Anberlin – Never Take Friendship Personal (1st Press)

Never Take Friendship Personal was pressed on vinyl and released as a Record Store Day exclusive in 2012 along with Blueprints For The Black Market. 1,000 copies were pressed on black vinyl. It’s a shame they went with black as they could have done something nice with the color of the record that would match the artwork. A white with blue swirl or vice versa, or maybe baby blue. Hell, even white would be better.

Anberlin – Blueprints For The Black Market

Anberlin’s debut album was finally pressed on vinyl and released as a Record Store Day exclusive in 2012. There were 1,000 copies pressed on black vinyl.

Minus The Bear – Your Private Sky b/w South Side Life 7″

Minus The Bear had a Record Store Day release for 2012, and it was one of the more sought after releases. It was limited to 1,000 copies on black vinyl, with each copy being hand numbered on the back of the jacket in silver ink. The two track featured on the 7″ are two b-sides of the band’s latest album, OMNI. It was originally advertised that the two songs featured would be brand new, never before released songs.

The Horrible Crowes – Record Store Day 7″/Live At Fingerprints 7″

I was under the assumption that The Horrible Crowes’ 2012 Record Store Day release would be called “Live At Fingerprints,” but when I picked it up at my store i was surprised to find it simply titled “Record Store Day 7″.” The artwork was also far different from what was initially released, as rather than a cartoonish drawing of Brian Fallon and Ian Perkins with crows heads, it’s a candid photograph of Fallon and Perkins.

As implied by the original titled, the songs were recorded live at Fingerprints, a record store in Long Beach, CA. There were 1,000 copies pressed, a Fingerprints exclusive on blood red limited to 300 copies and black limited 700 copies, which was made available to all other stores. I’m not a big fan of the regional or certain store exclusive colors. While it is a special thing for the store the songs were record in, it penalizes variant collectors who don’t happen to live anywhere near southern California. It also further perpetuates flipping. The blood red and black colors continues the theme going with Horrible Crowes vinyl releases, as all of their releases have been pressed on blood red or black vinyl.

Taking Back Sunday – We Play Songs

We Play Songs is a Record Store Day 2012 exclusive four track live EP by Taking Back Sunday recorded at two different record stores. Tracks 1-2 on the a-side, “Ghost Man On Third” and ” Your Own Disaster” were recorded at Fingerprints in Long Beach, CA. Tracks 3-4 on the b-side, “Faith (When I Let You Down)” and “Great Romances of The 20th Century” were recorded at Looney Tunes in West Babylon (Long Island), NY.

The EP was pressed on three different colors, with a total amount of 2,000 copies pressed. There were 300 copies on blue, which was a Looney Tunes exclusive, 300 copies on yellow/orange, which was a “Fingerprints exclusive” and 1400 copies on black. There is no insert included with the record and the jacket feels pretty cheap. The biggest problem I have is that regional exclusivity of this release, seeing as two of the variants were only available at opposite coasts of the country, making it very difficult if not impossible for variant collectors to get all variants of this record. I feel the same way about tour exclusive variants or releases. even though I’ not a full blown variant collector, those who do collect variants should not be penalized by where they happen to live. But I do understand the concept of the release since the track were recorded at the two different stores, but there was no absolute need to have exclusive colors as people definitely would have bought 2,000 copies had it been pressed on just one color.

The label that released the EP, Brookvale Records, is owned/operated by the same guy who owns Looney Tunes. Immediately after hearing that I knew squirrelly things would happen with it, as the store has down some things relating to RSD in the past that I don’t agree with. Rather than give Fingerprints all the copies of the “Fingerprints exclusive,” there were three pack bundles that included all three colors available for sale at Looney Tunes, both at the store the day of Record Store Day and online later that night. Looney Tunes apparently had plenty of leftover stock of RSD titles (including this record) and put them all up for sale online, but here’s the kicker, they charged $10 for media mail shipping (which is the prety much the same price as this record itself). Everyone who buys records knows the actual cost media mail shipping is under $4 even if shipping cost to cost. To make matters worse more people were refunded than people who actually had their orders go through.

Bruce Springsteen – Rocky Ground 7″

It has become tradition that Bruce Springsteen releases something for Record Store Day, and 2012 was no exception. “Rocky Ground” was The Boss’s release for this year, and the 7″ is backed with a liver version of “The Promise,” which was recorded at the famed carousel in Asbury Park, NJ. I have not seen definitive pressing info for this. The only number I saw was 1500, and I’m not sure if that was how many copies were sent over to Europe or if it was what was available in North America.

311 – Music

Music was first released exclusively on Record Store Day 2012, but will be widely available again in May. There were 5,000 copies pressed on 180 gram black vinyl as a double LP. Each copy is individually numbered in gold foil stamping on the back of the jacket in the top left corner. The record comes housed in a gatefold jacket and comes with no insert. The records are also housed in poly dust sleeves rather than paper dust sleeves.

311 – 8:16 a.m. remix b/w Omaha Stylee remix 12″

Another 311 promo, this time in the form of a 12″. Not sure how many copies were pressed, but all of them are on black vinyl and come housed in a stock black jacket with a 311 sticker on the top left corner.

311 – Jackolantern’s Weather b/w Guns (Are For Pussies) 7″

The Jackolantern’s Weather 7″ is a promo, and I’m not sure of its origins being a promo, as in I do not know when or how it was given out for free. All copies were pressed on blue vinyl and do not come in a jacket, just a paper sleeve. “Jackolantern’s Weather” is on the a-side and “Guns Are For Pussies” is on the b-side. As with most promos, pressing info was never released. when this 7″ pops up on ebay they tend to sell for between $15-$35.

Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room – Of Peace, Quiet And Monsters 7″

The first 7″ from Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room, “Of Peace, Quiet And Monsters” was pressed on three different colors; seafoam blue limited to 500 copies, white limited to 500 copies and black limited to 1000 copies. Seafoam blue was orignally seafoam green, but changed somewhere along the line without warning. One day it was called seafoam green and the next it was seafoam blue.What might have happened was that the records came out blue instead of green, because they are baby blue in color, but I don’t know what “seafoam blue” is supposed to look like. Not a big deal, but I think seafoam green would match the artwork much better than seafoam blue does, but the blue still looks better with the artwork than white or black will.

The 7″ features two new songs, “Of Peace, Quiet And Monsters” and “String Bean Jean-Piano Fix. The 7” comes with a download code, and if you order directly from Asian Man Records it will ship immediately. Well at least mine showed up a few dayas after ordering and well before the May 1st release date.