Subject: Singles/Albums only released in certain countries

Such as Cliff Richard's 1981 hit 'Give A Little Bit More'.  A North American only single (which also was released in Australia so I am told) that stalled at US #41, but reached #15 in Canada.  It was an attempt from EMI to help continue Cliff's comeback success in America

♦ Hudson-Ford, a popular British duo (and former members of The Strawbs) were the creative force behind late 70s punk group The Monks.  Known in the UK for their album 'Bad Habits' and the 1979 single 'Nice Legs, Shame About Her Face', they eventually cracked the Canadian Top 20 in 1980 with the single 'Drugs in My Pocket' (which did not chart in the UK at all).  When they came to Canada for promotion/tour, they found their fanbase so big that they chose to originally release their 1981 follow-up album 'Suspended Animation' in Canada only.  Though it failed to produce a hit, 'Suspended Animation' went gold, which pushed sales of 'Bad Habits' to double platinum by 1982

♦ In 1983, RCA chose to release the song 'Italian Girls' by Hall and Oates as a single in Canada only, inplace of 'Family Man'.  This one has me stumped, but I can only assume it was because Mike Oldfield's original version of Family Man reached #29 in Canada in 1982, and was probably still popular at the time H&O released their H20 album

Most times, record labels do this to either break an artist into a certain market, further capitolize on a comeback success, or to avoid confliction with another song or group (as noted with the H&O song above).  But sometimes it's all a big mystery as to why ...

♦ In 1983, Joan Jett issued her album track 'The French Song' (from her album, simply titled 'Album') as a single only in Canada (this is according to several websites I've read) where it peaked at #44.  What was the reason for this single to only be released in Canada?  I don't know, but I am curious

And then there's certain countries that get a raw deal ...

♦ When WHAM! said farewell in 1986, they did it with a Greatest Hits collection titled 'The Final'.  For North America, we got a watered down version titled 'Music From the Edge of Heaven' that primarily focused on new tracks recorded for the album as well as the single only releases that appeared after (but not on) the 'Make it Big' album (aka 'Last Christmas' and 'Im Your Man').  Thankfully, through the wonders of Flea Markets and Music Stores, I have a cassette and CD copy of 'The Final'.  The cassette version differs from the CD version as it has extended versions of several of the songs