Diggin' In The Crates "A J-Pop Holy Grail" Edition

We take a break from vinyl crate digging to show off the newest addition to my J-Pop library:

Artist: AKB48
Title: "Sakura no Hanabiratachi" c/w "Dear my teacher"
Label: AKB48 Records/AKS

AKB48 and their producer, Yasushi Akimoto, self-released their first two singles, this one and "Skirt, Hirari", on their own label prior to signing with DefSTAR/Sony and dropping "Aitakatta" on us all. Locating both of these singles will put you through quite the dogfight on eBay, and I still haven't seen a copy of "Skirt, Hirari" yet, but I will.

If anyone thinks this is quite competist of me to be making a big deal out of this acquisition given that both songs appear on SET LIST: Greatest Songs 2006-2007, it should be pointed out that the mixes of the songs on this single are substantially different than what is on the album.

And then, of course, there's the nifty inserts that came in this CD (and this was for a self-released single!)... first, a square, neatly folded flyer explaining who was in the group at the time and what the concept behind them (theatre and all) was/is about. AKB-Trainspotters will note that the band only consisted of what is now "Team A" at the time.

And then, there's the matter of an individual member card in each copy, presuming that 20 different cards exist. My copy has Tomomi Ohe.


...and back: