Portugal. The Man – It’s Complicated Being A Wizard (1st U.S. Pressing)

Up until about a year ago, It’s Complicated Being A Wizard was the only Portugal. The Man album not to have a U.S. pressing. There was only a German pressing to that point. Vinyl Collective answered all Portugal. The Man fans’ prayers and finally gave the album a U.S. pressing. Everything about the German and U.S. pressing is pretty much the same, even the b-side is etched. The one difference between the two pressings are the colors.

The German pressing was only done on one color, baby blue, which was limited to 1,000 copies where as the U.S. pressing was done on two colors, blue limited to 333 copies and black limited to 667 copies. To make this new U.S. pressing even more special, vinyl collective decided to make custom screen prints to go along with the first few hundred copies. Buyers had the option to pre-order one with or without the screen-print, but the screen print added if I remember correctly and extra $5 to the price tag. I opted to pre-order a blue copy without a screen print. There has since been a second U.S. pressing by Vinyl Collective which was done on coke bottle clear, I believe limited to 667 copies .

Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist (1st U.S. Press)

The Satanic Satanist was also given a U.S. and German pressing. For once both pressings feature the same artwork, but there is a slight catch. The jacket of the German pressing is di-cut throughout. Die-cut as in the entire jacket opens up like a book. I don’t have the German pressing to show photos of it, but photos are the only thing that really shows how unique the jacket is.

The pressing info for the U.S. pressing is as follows: 300 copies on yellow/orange swirl which was a vinyl collective exclusive color, 400 copies on clear and 400 copies on purple/red swirl. The U.S. pressing is OOP. The pressing info for the German pressing is 400 copies on purple and 400 copies on baby blue.

 

Portugal. The Man – Censored Colors (1st U.S. & German Press)

This is the only Portugal. The Man album that I have both the U.S. and German pressing of. Again, both pressings feature entirely different artwork from each other and even different packaging and format. I will list all the difference below.

The U.S. press was done as a double LP and the German pressing was done as a single LP. Both version on housed in a gatefold jacket however. The U.S. version features different artwork than the German version, as stated above, but there’s a catch. The U.S. pressing has a foil stamped cover, while the German pressing has a normal printed jacket. You can see all the difference with the artwork in the photos below.

The pressing info for the U.S. press is as follows; 250 copies on purple with green and white splatter, which was a vinyl collective exclusive color and 350 copies with disc 1 (side A&B) on baby blue and disc 2 (side C&D) on yellow. The pressing info for the German pressing is 1,000 copies on highlighter yellow.

Portugal. The Man – Church Mouth U.S. Pressing (1st & 2nd Press)

Church Mouth has gone through a U.S. and German pressing, much like every other Portugal. The Man album. Again, both versions feature different artwork from each other. The U.S. pressing has drawn faces while the German version has photographed faces, which is taken from the CD artwork. The pressing info for the first press of the U.S. pressing is as follows: 250 copies on blue with white swirl, 250 copies on plum with white swirl, 250 copies on “chocolate” which is brown with white swirl and 250 on “raspberry” which is red with white swirl. The first U.S. press was released by Suburban Home Records and comes housed in a gatefold jacket. It does not come with an insert, however the liner notes are printed inside the gatefold jacket. My copy from the first U.S. pressing happens to be autographed on the front of the jacket by all members of the band. For full details on the German pressing see the post devoted to it.

In 2011 Church Mouth went through a re-pressing in the U.S., which was released on the band’s own label, Approaching Air Balloons. There are significant changes for this re-pressing. The most obvious is that the artwork has changed from the first pressing done on Suburban Home Records. Instead of the blue outlined drawing of the faces, the artwork was switched to feature the CD artwork. Gone is the gatefold jacket, which is replaced with a standard jacket. As a result there is an insert with this second U.S. pressing, which features the photo and liner notes that were printed inside the gatefold jacket from the first press. Another notable, and very important difference is that the track listing is different with this pressing. As it features the full band version of “Sun Brother” and the b-side “Seventeen.” Previously, “Seventeen” could only be found on the My Mind 7″. All copies are pressed on black vinyl, and I believe this second U.S. pressing is going to be kept in print for the long haul.

Portugal. The Man – Waiter: “You Vultures!” (2nd U.S. Press)

This is Portugal. The Man’s first album. It has gone through two U.S. pressings so far and one German pressing. The U.S. press is back in print but the German press is now OOP. There is different artwork between the two pressings/versions, as the U.S. pressing has black backed artwork based on the CD album art and the German pressing has orange/bronze/rust backed artwork. The pressing info is as follows for the U.S. pressing: 1st pres: 500 copies on clear with gold splatter. 2nd press: 300 copies on half black/half silver and 200 copies on clear with black splatter. The German pressing is 500 copies on green and 500 copies on red.

Portugal. The Man – American Ghetto

This is Portugal. The Man’s latest album, American Ghetto. No official pressing numbers have been released for this record, but it has sold out numerous times online and it only being sold online. The album is rumored to be kept in print for the time being, and won’t be limited in any way. However, there is a German pressing of the album that is on 180 gram grey vinyl limited to 300 copies. Unlike other German pressing of Portugal. The Man albums, American Ghetto does not feature unique or different artwork and/or packaging.

Portugal. The Man – The Pines/The Devil 7″

The first 7″ released by Portugal. The Man. It was mainly a promo 7″ and given out to indie record stores around the country. They are all hand-numbered on red vinyl limited to 1500 copies. Even though this was a promo, it’s still very hard to track down and sells for at least $20 on ebay.

Portugal. The Man – My Mind 7″

This is one of two 7″ records released by Portugal. The Man. It’s a German/Euro only 7″ and was released by Defiance Records based out of Germany. Only 500 copies were pressed and not many found their way over to the states initially. Most people who have this had to pay pretty big import/shipping charges on top of the bad exchange rate between the Euro and U.S. dollar.

The Rookie Lot/Yearly – Split 7″

This is one of the rarest and hardest to track down records in my collection and makes it that much more complete in terms of bands I collect. Even though there were 1,000 copies of this 7″ pressed, it’s next to impossible to find due to its age and the significance of it.

These two bands, mainly The Rookie Lot, formed the ground work for many of today’s popular bands, especially in the Long Island scene. Members of both bands went on to form Brand New, The Movielife, Saves The Day, Nightmare Of You, The Stryder and Crime In Stereo. For all those people involved, this is the first record/CD/cassette that was widely released, and the first recorded material that they were ever a part of. Jesse Lacey, Brian Lane and Garrett Tierney of The Rookie Lot all went on to form Brand New. While Brandon Reilly went on to join The Movielife and later form Nightmare Of You after The Movielife’s break up. Alex Dunne, also of The Rookie Lot, went on to join Crime In Stereo. Peter Toh of Yearly went on to form The Stryder and started a solo career after The Stryder’s break up. Scottie Redix of Yearly also joined Toh in the formation of The Stryder. Eben D’Amico of Yearly went on to join Saves The Day and prior to joining Yearly he was in Humble Beginnings, another important band in that spawned many successful and popular bands post break up.

Now back to info on the record itself. There were a total of 1,00 copies pressed, all hand numbered on the center labels. The first 100 copies were pressed on clear and the final 900 copies were pressed on black. Personally I have never seen a copy on clear, not on ebay, not in someone’s collection and not even a photo of one. But they do exist apparently. My copy is on black and is number 550. I believe this is the first time anywhere that complete photos of everything; both sides of the 7″, both sides of the insert and the back of the jacket/sleeve are published online.

Against Me! – New Wave 7″

The title track off New Wave also got pressed as a 7″. Unlike all the other 7″ singles, this one was only pressed on one color, black, and was limited to 4,097 copies.