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trace elements: album information

  • Arabella were distributors in France for Arista. This recently discovered trade advertisement outlined their campaign for new albums in 1982 - and included was an advert for an album called Trace Elements.

  • Many thanks to Paul for the scan


  • Trace Elements was described as a Best Of including Chelsea Girl, Changeling I Travel and one unreleased track.

  • Trace Elements appeared to be an early version of Celebration. The description of the album matched the compilation album and although the artwork was mostly different the Simple Minds title with its unique superscript lettering appeared the same. The catalogue number also matched the European editions of Celebration so it appeared the Arabella advert was issued with an early working title and artwork for the album.

  • Bruce doesn't recall Trace Elements although he mentioned how Arabella often produced their own versions of albums and were perhaps planning their own, slightly different, version of the Celebration album.

  • So, it isn't known if Trace Elements was an early version of Celebration or a proposed alternative European version.

  • After asking for more information about Trace Elements, this colour proof turned up. It's owned by a collector who obtained it from an ex-employee of Arista. For many years, he didn't have any idea what it was.

  • Unfortunately it's just the front of the sleeve: there's no rear artwork, no track listing and no associated LP.

    Many thanks to Massimo for the scan.