Due to space constraints, this note about release dates was cut from the book. Also, I have discovered a mistake, dammit (see below).
As Killing Joke On Track is primarily a personal/critical review of music and lyrics rather than a band biography or extensive/exhaustive discography, I opted not to do primary research on release dates but rather to use the best available month of release in each case, even in the rare instances where there is consensus regarding an exact day of release (e.g. Killing Joke 1980 on 5 October).
Release dates are very tough to nail to the exact day as records would sometimes go on sale before the original official release date, not to mention there being different release dates in different countries/territories. Official release dates would sometimes be brought forward or pushed back at short notice, with the original official release date still being recorded. Different formats of the same release would sometimes have different release dates, and in some cases the release date for one format has stuck for all formats even though it is not correct for such. The 2008 Virgin/EG expanded remastered reissues have month of release included as part of Tony Raven’s excellent liner notes, but the 2005 remasters do not.
For these reasons, attempting to nail precise release dates is often a thankless task and you might well never be sure that the date you arrive at is correct, even with primary research. This is reflected in the sometimes conflicting (or entirely absent) release dates that are available online on sites such as Wikipedia, Discogs etc. In arriving at a release month, I have in all cases checked the best available month of release against multiple online sources including the UK Charts, which rules out some dates as given by some sources (i.e. a record cannot chart before its release). Consequently, the release months in the book conflict with some dates as given elsewhere, though notwithstanding my mistake below I’m happy that mine are as close to accurate as I could make them with the information available.
In creating a calendar for ‘On This Day’ posts, I discovered a mistake in the book, which is that Revelations was not released in July 1982, as I erroneously state. This is due to bad cut-and-paste/version control on my part, as I had the best available correct date already recorded as April 1982 (the album first charted in the UK on 8 May so obviously cannot have been released after that). Immensely frustrating, but there you go. Apologies.
To buy Killing Joke On Track, including the silly mistake above, visit the Burning Shed online store here: