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“A red
letter day” was released in 1997 as the forth and last single of “Bilingual”,
the sixth studio album of the band. The artwork was designed by Mark Farrow
who took entire inspiration on the title of the song using ‘red’ as the
main design element in all formats. Farrow used a series of photos of
Neil & Chris taken by Pennie Smith on ‘All Saint’s Road, West London’
near the Sarm West studios during the downtime of the recording sessions.
All the promotional and commercial UK editions were treated in ‘sepia’
tones with just the photo on the front cover without any typography and
included stickers and/or an outer sleeve with an embossed title in red;
the european releases were treated in ‘red’ tones using the photos inside
rectangles on the front covers leaving free space on top for the title
in white type and the disc printed on red. The UK Promo CD and the first
European commercial CD used a photo of Neil & Chris over a wired ad board
on the front cover and three small photos of the band during the recording
sessions in the back an included a new edit of the single along with the
B Side “The boy who couldn’t keep his clothes on” with a slightly different
version included on the commercial releases where some sleigh bells can
be heard at the end of the song. |
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The
commercial release of “A red letter day” in the UK included two
CDs and one limited edition 12” single. Both CDs were issued in cardboard
sleeves and the second part included an outer sleeve designed to fit both
parts, same as most of “Very” CD singles. The front cover on the first
CD showed another shot of the photo used on the Promo CD with Neil & Chris
over the wired ad board but in a different position and at the back cover
there were 3 small photos, one from the Promo CD and two new ones; the
cardboard sleeve was coloured red in the inside and for the outside there
was a red sticker in the front with the name of the band, song title,
a legend promoting CD 2 and 12” Single and the barcode; the CD was ‘sepia’
tinted and included “A red letter day”, two B Sides: “The boy who couldn’t
keep his clothes on” and “Delusions of grandeur” and “A red letter day
(Moscow Mix)”. The second CD showed a different photo of Neil & Chris,
this time over a graffiti wall on the front cover and three new photos
on the back cover; the outer sleeve was printed entirely in red with the
words “Pet Shop Boys” and “A red letter day” embossed on the surface in
capitals, part of the cover was overprinted so people could notice 2 different
shades of red and on the outside there was a red sticker closing the opened
side of the sleeve with the name of the band, song title, a legend promoting
CD 1 and 12” Single and the barcode; the CD was also ‘sepia’ tinted and
included 5 remixes of “A red letter day”. |
Finally
the limited edition 12” Single followed the same design as CD Part 2 with
the red outer sleeve and the inner sleeve showing the same photo on CD
2 but in a different position and all six small photos from both CDs on
the back cover, the vinyl was coloured in the same red as the outside
sleeve and included one remix from CD 2, one new remix of “A red letter
day” and an exclusive remix of “The boy who couldn’t keep his clothes
on”. The European releases of the single were issued in slim jewel cases
and included both parts of the UK CDs but using a different cover artwork
with fragments of CD 2 sleeve cover all in red and/or in black & white,
both CDs contained the exact same tracks but printed in red discs. There
was also one German CD issued in a slim jewel case with the exact same
artwork and track list from the first European single. Even when “A red
letter day” was not released on cassette or 7” vinyl, the details on the
production of all the singles from “Bilingual” was brilliant and has been
one of the best from the entire career of the Pet Shop Boys becoming very
appreciated by the fans around the world. |