It’s not uncommon for information about RSD releases to change. Sometimes the color of a release changes, sometimes the pressing info get’s adjusted/amended as time goes on and the date of RSD gets closer. With The Police 7” this year, the former happened, as it was initially announced to be a picture disc but was at some point changed to be pressed on translucent red vinyl. In fact, the official RSD release list still list this 7” as being a picture disc. Despite Bull Moose releasing their annual preview video where Chris clearly shows this 7” is not a picture disc and the tiny fact that RSD happened over a month ago at this point and the list still has been changed to reflect the now glaringly obviously facts.
There were 2,500 copies of this 7” pressed, which is a re-press of the original “Roxanne” single released back in 1978. One great thing about this release is that is contains all the various covers used for this singles initial release in some form or another. So if you’re someone like me who collects cover variants, this RSD re-press is a one stop shop to round out your collection. This 2018 re-press is not a faithful recreation of the original pressing though. It actually has some upgrades that set it apart from the original.
The record comes in a gatefold jacket. Which has each of the digits on the rotary phone found on the cover are die cut. Yes kiddies, that is a rotary phone. An ancient piece of technology that predates cell phones and even cell phones’ predecessor; touch tone phones. Dare I say it’s a land line? I remember using rotary phones, and if you’re the kind to complain about your fingers being too big to text, just imagine how long it took to dial if the number consisted of lots of digits from 1-3 followed by digits in the 7-9s.
Aside from the nice touch with the cover, the printed sleeve the record itself comes housed in has the artwork that was originally used for the various European pressings of the original “Roxanne” single; what has become known as the blue covers. The bulk of the pressings of the “Roxanne” single came with the phone artwork in one of two colors; red or blue. There was also another cover that was for the UK re-presses done in 1979, which is found inside the gatefold.
Aside from the main artwork (minus the die-cutting) the only other aspect of this release that remains true to the original is the track listing. This 2018 RSD re-press has the same exclusive b-side, “Friends.”
The price for this 7” was on the high side, even by RSD standards. I have a hunch the pricing reflected the original picture disc format, and stores were blindsided by the fact that this release was not pressed as a picture disc and couldn’t change their prices to reflect it. If this was a planned move on RSD’s part, it’s yet another reason to despise everything that RSD has become. While it wouldn’t surprise me if the RSD folks did pull the ole switcheroo to generate more revenue, it could be just an honest mistake.
Many stores charged around $15 for this 7”. Of course some stores charged a bit more for it for whatever reason; some may have even charged less. But the price didn’t stop people from buying it, as the three stores I went to on RSD all sold out if it. I had to buy this online when stores posted their leftovers, which wasn’t a complete loss as I bought some other stuff from the same store to spread the shipping costs out.
Stitches and Grooves 