West End Mystery

What do these six images of the Collector's Edition of "West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys have in common? If you can't spot the problem, don't worry as it probably takes quite specialist and nerdy knowledge to discern what is going on.

The answer is that for all of these records, the 'wrap around' sleeve has been applied incorrectly. This single wasn't issued like this, but the owners haven't been able to work out how to put them back in the sleeve properly. If you search for images of "Pet Shop Boys West End Girls 10 inch" almost every picture looks like this. I'm not sure why it is so difficult to fold the sleeve correctly, but almost everyone seems to get it wrong. Apart from causing me some mild annoyance, this isn't an issue as how people chose to store their records is no concern of mine.

However, if you advertise your record for sale as "mint", "still sealed" or "never opened" using images like these - I know you're lying. This is quite a collectible record for Pet Shop Boys enthusiasts and people will pay anywhere between £25 and £75 for a copy in good condition. So if you're looking to buy this record and the sleeve doesn't look like image to the right, then it is not "mint" and has definitely been opened.

I bought my copy of this 10" twenty tears ago from a well known online retailer (I still have the receipt and cringe at the £85 price tag - but hey, the postage was only £1.85). Even though mine was sold as mint and shows no signs of wear whatsoever, it was nineteen years old when it came into my possession and I have no way of knowing what truly happened during those years. In fact, when I look closely at the photo I just took, I can see the catalogue number is upside-down, which suggests the sticker has been re-applied the wrong way round. So my copy might not be mint either, but at least I don't have a strip of the inner photo showing through the front - which is more than 99% of people selling them can say.