THE RIVER Gate-fold sleeve 2LP: the Hong Kong release

Upper: Incredible finding of a sealed copy, bought
from a French seller last year (Dec. 2013); Lower:
Full opened outer gate-fold sleeve of a used copy.

Housed in a double jacket that is made from thick cardboard, THE RIVER Hong Kong release is a sturdy vinyl record product. For its double jacket interior, this release adequately reproduces one side each of the two inner disc sleeves from the common single jacket record (check the last post on Sep. 20th and compare it to the Israeli release in black/white reproduction). As far as I checked, no misspelling, no typo, or misprint on the labels, sleeves or the fold-out lyric sheet. Overall, the best quality in terms of sound and packaging among the three different versions in my collection (i.e., Israeli and South African in addition to this).

However, I was long suspicious as to whether or not the Hong Kong LP of this double album was genuine because, in common with many of the South-Asian countries, the music industry there had (and still has) persistent problems of piracy activity. Indeed, apart from the double sleeve format, the Hong Kong release quite resembles the Japanese one in several key points, such as the catalog number (40AP 1960-1), dead wax matrix codes, record labels, and outer sleeve design including that of the spine, although lacking an “Obi” decoration (which is common to LP and 12” releases in Japan).

Comparison between Hong Kong (HK) and Japanese (JP) releases.
Upper, Side A labels (left, HK; right, JP); Middle, spines (upper, HK; lower, JP);
bottom left, trademark on the upper left corner of the outer rear sleeve
(left, HK; right, JP); bottom right, album credits on the lower left of the outer
rear sleeve 
(upper, HK; lower, JP).

Until recently, these made me think of the possibility that the Hong Kong products could be pirated copies cannibalizing the Japanese LP. Repackaging single into double jacket format would increase the potential value of the artifact because such a rare format certainly attracts a great deal of interest from record collectors. In this respect, what made me suspicious the most was the fact that the vinyl discs themselves were hardly distinguishable between Hong Kong and Japanese releases, excluding the printed label on the wax. So, it was almost sure that the Hong Kong two discs were actually Japan-pressed vinyls (to be continued to the next post).