Rival11

Yeah, Two people beat me to it already but they did a good job with the Zepplin re-issues.

I bought III recently and i remeber setting it down and the cover looked different (I accidentally turned the wheel when putting it down) I was kind of freaked out and just said "Ok, I KNOW that wasn't like that just a second ago"

rjh_54

I read somewhere that early pressings of the CD (that came with the AIDS Awareness insert - which was also included with the early scented pressings of the LP) are also scented.

I found a used copy of an early pressing of the CD with the insert but it isn't scented so I'm not sure if the scent wore off or if the information I read was inaccurate. I do, however, own a scented copy of the LP and I will say, 25+ years later and that scent is still SO strong!

Rex Fenestrarum

Yes, the story is bogus. However, since New Order practically funded Factory Records all by themselves, the label would have made a lot more money off a more conventional sleeve. Then again, Factory Records was never known for its "wise money management".

Not exactly what the OP is looking for, but by the time a lot of British New Wave bands became popular in the US, they'd already released 3-5 albums back home. In a lot of cases, the US record company would combine a couple of these early albums into 2-for-1 cassettes or "specially-priced double albums" which only cost a dollar or two more than a typical album. Most cassette artwork had plain black backgrounds and both original album covers shrunk down to small squares, so they'd both fit on the cover. LPs either did that, or maybe had one album cover on the front and the other on the back. But for some reason, Elektra (The Cure's US label) decided to create an all new "album" instead of doing a "2 for 1" deal. It was called ... happily ever after and had its own original artwork. Then, of course, CDs happened. Almost all of the "2-for-1" albums and cassettes were (surprise! surprise!) sold as individual CDs. So if you wanted the contents of ... happily ever after on CD, you had to buy Seventeen Seconds and Faith separately. But there was a tiny run of ... happily ever after on CD. I bought one at a store's going out of business sale for $2.98 and sold it on eBay in 1997 for $137. So there's that.

rw2516

Same type thing happened with Deep Purple. The first three albums with Rod Evans were never released in the U.S. When the label(Tetragammenon?) went belly up, Warner Bros., who had picked up "Hush" for U.S. single release ,stepped in and signed them to worldwide distribution deal. WB also made them fire and replace Evans as part of the deal.
DP didn't make it big until three years later. "Woman From Tokyo" was the first U.S. single and MII were already broke up by then. It was Made in Japan when everybody took notice. "Smoke On The Water" hit the airwaves and became known 2-3 years after Machine Head was released.
See a hit band on their hands, Warner Brothers released the three early albums as a 2-LP set called "Purple Passions" around 1974. Over five years since they first came out in the UK. People took notice because it was the first time "Hush" and "Kentucky Woman" were available in U.S. in LP form.
There were so many non-LP singles in the vinyl era that greatest hits LPs really flew off the shelves. But for a different reason. There were no "bonus track reissues" so if you owned every Jethro Tull album you still bought "Living in the Past" double LP as it was the only way to get "Teacher" and "Living in The Past" on LP.