Capitol Records distributed and promoted the release of Absent Friends in Germany and Switzerland. As in the rest of Europe, the album was released on 29th March, the version of the album was the Copy Controlled edition as everywhere outside UK. Strangely the limited edition was distributed only in Switzerland and not in Germany, certainly because it was first aimed for French marked, and by extension to some French-speaking countries…

Back to Germany… To promote the album Capitol issued a promo copy of the album in advance. It comes within a PVC sleeve with a folded insert. One one-side there is a Capitol Music logo, the album’s serial number (of the regular edition), the band and album’s names. Then the album’s release date (with the German legend ‘VÖ’), and then in English ‘For Further Information’ with the address of EMI’s promotion service in Germany. Then it features a warning notice in German. And then in English a ‘For Promotion Only - Not For Sale’ followed with a smaller warning in English.
The other side of the insert has the Capitol logo too, the album title, Parlophone’s label code (0299), and the tracklisting with track durations.

The disc is a Ritek CD-R with a mate surface. It features most of the elements already on the insert, with the addition of an EMI logo.