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The first Strange Little Girls single in the U.K. and Europe was supposed to be Strange Little Girl. However, it appears that we will not see this single officially released anywhere in the world. (This goes for the U.S., as well as Europe and Australia!) The single was almost released, and there are many copies of it that leaked out in various places and which are popping up as imports in various countries, including the U.S. These "Strange Little Girl" singles that people are finding are not in any way fake or bootlegs. They are official singles that leaked out due to the fact that the release was stopped at the last minute.
Many people have been a little confused by what I have been saying about the "Strange Little Girl" single that may people are finding in U.S. and overseas stores, as a European import. In an effort to clarify what I am reporting, I posted a variation of the following to the Dent forum:
I never said that the Strange Little Girl single that people are finding is not OFFICIAL. I also never said they were fake or bootleg or cranked out by unofficial sources.
I said it was not officially released... there is a difference!
The single is definitely real and NOT a bootleg. Atlantic really planned to release this, and then pulled back at the last minute, but not before a bunch of the singles got out to the public in various ways. Prince@dam was right when he said the following:
I think a limited amount were pressed and instead of being destroyed they were shipped out by accident. They are just trickling into the US now.
Atlantic people have no idea why it's out.
I am still wondering if maybe the single did get officially released in a small country somewhere in Europe, and all these copies come from there. There seem to be a lot of them coming from France and Italy.... But a lot of evidence suggest that is not the case.
But the single was not officially released in the U.K. Germany, or the U.S. That is a fact. (Remember that most singles in Europe have "Made in Germany" on them. That is where most Cds in Europe are manufactured. It does not mean the single is a German import however!)
But let me emphasize again that the single is real and official and not a bootleg.
Below I will try to track all the confusing history and facts about the U.K. and European Strange Little Girl single, which apparently was on the very brink of being officially released before it was cancelled. (That is why there are so many "leaked" copies of the single floating around as a European Import.) However, I again emphasize that this single has not been officially released in any country as far as I know. If you have found the single somewhere, chances are it is the "leaked" import I detail below. There seems to be a good supply of these "leaked" imports, and I have seen them sold all over the place in the U.S. and overseas. These are official singles though, and they are not bootlegs at all.
The last date listed as a possible release date for the Strange Little Girl single in the U.K. was December 31, 2001, which is a date that was listed at amazon.co.uk. However, Amazon.co.uk no longer lists the single and they have emailed at least some of the people who ordered it to tell them that the single has been cancelled. In addition, Toriphile Thomas Lauritsen alerted me to the fact that eil.com refers to the U.K. SLG single as "withdrawn". (Interestingly, they have been selling some of these "withdrawn" singles!)
I track information specific to the U.S. version of the "Strange Little Girl" single here. (The single was never released in the U.S. either however.)
The content of the single
Here is a track listing for this single. The b-sides are covers that Tori has never released before:
- Strange Little Girls
- After All - David Bowie cover
- Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper cover
Summary about the release and availability of the single in the U.K. & Europe
- As of the end of 2001, the Strange Little Girls single has not been officially released in the U.K. or Germany. (Or the U.S. or anywhere in the world for that matter.) It appears that the U.K. release was poised to happen on October 8, 2001, but for some reason the release did not take place. Toriphile Mike Gray tells me that some copies of this single did manage to get out due to the fact that the single was just about to be released there. Why was the single postponed in the U.K. at the last minute? I have no idea. Here is what Mike Gray tells me about the U.K. release of the SLG single:
It appears that our dear friends at East/West have "done a Raspberry Swirl" as Toriphile parlance would have it. The discs were most certainly pressed, and everything was, once again, ready to go, and they've pulled it for no apparent reason.
The catalogue numbers for the U.K. single are : AT0111CD 7567-85149-2
It appears that a certain number were given to East/West / Atlantic
representatives and these have been leaked to some collector's stores. [Note from Mikewhy: These are official singles and not bootlegs. They just were not officially released.]
The B-Sides are both just Tori and the Bosendorfer, and are indeed "After
All" and "Only Women Bleed" - I was interested to note that After All
contains the line "hold on to nothing"...
- As mentioned above, it appears that there will be NO officially released single at all from the Strange Little Girls album! (This goes for the U.S., as well as Europe and Australia!) The last date listed as a possible release date for the Strange Little Girl single in the U.K. was December 31, 2001, which is a date that was listed at amazon.co.uk. However, Amazon.co.uk no longer lists the single and they have emailed at least some of the people who ordered it to tell them that the single has been cancelled.
- Toriphile Thomas Lauritsen alerted me to the fact that eil.com is saying that the U.K. SLG single has been "withdrawn." They were even selling copies of this "withdrawn" single on their site!
- People ARE finding copies of this single in various places. It has shown up as a European import in some U.S., European, and Asian stores. The photo you see to the right shows the cover to this single. Click to see it larger. Thanks to Bruno Colajanni for sending me the scan. You can also find an entry for this single along with a scan of the cover at esprit international. These are the "leaked" singles mentioned above. These are not fake single or bootlegs. They are official singles from the record company that leaked out due to the fact that the official release was stopped at the last minute. When I say the single was not officially released, that does not mean the single that leaked out are bootlegs. They are very much real and official!
CDNOW.com in the U.S. is allowing people to order the "Strange Little Girl" single as a European import. They currently have two listings for the Strange Little Girl single:
CDNOW Strange Little Girl import single Listing #1
CDNOW Strange Little Girl import single Listing #2
The single has the catalog #7567-85149-2 and has the expected track listing:
- Strange Little Girls
- After All - David Bowie
- Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper
So where does this "leaked" import of the single come from? Even this is something that I can not clearly answer. For one, the single is labeled "Made in Germany.". Pierre Fageolle tells me that all Warner albums and singles for Europe are made in Germany, because Warner's factory happens to be there. They are then shipped to the countries where they've been ordered. Since the single has not been officially released in Germany, then the import copies people are finding are not from a German release of the single. From what country does this earliest release of the single come from?
- It appears that the import singles people are finding could come from one of these 4 sources:
1) Italy - I have recently received many emails from Italian Toriphiles who claim the single has been officially released in Italy. However, I also have other emails that claim the Italian single is really an import from somewhere else.
2) France - Several sources claim the import is from the French release of this single. However, other sources say there is NO official release of the Strange Little Girl single in France. I now feel fairly certain that there is, at this time, no official release of the single in France.
3) Denmark - jen walter and Crystal report that a Strange Little Single is mentioned in the November 2001 issue of Ice Magazine, and they refer to such a single as a Danish import.
4) The imports could be some the leaked copies of the single from the U.K. or perhaps other places where the single was almost released, but then pulled back.
Here are some comments on this Import single people are finding from Mike Gray, a very trusted source:
As someone who's travelled all over Europe in my ridiculous pursuit of CDs, here's a few things which might help.
Italy is a bit of a loose cannon when it comes to CD sales - virtually
all of their CD singles are imports (most often from Germany) and they
have no interest in embargos of any kind in terms of release dates.
Basically, they just put it on sale when they can get hold of it, so its
appearance in Italian stores is something I don't believe we can draw
any conclusions from. This is also the case with US copies - they've
obviously arrived as imports, although where from or how they were
obtained is anyone's guess. The problem is, as I've said before, that
all of Atlantic's European CD singles are pressed in Germany, so that's
no indication. www.amazon.de (Amazon Germany) isn't showing a release
date, and nor are any other German retailers that I could see.
To the best of my knowledge, there have been *NO* official releases of
this single, *ANYWHERE* in Europe. That includes France, Italy,
anywhere. I think some copies must have been sent out for export
*before* the decision was made to pull it.
As you can see, things are intensely confusing! One source says one thing, and another completely refutes it. In summary, the import copies that people are finding, and which are the first versions of this single to be released. could be from either Italy or France, but more likely are simply leaked copies of a CD that has not been officially released anywhere in Europe. These "leaked" copies of the single seem very plentiful and not all that rare right now, and they are very much real singles and not in any way bootlegs.
The non-existent "Enjoy The Silence" single
There were some indications that "Enjoy The Silence" would appear as a single somewhere. Kristian first alerted me to the web site for a German vendor named Buscher CD, which at one time had a listing for 2 different Enjoy The Silence singles. However, Buscher CD changed their listing and they are now saying that the U.K. single will be Strange Little Girl. Therefore, it looks like the Enjoy The Silence listing was a mistake!
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