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X1 & X2:
Site Comments

X1 & X2:
Site Comments


BRAT corrected my statements concerning the box numbers:

ALCB is the standard prefix for Alfa CD's. Chronicles was a separate set, with a completely different number of CD's, tracks, etc.
BRAT

I had previously thought that ALCB stood for ALfa Chronicles Box. But since Chronicles was not the working name of the set, that was wrong.


Kylis was kind enough to point out many items about the track times and actual mixes:

I stumbled upon your X1/X2 page, and found on it the track times for each of the tracks in the set (something I'd never seen posted *ANYWHERE* before). Now, going with the assumption that these track times are correct for the CDs, there are a *LOT* more differences between X1/X2 and the original releases of these tracks than you previously mentioned. I ignored differences of up to ten seconds (in either direction), as these can be attributed to many things. However, a difference of greater than ten seconds, IMHO, is significant enough to warrant attention. And here's what I noticed...


uno The Twelve Inches

[6:57] Behind The Wheel (Shep Pettibone Remix)
According to Louis van Dompselaar's discography (from which I'm taking all the times that I refer to here), this should be 5:55, not 6:57. So an extra minute is in this somewhere.

[8:51] Personal Jesus (Pump Mix)
7:19 in discography - that's 1:32 difference...


zwei The Twelve Inches

[9:39] Master And Servant (Slavery Whip Mix)
9:21 - only 18 seconds, but I think it's significant

[11:59] A Question Of Time (New Town Mix) includes Live Mix
This should only be 11:08 or so (Louis has it divided into two entries, one of 7:00 and one of 4:08), so an extra 51 seconds...

[8:59] Behind The Wheel (Beastmasters)
8:00 in discography - almost one minute longer on X1?


trois The Twelve Inches

I'm not counting the "Get The Balance Right!" one since you already noted the different ending - but also note that it's much shorter!

[8:02] Everything Counts (In Larger Amounts)
7:21 in discog - 41 seconds longer

[7:20] Stripped (Highland Mix)
6:41 in discog - 39 seconds longer

[8:50] Fly On The Windscreen (Extended)
7:50 in discog - one minute longer

[6:50] Personal Jesus (Holier Than Thou Approach)
5:43 in discog - 1:07 longer
Ignoring ETS Hands And Feet since you already noted different ending - but also note it's shorter again!


four Strange Mixes

[5:57] Never Let Me Down Again (Aggro Mix)
4:58 in discog - 59 seconds longer


cinco Instrumentals

[5:47] Any Second Now
At this length, it should be ASN Altered, not the original

[4:23] My Secret Garden (actually Exerpts from My Secret Garden)
At this time, it should be Further Excerpts...


sex B-sides

[2:40] Any Second Now
At this time, it should be ASN Voices, not the original instrumental

[3:46] Now This Is Fun
3:22 in discog - 24 seconds longer

[3:56] Pleasure Little Treasure
2:50 in discog - 1:06 longer


ceMb Live One

[3:26] Photographic [Hammersmith Oct 1982]
3:58 in discog - 32 seconds shorter

[3:47] Tora! Tora! Tora! [Hammersmith Oct 1982]
4:09 in discog - 22 seconds shorter

[6:52] Everything Counts [Empire Sep 1984]
If this is the '84 recording previously released, should be 5:45. If it is the 101 single version, should be 5:47. If it's the 101 album version, should be 6:29. All of these are shorter than what you list.

[5:51] More Than A Party [Birmingham Nec Apr 1986]
5:06 in discog - 45 seconds shorter


oziem Live Two

[4:28] Black Celebration [Empire Sep 1984]
6:48 in discog - 2:20 shorter

[4:24] Master And Servant [Swiss Radio Mar 1986]
5:35 in discog - 1:11 shorter

[4:21] Somebody [Birmingham Nec Apr 1986]
No released version I know of from '86, though one from '84 does exist from Empire Theatre

[4:44] People Are People [Pasadena Rose Bowl Jun 1988]
4:59 in discog - 15 second difference

[5:25] Blasphemous Rumours [Pasadena Rose Bowl Jun 1988]
Looking at this time, I'd venture that it's the recording on the "A Question Of Lust" cassette (the time in the discog for that track is 5:24)

[6:16] Stripped [Pasadena Rose Bowl Jun 1988]
6:45 in discog - 29 seconds shorter

Now, I don't doubt that you have the times correct. I think that Alfa may have miscredited some of the tracks (especially the live ones) or they are slightly different than the original releases and it somehow managed to escape your eye (which surprises me, since you're usually pretty thorough, I think - but we all have our off days).

Thanks for the compliment. In fact, I did not research the attributions vs. the actual track releases. Kylis's comments were sent in before I added the Music Collector article which delves into many (but not all) of the points made here. I have updated the times on the Track Listings pages and the individual discs' pages.


Martin gave me his perspective on the matter of the capital M in 'ceMb':

It's actually very simple: (Do the mirror-trick)
dM | Mb

....Martin

However, I've since learned that ceMb is probably the closest Latin representation to the Russian word for seven. See below.


Andy Hake, however, set the record straight on disc seven as well as on the track remixes when he told me the following:

ceMb is... Russian, which my boss' wife has identified. (She comes from Russia) She told me the exact area, but I'd have to ask her.

The different endings come from the original Mute repositories, and were sent to the BBC and some other European radio stations to be played on certain radio shows. For example, the mix of "Get The Balance Right" was played with this ending on SWF3, a German station, on November 3rd, 1989 at 6.05pm.

Thanks Andy. Now there's just 'Five' and 'Eight' to confirm.


Annonymous, noted:

eight: 1. osiem

It might be Czech... I have a good friend I will ask next time I see her.


John Joseph Silveria II, took issue with how the re-releases of the singles from the other Box set, the Singles Boxes 1, 2 and 3 were refered to in a couple of places through-out this site. This was an issue regarding the 4 'orphaned' singles from that set.

I don't think I'm alone in thinking that there was either a box set I was missing or that the import boxes were different. It's funny but right as I got your e-mail I was saying to a friend, "I wonder if he means the re-releases of the CDSingles that look like the digipak releases for the singles in the box sets".


Mr Baskak from Poland wanted to clear up the issue:

Just to clear: "eight" in Polish would be "osiem" (not "oziem"). And "ceMb" seems to be a cyrylic for "seven" in Russian, just "misrepresented" in latin letters, which should be read as something like "syem" in English. The first character is "s", the second "ye" (soft "e"), the third "m" of course, and the fourth is the "soft sign", mute :), but affecting the way the previous one is pronounced. In cyryllic: семь.


Heiko Karasch from Berlin/Germany, wrote in with another great tidbit:

Hi, I like your page very much because it has the most comprehensive information on X1 + X2. My comment: Blasphemous Rumours on disc oziem (Live Two) was recorded at Birmingham Nec Apr 10th 1986. So it's another exclusive track on X1 + X2.


If you have a comment, please feel free to contact me.


Further Resources:
General Information about X1 and X2.
Track Listing for all discs.
Art and design information and comments.
Article from Music Collector magazine.
Original releases of the tracks are listed here.



 
 

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