Chess Pieces LP (Highlights from Chess) (ABBA, Bjorn, Benny, Tim Rice)

1986 South African pressing

Sleeve excellent minimum with no damage. The record remains unplayed and NM

Highlights or The Best of Chess, this compilation gathers all the singles released from the album along with some other tracks. 

Some tracks are edited from the original double album, while others are the single versions and 1 remix

The "Chess Pieces" 1986 LP, released after the initial concept album, contains single versions of songs from the musical Chess: 

    A1 Merano 4.18
    A2 The Arbiter (Bjorn Skiffs) 4.08
    A3 Nobody's Side (Elaine Paige) (remix version) 3.54
    A4 Chess 3.30
    A5 Mountain Duet (Elaine Paige and Tommy Körberg) 4.43
    A6 Embassy Lament 1.31
    A7 Anthem (Tommy Körberg) 3.02
    B1 One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head) 3.52
    B2 Heaven Help My Heart (Elaine Paige) 3.23
    B3 I Know Him So Well (Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson) 4.14
    B4 Pity the Child (Murray Head) 5.27
    B5 You and I / The Story of Chess (Elaine Paige, Tommy Körberg, and The Ambrosian Singers) 10.24

This particular release went through 2 distributors in South Africa. At the time of release (January 1986) the RCA label was handled by Teal Record Co. (later to becomeTeal/Trutone and then even later as part of Gallo). As such, this album was released on LP and cassette as ML4831 and MC4831 respectively.

Distribution of the RCA label changed hands some time during 1987 when BMG gained the rights to the label. BMG again was distributed by EMI in South Africa.

Remaining stock of many items underwent physical catalogue numbering changes by hand as it was too costly for new pressings of catalogue titles. Chess Pieces is one such example. As it did not sell well, no further pressings were made and the album disappeared from the local market until a CD version was released in 1993.

The new number would become RCAC1002 for the album and only the sleeve was changed while spine and labels were left untouched.

This particular copy was acquired by myself in 1987 while working at a record store (Hans Kramer) and remains unplayed since then.