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BAD GIRL
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'Bad Girl' produced fairly little, three 7" singles (W0154) including two Top-Ups, one silver and one 'Gema Biem', along with a Free Poster 12" (W0154TW), CD (W0154CD) and cassette single (W0154C).
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FEVER
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'Fever' produced a 7" picture disc with numbered picture insert (W0168), which was easily the highlight of the British releases, and although not issued as a seperate limited edition it still manages to fetch £20 in mint condition. One other interesting 7" and the only black vinyl pressing for 'Fever' came in the form of a juke box single. This concisted of a totally plain black vinyl disc with the label embossed into the vinyl. A 12" (W0168T) was accompanied by CD (W0168CD) and cassette single (W0168C).
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RAIN
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Exciting pressings certainly didn't rain down for this release, just a regular 7" (W0190) and silver Top-Up, (along with an all black juke box single), CD (W0190CD) and cassette single (W0190C). At least there was an interesting 12" release, issued solely as a Picture Disc, complete with picture insert which is still easily found for as little as £10.
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I'LL REMEMBER
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Initially not a great deal surfaced, just a regular 7" (W0240), silver Top-Up, cassette single (W0240C), compact disc single (W0240CD) and a fairly basic 12" (W0240T). But it wasn't long before eyes became peeled, as rumours spred of four more CD pressings: three mis-pressings and a gate-fold sleeve issue.
The three mis-pressings:1. The first had the last live track time incorrectly written as 'Why's It So Hard 6.49'.2. The second, and far more rare had no live track at all, it is missing3. And the last, even more scarce, carried 'In This Life' as the last live track.
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The Gate-Folds:-
Basically, CD's made for the UK charts are generally made in Germany (as are album formats) but there does appear to be an initial supply of each CD release coming from pressing plants from within the UK, all of which carry slightly different characturistics to the regular German pressings including a unique gate-fold insert cover. All eleven are featured below, Enjoy....
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The first of these gate-folds appeared in early '93 for "I'll remember". This pressing included an additional silver rim around the otherwise white disc and the disc itself carried no outer 'rights' wording, a common factor with all these pressings. The very inner part of the disc gives credit to 'Nimbus': "MASTERED BY NIMBUS". Finally, both the disc and sleeve give an incorrect '6:49' track time for "Why's It So Hard" (should be '5:13').
- At this point it's probably worth mentioning that as well as a gate-fold sleeve, these pressings generally has some kind of disc design difference to the regular German made pressings that follow, and many do not carry german origins, ie 'made in germany' is missing from both disc and sleeve.
- The next gate-fold came out for "Secret", only this time the inner part of the disc credited "Mayking": "MASTERED BY MAYKING". "Mayking" was then credited on four more of the ten preceeding Madonna releases: "Take A Bow" "Bedtime Story" - possibly all pressings!; "Human Nature" - with slightly darker coloured disc and no outer rights wording, although German origin is given on the disc (and typographically removed from the sleeve); and "One More Chance" - with slightly darker coloured disc and thin silver rim (no outer wording on the regular pressing either).
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"Oh Father" gate-fold offered "DISCTRONICS" manufacture
and unique 'white' disc;
the regular being black. This was followed by "Another Suitcase In Another Hall", which although carried outer disc wording, carried the British Equivelant. As did "You Must love Me", although this pressing did not come with the gate-fold sleeve? - so how many other non gate-fold sleeve pressings carried irregular manufacturing referance? -
Another type of gate-fold pressing and one definately not made in Germany, first appeared for "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". This gave credit to "CD PLANT UK", and didn't carry any outer wordings. "Ray Of Light" followed suit and it's disc was totally blue with no silver outer disc and the german origins have been removed from the sleeve.
So basically these pressings do appear to have been made within the UK, where as all regular British CD's are Made In Germany!, and these pressings were all pressed and used to stock the record stores before the German stock arrives.
taken from the "Madonna Ultiography Collectors Guide"
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SECRET
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'Secret' produced another solely Picture Disc 7" (W0268) coming with picture insert. A black vinyl juke box single also surfaced making it the only non-picture disc pressing. A cassette single (W0268C) appeared along with three compact disc singles: a regular copy (W0268CD), one with 'gate-fold' sleeve and finally a 'Remixes' CD limited edition (W0268CD2).
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TAKE A BOW
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A massive hit in the States, although didn't seem to make any real impact here in the UK. Luckily it's array of optional pressings made up for it's lack of chart success!
The regular 7" (W0278P) came solely in Picture Disc format and came with individually numbered picture insert, a real stunning item! which is now very scarce, as is the black vinyl juke box pressing. The regular CD single (W0278CD) came in limited edition format with three black and white Free Photo Prints (W0278CDX) and is now fairly scarce. A gate-fold Top-Up CD also surfaced, along with a rather strange card sleeve CD single (41874-9). This appears to be either German or French and includes a silver disc, not white as found with the regular British copies, yet this was definately sold here at the regular CD single price.
Two more such card pressings have also surfaced for 'Bedtime Story' and 'You'll See' and all are featured with in the "Madonna Ultiography".
Finally, the cassette single (W0278C) came initially with mis-pressed track time written as '4.31', which was later removed and no time credited at all.
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BEDTIME STORY
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The title track single from Madonna's 1994 album 'Bedtime Stories', though titled 'Bedtime Story'. Despite the huge excitement of another fab Madonna album, very little emmerged, not even a commercial 7" release. A Juke Box 7" (W0285) did appear though; this and most other Juke Box pressings generally fetch between £7 and £10, so are certainly easily obtainable, the earlier ones may be a little scarce now.
A totally unique silver 'hologramme' picture sleeve 12" (W0285TX) was released, this was limited (hence it's 'TX' prefix) so in mint condition is not easy to find and may cost up to £20. A 'gate-fold' sleeve CD single (W0285CD) surfaced, and as yet I have not found a regular sleeve pressing for Bedtime Story? Next came a beautifully unique CD single limited edition (W0285CDX) which blessed the shelves and concisted of a cool card 'book like' casing, opening out into an illustrated 'lyrics' storybook. In the center is a 'digipak' housing which holds the gold disc and a card dummy silver disc, which is where you can put a copy of the regular CD pressing. This pressing also offers a great 'Junior Vasquez' remix and three remixes of 'Secret' and has recently sold over the net for as much as £25, although at present can fetch as little as £15 here in the UK.
A strange card sleeve CD single was also available here in the UK. This concisted of the regular 5-track commercial CD slipped into a card sleeve, but the sleeve credited just two tracks? The sleeve carried the British 'W----' catalogue number which makes it different from the German or French sleeves. These sold in 'HMV' and other big stores and sold at the regular CD single price.
Finally, there are two cassette single body-type variations (W0285C), the first being constructed of black plastic, the second made from clear plastic.
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HUMAN NATURE
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Very little surfaced, no 7", although a juke box pressing (W0300) was issued offering a vinyl alternative. A 12" (W0300T) was pressed, and came with unique UK only 'chair' picture sleeve, most countries using the 'floral' picture of Madonna laying on the floor. Also the label design for the 12" was special in that it was totally different to all others and included a kind of watermark design. A CD single (W0300CD) and cassette single (W0300C) were also pressed, along with a gate-fold Top-Up CD issue with slightly lighter purple disc.
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