THE RIVER Gate-fold sleeve 2LP: the South African release

With respect to album artwork and design, the South African pressing (CBS AGP 87/88) of THE RIVER album shows some differences from the other double jacket version such as Hong Kong and Israeli issues, and ordinary single pocket releases like the US and UK albums. The following summarize what I have spotted that are unique to this release.

The gate-fold sleeves of THE RIVER released in Hong
Kong (top), Israel (middle) and South Africa (bottom)

1. Aside from the outer front sleeve, all the other three sides of outer and inner gate-fold sleeve are noticeably blue-tinted (see the previous post on Sep. 20 for the inside gate-fold image). 
2. The spine is uniquely white whereas that of all the other releases is colored blue. 
3. The Gothic font used on the jacket is apparently different from that of the other releases. 
4. The outer rear sleeve, which normally features the track listing in almost all the other releases, instead displays the album credits that are otherwise found on the fold-out lyric insert. This coincides with the observation that the South African set probably does not include the lyric sheet originally. The album tracks are printed inside the gate-fold sleeve. So, the track information is not available unless the double jacket is opened. It is noted that there is a variant issue with the track information on the outer rear sleeve. This issue is pasted on the rear with a white sticker (10 x 14 cm) listing the song titles for the individual sides.  

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

Machine-stamped matrix number on Side A of Disc 1 of Hong 
Kong (upper) and Japanese (lower) releases

As described in the last post, I had suspected for long the authenticity of THE RIVER Hong Kong release and even considered it as the piracy product cannibalizing the Japanese records. In fact, the Hong Kong vinyl discs are almost NOT distinguishable from the Japanese ones. For instance, shown right is the matrix number stamped on Side A of Disc 1 that looks identical between the two releases. The same is also true for the other three sides of double LP, which most likely signifies the Japanese origin of these Hong Kong vinyls.

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).

THE RIVER Gate-fold sleeve 2LP

Undoubtedly, one of the major collectibles of THE RIVER 2LP is the release of the gate-fold sleeve, not only because of its rarity, but also because of its delux package that is far more suitable than a single pocket sleeve for housing a double LP. This special format has been issued in 1980 only in such countries as Israel (CBS 88510), Mexico (CBS LP2S-103), Venezuela (CBS CS-10378), South Africa (CBS AGP 87/88) and Hong Kong (CBS/SONY 40AP 1960-1), according to several informative sources that include the most comprehensive Lost In The Flood website. It remains unknown, though, why only these countries have chosen to manufacture the album in such a unique format.

THE RIVER German promotional store display

In the last post, I mentioned the German copy of my favorite album. Speaking of a Germany-related collectible, back in 2002, I won the eBay auction for a die-cut logo display for store use that reproduces his name script found on the album cover of THE RIVER (I recorded that there were six competitors for this item). This blue/black, foldable cardboard display is measured roughly 32 x 10 inches, and according to the German seller, it was given by the CBS Records to selected record shops in the former West Germany in 1980 or 1981 (possibly coincidentally with the 1981 European Tour). Although I usually do not pay particular attention to anything but vinyl and CD collectibles, this is an exception from my collection.