LAVENDER

I have the 12” picture disk version of this single, issued in 1985 by EMI. I had to have it imported back then, as the World Wide Web didn’t exist yet and even though we still had neighborhood record stores, stuff like this didn’t usually show up on the shelves. Only cost me $6 USD though (the price sticker is still on the vinyl sleeve it came in).

This isn’t really anything exceptional, although I love the picture. Marillion always had such exceptional cover art back then. The front side of the record features a version of “Lavender” from ‘Misplace Childhood’, but it is titled “Lavender Blue”. There’s a slightly different guitar track from Steve Rothery, and Fish’s vocal outro is missing. I’ve never heard quite the same version anywhere else that I know of.

The back side of the disk features a picture of the band and includes the single “Freaks” and the album version of “Lavender”.

That’s about it. Like I said, nothing special about this other than the version I have is an imported picture disk which is pretty cool-looking. Three stars I guess, although collector pieces like this are kind of hard to ‘rate’ solely on the strength of the music. Good luck finding one though – I’m not selling mine.

peace