Earlier this week I blogged about an interesting CD variation of John Lennon’s “Shaved Fish”.
That post prompted me to drag out the vinyl copies of this 1973 “Best Of” compilation and publish some photos of the different versions I have in the collection.
The front cover, rear cover, and inner sleeve of this album in LP form seems to be very consistent right around the world. Here’s a typical front cover. This one below is the Italian release:
Italian front cover of Lennon's 1973 "Shaved Fish"
And here is the rear cover:
"Shaved Fish" rear cover (Italy)
There is a strong Japanese influence to the graphic design throughout, which was provided by designer Roy Kohara who worked again with Lennon as Art Director and Designer for both his “Walls and Bridges” and “Rock’n’Roll” LP’s.
The sub-title for this album seems to be “Collectable Lennon” as this phrase is printed on the rear covers of both the Italian and British versions of the album. Its not on the US or Australian rear covers, but does appear on a big sticker on the front of the US copy of the LP that I have:
All copies seem to come with an inner sleeve which is solid red on one side with the lyrics for each song printed in white. The other side has a red rising sun, reminiscent of the Japanese national flag, continuing Kohara’s Japanese theme:
Red inner sleeve with lyrics - Italian release
Kohara's Japanese theme continued on inner sleeve
Here’s the label for the Italian release – a green Apple label:
Italian Apple label
I have two versions of the Australian release. The original Apple label:
Australian green Apple
And the later Parlophone black and silver re-issue:
Australian Parlophone re-issue
The U.S. release is a green Apple:
US green Apple label
And finally the U.K. release, again a green Apple label:
UK green Apple label
If you’d like to see some more label variations you can go to:
Label Variations – Part One “Sgt Pepper”
Label Variations – Part Two “Let It Be”
Label Variations – Part Three – McCartney’s “Choba B CCCP”
and
Beatles Blog 