’ that Partridge managed to create but nonetheless….
yep..got the XTC mini lp cd..superb detail and qualty
£17.70 plus the postage means these are probably a bit cheaper than the vinyl editions too