Even before Record Store Day (RSD) established RSD First releases, some RSD releases found their way back on store shelves via a re-press not associated with RSD. One example is a release from 2018 RSD Black Friday, a year which was before the powers at be denoted and/or created RSD First release. It’s also a confusing release because it’s billed as a Joan Jett album despite it being a soundtrack compilation.
What doesn’t help is the fact that ‘soundtrack’ is not mentioned anywhere on the album artwork; it simply says “Joan Jett Bad Reputation.” The hype sticker, however, does says the record is comprised of music from the documentary Bad Reputation. While it does feature original Joan Jett and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts songs, it also features songs from Bikini Kill, FEA, The Runaways and a collaboration between Joan Jett, Miley Cyrus and Laura Jane Grace.
As implied above, this record has gone through two pressings as of posting this. The first pressing was a RSD Black Friday release “limited” to a supposed 3,000 copies on yellow vinyl. Copies from the first pressing are all individually numbered, which is done with a gold foil stamp on the back of the jacket. When you individually number something it makes it hard to hide the fact you lied about how many copies you pressed. You could make the argument that there are more than 3,000 copies due to overruns. But overruns are typically 10% of the amount ordered. I have seen a copy with a number over 5500. I don’t like to speculate on this blog, but there could be a simple explanation about the egregious numbering.
There was both a U.S. and European release for 2018 RSD Black Friday for Joan Jett Bad Reputation. Admittedly, I did not see and do not have the European RSD list for Black Friday in 2018. But if it’s 3,000 copies per region, that would explain the near double amount of copies pressed from the advertised 3,000 copies on the official U.S. list.
In 2019 this soundtrack was re-pressed on black vinyl. This pressing was not individually numbered, and pressing info has never been released for it. But after the debacle/scam the first pressing is, would you trust anything the label says about how limited the second pressing is?
As far as I can tell there are no differences between the first and second pressings aside from the color of vinyl, the numbering and the hype stickers. Both hype stickers are similarly designed; a black circle. But the first pressing makes mention of RSD, being on colored (yellow) vinyl and being numbered. Whereas the hype sticker on the second pressing simply eliminates everything exclusive to the first pressing. Both pressing are about as bare bones a release as you can get. It’s just a single LP stuffed into a single pocket jacket. Neither pressing comes with an insert or a download card/code.
I’m not sure how much the first pressing cost when it was first released for RSD because for whatever reason I was not aware of it at the time. Probably because it was billed as a Joan Jett album, which I had no interest in. For whatever reason the first pressing has sold for decent amounts on the secondary market, and despite the re-press prices have not lowered. If anything they have stabilized around $50. Retail price on the second pressing is around $25, but if you shop around and are patient you may get a better deal. I say that, but take into consideration the second pressing seems to not be widely distributed, and is tough to find as a result. I bought the first copy I came across from a distro and got 20% off, spending under $20 shipped on it.
Manchester Orchestra/Andy Hull has always been busy. The band has steadily churned out new material, while Andy has a just as industrious solo discography. He has started to branch out more into guest appearances on other artists’ albums recently. He has a feature on Joy Oladakun’s fourth studio album, Proof Of Life, on the song “You At The Table.”
It wouldn’t be 2023 without not unnecessary variants, but unnecessary exclusives. Proof Of Life has three; an Urban Outfitters (UO) exclusive on purple limited to 1,000 copies, a Magnolia Record Club exclusive on translucent “grass” limited to an unknown amount and black, which is available everywhere outside of those two aforementioned places, limited to an unknown amount. The translucent “grass” variant is as almost everyone would guess; green.
If the three variants weren’t enough, the label(s), Verve Forecast/Republic Records, decided to print up three different hype stickers as well. Only one of the hype stickers are color coded, which happens to be the purple UO exclusive. The translucent green comes with a white hype sticker for some reason and the black variant comes with an orange hype sticker for some reason. Yes, all those colors can be found in the album art, but why have only one hype sticker be color coded when green and black are also colors found in the cover art.
All copies were pressed as a double LP and come housed in a gatefold jacket. The lyrics are printed inside the gatefold. Pricing on this record is all over the board. Retail on the black variant is around $35 before shipping and taxes (should either apply). That is of course, unless you want an autographed/signed copy, which will cost you an additional $10 from Joy Oladokun’s web store. UO is charging $45 before shipping (should it apply) and taxes. The Magnolia Record Club exclusive, which you don’t need a subscription to buy, cost $40 before shipping and taxes (should they apply), but is cheaper to those who subscribe to the service. I managed to pick up a copy for $21 shipped during an indie record store’s ridiculous summer sale.
One last thing I want to add is that Chris Stapleton makes an almost obligatory guest vocal appearance on this album as well. I say that because if you want your album to sell you splurge to get him to sing on your album, and he does a ton of guest spots to the point where he could make a career out of only that. Not even mentioning the song writing he does. Don’t get me wrong, I love Chris Stapleton’s work and own all of his solo albums, as do millions of other people. Which leads me back to my original statement.
What do you do when two of your favorite bands release a tour only split 7” that’s exclusively available via VIP ticket packages when you have no intention of going to one of the shows let alone splurging on a VIP ticket? Hope. Almost every time this strategy has paid off with tour/VIP package exclusive releases as one of the bands involved inevitably sells leftover copies online.
The Jimmy Eat World and Manchester Orchestra split 7”, where they cover one of each other’s songs, was released for their co-headlining Amplified Echoes Tour in the summer of 2023. Fast forward to October 2023 and Jimmy Eat World sold leftover copies in their web store (hosted by Kings Road Merch). Jimmy Eat World covers “Telepath” off Manchester Orchestra’s album The Million Masks Of God on the A-side and Manchester Orchestra covers “Tables For Glasses” off Jimmy Eat World’s album “Clarity” on the B-side.
Admittedly, I’ve never been a fan of VIP ticket/packages/experiences. I grew up in an era in the scene where you could easily hang out with the bands before, during or after the show; for free! I kid you not; the idea of running into a member of another band whose set was later in the night out mingling amongst the crowd instead of watching side stage was common. Now I’m not talking about arena or stadium shows, but small clubs.
I picked a random date on the Amplified Echoes Tour, which happened to be in Montana, and the VIP ticket was $157.50. For that price you go this 7”, a ticket to the show of your choice (reserved seating or general admission), a “limited edition” tour poster, tour t-shirt and a so called “VIP merch lane” that I’m assuming meant you didn’t have to wait in line to buy merch. That BS is why I don’t partake in VIP ticket packages. They’re typically a watered down experience that nets you very little. It wouldn’t surprise me of the tour poster given to VIP ticket holders could also be bought by anyone at the merch booth for the simple fact the fine print in the VIP ticket does not say “exclusive.”
The only down side to tour and VIP ticket exclusive releases is that you’re at the mercy of whatever price point a band wants to sell the record for afterward should there be leftover copies. Fortunately in the case of this 7”, it was the same price the bands were apparently selling the supposed “VIP ticket exclusive” 7” for at the merch booth at each show. Jimmy Eat World’s web store was selling copies for $30 before shipping.
What I just discussed brings me to yet another conundrum when it comes to VIP ticket packages. What recourse is there for VIP ticket holders when bands decide to sell supposed “VIP exclusive” merch at the merch booth? The simple answer is none. That is of course unless you want to file an expensive lawsuit that will wind up costing you more than you’ll earn if you win. Now I’m not directly pointing fingers at any bands/artists when it comes to this issue. But it does raise suspicion of the credibility of VIP ticket buyer perks if it’s true either band on the Amplified Echoes Tour (or any tour for that matter) was selling the supposed VIP ticket package exclusive 7” record at the merch booth any ticket holder could access.
All copies of this 7” were pressed on black vinyl and come housed in a single pocket jacket. There is no insert or printed dust sleeve, nor a download card/code. As of posting this the 7” I still available from Jimmy Eat World’s web store. For whatever reason(s) Manchester Orchestra has never sold any copies online.
Dave Keuning ventured on a solo project in 2019, thusly completing The Killers members solo/side projects project. His solo project, aptly dubbed Keuning, has released two albums to date, with his sophomore album titled Mild Case Of Everything. If you’re a fan of The Killers earlier sound you should enjoy this album.
Mild Case Of Everything was released in 2021 by Pretty Faithful Records. It was pressed as a double LP on only one color; “splatter.” Yup. That is the pretty much the only description given. The only other tidbit is that each copy will be a unique “splatter” including similar colors. That is referring to the mock up on Dave’s official web store. The colors appear to be either a clear or white base with pink, yellow, and purple “splatter.” But in actuality, even going by the mock up, this record is not, and never was going to be, a splatter. It’s a marble/smoke variant. Judge for yourself in the photo gallery below. And that statement saying each copy will be a unique “splatter” was basically a legal disclaimer saying that not every copy will turn out identical or appear like the mock up. It was put there to keep people from complaining, asking for a refund or filing a claim in order to get their money back. By this point I hope majority of people buying and/or collecting records realizes and understands that fancy color variants like splatters, swirls, smokes, marbles, etc. will rarely have every copy look 100% identical.
Pressing info has not, and likely never will be released. The record was pressed as a double LP housed in a gatefold jacket, with the records themselves coming in full color printed dust sleeves. The art design of the packaging is similar in nature to Prismism. It’s not fancy, or terribly unique (unlike the records themselves apparently) but it’s better than a lot of releases out there that have the cover art of the band logo printed on one side of an insert or dust sleeve, or dare I say literally the cover art printed inside the gatefold.
Prices on Mild Case Of Everything vary widely. Dave’s official web store is still asking $40 before shipping and taxes (should they apply). Meanwhile, his Bandcamp page has been selling it for $17 before shipping and taxes (should they apply). Why the vast price difference is anyone’s guess. Not many, if any, have sold on the secondary market. But prices there have sellers looking to get over $20 for it.
I want to add that I bought this on Bandcamp, along with his other album Mild Case Of Everything, to take advantage of the absurdly low price. You can’t beat $7 for any record, even a single sided 7”. Ok, maybe $5 for a 7”. But after receiving the package I was shocked to say the least. When it arrived on my doorstep I was perplexed for a handful of reasons. First, because I wasn’t expecting anything else based on tracking info, and I didn’t recognize the return address. Next the size, shape and more importantly weight of the box. It didn’t ship in a record mailer of any sort. It shipped in a huge rectangle box, and whoever ships their orders spent $30 on postage mainly due to the weight, but also because they shipped it priority mail. Turns out the sender included literally every piece of branded clothing in random sizes, but all of fitting sizes (some better than others). I received a ¾ sleeve shirt, two different t-shirts, and two identical sweatshirts in different sizes. It was all probably intended to be padding for the contents of the package, but also maybe to get rid of merch that has been sitting around for years. Mind you all of this clothing is selling for between $18 to $35 before shipping from Dave’s web store, or $7 per item on his Bandcamp. Neither record arrived with any sort of damage, so apparently several items of clothing will protect records from the hands of the USPS.
Dave Keuning ventured on a solo project in 2019, thusly completing The Killers members solo/side projects project. His solo project, aptly dubbed Keuning, has released two albums to date, with his debut titled Prismism. If you’re a fan of The Killers earlier sound you should enjoy this album.
Prismism was released in 2019 by Thirty Tigers Records. It was pressed as a double LP on two different colors; translucent red and black. Side D is etched with a rather intricate design. One somewhat unique thing about the etching is that is has an effect patterened into it that is compatible with an app called vinylstrobe. Or at least, it used to be. The app is no longer available in the Google Play. So I have no idea what the effect is supposed to be. My guess is that the etching becomes 3D. It may be similar to the 40th Anniversary box set for the Star Wars: A New Hope soundtrack.
No word on pressing info for either variant. All copies come sealed, with each variant having its own unique, color coded hype sticker. Both hype stickers are circles, with each one being black or red depending on the variant. The red variant includes extra goodies apparently, which is mentioned on the hype sticker. That fact is pretty much the only thing that makes the hype stickers unique to each variant. The red variant includes an autographed insert, which I thought was odd because this release does not have what most would consider an insert. It comes with full color printed dust sleeves instead. These inserts, apparently, are cardboard cut outs used for the stop action music videos for the songs “Boat Accident” and “Restless Legs.” I say apparently because I have not seen photos of these autographed inserts/music video props. And while the hype sticker does say an autographed insert is included, Discogs is the only place I have seen mention of them being music video props. Whoever submitted this info to Discogs even went as far as saying “confirmed by Dave himself” without providing a source in their notes for the submission. Classic Discogs.
Prices on Prismism vary widely. Dave’s official web store is still asking $20 for a copy on black vinyl before shipping and taxes (should they apply), or $30 for an autographed copy. Meanwhile, his Bandcamp page has been selling it for $7 before shipping and taxes (should they apply). Why the vast price difference is anyone’s guess. The secondary market for black copies is hovering around $10. Copies on red vinyl have hit a ridiculous high of $50 before falling back to earth and hovering around $15.
I want to add that I bought this on Bandcamp, along with his other album Mild Case Of Everything, to take advantage of the absurdly low price. You can’t beat $7 for any record, even a single sided 7”. Ok, maybe $5 for a 7”. But after receiving the package I was shocked to say the least. When it arrived on my doorstep I was perplexed for a handful of reasons. First, because I wasn’t expecting anything else based on tracking info, and I didn’t recognize the return address. Next the size, shape and more importantly weight of the box. It didn’t ship in a record mailer of any sort. It shipped in a huge rectangle box, and whoever ships their orders spent $30 on postage mainly due to the weight, but also because they shipped it priority mail. Turns out the sender included literally every piece of branded clothing in random sizes, but all of fitting sizes (some better than others). I received a ¾ sleeve shirt, two different t-shirts, and two identical sweatshirts in different sizes. It was all probably intended to be padding for the contents of the package, but also maybe to get rid of merch that has been sitting around for years. Mind you all of this clothing is selling for between $18 to $35 before shipping from Dave’s web store, or $7 per item on his Bandcamp. Neither record arrived with any sort of damage, so apparently several items of clothing will protect records from the hands of the USPS.
When people say cash grab, often times it’s thrown at bands that are selling out in the process. Not that they’re one and the same, or even ubiquitous. But when a band like The Killers comes along, who have been on a major label their entire career and have done special/deluxe editions of most of their albums released thus far, a release like this is not a cut and dry cash grab.
For their latest album, Pressure Machine, it was released on vinyl with an asterisk. At this point it’s technically the standard edition, but the fact that in order to fit the album on an LP the spoken word portions of the studio album had to be omitted is where the asterisk comes in. So the first pressing that was released for the vinyl version of Pressure Machine is not the true studio album, but the band/label rectified this by releasing a deluxe edition a little over a year later.
On top of the that, the band/label included seven bonus tracks on the deluxe edition. But let’s not get too excited though, as these bonus tracks are not exactly new songs in the truest sense. They are not even b-sides. They are re-worked versions of album tracks, which get the clever addition of “II” in the title. Or in the case of the song “West Hills” and “The Getting By,” which get two and four additional re-workings/versions respectively. So if you’re doing the math at home, not all of the album tracks get this re-imagining, only three out of the 11 do; “The Getting By,” “Runaway Horses” and “West Hills.”
The deluxe edition was pressed as a triple LP that comes in a “box set” which in reality is just one the cheapest/thinnest slip cases I have ever seen. The slip case is so thin I was shocked when I received it in the mail, as I picked up the box sitting on my porch and thought ‘what the hell could this be, I hope it’s not The Killers box.’ It’s thin to the point where my copy came with a terrible amount of creases along the top of the slip case.
Artwork for the deluxe edition is completely re-imagined/redone. The cover art used for the slip case is inspired by the cover art used for the original/standard version/edition. Each of the three LPs in the set come in their own jacket, which is a great touch. Each of these jackets shared a layout theme, which again is a nice touch. I love continuity instead randomness. But the quality control, or maybe the cost cutting, again comes into play with the jackets, as some of mine are coming unglued.
You could be saying to yourself, well maybe it’s just your copy. While I always give my own opinion based on the specific copy I own, which is not swayed by others’ reviews and/or comments. In this case my complaints are shared amongst others as well. So it’s not just my copy that has jackets that are coming unglued and I’m not the only person who thinks the slip case is cheap and/or thin.
Also included with the deluxe edition is an 18 page full size booklet. Despite what some sites claim (even the band’s official web store), the booklet is not 20 pages. You can’t count the front and back covers as pages, sorry. The booklet is nice. It’s not one of those things where you flip through it and think boy is this unnecessary and just drove up the price/cost of this thing. The booklet has the lyrics for all the songs, which are printed on their own page. So you’re not straining to read them. Photos/artwork are interspersed to break up the booklet, which is a nice touch.
Sadly There is not a download card/code included with physical copies. I bought my copy from online from a distro, so I can’t speak to whether or not you’re sent one from the band’s official web store if purchased from there.
Retail price on this is between $70-75, all dependent on where you buy it. But that’s not to say some record stores won’t be charging even more for whatever reason(s). I paid $45 for it, which is not only obviously a far better price, but closer to where this release should be priced at. There is no reason this should cost over $60 from a retail perspective considering the quality of the materials used. Something that should also be taken into account is this set needed to be three LPs. The inclusion of the bonus tracks to the deluxe edition, which was a wide spread release (CD, digital) not only a vinyl edition, did force it to be spread out onto a third LP.
After a seven year gap Taking Back Sunday triumphantly return with a new album. The band’s eighth studio album, 152 is a much mellower take on the band’s trademarked frenetic sound. The term ‘elder emo’ has been flung around a lot recently on social media, and despite my dislike of nonsensical terminology like that, it may be the most ample description of 152. If you’re expecting stuff along the lines of “Makedamnsure,” “Liar (It Takes One to Know One),” “ A Decade Under The Influence,” or “Cute Without The E’ (Cut From The Team)” you are barking up the wrong tree.
The band’s new album came out of left field a bit, as the band didn’t really tease new music; they simply dropped a new song that turned out to be the lead single off the album. TBS was rumored to be working on new stuff, but apparently the pandemic, as it did with so many things, derailed it. The new song/lead single was released in June of 2023, with pre-orders launching about as late in August as you can get. 152 was released by Fantasy Records at the end of October 2023 and was done so on a ton of variants.
There is a Project M exclusive (Revolver/Brooklyn Vegan/AltPress) limited to 500 copies on white w/ blue splatter, an Urban Outfitters (UO) exclusive on opaque yellow and black vinyl limited to 500 copies, a band web store and tour exclusive on copper limited to 1750 copies, a label exclusive on “juice” “marbled” limited to 1500 copies, another label exclusive apart of the “juice” “marbled” variant that comes with an alternate artwork screen printed jacket that is autographed and limited to 250 hand numbered copies, a Spotify exclusive on blue mix with white “marbled” limited to an unconfirmed amount, a UK indie store and HMV exclusive on brick red limited to an unknown amount, a made up Assai Records (Scottish indie record store) exclusive apart of the brick red variant w/ an exclusive hand numbered obi-strip limited to 100 copies, the “standard” variant on bone vinyl limited to an unknown amount and black vinyl limited to an unknown amount.
If you’re keeping track that is 10 variants. And to make matters worse the label doesn’t use hype stickers; they use bar code stickers that denote both the exclusivity retailer and the variant. And what is printed on this barcode sticker often times differs from what the descriptions of the variants says. For instance, the Spotify exclusive that was advertised as blue mix with white “marbled” comes with a barcode sticker that says sky marble. The “juice” “marbled” comes with a sticker that says tan marble and “D2C,” which means direct to consumer. This system is not the most obvious way to denote variants, but at least it’s done. What I do like is the fact that the sticker also says where/who the variant was sold by.
All copies were pressed as a single LP housed in a gatefold jacket. The record itself comes in a full color printed dust sleeve on glossy paper. A download card/code is not included with physical copies, and you are not provided a download card/code if you order direct from the label. Retail price depends on the variant. The alternate artwork screened jacket variant cost $50 before shipping and taxes (should they apply), the Project M variant cost $28 before shipping and taxes (should they apply), the UO exclusive cost $30 before shipping and taxes (should either apply), the Spotify exclusive cost $26 before shipping and taxes (should they apply), the band exclusive cost $35 before shipping and taxes (should they apply) from their web store (don’t know what it cost on tour), the Assai Records exclusive cost around $38 before shipping (should it apply), the brick red variant cost around $33 before shipping (should it apply).
My personal perspective on buying this record and the variant I chose: I wish I didn’t buy the alternate artwork screen printed cover. I am a cover variant collector. Which is probably something I should not directly admit to and comment on at this point because I feel like more and more labels and/or bands are capitalizing on it. Fantasy Records did a similar altenate artwork screen printed cover with the L.S. Dunes record, and that, for what I hoped was for unique circumstances, did not actually fit over the regular cover like a ture alternate cover should. But unfortunately, when it comes to this TBS record, the same also applies.
I don’t know why Fantasy Records can’t get this right. But at this point I am going to assume it’s a systemic problem with their creative or product development team. I could let the L.S. Dunes record slide given the circumstances of it, but in the grand scheme of things, anybody with properly functioning eyeballs and brain could tell that yet another cover would not fit on a single LP package that already had an additional alternate cover/slip cover on it. I bet wrong.
But I wasn’t going to miss out on something like I did the L.S. Dunes alternate cover variant. Missing out on the L.S. Dunes variant had extenuating circumstance though. TBS is one of my favorite bands. I literally stumbled upon the pre-order for 152; right place right time kind of thing, and didn’t scrutinize the price like I have been doing more and more of lately as vinyl prices continue to exceed ridiculous levels. What also factored in to my compulsory buy now mentality was the fact that pressing info was not released for the alternate artwork screen printed cover variant. But the label seemed to be intentionally misleading on that front.
Yes, the pressing info for it was not released at the time pre-orders went live. But the description, given the album title, made it seem like the alternate artwork screen printed cover variant was limited to 152 copies. In my fervor to get a copy before it sold out, in case it was actually limited to such a small amount as 152 copies, I rushed to place an order. As I checked back throughout that day to see how quickly this variant sold out, I was shocked to see it still available the next day. Which is when I went back and re-read everything in the item listing, discovering pressing info was never mentioned.
In the end, upon finally receiving my copy on the mail, about a week after lots of other people and well after the release date, despite undoubtedly being one of the first hundred people placing an order, it was discovered that the alternate artwork screened printed cover variant was limited to 250 copies based off the hand numbering. As I feared, the alternate artwork screen printed cover does not fit over the top of the gatefold jacket that houses 152. Again, this is something someone at Fantasy Records should have easily noticed and changed. Maybe simply not done this type of variant at all.
But Fantasy Records, while technically being an indie label, is a fringe major label in my book because they have ties to Universal Music Group; with their major claim to fame being the home to Creedence Clearwater Revival, only cares about money. They have been snatching up bigger name artist in recent years, and have access to wider distribution channels than true indie labels out there that struggled to get by. After the L.S. Dunes garbage they should have recognized the glaring logistical issues with an alternate cover variant, but chose to not properly address it. And to make matters worse; the alternate artwork is literally the cover art done in different colors. Which is something completely on me as the mock up accurately depicted the finished product. But again, I caved to rarity and fear of missing out.
After years of waiting, lots of wishes were fulfilled when Equal Vision Records (EVR) finally pressed Armor For Sleep’s debut release Dream To Make Believe. It was the band’s lone outstanding album to be released on vinyl, and it seems EVR was waiting for the album’s 20th anniversary in order to press it. Which somewhat makes sense given the label re-pressed What To Do When You Are Dead for its 15th anniversary a few years ago. But you have to ask yourself, with labels doing cash grab re-presses left and right, EVR could’ve pressed Dream To Make Believe long before now, and simply went and re-pressed it this year for its 20th anniversary.
This record did not come completely out of left field however, as Amazon put it up for pre-order months (May 2023) before it was officially announced by the label. Amazon never took down the listing, and up until it was officially announced by going up for pre-order in July 2023, Amazon was the only place to buy/pre-order it. Lots of times when retailers jump the gun as early as Amazon did, the label requests them to remove their listings. But for whatever reason Amazon always keeps their listings live. Not sure if they just thumb their nose at requests like this because Amazon is THE biggest kid at the big kid at the table, or if EVR simply never bothered to ask Amazon to take it down.
As expected, this record sold very well and a few variants sold out quickly. EVR had three exclusive variants; half maroon/half white limited to 250 copies, green in white color in color limited to 250 copies and apple green w/ white splatter limited to 500 copies. Brooklyn Vegan (Project M exclusive) was given an exclusive variant as well, which is on “opaque” white limited to 350 copies. There is an additional variant without pressing info officially released, which front man Ben Jorgensen confirmed on social media to be “translucent” black, which is being sold by Amazon. The “translucent” black is exclusive to Amazon is highly doubtful. It’s not confirmed to be a mass retail variant, but odds are that it is.
The two variants limited to 250 copies sold out in about 45 minutes, which is not surprising. The splatter variant sold out in about nine hours, which is surprising considering how quickly the other label exclusives sold out. Most times the mad dash to secure the more limited variants sends those who missed out on them into a further frenzy to secure whatever is left. But in this case idiots moved over to Brooklyn Vegan/Revolver/AltPress, all of which are owned and operated by conglomerate of Project M, because it was the next rarest. All despite how much more expensive they charged for it.
EVR charged $25 before shipping and taxes (should they apply) for all three of their variants. Meanwhile, Project M via the Brooklyn Vegan, Revolver and AltPress web stores charged $33 before shipping and taxes (should they apply). Which is status quo for Project M. They are one in a long line of greedy retailers who overcharge for their exclusive variants. And they will continue doing so as long as morons continue to sell them out.
All copies were pressed as a single LP housed in a single pocket jacket with a full color printed dust sleeve on glossy paper. Each variant comes with a similarly designed hype sticker that denotes the color. They are designed and placed to replicate the infamous barcode that is conspicuously plastered on the front cover. Though my copy has a horridly placed hype sticker, as you can see in the photo gallery below. There is no download card/code despite this being an EVR release. The download card/code would’ve been nice considering how great this record sounds, assuming the label would supply the vinyl master with it. There is a debate about whether or not the album was re-mastered. But there is no denying the record is nice and crisp, especially when compared to the CD release and official MP3 downloads out there. Jumping in on the debate, I highly doubt the label went to the length of completely re-mastering the album without making note of it anywhere. What I think happened is EVR had it properly mastered for vinyl rather than taking the cheap, easy route of submitting the original CD master (whether it be an actual retail CD or a digital file of it) to the pressing plant and having that used to make the stampers.EVR has not officially confirmed one way or the other as of posting this.
It finally happened. Catalyst was pressed on vinyl. New Found Glory’s last album to get the treatment, and one most fans cried for relentlessly; was released in 2023. After some slight teasing, it took about a week from when the band said in an interview at When We Were Young Fest that it would be coming out for pre-orders to drop without any sort of announcement. Unfortunately for myself I was on vacation at the time pre-orders launched and missed out on all of the rarer variants, but I did manage to easily snag a copy.
Catalyst was apparently licensed by Mondo (yes, that Mondo) from MCA/Geffen/Drive-Thru. Mondo had a hand in the re-press of the band’s self-titled album a few years ago, so it’s not a complete surprise they helped get Catalyst pressed. What is surprising is the lack of creative details that Mondo is typically known for.
Instead of a gatefold jacket, Mondo opted to go with a oversized single pocket jacket, and a cheap one at that. Now, most of time oversized single pocket jackets are printed on rather thin material, but Mondo should have done better. Another, slightly less noticeable issue with the packaging is that the artist’s name who handled all the art for Catalyst is actually misspelled in the liner notes/credits. Instead of Gunnar, which is how he spells his name and is also painfully obvious as it’s on the back cover for all to see, Mondo never corrected the typo of his name being spelled “Gunner” in the liner notes/credits that are printed on the back of the second printed dust sleeve. So it’s very obvious all Mondo did was enlarge all the artwork from the original release of Catalyst. Since Mondo altered the original artwork on the back of the jacket to include “Gunnar” signature, it’s likely not a contractual reason the liner notes/credits kept the typo.
I kind of hinted at the fact, but Catalyst was pressed as a double LP, coming in the inexcusable oversized single pocket jacket. The records themselves come in full color printed dust sleeves on glossy paper. The artwork used for the dust sleeves is taken directly from the CD booklet from the album’s original release back in 2004. As was the case with some other NFG records, all traces of the band’s original guitarist, Steve Klein, have been removed. His caricature is not presented, and his name is stricken from the liner notes/credits. Though it was pointed on a message board, sadly after your typical internet tough gay name calling, that technically Steve is still getting credit for everything as the band entered into a collective ASCAP at some point instead of giving each individual credit(s). That is all I’m going to say about Steve and any and all associated topics.
Maybe some of the saving grace for Mondo’s packaging choices is the fact that cover art feature glow in the dark effects. It’s not the entire jacket, only portions of it. Honestly, I’m not going to expose my jacket to direct sunlight for any length of time in order to photograph it. I am going to include a stock/promo photo that Mondo used for all their press for the vinyl version of Catalyst. But to put it into words, only the band’s name, album title and all the doorways on the cover art feature the glow in the dark effect. There was some incorrect speculation that only certain variants come with a glow in the dark cover/jacket; but every copy comes with a glow in the dark cover/jacket.
Another great touch Mondo did was to include all three bonus tracks from the various international version of Catalyst when it was first released. The three bonus tracks, “Whiskey Rose,” “Radio Adelaide” and “Constant Static,” are all properly tacked onto the end of the album, appearing on side D. There was some incorrect speculation that only certain variants included these bonus tracks; but they appear on every copy.
Now down to the nitty gritty; pressing info and the associated finer details. The band had three exclusive variants, with one of them only being available in a bundle containing all three aforementioned variants. They had a magenta/yellow/blue limited to 500 copies, yellow/orange/maroon limited to 1500 copies and a glow in the dark variant limited to an unknown/intentionally unannounced amount. The glow in the dark variant was the bundle exclusive one. I typically don’t like to speculate, but there are at most 500 copies of the glow in the dark, which is based solely on the fact there are 500 copies of the magenta/yellow/blue variant.
I mentioned above the simple nature of the band exclusive variants; that is how the band’s web store listed/described them. In reality, the magenta/yellow/blue is a swirl variant and the yellow/orange/maroon is a tri-color variants. The mock ups/actual pictures of each of those variants supported that. So why the web store couldn’t simply put in swirl or tri-color is beyond me.
There were three additional variants available at the time pre-orders/ordering went live. Mondo had an exclusive variant, which actually did not have any sort of description. I kid you not, Mondo now has the balls to just say “on a Mondo exclusive color vinyl” rather than simply state what their variant is. All when there is literally a picture of it posted right next to that text. Because there is no official description, it leaves it open to interpretation. Who/whom ever (yes, it can be multiple users) uploaded info to Discogs has Mondo’s exclusive variant as a color-in-color A-side/B-side variant, with it specifically being “blue in green (A/B) red in black (C/D).” That description is fairly accurate. But I still can’t help to feel the first disc (A/B) is more of a swirl variant than a straight up color-in-color.
Another terrific aspect of Mondo’s variant is that pressing info has not been officially confirmed. But of course, there is someone on a message board making the claim that they know how many copies were pressed for the Mondo variant. But Mondo has not posted that number anywhere, which makes it unofficial. And of course, that fact does not stop people from posting that unconfirmed number on Discogs. So of course lots of people are taking it for fact. I will not post said number here. Because I will not post pressing info that I cannot verify myself, which comes from a confirmed source.
The remaining two variants feature a RevHq (indie distro) exclusive and a wider release variant that is not exactly available everywhere. For whatever reason, the band/Mondo chose to only make what I’m calling the wider release variant available from a handful of retailers/sources in a handful of countries. To keep this entry as brief as possible, the RevHQ variant was limited to 499 comes on “green.” I’m not kidding, RevHQ simply put down “green” for their exclusive. And boy, was it not even close to “green.”
The RevHQ exclusive turned out being a convoluted mess in the end. Despite there being a picture/mock up of their exclusive variant, Rev decided to just put green. That did zero favors. An actual description would’ve been very beneficial, as it once again leaves things open to interpretation. For whatever reason, who/whom ever submitted info to Discogs claims the Rev exclusive is “green cloudy;” whatever that is. Where I have problems is multi-fold: A; this variant does not much green. My best description is that it’s a mustard puke nonsensical mixture that has elements of everything; swirl, cloudy, marble, splatter, swirl. Honestly, the finished product looks like someone ate a soft pretzel with lots of mustard at a sporting event of some kind, had too much beer, and wound up puking somewhere on the concourse mid walk without missing a step and just continued on without so much as a second thought.
The mock up shows a nice “green” variant that was clearly a clear with green/yellow swirl/splatter. What actually shipped to people was what I described above. I’ve seen pictures of a solid army drab green/olive/mustard with slight hints of blue splatter. There are even literally puke chunks thrown in for good measure. Some people have also described the RevHQ exclusive as snot, which is also apt. Bottom line is this variant is a mess.
The remaining variant, which is the somewhat widely available one, is very straight forward. It’s limited to 1,472 copies on clear with pink and purple splatter. It has an actual description, the description is accurate, and it matches the picture/mock up used. That’s the trifecta, and all you can ask for. RevHQ is the only place in the U.S. selling the clear w/ pink and purple splatter as far as I can tell, and there are several retailers/distros in Europe selling this variant as well.
Something most people can agree on is that the vinyl version of Catalyst is overprice. A single variant cost $40 before shipping and taxes (should they apply). I don’t know what the bundle cost because like I stated above, I missed out when pre-orders/ordering went live. Whioe some of the band’s exclusive variants found their way to be available for purchase again, the bundle never did. And because I’m the way I am, I won’t necessarily take anyone else’s word for granted unless I can back it up with visual proof I can get for a verified source. I screenshot everything as soon as I come across it for the sake of writing this blog.
As of posting this the only variants sold out are all three of the band’s exclusives and the RevHQ exclusive. The secondary market will need some time to settle into a going rate for many of the variants. But there were lots of copies pressed, and despite this being the first time Catalyst has been pressed, it has yet to sell out. Granted, the recent re-pressings of Sticks & Stones were far more limited in terms of numbers; there really was not a legitimate reason for it to receive three different pressings since 2022.
One of my favorite aspects of Catalyst that gets overlooked by pretty much everyone is the fact that Andy Jackson of Hot Rod Circuit fame, another of my favorite bands, does guest/backing vocals on the song “Over The Head, Below The Knees.” Other guest vocalists are Toby Morse of H2O and Freddy Cricean of Madball, who both appear on “At Least I’m Known For Something.”
New Found Glory’s latest album, released in 2023, is actually their first acoustic album. Make The Most Of It was released by Revelation Records; the legendary hardcore/punk label. After getting out of their deal with Drive-Thru Records and major label MCA/Geffen, NFG has partnered or signed with a lot of different labels; Epitaph, Bridge 9, Hopeless, Triple-B, and now Rev. Some of those partnerships seemingly make no sense to the unacquainted, but they go back to Chad Gilbert’s hardcore days when he was in Shai Hulud.
I’m not sure what happened with NFG, they’ve always been a very popular band; practically mainstream at some points in their career. But their recent vinyl releases have sold better than some of their past releases. I’m not talking about the long overdue re-press of their s/t album or even Coming Home. It all started with the pandemic boom of everyone going out of their way to spend more money on band merch (includes music) and Forever + Ever x Infinity was released at the height of it. For what I felt was subpar album, it sold very well and variants sold out at a much faster clip than I expected. That trend continued with their Christmas album and now with Make The Most Of It. Meanwhile, older records like Resurrection / Resurrection: Ascension and Makes Me Sick / Makes Me Sick Again can still be bought from Hopeless Records’ web store.
Make The Most Of It is currently in its second pressing. The first pressing, which was put up for pre-order in November 2022, has four variants; translucent violet limited to 300 copies, translucent green limited to 300 copies, “natural” clear limited to 500 copies and translucent yellow limited to 3,000 copies. The translucent violet, which turned out more maroon than any shade of purple, was a RevHQ (Rev’s label store that also happens to be a distro) exclusive, and it sold out in under 15 minutes. By the time I saw the band’s post on social media about it it was already sold out. The translucent green, which was a Brooklyn Vegan/The Hard Times/Revolver exclusive sold out in less than 24 hours (not exactly sure how many hours it took, but it was in the first day). Rev has “natural” clear listed as a retail store exclusive on their web store, but on social media that have said it’s an indie store exclusive. Slight confusion there, but since they listed a bunch of well known indie record stores that would be getting copies, the “natural” clear is 99% assuredly an indie record store exclusive.
The second pressing is limited to 2500 copies on opaque turquoise. It was put up for sale in March 2023. Was a second pressing needed? Maybe, maybe not. What I do know is that Rev sold out of all their variants, or at least however many copies of the whopping 3,000 on translucent yellow they kept to sell, sometime in February 2023. Now with that said, some places like Target, Amazon and even other distros have been selling copies for quite a while. So who knows what pressing you’ll get if you order from any of those places; it will either be a copy from the first pressing on translucent yellow or a copy from the second pressing on opaque turquoise.
What makes things a lot easier is that every variant, regardless of pressing, comes with its own hype sticker on a certain color. I didn’t say color coded because the “natural” clear variant comes with a black sticker. But other than that variant, the rest of them come with a color coded hype sticker. Even the translucent violet that turned out maroon; it too has a maroon/dark red hype sticker.
All copies are pressed as a single LP, come sealed/shrink-wrapped, and included a fold out poster. There is no download card/code included with physical copies, and I’m not sure if Rev supplied one to people who ordered directly form them. One interesting tidbit about this record is that the artwork for the center labels was done by bassist Ian Grushka, which were taken from painting he did of the band while they were in the studio recording the album.
A key aspect of the vinyl version of Make The Most Of It is that is excludes four tracks; live takes of previously released songs “Understatement,” Failure’s Not Flattering,” “My Friend’s Over You” and “Hit Or Miss.” These songs are mostly at the end of the album (digital and CD versions. Which lends credence to my theory that that were cut from the vinyl version due to special reasons. But I have not seen anything official as to why. Some people thought at first it was a licensing issue regarding physical formats, but considering all the omitted songs from the vinyl version are on the CD version, that theory doesn’t hold water. Considering the prices being charged for this single LP, it would have been better had Rev just went ahead and made this record a double LP.
With that said, let’s get to the pricing on this. It’s all over the board. Rev charged a reasonable all things considered $22 before shipping for the first pressing no matter which variant you bought. However, for whatever reason, they jacked up the price of the second pressing to $25 before shipping. Controversial? Absolutely. Especially without any sort of explanation. It’s like they hoped nobody would notice. Stuff like this is just another sad reason I’m being driven away from collecting/buying vinyl these days. It’s just too damn expensive.
And with that said, let’s move on to cost of the translucent green variant. It cost $30 before shipping. Despite that ridiculous price it still sold out in a day simply because it’s rare. This is the biggest reason why vinyl prices are climbing. Sure, inflation, supply chain issues, etc.; they are all legitimate reasons. But the underlying reason is greed. Labels and retailers see the trends; they’d be idiots and irresponsible business owners not to. So as long as people keep buying overpriced variants/releases, the prices will continue to climb because they know they will sell at least 7 out of 10 (for argument’s sake, but the ratio can be extrapolated to your heart’s desire) copies priced at $30, $40 even $50 before they possibly have to start marking things down. Even then idiots will still buy it thinking they’re getting a deal because look! It’s on sale now for $25 when they it used to be $30!!!
With all the ranting out of the way, here are some pertinent details about the variant featured here; the Bridge 9 Records Warehouse show exclusive alternate cover. In support of Most Of It, NFG did an acoustic tour at small theatre type venues with seating only, which had a stop in Boston. Before that stop on the tour, the band did a full plugged in live set at the new B9 Warehouse in Beverly, Mass. Aside from the secondary market, it was only available for purchase at the B9 Records physical store leading up to that show, which acted as your ticket for entry. In plain English, you had to buy a copy of this record/variant in order to get into the show. The show was widely advertised, so at least it wasn’t a secret/surprise show with a corresponding secret show variant. Granted, for anyone living outside driving distance of the Boston area, it would be a tall order trying to get a copy if this B9 variant.
I’m not sure if the B9 warehouse show sold out or not, but copies have not been up for sale in B9’s online store since it was held on March 16, 2023, unlike the new B9 store exclusive cover variants of Tip Of The Iceberg. As of writing this I have only seen two copies pop up for sale on the secondary market. The first of which I was planning on bidding on, but the price jumped to ridiculous amounts. The second copy I literally stumbled upon a few hours before the auction ended simply because I didn’t search for it on ebay for a few weeks. I’m fairly confident the only reason I won it, let alone for the price I did was because the person selling it had the auction end at 4 am EST. So I put in my bid, went to sleep at a reasonable hour and woke up the next morning to discover I actually won it for below my max bid. For those crying hypocrite at this point (because you can easily look up what this auction sold for), just know I purposely save up cash back bonuses I earn for cases just like this, so my out of pocket expense was literally zero on this record. Did I support a flipper? Yes. Did it sell for a lot of money? Yes. Did it sell for more than the $30, $40 or even $50 I ranted about above? Yes.
The B9 warehouse show exclusive variant comes with a copy from the second pressing on opaque turquoise. All copies are hand numbered in blue sharpie on the back of the fold over sleeve. The foldover sleeve, which is a quarter fold, is screen printed. The alternate cover art is inspired by the cover art for Judge’s debut album Chung King Can Suck It, which was released by Revelation Records in 1989. So this completes the trifecta of B9 exclusive alternate cover variants inspired by past Rev releases for NFG releases that came out in 2023
One last tidbit about B9 warehouse show exclusive variant, which was something I was not aware of so I would be none the wiser had the seller not included it; the B9 physical storefront placed all copies in a paper bag that was also hand numbered with the corresponding number on the sleeve. Since I’ve yet to visit B9’s storefront in Massachusetts, I can only assume this bag, which is screen printed with their logo, is what the store uses for the bulk of customers after making a purchase.
Made available for that performance only (until copies hit the secondary market, which has yet to happen as of adding this portion to this entry) was an exclusive alternate cover variant of Make The Most Of It, which was widely advertised and promoted
Absolutely no reason the label can charge $22 but other retail outlets with an exclusive can charge almost $10 more. This is what places like Newbury comics, urban outfitters and in this case Brooklyn vegan/rock sound charge what they do because they know idiots will buy it. And if by some chance it sits around and doesn’t sell, they’ll simply mark it down slightly to what the actual going rate is/what other retailers charge, and once again,
For whatever reason the vinyl version omits 4 songs. The songs are randomly scattered throughout the album and we’re all previously released songs, just obviously reworked in an acoustic styling. These songs are on the CD version, so it would be an odd, but not unheard of, contractual stipulation for it to not be on vinyl yet on other physical releases. Could also be a space issue, and rev chose to keep actual new songs on the vinyl version and omit songs that have already been released, some of which have also been released acoustic.
Stitches and Grooves 