HAPPY DAZE - The US version Elektra 7E-1018

For some strange reason, the Americans have completely redrawn the sleeve for ‘Happy Daze’. Gone are the six photographs of the Mk II band members, but there are new flowers and clouds on the front, plus different typography for the bands name and album title. On the back, the ‘monkey island’ illustration has been totally redrawn and the circling sharks have been reduced to one (repainted) fin out of three! [click here for the none-US back].Record company politics, no doubt. In the UK, ‘Happy Daze’ was the first Lindisfarne album to break away from Charisma and appeared on Warner Brothers; and as Warner’s are an American company I don’t understand why Elektra got to release it in the States. This might have something to do with the complete re-creation of the cover. The tracks are the same, with just a mis-spelling of Kenny Craddock’s ‘In Your Head’ (‘In Year Head’ on the US sleeve) to mark any change. No lyric sheet this time, unless it was missing from both copies. My copy has a different promotional sticker to that shown on Reinhard’s scan, but now we’re getting into far too much detail!