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Madonna's Japanese 7" singles are without any doubt
a dream for any Madonna collector. Japanese
7" were housed in a generic card sleeve (with
the label's logos) and came with a cover insert with the
artwork which was often completely different from Us and
European releases, which is one of the reasons these vinyls
are so sought after. The inserts also reported the song's
lyrics and Japanese translation on the flip side.
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Madonna's first single in Japan was Burning Up
(Everybody was not released there as a 7"). The cover
artwork is the official one used on many releases and the
single is part of a series called "Dance Contemporary".
The second single, Holiday, features
a picture by photographer Gary Heery from the session
of the first album cover but in colour while the third
(Borderline) and fourth single (Lucky
Star) both comes with a photo by photographer
George Holy (photos from the same session were later used
in Europe for the artwork of the re-release of the first
album in 1985).
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The next single, Like A Virgin, comes with
the same photo we find on the album cover, while Material
Girl uses the picture of the 'stardard' like a
virgin 7" release but with different artwork.
Angel, the third single from the Like A
Virgin Album has a completely unique artwork, showing a
singing Madonna from one of her appearances at a music show
on Japanese tv.
Crazy For You, as in the rest of the world,
is the first single to come out on Geffen
records (distributed by Cbs/Sony in Japan) instead of Sire
(Warner-Piooner).
The photo and artwork are very similar to the standard release
just like the other Vision Quest 7", Gambler.
Both of them are now particulary scarce.
The theme from Madonna's movie Desperately Seeking
Susan comes with the cover that Angel had in Europe
and in the US while Dress You Up is another
record to have a unique cover. It features a Herb Ritts
photo from the famous "Beach Session".
Love Don't Live Here Anymore, the last
single from Like A Virgin only released in Japan comes with
the album's back image as the cover (Italy is the only other
country to have another unique release at that time. Over
and Over was the last Lav single there).
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Live To Tell, the first song off Madonna's "True
Blue" album was available in two vinyl format. The
standard black vinyl came out just like the other singles.
The rarer white vinyl version had a cover sleeve like the
Us and European singles. Move your mouse pointer over the
two Live To Tell covers to see the black and white vinyls.
Papa Don't Preach has the iconic cover
image of the "True Blue" album on its insert while
the following True Blue single uses again
the same image but uncropped.
The artwork of Open Your Heart is the same
as the other world releases but La Isla Bonita
has unique cover with a stunning photo of Madonna by Herb
Ritts.
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The three "Who's That Girl" singles (Who's
That Girl, Causing A Commotion,
The Look of Love) all have the familiar
artworks of the Euro/Us releases.
Another unique Japanese release, Spotlight,
also comes with another stunning Herb Ritts pic and a
remixed edit of Where's the party as B-side.
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The last commercial vinyl single of Madonna in Japan is
Like A Prayer from March 1989. And the
artwork is the "international" one. This single
being more limited has become quite scarce.
The following single, Express Yourself,
was also pressed on vinyl but only as a promo single not
for sale.
In some copies of the singles from the "Virgin/True
Blue era" an additional black and white card insert,
that could be used to mail order vinyl and cds, was also
included.
When the new 3" cd single format was introduced in
Japan in 1988 vinyl singles were destined to premature
death in the country.
Warner Pioneer kept the double format for singles (7"
vinyl and 3" cd single) for a couple of years (1988-1989).
Due to the lack of many Madonna releases in 1988, the
only two singles commercialy available in both formats
were Spotlight and Like A Prayer.
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P-1775 Burning Up - Physical Attraction
P-1831 Holiday - I know It
P-1852 Bordeline - Think Of Me
P-1877 Lucky Star - Everybody
P-1887 Like A Virgin - Stay
P-1943 Material Girl - Pretender
P-1973 Angel - Angel Remix Edit
07SP-892 Crazy For You - I'll Fall In Love Again*
P-1988 Into The Groove - Physical Attraction
07SP-922 Gambler - Nature of the Beach*
P-2003 Dress You Up - Shoo Bee Doo
P-2041 Love Don't Leave Here Anymore - Over And Over
P-2106 Live To Tell - Live To Tell (Instrumental)
P-2130 Papa Don't Preach - Think Of Me
P-2159 True Blue - Ain't No Big Deal
P-2204 Open Your Heart - White Heat
P-2237 La Isla Bonita - La Isla Bonita (Instrumental)
P-2266 Who's That Girl - White Heat
P-2324 Causing A Commotion - Jimmy Jimmy
P-2356 The Look Of Love - I Know It
P-2348 Spotlight (Edit) - Where's The Party (Remix Edit)
07P7-611 Like A Prayer - Act Of Contrition
*Non Madonna track |
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