Eat The Music - Australia "Scratch and Sniff" CD Single

Australian card sleeve release of Eat The Music, which is also unique because it has a scratch and sniff surface on the front. When you scratch it, it smells like Kate’s feet. I'm kidding!!! It smells like watermelons or some kind of fruit. To be honest, I have no idea what it smells like as I've never scratched or sniffed it due to the fact that it is a card sleeve and can become easily damaged. I have seen the front of these card sleeves literally destroyed from people over-scratching them. Even if you are careful, at the very least you would probably end up “engraving” the surface with your fingernails. It's a neat idea though, if not a stupid one.

The CD comes out from the top portion of the card sleeve and the artwork on the front and back is pretty similar to most releases. The only real differences to the front of the sleeve are the orange strips along the top and bottom. Apart from the catalogue number, which is located on the back of the card sleeve in the upper left-hand corner, the CD is the only thing that indicates this as being the Australian release. It features a logo with “Digital Audio Technologies Australia” written beside it.

This single also contains the "Extended Mix" of Eat The Music, You Want Alchemy and the revolting Shoedance remix. Believe it or not, the “Extended Mix” is actually the album version of Eat The Music, but with the intro removed (about the first 12 seconds cut off) – hardly an extended mix.

This one still turns up every so often, but it's not really worth getting... unless you're really into scratching and sniffing things. Besides, after all these years, I doubt you'd be able to smell anything on it but the glue they used to put the sleeve together with.

Eat The Music - U.S. CD Single

Eat The Music was the first release in the U.S. on Columbia Records for The Red Shoes album. Interestingly enough, Eat The Music was originally supposed to be the first UK release as well, until it was pulled at the last minute in favour of Rubberband Girl instead.

The insert on this one is a single page, which also falls out very easily. The front has some fantastic artwork that I've always liked, and the back of the page has the printed lyrics.

I also like the effect with the CD being half picture disc and half black. It's something different, and I'm sure my scan isn't giving it any justice at all.

Even though I haven't listened to this one in a very long time, I could have done without the remix for Eat The Music. Coming in at almost 9½ minutes, it really does drag on. I also could have done without Candle In The Wind, especially as it turns up on several other releases. 

It's worth picking up though, especially if you don't have it and you're trying to complete your CD singles. The U.S. one is probably your best bet since this never got an official release in the UK. I know this got released in Australia as a 'Scratch & Sniff' card sleeve, but that one tends to be quite costly these days.