This is just too wild, so I have to tell you about this today. I’ve been collecting John Foxx records for 32 years now. I have never, and I mean, never, come across a record as paradoxical as this. This is a Virgin Japanese promo 12″ from 1983. Here is the A-side of the sleeve:
Virgin | JPN Promo | 12″ | 1983 | LWG-1239
And here is the B-Side:
Virgin | JPN Promo | 12″ | 1983 | LWG-1239
Here are the labels of the record which dares to unite the vastly disparate philosophies represented by these two recording artists on a single artifact.
Needless to say this is not yet in the Record Cell, but one day, hopefully, it will be. This is the sort of record you sprinkle Holy Water on while keeping a sharp eye out for freakish mutations cropping up in the local ecosystem. Also, plagues of locusts.
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Post-Punk Monk 
Whew!! Good thing it remained an obscure Japanese promo. Looks like the world narrowly averted a disaster of biblical proportions. Old testament, real wrath of God type stuff…
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Brian Ware – The mere existence of this record makes my brain hurt!
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Real good John Foxx song, too!
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ronkanefiles – Now it remains for a DJ to mix a mashup of these two songs. Can it be done? More importantly, should it be done?
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So wrong but so right to own!
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WHO CAN RESIST THE SHINY RED (mash up) BUTTON??
I know you collect JF and thus this promo would need to go in there, but …. man, talk about Sophie’s Choice! I’m already angry just for you having created that graphic!
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Chasinvictoria – Ideally, I wanted a vintage 1983 photo of Lionel Richie yukking it up impromptu with somebody (in color) into which I’d embed Foxx looking deadpan. The problem I ran into was twofold. First, there are barely any non-contemporary pictures of Richie on the web. Second, there are barely any color photos of Foxx: certainly little of vintage. When I found the contemporary seated B+W photo of Foxx, it seemed to be a good match for the only 1983 pic of Richie that I could find- off of his mega platinum album cover that spawned umpteen hits in 1983. The photo mash up seemed to be as good a metaphor as I could conceive for the record itself and therefore a good illo for the post.
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Far more disturbing is the Japan Tour that this was promoting. What kind of sick bastard thought that one up?
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Tina Long – Welcome to the party! Can you read Japanese? Those might be tour dates at the lower right hand corner of each cover face. I can’t say. I can only surmise that Virgin sold Lionel Richie records in Nippon and some wag in the local office sent this record out to promote both of the artists, no matter how unearthly different from each other they were. I do recall hearing back in the day that Lionel Richie was very popular in Japan. He had T-shirts with Kanji that spelled out “lie-noh-ree-chi” phonetically for his fervent Japanese fans.
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Ha! Unfortunately, no, I can’t read Japanese but I did come across the posting of someone who owns this and the tour took place in Nov. and Dec. of 1983.The record was a promo-only release never available for sale to the public. This is why it’s so incredibly rare.
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Tina Long – Oh, I’m aware it’s a promo only piece, but are you suggesting that it was created to promote a tour they did together??!!!!??
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That is exactly so. They actually toured TOGETHER!!!! From what I can gather the event was limited to Japan. I’m sure had it extended to other countries, anarchy will have reigned and Armageddon ensued.
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On further research, my source may have been misinformed. It is quite possible that the concerts were back-to-back, not necessarily on the same day. Dammit, we need a translator.
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Tina Long – Aiiiieeee! It burrrrrns!
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Excellent find! what strange companions indeed .. .excellent photo-montage at the top there too!
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