The Gaslight Anthem – The B-Sides

A few months after releasing a 7” box set containing most of their b-sides, The Gaslight Anthem released an LP containing all the b-sides featured in said box set. Many people who criticized the box set as unnecessary, was too expensive, or that it could have been released as an LP were thrilled when this b-sides album was announced. The aptly named The B-Sides received a U.S. and Euro pressing, which is typical for most if not all of Gaslight Anthem releases.

While the U.S. pressing was done on two variants, the Euro pressing was only done on one. For the U.S. pressing there were 500 copies on black and white starburst, which sold out in a few days, and either 1000 or 2000 copies on black. There is a bit of discrepancy in my book about the pressing info for this album, particularly the black variant. The order page for the album in Side One’s store says 1000 copies, but on their multiple social media outlets the says it’s limited to 2000 copies. The Euro variant is on white vinyl limited to 1,000 copies, which is evenly split at 500 copies a piece to the UK and Germany. Banquet Records was the exclusive retailer in the UK.

Instead of an insert a full color photo dust sleeve is include. The dust sleeve is somewhat one side however, as the liner notes/credits are printed on one side with a mirror image on the opposite side without any text. A download card is also included. The track listing is:

1. She Loves You

2. The ‘59 Sound (Acoustic)

3. State of Love and Trust (Live)

4. Tumbling Dice

5. The Queen of Lower Chelsea (Acoustic)

6. Songs for Teenagers

7. Great Expectations (Acoustic)

8. Antonia Jane (Acoustic)

9. American Slang (Acoustic)

10. Boxer (Acoustic)

11. Once Upon a Time

Third Eye Blind – Box Set

A long rumored re-pressing finally came to fruition in late 2013 as Third Eye Blind re-pressed their debut, self-titled album and sophomore effort Blue, with one catch though. In order to get either of the highly sought after records, you had to buy an expensive box set that included the band’s entire discography, with another catch. That second catch was at first you had to buy the box set. Once the box set sold out, the band made individual copies of everything available in the box set, except for two things, which will be discussed in-depth later. The release of this box set did not go off without a hitch though, something I will also go into later.

The box set is limited to 500 copies, cost $200 before shipping (tack on another $19 for FedEx shipping) and sold out in about a week. Each box set was hand numbered in gold felt pen on the back of the box. The box itself does not have a traditional lid, the sleeve that holds the records slides out from the side. Said sleeve is like what libraries use to store magazines; if you still don’t know what I’m talking about there will be a picture to show what the sleeve looks like. The front of the box set features Third Eye Blind’s logo, which embossed into the set. Also included is a “place holder” for the band’s upcoming sixth studio album, which is autographed by the band’s only two founding members left, Stephan Jenkins and Brad Hargreaves. As stated earlier the box set includes all of the band’s releases up to this point, which includes four full length albums and one EP. Before I get comments saying “you left out the Symphony Of Decay EP,” I’m aware of that EP, but it was never officially released so it should be obvious it’s not included in the box set.

The self-titled album was pressed on black vinyl, Blue was pressed on blue vinyl, Out Of The Vein was pressed on green vinyl, Ursa Major was pressed on “speckled” (black with white starburst/splatter) vinyl and the Red Star EP was pressed as a 10” on red vinyl. All of the albums were pressed on 180 gram vinyl, with the EP getting 140 gram, which is the typical weight used. The self-titled album, Blue and Out Of The Vein are all double LP’s while Ursa Major remains a single LP and is the only one that comes in a gatefold jacket. The three other albums come in cheap, very thin single pocket jackets, which is something I can’t stand. I’d much rather have a double LP in a gatefold jacket than a single LP in a gatefold jacket.

The Red Star EP is only available inside this box set, at least for now. Another exclusive to the box set is the self-titled album with the original, cream artwork. Later pressings of the album on CD had a red cover. As mentioned above all the albums, except for Ursa Major, became available to buy individually at some point after the box set sold out, with the obvious exception of the Red Star EP. The s/t album was only available with the red artwork outside of the box set though. The copies of the s/t album were the first time it was available on vinyl with the original cream jacket. The band charged $35 before shipping for all the albums that were made available individually, and so far they haven’t been available from any distributors. The price is not surprising considering the price point of the box set, but it’s still not a fair price. After seeing the price tag on the albums individually, $35×3, adding on the $25 the band charged for the first pressing of Ursa Major, figuring at least $15 for the Red Star EP, that leaves $55 for the box itself and the autographed “place holder.” A bit of a rip off, but what else can you expect from a band that sells their set lists and charges more for copies of albums that they autograph.

Aside from the obvious color choices for the vinyl (regarding Blue) there are some other changes between the different pressings of the records. The insert that is included with this latest pressing of s/t and Blue are different from the first pressing. There is also no sticker on the front of Blue for this latest pressing. No insert is included with Out Of The Vein, Ursa Major or the Red Star EP. But Ursa Major does have a gatefold jacket, which makes up for the lack of an insert.

An interesting development is people receiving a copy of Ursa Major on clear with red and grey splatter in their box set. This is obviously not what the color is supposed to be, and could be a hint that the album will become available for purchase on its own like the rest of the albums. So far I have only seen this color variant switcheroo happen to people in Europe, but whether or not it’s restricted to overseas folk is impossible to say.

The aforementioned problems ranged in severity. Some people never received what they ordered from Third Eye Blind, whether it is the box set or a record(s) individually. Some people had partially filled orders, others didn’t receive all the albums that were supposed to be in the box set. Some people received a “place holder” that was missing a signature. Having received my box set, I know Third Eye Blind did not fulfill orders themselves, but it was confusing because the Paypal payments went directly into Third Eye Blind’s pockets. I’m not making excuses, but there could have been mix ups in relaying the information between the two parties or processing orders. However, there is no excuse for customers going ignored, which is what happened in many circumstances. There are still people out there who haven’t received what they ordered, and it’s approaching a month since everything started shipping. They haven’t even heard back from anyone involved with selling the stuff.

Another issue was tracking information never being updated. The age-old, and I stress old, tactic of printing out shipping labels without actually shipping the package was widely used with the box sets in particular. In my case, I received shipping notification December 18 with an expected delivery date of December 21. My box set did not actually ship until December 24. And in the item description when the box set first went up it stated, “box sets will ship week of December 16, 2013 to ensure Christmas delivery.” It has since been changed to only say “box sets will ship week of December 16, 2013,” which still wasn’t true in many cases.

Schematic – Color (n.) Inside The Lines (1st Press)

Schematic is the new band of Dave Elkins, formerly of Mae. If you liked Mae you will like Schematic. Dave started his own label, Schematic Records, which has released a few Schematic release plus some stuff from other bands. Schematic’s debut full length, Color (n.) Inside The Lines was picked up by Spartan Records to release on vinyl. And in typical Spartan fashion they charged way too much for the record, even if it’s a double LP. There is no need to charge $25 for a double LP when other labels can do it for $16. Not even mentioning they charge $5 for shipping via media mail, which is a bit high too. Fortunately I took advantage of a flash sale and got it for a fairer price, since I know Spartan will never lower the price on this album at any point down the road. It took a while, but flash sales have now swept into the music/vinyl/indie label marketplace.

There are four variants for this record with 1250 total copies pressed. There are three variants limited to 250 copies each; half & half (A/B half blue/half red, C/D half yellow/half green), A/B on red and C/D on Yellow, and both records on blue. There is one variant limited to 500 copies that is an indie record store exclusive, which is both records on red. This indie store variant was not announced when the album first went up for pre-order, it was announced to coincide with 2013 Black Friday Record Store Day. On RSD I asked my local store if they had it or would be getting it in, and the owner told me the wholesale price on it was too much and they would never be able to sell them in store due to how much they would have to charge for them.

A download code is not included with the record if you buy it from Spartan, but they do email you  a download link. The record is housed in a gatefold jacket and features different artwork than what is used for the CD version of the album released by Schematic Records.

Piebald – Accidental Gentlemen

More Piebald on vinyl is a good thing, but the bad thing about it is that Shit Radio Cast released it. If you read this blog enough you know my opinion on SRC. Piebald’s last album before breaking up, Accidental Gentlemen, was released by SRC on their “label” SRCvinyl. There were 500 copies pressed on gold vinyl. It comes housed in a standard jacket with a glossy finish. Also included is an insert that has the lyrics printed on one side with the liner notes/credits printed on the opposite. At this point every single Piebald album and EP has been released on vinyl,

Accidental Gentlemen was released at the same time as All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time. Both were licensed from Side One Dummy Records. I would have much rather preferred they pressed these two Piebald albums themselves instead of licensing them out to SRCvinyl. Or at the very least license them out to any other label/”label.” Side One would have charged far less these two albums than SRC and would still manage to keep the same quality in the releases.

Given the problems with the last batch of SRCvinyl releases (Far albums) they did a better job with these two Piebald albums. There are no mastering issues and no problems relating to the color/shade of vinyl nor the weight of the records. The only drawback is the cost, which was mentioned earlier. SRC charged $18 for Accidental Gentlemen, a single LP on regular weight vinyl. Considering a lot of double LP’s released these days cost around $20, charging $18 for a single LP regardless of whether it’s licensed or not, is inexcusable. Luckly I found a distro that carried this record, and had a sale going on to boot, so it was a win win for me. I didn’t have to give my money directly to Shit Radio Cast and I was able to pick up a record by one of my favorite bands for cheaper than what it cost from SRC.

 

Piebald – All Ears All Eyes All The Time

More Piebald on vinyl is a good thing, but the bad thing about it is that Shit Radio Cast released it. If you read this blog enough you know my opinion on SRC. Piebald’s second to last album before breaking up, All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time, was released by SRC on their “label” SRCvinyl. There were 500 copies pressed on coke bottle clear vinyl. It comes housed in a standard jacket with a matte finish. Also included is an insert that has the lyrics printed on one side with the liner notes/credits printed on the opposite.

All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time  was released at the same time as Accidental Gentlemen. Both were licensed from Side One Dummy Records. I would have much rather preferred they pressed these two Piebald albums themselves instead of licensing them out to SRCvinyl. Or at the very least license them out to any other label/”label.” Side One would have charged far less these two albums than SRC and would still manage to keep the same quality in the releases.

Given the problems with the last batch of SRCvinyl releases (Far albums) they did a better job with these two Piebald albums. There are no mastering issues and no problems relating to the color/shade of vinyl nor the weight of the records. The only drawback is the cost, which was mentioned earlier. SRC charged $18 for All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time, a single LP on regular weight vinyl. Considering a lot of double LP’s released these days cost around $20, charging $18 for a single LP regardless of whether it’s licensed or not, is inexcusable. Luckly I found a distro that carried this record, and had a sale going on to boot, so it was a win win for me. I didn’t have to give my money directly to Shit Radio Cast and I was able to pick up a record by one of my favorite bands for cheaper than what it cost from SRC.

 

Far – Water & Solutions [1st & 3rd (German w/ flexi) Pressings]

Far’s classic album, Water & Solutions was pressed on vinyl by Sh!t Radio Cast’s ($RC) “label” srcvinyl and released at the same time of Far’s earlier album Tin Cans With Strings To You. Unlike a lot of vinyl releases these days, the album was re-mastered for vinyl using the original master analog tape rather than using a digital master. This vinyl mastering was down by Stan Ricker, who works on many Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab releases. That fact is a giant step in the right direction, but, unfortunately, since $RC was involved with releasing this, there were some problems.

Before delving into the problems, here are some more details about the release. It comes in a glossy finish jacket with a fold out insert. Each copy comes in its own out poly sleeve with a silver sticker on it that reads “SRC HiFi Audiophile mastering.” The record was pressed on three colors, with only two apparently being limited. There are 500 copies on clear with blue smoke and 500 copies on coke bottle clear. The clear with blue smoke copies were exclusive to $RC and the coke bottle clear copies were “retail” exclusive. The “retail” exclusive is a bit of a lie as $RC sold a good chunk of the copies rather than sending them out to, you know… retail. An unlimited 180 gram black variant is also available.

The same controversy that surrounds Tin Cans With Strings To You also swirls around Water & Solutions. All copies were supposed to be pressed on 180 gram vinyl, but once the records started shipping out to people who pre-ordered them, it became quite evident that the records were not pressed on 180 gram vinyl. I should note though that my copy on coke bottle clear is on 180 gram, even though there were some people complaining that their copy was not on 180 gram. Given the complaints I used my postal scale to weigh my copies of these two Far records, finding out that my copy of Water & Solutions is on 176 gram vinyl while Tin Cans With Strings To You I didn’t even bother weighing because it was quite obvious it’s not on 180 gram vinyl. This marked the first time that I ever weighed any of my records, or even felt compelled to do so. I know there is at least one person out there so anal about things that he weighs every single one of his records and takes note of it somewhere.

$RC played dumb about it until someone brought it up on a message board they run, and in typical $RC fashion they passed the blame on to the plant. They claimed they didn’t know about the records not being on 180 gram vinyl and upon going back to inspect some copies they still had on hand discovered it to be true. They went on to claim the plant screwed them and it’s entirely their fault. While partly true, $RC could have refused the shipment since it wasn’t what they ordered and paid for. Rather than go that route, $RC opted to just send out records that weren’t as advertised without so much as a word; until someone publicly complained about it. I’m actually surprised the complaint wasn’t brushed under the rug since it was posted on a message board they have complete ownership and operation of. They censor their Facebook page anytime anyone posts anything negative by deleting comments and blocking the people who leave said comments from leaving future comments. They went as far as to remove the capability of posting on their wall all together as they removed the wall feature from their page. For whatever it means, $RC changed their pressing info to reflect that the two colored vinyl variants are not on 180 gram vinyl.

There of course is another school of thought on the matter if you don’t prescribe to the “it was a mistake and not our fault” reasoning. You could call it the conspiracy side of it, but given $RC’s track record of shadiness, it’s a likely scenario. This could have all been an intentional move by $RC, as they make more money in the end by charging for 180 gram vinyl and only ordering standard weight vinyl. $RC charged $22 before shipping for Water & Solutions, a single LP. An outrageous price, but not unexpected because $RC loves to overcharge for all their releases. They overcharge to the point where they have to put some of their releases on clearance for $5 long after they are released, and even at that price they still can’t sell out of them.

There was also an issue when $RC first received the clear with blue smoke batch of records from the plant, as they were the wrong color. $RC did not mention how badly the color was off from what they ordered, but far enough off that they rejected them. Really makes me wonder why they didn’t do the same with the “purple” variant for Tin Cans With Strings To You. Or reject the records because they weren’t pressed on 180 gram vinyl, you know, because they already rejected a batch of records for this album. The mastering is also off as well despite it being mastered specifically for vinyl. A few seconds of the first song, “Bury White” are missing. The opening chords are cut off. How that got past $RC is beyond me. They claim they didn’t notice any of these major/subtle (depending on how you value things) errors, but I’m willing to bet with already having a delay caused by initially receiving the wrong color for one variant, $RC no longer cared and just wanted to get the records out the door and off their books.

In 2019 another pressing of Water & Solutions was released, this one on top of the one Jonah himself did in 2018. So what is written about below would be the third overall pressing.

This was a weird pre-order. I’ve seen a lot of weird, shady and squirrelly things when it comes to mail-ordering records, especially with online ordering and pre-orders becoming a thing. To kick things off, this release came completely out of left field. What didn’t help was that it was done by a tiny German “label,” Thirty Something Records. Lots of times with foreign labels and distros, things get lost in translation. That was never an issue with this label. What was odd was how the pre-order was handled.

This was only available via Germany. Either from the label itself through one of two options, or German distros Greenhell and Flight 13. It was never distributed outside of Germany. Not even to other European countries. That is not the weird part. The weird part comes in when the label itself launched pre-orders, doing so through two different stores; their official web store and their Bandcamp page. This record was only available from their official web store during the pre-order phase, they inexplicably took down the item from the store after the release started shipping. Yet it was still available via their Bandcamp page.

For U.S. customers it was a cheaper option to buy from the label’s webstore as opposed to their Bandcamp page for whatever reason(s). Shipping was the killer here. The record itself cost the same; shipping was far more on Bandcamp than the label’s official web store. And I’m talking nearly twice as much. Which is one of the reasons, once I discovered this, I held off on buying this record altogether. I never planned on pre-ordering because I never heard of this label before, and the fact they’re based overseas is another red flag in my book.

At some point well after records started shipping, and I assume the label took care of fulfilling their orders. Jonah Matranga, lead singer of Far, finally got his hands on some copies of this record to sell himself. But it was not cheap. For whatever reason(s) Jonah was selling copies of this for $30 before shipping. Shipping was determined on an order by order basis, so it was not the same for every customer. Which is nice to see. Someone or a company not being greedy with shipping and charging close to what it actually costs.

Jonah was trying to get his hands on copies, and discussed it on social media, which is what I was waiting for in order to buy a copy. But after seeing the price he was charging, I putzed around long enough that this Far record sold out. It kinda left a sour taste in my mouth to be honest. Considering I could import these directly from Germany for the same price in the end. The fact the Far record sold out rather quickly from Jonah was the ultimate deciding factor.

Now with all that out of the way, on to the finer details of this record. It’s a nice release, pressed on 180 gram vinyl spread across three variants. All copies also come with a bonus 7” flexi disc featuring an “unreleased” song. With that unreleased song being “Mother Mary (Jonah Home Demo 1996).” .

This pressing of Water & Solutions saw a run of 500 total copies, with 100 copies on clear/blue, 200 copies o white/blue and 200 copies on black. All copies of the flexi, which is limited to 500 copies, are on transparent blue. Each variant has a hype sticker that denotes the color of the record. They’re color coded, so the two blue variants have a blue sticker (with the text saying what the variant actually is), and the black variant has a black sticker. Just so everyone reading is aware, what is featured in the gallery below is the white/blue variant, which is a baby blue with white marble and a few bits of darker blue marbling. The clear/blue is a baby blue, or ice blue, transparent with some hints of marbling.

All copies come with alternate artwork, which is different than any other pressing of Water & Solutions done to date. You can see the differences in the gallery below.  An insert is included, which has the lyrics printed on one side with an alternate take of the cover art on the reverse side (simply minus the text). No download card/code is included with this record, which is not surprising since it’s a licensed release.

I mentioned the price point of this record earlier. But didn’t delve deeply into it. The label was charging more for (one Euro more) for all the colored variants, so 15 Euros instead of the 14 they were charging for the black variant. With the exchange rate (which fluctuates slightly each and every day) the 14 Euro variant cost between $15-16 and the 15 Euro variants cost between $16-17. The label’s web store was charging 12 Euros shipping for one LP, and if you were like me, and wanted one additional record, say the Far record, they were charging 17 Euros shipping. Had you bought these via the label’s Bandcamp page, shipping would be 12 Euros per item.

When Jonah imported these and sold them in the Yard Sale section of his web site, he tried to describe the variants rather than just list them as what the hype sticker on each of them says. Which made it kinda confusing if you wanted a certain variant. But if you were after the rarest one(s), all you had to do was buy any of the colored ones (he got copies of all variants).

As of posting this the label is sold out of all the colored variants, with the black only being available via their Bandcamp page. If you’re so inclined, you also buy a black copy from German distros Greenhell or Flight 13. Jonah on the other hand, has copies of all variants left for sale. For $30 plus shipping. So you may have to weigh your options if you’re concerned about cost.

Far – Tin Cans With Strings To You (1st Press)

Far’s third album, Tin Cans With String To You, was pressed on vinyl by Sh!t Radio Cast’s ($RC) “label” srcvinyl and was released at the same time as Far’s fourth album Water & Solutions. Unlike a lot of vinyl releases these days, the album was re-mastered for vinyl using the original master analog tape rather than using a digital master. This vinyl mastering was done by Stan Ricker, who works on many Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MOFI) releases. That fact is a giant step in the right direction, but, unfortunately, since $RC was involved with releasing this, there were some problems.

Before delving into the problems, here are some more details about the release. The first pressing comes in a matte finish jacket with a fold out insert. Each copy comes in an poly sleeve with a silver sticker on it that reads “SRC HiFi Audiophile mastering.” The record was pressed on three colors, with only two apparently being limited. There are 500 copies on yellow and 500 copies on purple. The yellow copies were exclusive to $RC and the purple was “retail” exclusive. The “retail” exclusive is a bit of a lie as $RC sold a good chunk of the copies rather than sending them out to, you know… retail. An unlimited 180 gram black variant is also available.

The same controversy that surrounds Water & Solutions also swirls around Tin Cans With String To You. All copies were supposed to be pressed on 180 gram vinyl, but once the records started shipping out to people who pre-ordered them, it became quite evident that the records were not pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Given the complaints I used my postal scale to weigh my copies of these two Far records, finding out that my copy of Water & Solutions is on 176 gram vinyl while Tin Cans With Strings To You I didn’t even bother weighing because it was quite obvious it’s not on 180 gram vinyl. This marked the first time that I ever weighed any of my records, or even felt compelled to do so. I know there is at least one person out there so anal about things that he weighs every single one of his records and takes note of it somewhere.

The colors for Tin Cans With String To You are also way off from what was advertised. The “yellow” copies came out orange and the “purple” copies come out maroon and brown/orange/puke, as you can see by the photos of my copy below. The first disc is maroon and the second disc is brown/orange/puke, and both have marbling in them, something else that was not described or mentioned from $RC.

$RC played dumb about it until someone brought it up on a message board they run, and in typical $RC fashion they passed the blame on to someone else, this time the plant. They claimed they didn’t know about the records not being on 180 gram vinyl and upon going back to inspect some copies they still had on hand discovered it to be true. They went on to claim the plant screwed them and it’s entirely their fault. While partly true, $RC could have refused the shipment since it wasn’t what they ordered and paid for. Rather than go that route, $RC opted to just send out records that weren’t as advertised without so much as a word; until someone publicly complained about it. I’m actually surprised the complaint wasn’t brushed under the rug since it was posted on a message board they have complete ownership and operation of. They censor their Facebook page anytime anyone posts anything negative by deleting comments and blocking the people who leave said comments from leaving future comments. They went as far as to remove the capability of posting on their wall all together as they removed the wall feature from their page. For whatever it means, $RC changed their pressing info to reflect that the two colored vinyl variants are not on 180 gram vinyl.

There of course is another school of thought on the matter if you don’t prescribe to the “it was a mistake and not our fault” reasoning. You could call it the conspiracy side of it, but given $RC’s track record of shadiness, it’s a likely scenario. This could have all been an intentional move by $RC, as they make more money in the end by charging for 180 gram vinyl and only ordering standard weight vinyl.

There was also an issue when $RC first received some copies of Water & Solutions where they did not meet the expectations color wise from the plant, as they were the wrong color. $RC did not mention how badly the color was off from what they ordered, but far enough off that they rejected them. Really makes me wonder why they didn’t do the same with the “purple” and “yellow” variants for Tin Cans With Strings To You. Or reject the records because they weren’t pressed on 180 gram vinyl, you know, because they already rejected a batch of records for this album.

In December 2023 a re-press was announced, marking the second pressing of Tin Cans With Strings To You. It will be released by Thirty Something Records, a German indie label, in January 2024

Far/Sea Pigs – Split 7″

This is an early Far release. It’s a split with another band from the Sacramento California scene, Sea Pigs. Far contributes one song; “Far Does Madonna.” No idea how many were pressed, but this is one of if not the rarest Far releases. I bought this directly from Jonah Matranga a few weeks ago. He is going through all his music related things ranging from stickers, shirts, hats, belts, rare CD’s, cassettes and vinyl, and is selling everything in one of his yard sales. The merch ranges from everything Jonah has been involved in, from Far, Gratitude, Onelinedrawing and his solo under  his own name Link for his yard sale can be found here: http://jonahmatranga.com/supahsale.

VA – Masculine Makeover Comp

The Mascluine Makeover comp came out in 2003 and is one of the few comps to feature Onelinedrawing that was pressed on vinyl. It was done as a pictures disc limited to 1000 copies. All proceeds went to the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.

The Onelinedrawing song featured is a live version of “Swamp.” This comp also features a song from Sharks Keep Moving entitled “Time Green Cafe,” which is exclusive to this comp.

 

theHELL – Southern Medicine

theHELL released their second EP in late 2013. Just like their first EP it was also pressed as a 10” featuring four songs. The similarities between the two EP’s don’t stop there either. The artwork between the two is nearly identical. It features the same background, some posing, some wardrobe and same table setting. The only differences are the masks Matt Skiba (left) and Atom Willard (right) are wearing and that Willard is answering the phone in the art for Southern Medicine.

Southern Medicine was pressed on green vinyl and pressing info was never officially announced. Odds are 1,000 copies were pressed based on the amount of copies pressed for theHELL’s first EP.