From: Shadsfax Issue 42 (2003) 7
The Shadows
"The Collection"
Mood Records (Japan) MA 805 (Disky NCD 648782)
Released in Japan (apparently) in 2001
Nivram [mono] / Kon-Tiki / Sleepwalk / The Savage / Spring Is Nearly Here [mono] / FBI / Atlantis / Blue Star [mono] / Walk Don’t Run / Theme From The Deer Hunter / Driftin’ [mono] / Guitar Tango / In The Mood [mono, no rhythm guitar] / Shindig / Slaughter On 10th Avenue / Stardust / Apache / The Lonely Bull / Bombay Duck / Wonderful Land [true stereo] / The High And The Mighty
This one is a bit of a puzzle. The disc is actually overwrapped in the Japanese manner with native documentation and label identification, but the product is a Disky imprint (as stated on all the paperwork and on the disc label, and as a glance at the front cover pic would in any case suggest at once); moreover, the date assigned is 2001. But the disc seems never to have been marketed in Europe or even listed by Disky. At the same time, if you look at the track-listing you will see that many of the Japanese favourites of the 1960s are there. Had I been asked to identify the country of origin just on the basis of the tracks included, I would have said “Japan” without hesitation.
It seems as certain as anything can be therefore that Disky made this exclusively for the Japanese market (Disky incidentally used the rogue version of In The Mood in 1997, on ‘The Best Of The Shadows’, DC 878662). In fact, reference is made in the Japanese part of the documentation to an “import” by a Tokyo-based company. The disc was pressed at EMI Uden in The Netherlands, but, as John Panteny points out, the catalogue number is not one of Disky’s usual; Pat Read suggests that the element “N” may denote “Nippon”. Now John first got to know of the disc in an auction in October 2002. It looks as if it was released in Japan in 2001 and for some reason escaped early detection (the company marketing the disc is apparently a very small one, certainly not one of the majors).
My thanks to Pat Read and John Panteny for promptly answering my queries.
MC