Originally posted by psychocandy:
i have also that canadian s/t album, pretty cool but was it really released instead of metamatic there?
Yep. I got the grey album in 1981, and I think it must have been close to 1990 before I found a copy of Metamatic. The UK habit of releasing singles that weren't included on LPs led to a lot of North American releases being substantially different from UK editions, as the North American record companies would drop a couple of album tracks and add a couple singles. That's why I had Magazine's An Alternative Use of Soap on LP for years before getting The Correct Use of Soap on CD.
Another case like Metamatic/the grey album happened around the same time, when North America got something called Stranglers IV instead of The Raven. Half of the tracks from the album, plus a side of odds and sods. Initial copies came with a four song EP that included a couple more Stranglers songs plus one each from Hugh Cornwell's and JJ Burnel's respective solo albums of that time.
Then there are albums with all the right tracks but in a different order, like Vienna. I still think it works better starting with Sleepwalk and not Astradyne...