Napalm Death Live At Salisbury CD box set (1992) confusion.

Question from Omen Jinx (mr.potvin@ntlworld.com) :

Hi, I hope you can help me with this question. I purchased a Napalm Death box set of 4 C.D albums which comes in a nice black box with a white Napalm Death logo on the front. On the back of the box it reads which albums it includes. Scum.1987 and 'From enslavement to obliteration'.1988 (both as 1 CD), 'Harmony Corruption'.1990, Death by manipulation singles comp.1991 and Utopia Banished.1992. Now, in the box-set I brought, it has instead of 'Utopia Banished' a copy of 'Live Corruption' Mosh67CDL. Can you please tell me, was this a printing error on the box and Utopia Banished was never met to be part of the box-set, or was I sold a copy with the wrong C.D included? I brought the box-set maybe back in the late 90s early 2000's? I cant remember. As for where I brought it, I again can't really remember? Thanks, Omen Jinx.

from mr.potvin@ntlworld.com


Answer: The box you describe and its contents are exactly as it was released, with the correct Cds, but the box was made at a very specific time in Napalm Death's career and was released like that for a very specific purpose- to boost sales of the soon to be released Utopia Banished CD. Yes that's right- even though it is listed on the back of the box, its not included in it. The album wasn't even released at the time- the cunning plan was to include a space for the CD so that fans and collectors would later buy it in order to complete their box set. The Live Napalm Death CD was included to fill the space reserved for Utopia Banished and give fans value for money and an extra bonus for shelling out on the first 4 releases by Napalm Death. Actually it is the Live CD which is the rarest item these days, that CD is what gives the box its value to modern day collectors and ebayers. From memory the sticker on the box explains that it includes "space for Utopia Banished" and info about the Live Corruption CD, but if the package is opened, the info will be lost.



Back then compact disc was still new, and fans needed to be urged to adopt it. CD was expensive to master, pricey to press, and generally a tough sell (vinyl LP and cassette still outsold it)- that's the reason Scum and FETO were combined on one CD and were sold together right up till 1995 or so, when they were finally released separately.

Heres a track from the video of the gig Live At Salisbury: