It was some time in 1981, I think, when my friend chasinvictoria [who had moved away to Atlanta for a bit] send me a tape letter with Jona Lewie among the many bits of music to enthuse over. The first song to reach my ears was “You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties” and it was love at first listen. I wasted no time in buying myself a copy in the Record City Warehouse import cutout bins [there are three magic words you never hear anymore…]. At the time, I may not have been aware that it was a Dutch pressing with substantial track differences.

Stiff Records | Netherlands | LP | 1980 | SEEZ 888

Jona Lewie: On The Other Hand, There’s A Fist NETHERLANDS LP [1980]

1. You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties
2. The Baby, She’s On The Street
3. Big Shot – Momentarily
4. A Bit Higher
5. Vous Et Moi
6. God Bless Whoever Made You
7. Hallelujah Europa
8. Feelin’ Stupid
9. On The Road
10. I’ll Get By In Pittsburgh

As you can see, only six of the ten songs [not twelve] were on the LP in the UK as shown below. It gets very hazy since the original release of the LP came out in 1978, and was reflected in the yellow vinyl first pressing that I bought at least a dozen years after buying the Dutch pressing in 1981. I had wanted to get the songs that I had heard on chasinvictoria’s tape all those years ago, but which were absent from the 1980 Netherlands pressing that I had first owned. Like for instance “Police Trap.”

Stiff Records | UK | LP – yellow | SEEZ 8

Jona Lewie: On The Other Hand, There’s A Fist UK Yellow LP [1978]

1. The Baby, She’s On The Street
2. Laughing Tonight
3. Bang-A-Lang-A-Boom-Er-Rang-Man
4. The Fairground Ride
5. On The Road
6. Vous Et Moi
7. I’ll Get By In Pittsburgh
8. Bureaucrats
9. Hallelujah Europa
10. Police Trap
11. Feeling Stupid
12. The Last Supper At The Masquerade

Even so, once “You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties” made a dent in the UK charts Stiff UK re-released the LP in 1979 in a thirteen track black vinyl pressing with yet another track order proffered. This time featuring the hit single in pole position and the exact same sticker used on the Netherlands edition trumpeting the fact. I don’t actually own one of these.

Stiff Records | UK | LP | 1979 | SEEZ 888.888

Jona Lewie: On The Other Hand, There’s A Fist UK Re-released LP [1979]

1. You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties
2. The Baby, She’s On The Street
3. Laughing Tonight
4. Bang-A-Lang-A-Boom-Er-Rang-Man
5. The Fairground Ride
6. On The Road
7. Vous Et Moi
8. I’ll Get By In Pittsburgh
9. Bureaucrats
10. Hallelujah Europa
11. Police Trap
12. Feeling Stupid
13. The Last Supper At The Masquerade

The thing that stymies me right now, is that in reviewing all of these editions, [I own the yellow 1978, Dutch 1980 and 2007 DLX RM] I only just realized that my initial Dutch copy contains a song not on any of the other editions! “A Bit Higher.” Maybe I should gaze at all 31 editions on Discogs.com? I just may learn some new tricks 36 years into the game!

It remained until I was in the Everyday Music store of Downtown Portland, combing over the bins for Mr. Ron Kane’s big birthday bash [a.k.a. Ron-Con] in 2007 that I saw the then-recent DLX RM of “Fist” which I greedily purchased. It being the only CD version I’d ever run across of the hallowed disc. Sure sure. There was that 1991 German reissue on Repertoire Records, but I never managed to snag a copy. We’ll gloss over it for our purposes here since time is tight.

Stiff Records | UK | CD | 2007 | CDSEEZ 8

Jona Lewie: On The Other Hand, There’s A Fist DLX RM UK CD [2007]

1. The Baby, She’s On The Street
2. Laughing Tonight
3. Bang-A-Lang-A-Boom-Er-Rang-Man
4. The Fairground Ride
5. On The Road
6. Vous Et Moi
7. I’ll Get By In Pittsburgh
8. Bureaucrats
9. Hallelujah Europa
10. Police Trap
11. Feelin’ Stupid
12. The Last Supper At The Masquerade
13. Dennie Laine’s Valet
14. God Bless Whoever Made You
15. You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties
16. Big Shot – Momentarily
17. Stop The Cavalry
18. Louise (We Get It Right)
19. It Never Will Go Wrong
20. Shaggy Raggy
21. Shaggy Raggied
22. Rearranging Deckchairs On The Titanic
23. I’ll Be Here

This was a fairly optimal edition of the album; missing only the track “A Bit Higher” [though I did not in fact notice that until this very day] but appended with a large swath of single A/B-sides of the period.

Next: …What about the actual music?