2008/12/9 DESLIPPE, MICHAEL CIV DCMA CIV DFAS <MICHAEL.DESLIPPE(a)dfas.mil>il>:
Is this something still in production? I was under the
impression this
was no longer being manufactured and was a piece of history.
The image was the original album cover in 1976. When released, there
was a brief kerfuffle over it - no-one claimed it was illegal, I
believe, but a lot of people said it was really tasteless, and the
band themselves sort of agreed. It was reissued with a different
cover, as often happens. Early versions continued to circulate, of
course, as always happened with any reissued LP.
But... never underestimate the appetite of the market for "special"
versions of albums. In 2004, a box set (really just a largish case)
was issued, with a black outer cover and containing two CDs, each
individually cased, one of this album and one of another.
The copy of the album *inside* this box set had the original artwork
(the offending image), and it was replicated on the back of the box
set. So, yes, it was freely available through a retail channel, and
has been for four years.
How widely available? It's unclear. I checked two high-street stores
in a provincial town (Oxford) and didn't find it - but one of them
didn't have any copies of Scorpions albums at all. In London, a
reporter from a television news program was able to walk into a large
chain store and buy one with no problems. When I checked yesterday,
all three major UK online CD retailers were offering it for sale, and
it appeared to be in stock.
This had been publicly on sale - in chain retailers, not just in
specialist stores - and "in print" by the record company, for four
years.
--
- Andrew Gray
andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk