European Son (remix)
UK/Ireland/Germany/Australia
January 1982
7"
version:
A: European Son (remix) 3.48
B: Alien 5.00
12" version:
A: European Son (extended remix) 5.14
B: Alien 5.00
The 7" and 12" versions
on this release were remixed by "Tin Drum" producer Steve Nye and have
a harder less disco sound than the John Punter
mixes. The b-side in both cases is "Alien". There is also a German
pressing with a different sleeve. UK chart position: 31.
- UK
& Irish 7" HANSA 10
- UK
12" HANSA 1210
- German
7" Hansa 103.897
- Australian
7" RCA Victor 103981
European Son was written
by David Sylvian in 1978 following the group's US tour. It was intended
to be the title track of their third album, and Sylvian intended to
record it with Giorgio Moroder. However, the producer preferred Life In
Tokyo so this did not happen. Japan then recorded the song with Simon
Napier-Bell and it was mixed by John Punter before release. Seemingly
"always the bridesmaid never the bride" the song was first released as
the b-side of I Second That Emotion in Japan and on the Special Edition
EP in Canada. It wasn't out in the UK until 1981, again as a b-side,
this time to Life In Tokyo (Hansa 4) and later on Assemblage. A rare
John Punter 12" version can be heard as the b-side of the 1981 Life In
Tokyo 12" (Hansa 124). This has recently been included on the new
version of Assemblage released by BMG in 2004.
The Irish 7" uses old
(pre-Quiet Life) label stock, while the UK version has newer "grid"
type labels.
I
have also seen a Finnish 7" on Ebay which has the same sleeve as the UK
edition. However, there was no scan of the label provided before the
item sold, so I can not give any more details.
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