Label affiliations: Help with these West German Peter Gabriel CDs.

I have two West German CD pressings of Peter Gabriel Plays Live -- Highlights and am hoping that someone can answer a few basic questions about them. First, here are the particulars of the two CDs.

Version 1

* Charisma catalog number 812 445-2
* The CD has yellow rays and a yellow "moire" pattern with black text.
* The CD shows the Charisma logo with "THE FAMOUS CHARISMA LABEL" at 12 o'clock.
* The CD says "(P) 1983 Charisma Records Ltd., London".
* The CD says "MADE IN W. GERMANY BY POLYGRAM".
* The back insert says "marketed by phonogram" and shows the Phonogram logo.
* The inserts say "Printed in West Germany".
* The back insert says "(P) 1983 Charisma Records Ltd., London" and "(C) 1983 Charisma Records Ltd., London".
* The inserts show the Charisma logo.

Version 2

* Virgin catalog number PGDLCD 1
* The CD has black text and a light blue coating.
* The CD says "STEREO (P)1983 VIRGIN RECORDS" but does not show the Virgin logo.
* The CD does not say where it was made, but it look like a West German Polygram pressing from the matrix code. Plus, there is no plastic ring.
* The back insert makes no reference to Phonogram.
* The inserts say "Printed in West Germany".
* The back cover of the booklet says "(P) 1980 VIRGIN RECORDS LTD." and "(C) 1984 CHARISMA RECORDS LTD."
* The back insert says "(P) 1983 VIRGIN RECORDS LTD." and "(C) 1984 CHARISMA RECORDS LTD."
* The inserts show the Virgin and Charisma logos.

With that information, does anyone know if one disc was released before the other? Were these discs released in different countries? I'm just wondering why there are two West German pressings that appear to be early releases. Thanks in advance.

 

Anyone home?

 

You can keep on knocking but you can't come in.

Keith - I have the first disc you mention and I got it way back when CDs first came out. At the time it was the only Peter Gabriel CD available and it was most definitely purchased as an import. In fact a few months after I purchased this disc I was offered a substantial amount of money by an independent record store that said the disc was hard to get (needless to say I kept the disc - and still have it). (This might lead me to believe that the second disc you mention might be the re-pressing of this disc.) Anyway - here are some assumptions on my part:

The only thing I can add is that the first disc was probably pressed for the European market in 1983, while the second disc, based on the catalog number of the disc, was pressed and marketed in England when Virgin decided to start pressing Gabriel CDs under their own label imprint (since the catalog number of that disc is very similar to all my English pressed Gabriel CDs (i.e., 1, 2 and 3)). Either that, or once the original Charisma pressing sold out, maybe the re-pressing was merely changed to reflect the Virgin label imprint instead of Charisma, even though the disc was basically a similar West German pressing.

 

Mike, thanks for the info. and the interesting history of the Charisma disc! I was beginning to wonder if the second disc was released in the UK due to it bearing the Virgin name.

 

I have that Charisma CD myself, but alas, don't know anything about it...other than buying it at a local store that had plenty of affordable imports in CD's early years.