Pearls from Afar

Mama's Pearl was widely distributed around the world. Here are some of the 45s I've collected over the years.

• The Unadorned Pearls

Neither of the two 45s I have from South America have picture sleeves, but you know how I love those Latin American pressings. Here's one from Argentina:


And a promo copy from Chile:


The Netherlands issued the single in their typical boring printed sleeve.


India also issued the single in a printed sleeve. Not terribly interesting as a visual, but releases from India are rare.


And, like the U.S., the U.K. only rarely issued J5 singles in picture sleeves. Unfortunately, "Mama's Pearl" was not one of them.

• Third Album Redux

Some releases used art from the Third Album photo shoot. Here are picture sleeves from Germany, Norway, Japan, and Portugal respectively.





Italy didn't use a photo from the Third Album session but they at least got the era right.

• Retro sleeves

France, Sweden, Turkey, and Spain reached way back into their photo archives to design their sleeves.



All my favorite picture sleeves come from Spain. This is one of them. I love they way they have placed the song titles on the outstretched hands of Marlon, Michael and Jermaine:

And look at the song title Michael and Jermaine are holding. More on that tomorrow.