Here We Go! Introducing another item from my Sex Pistols collection.
This time, it’s The Mini Album (VAP 35155-20) — a 12-inch mini LP that came with a 7-inch flexi disc as a first-press bonus.
In Japan, this type of thin, flexible record is commonly known as a sonosheet (ソノシート). You may recognise the format from magazine covermounts and similar promotional uses.
🧷 Basic details
12-inch
- Title: The Mini Album
- Artist: Sex Pistols
- Format: LP (33⅓ RPM)
- Release date: 21 December 1985
- Label / catalogue number: VAP / 35155-20
- Sleeve: Picture sleeve
7-inch
- Format: Sonosheet (flexi disc, 45 RPM)
- Catalogue number: VAP / 00119-00
- Sleeve: None
🧷 Track listing
Side A
- Submission
- Seventeen
- Satellite
Side B
- I Wanna Be Me
- Anarchy in the U.K.
- No Feelings
Sonosheet
- Pretty Vacant (single-sided)
🧷 Pressing and variation details
✔️ Matrix numbers
- Side A: 35155-20-A-1 A5
- Side B: 35155-20-B-1 A2
- Sonosheet: 00119 E7497 (S) 3 M
✔️ Sleeve
The catalogue number on the sleeve differs from the one on the labels — a quirk carried over from the original release.
The artwork is by Satoshi Suginaka, the same designer credited on the Submission single.
✔️ Labels
The labels carry the distinctive inverted-triangle VAP logo — known amongst collectors as the Triangle VAP label.
🧷 Collector’s notes
✔️ The sonosheet
The main attraction here is the first-press bonus sonosheet — a non-commercial item included exclusively with early copies.
A sonosheet is a thin, flexible disc, the sort that used to come bound into Japanese magazines as promotional inserts. This one features a different version of Pretty Vacant on a single side.
Sonosheets are not particularly known for their durability. Finding one today with no cracks, no warping, and minimal surface noise is rather hard to come by. On the market, the presence or absence of this sonosheet can make quite a difference to the asking price — sometimes not far off double.
✔️ Track sources
The recordings here draw from the Spunk and No Future U.K.? (Spunk 2) sessions, with the remaining tracks appearing on The Swindle Continues.
Why are these recordings split across two releases? At a guess — and it is only a guess — the rights situation around the Goodman-era recordings was rather complicated. Recording ownership, master rights, licensing, and the releasing label don’t always line up neatly with the Sex Pistols material from that period. Then again, VAP may simply have felt a staggered release made better commercial sense.
✔️ Insert
The sleeve includes a fold-out insert titled Perfect History of the Sex Pistols — a timeline running from the formation of the Swankers in 1974 through to the 1985 announcement of the Sid Vicious – Love Kills N.Y.C. release.
Inside, there are liner notes by Mikio Moriwaki, along with lyrics and Japanese translations.
✔️ Obi strip
My copy came without the obi strip, but the original release did include one — a light blue strip, part of the British Front Line Series, the same series as Land of Hope & Glory.
One other thing worth a mention: tucked inside the sleeve was a small magazine clipping. Whether the previous owner left it there deliberately, I couldn’t say — but it’s rather the sort of thing you find in second-hand records. Part of the charm, really.
🧷 Coming up next
Next time, I’ll be covering Some Product (VJCP-23187).
Thanks for reading.
byebye 👋
コメント