Blink-182 – Greatest Hits (1st & 5th Press)

The lone Blink-182 album not to get pressed on vinyl, their Greatest Hits album was released on the format in June 2014. It was pressed as a double LP on clear with black and silver splatter, which was limited to 3000 copies. It’s a $hit Topic exclusive, not a $hit Topic release as many morons still tend to believe. $hit Topic is NOT a label kiddies. This is also part of what those same morons anointed the “splatter series” of Blink-182 records that $hit Topic has been selling. As if there couldn’t be a more obvious way of duping morons out of money, Universal and $hit Topic are catering to kids who buy records for all the wrong reasons, which is leading to the dramatic rise in prices.

To further illustrate my point, one person who owns this record weighs all his records for absolutely no reason. He weighed his copy of the album and posted pictures of the scale’s reading as proof one LP weighed dramatically more than the other after multiple people complained about the weight difference on a message board. For the record, no pun intended, there is no weight difference with my copy of this record. So it’s probably not a widespread issue and it definitely does not affect every copy. Since I own other Universal releases from this latest batch of re-presses and new pressings, one of which (Fall Out Boy – Infinity On High 2^nd pressing) has a weight difference between LP’s, there is a quality control issue and/or pressing error at whatever cheap plant Universal is using for their records.

One thing is for certain with Blink, their albums will inevitably be re-pressed, with some of them being done incessantly and for no real reason. Their Greatest Hits album is a good example. I’m all for albums being kept in print and readily accessible. But for something like this, that never really needed to be pressed in the first place, let alone five times over the years, it just clogs up pressing plants. Yes, I bought two copies of this, from two different pressings; so I guess I can be partly to blame for it and fell into the trap of buying it from both a completionist stand point and just for literally one extra track that was unnecessarily left off the first pressing.

The case can be made easiest by looking at the fourth pressing, which was done by $RC Vinyl as part of their 10^th Anniversary series. For whatever reason they felt it necessary to press a mere 330 copies of it. On a new, different color (silver marble) than was used for any previous pressing. And to add further rarity, they did a numbered variant within this pressing, which was limited to 182; ironic, isn’t it?  Those 182 copies also come with an apparent alternate jacket, which had a matte finish and silver ink, as opposed to the “standard” gatefold jackets, which for whatever reason don’t have a matte finish and have practically identical, if not 100% identical silver ink. To add another dimension to this stupidity; you could not order this variant; it was given out randomly in orders. The hand numbering was done on a sticker that is stuck onto the back of the poly sleeve, not the jacket itself. Which is not an usual move for $RC; it’s actually their MO.

Since I jumped ahead a bit in terms of pressings, here is the rest of the pressing info leading up to the most recent pressing, which is the fifth overall. The first pressing, which was discussed above in the original entry to this blog post, was done by Universal and was a $hit Topic exclusive. The subsequent three pressings; so the second, third and fourth, were licensed out to $RC Vinyl. Which resulted in an unnecessary price increase, not only due to licensing fees, but because $RC loves to overcharge for everything they sell. And nobody give me the “well they do deluxe.” No. Just an excuse to charge more money, I haven’t been all that impressed with any $RC Vinyl releases I own; especially when compared to earlier pressings done by other labels. Also add in the fact they routinely lie about pressing info, especially with this album. As you will see below.

When the second pressing was announced and put up for pre-order in 2017, $RC claimed only 2,000 copies would be pressed. When all was said and done and copies started shipping, people were shocked to learn that there were actually 2700 copies pressed. Kind of hard to hid this fact when every copy comes hand numbered. A 10% over/under can typically be expected for any and all pressings, but you do the math; 10% of 2000 is 200. So where did those extra 500 copies come from?

The second pressing was done on 180 gram black vinyl, and the pressing was given the overstated “deluxe” treatment by $RC. In this case deluxe simply meant a single page, fold out booklet instead of an insert, which is literally the gatefold imagery used from the first pressing. So as a result the gatefold imagery/artwork used for this second pressing had to be changed. And what did $RC go with… two of the bands logos! One printed on each panel of the gatefold.

The third pressing, released in 2018, was limited to an unofficially released amount on clear vinyl, and was not given the quasi deluxe treatment. This pressing still cost $37 before shipping however. The aforementioned fourth pressing was released in 2019.

In 2020, this album was re-pressed again, making it the fifth overall pressing. This time, apparently $RC Vinyl’s licensing ran out, and Universal again pressed it themselves, but this time using Target as the exclusive retailer. This pressing has not had pressing info released, not even people posting speculation on various sites and message boards. All copies were pressed on “leaf” green and aqua opaque. One dumb thing about this variant is that the listing/description of the colors is done in reverse. So in actuality the first LP is pressed on aqua opaque and the second LP is done on the “leaf” green. Both colors are marble as well, with the “leaf” green having a close to neon green hue. This pressing reverts back to the exact layout of the first pressing, which isn’t surprising considering Universal Music Enterprises (UME) is responsible for it. And yes, this pressing technically has a Geffen Records copyright as well. Geffen did initially release the Greatest Hits album when it first came out in 2005, but under the Universal umbrella, with UME handling all vinyl re-issues. Which is the reason for Geffen and UME being listed in the credits.

Day At The Fair – Lathe Cut 7″

Along with The Rocking Chair Years, Broken Heart Records decided to release a lathe cut with two previously unreleased Day At The Fair songs, “Broken” and “Ghost Stories.” Initially this lathe cut was only available in two different bundles that included all three variants or all three variants and a test press of The Rocking Chair Years, but almost a year after the record’s release the label put up the remaining lathe cuts for sale individually. There were only 60 lathe cuts made.

These 7” lathe cuts are cut into a square from clear plastic, which is much like plexi glass. Lathe cuts are not like a typical vinyl record, they’re not made of the same material and they are not manufactured in the same manner. They also sound slightly different, worse generally, but not bad enough to make you want to never buy one or listen to one again. For the sake of space and my sanity, you can read all about lathe cuts here – lathecuts.com – which is coincidentally the place that made these Day At The Fair lathe cuts.

Say Anything – Hebrews

“Say Anything’s” latest album, Hebrews was released in spring 2014. I say “Say Anything” because it’s solely Max Bemis on this album; he wrote and played everything with very miniscule exceptions here and there [mainly guest vocalists (Chris Conley of Saves The Day and Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra to name a few) writing their own lyrics]. Hebrews is not a true Say Anything record in my opinion, it’s just that Max should’ve just released under his own name. It’s not like he’s against having his name in lights anymore as he has side projects with his name in the band’s name.

Hebrews was pressed on three different colors with each of them being exclusive to certain retailers; blue limited to 1300 copies, maroon limited to 1000 copies and beige limited to 700 copies. Blue was exclusive to Equal Vision’s web store, beige was a $hit Topic exclusive and maroon is a retail (everywhere except $hit Topic) exclusive. There is a sticker on every copy denoting the color. A download card is included with the record.

It should be noted that $hit Topic charged $7.50 more (before shipping if you opt for that method) than Equal Vision charged for their variant, and $4.50 more than what most record stores and other online distros charged. I try to stay away from $hit Topic when I can, but in this case I was able to use a coupon that took $10 off my order, so I was able to get this album for about $14 after taxes and using their ship to store method, which is free. With record prices going through the roof of late with everybody trying to cash in on the vinyl craze, my wallet is now the ultimate decider on where I buy from more than ever. My advice is to shop around on this album if color and/or rarity is not your main concern; $hit Topic charges $22.50 (before shipping and taxes), Equal Vision charges $15 (before shipping) and most other retailers (maroon vinyl) are charging around $18 (before shipping and/or taxes).

Jonah’s Onelinedrawing – Me And You Are Two

Jonah Matranga released another album this year, Me And You Are Two, under a new but slightly familiar moniker; Jonah’s Onelinedrawing. Once again he used crowd funding to get the project off the ground, offering plenty of awesome rewards for pledgers that he actually fulfilled in a timely manner let along at all. I’m not saying Jonah never comes through, he always does, I’m just comparing him to countless other people/bands who use crowd funding and scam people by never delivering on all the rewards they offer. It turns out that after the record was finished it would be released in a joint effort with Thunderbeard Records.

Me And You Are Two has two wildly different variants, with each being exclusive to certain outlets. Jonah has his own variant, which can only be bought directly from him minus a few copies Thunderbeard sold in bundle deals with their variant. Jonah’s variant comes in a white sleeve with black ink, which includes a copy of the record on “random split” colored vinyl, which is most likely all half brown/half grey. It seems most people assumed/speculated/thought that every copy would be different or unique based on the “random split” name choice. What I think was meant is that random colors were ordered from the plant so nobody involved in the release knew what would be received. The color of ink on the covers for Jonah’s variant was also described as unique, but I think what was meant by that was Jonah use a multi-color crayon to color in some copies for the people who pledged through Kickstarter. Every copy I’ve seen so far of Jonah’s variant looks exactly the same. Thunderbeard has their own variant, which comes in a black sleeve with silver ink, which includes of a copy of the record on blue vinyl. Inside the sleeve of Thunderbeard’s variant the ink is blue though.

Jonah’s variant (half/half split vinyl with white jacket) is limited to 250 copies andThunderbeard’s variant (blue vinyl with black jacket) is limited to 250 copies. Every copy is hand numbered, with the numbering done /500 rather than /250 for each of the variants. Jonah’s variant is the first 250 (1-250) with the Thunderbeard jacket being the second half of the 500 (251-500). The jackets are a half fold style printed on a decent thickness card stock. The lyrics and liner notes are printed on the inside of the sleeves, with the track listed printed on the back of the folded portion.

Midtown – Forget What You Know (1st Press)

Midtown’s final album, Forget What You Know, was finally pressed on vinyl by I Surrender Records, which by no coincidence is run by former Midtown drummer Rob Hitt. Forget What You Know was largely forgotten as it strayed greatly from Midtown’s two previous albums. It’s not the same sound as their pop punk Drive Thru days, which turned off a lot of people. Personally I think this is Midtown’s best album.

Forget What You Know was pressed on two colors, white and half green/half clear, each limited to 500 copies a piece. White is exclusive to the I Surrender Records web store, with a few copies being sold at the band’s reunion show in Brooklyn back in May 2014. Everywhere else selling copies of the album on vinyl will have the half green/half clear split. The color choices for this record are completely random, and I’m willing to bet the pressing plant gave the label a good deal on these colors, which is why they went with them.

The records come in agatefold jacket and include a fold out insert, with the lyrics and liner notes on one side with promo shots of the band on the other. One nice touch, well perfect touch really, is that the album is divided up into the four separate acts properly, something you don’t get with the CD version. Act I – “Armageddon, Motherf*ckers” is on side A, Act II – “God Is Dead” is on side B, Act III – “The Tragedy Of The Human Condition” is on side C and Act IV – “Help Me Sleep” is on side D. The center labels of each record also read what act each side is as well.

My Chemical Romance – May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001-2013 (1st Press)

It was only a matter of time but My Chemical Romance released a greatest hits album in 2014, almost a year to the day of their break up. May Death Never Haunt You: The Greatest Hits 2001-2013 is a nicely put together package. The double LP pressed on 180 gram black vinyl comes housed in a gatefold jacket. Also included is a DVD of video outtakes from all their music videos (mostly consisting of alternate angles of the video from all the cameras used during filming) and a funeral brassard, which is a black armband typically worn by pallbearers at funerals.

Inside the gatefold are photos of seven coffins, with each having the name of every member the band has ever had with their years spent in the band under it. Included are the four core members (Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Ray Torro and Frank Iero), their two drummers (Matt Pelissier and Bob Bryar) and James Dewees, their keyboardist on only one release, their final studio album Danger Days: The True Live Of The Fabulous Killjoys. Some diehard MCR fans might be saying it’s missing some drummers; well you would be half right. While the band continued to tour after Bob Bryar left the band with Michael Pedicone and Jarrod Alexander playing drums, those two never recorded any material with the band. The band used a session drummer (John Miceli) during the recording of Danger Days: The True Live Of The Fabulous Killjoys, so while he gets credit on the album he was never an official member of the band. Thus explains why only two of the band’s many drummers are credited in the gatefold of their greatest hits release.

There is one new song on the album along with three scarcely released demos. The new song, entitled “Fake Your Death” is the first track on the album while the demos “Skylines And Turnstiles,” “Knives/Sorrow” and “Cubicles” are the last three track on it. The demos are taken from an early demo the band circulated themselves, which was called Dreams Of Being Stabbed And/Or Being Stabbed. The three demo tracks would all later appear on the band’s first album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. “Knives/Sorrow” is a demo version of “Our Lady Of Sorrows,” and on some versions of the demo the track is entitled “Bring More Knives.”

Pressing info was never released for this record, and I doubt it ever will. It’s easily in the thousands if not the tens of thousands. What I do know is that all copies are pressed on 180 gram black vinyl and come with the DVD and funeral brassard, even though item descriptions on multiple sites/stores say the DVD and funeral brassard are pre-order exclusive. A download code is not included, which is inexcusable in this day and age. Considering Reprise included a DVD full of mostly BS, they could have easily included a CD version of the album at the very least if not a simple download card.

Odds are this record will go OOP though, because it is after all a My Chemical Romance release, and their fans are pretty rabid. The only thing holding it up from going OOP is the price tag, which is on the insanely high side. The average price of this record $45, but of course some places will be charging a few bucks more or less depending on where you go. I advise waiting to buy this with a discount code to save as much money as you can. I was able to buy this for $35 shipped, which is the cheapest I’ve ever seen it.

One very important thing to note about this release is that the funeral brassard and DVD are actually glued to the inside of the gatefold jacket. It’s the single most moronic thing I’ve ever seen done with a record. You can get them off, but you need to be very careful so you don’t rip off any portion of the jacket. Once you get the two items off there will be what seems like an unimaginably sticky residue left. It is much worse than the glue used to stick on cologne samples in magazines or stick new credit cards to letters. While the residue will eventually come off, it will take a very long time depending on how much time in a day, or week, you want to devote to it. I took me two weeks to get it off, at least to get it off to the point where I felt comfortable closing the jacket. My advice is to let it sit open for a few days so the glue dries a bit, then start using your fingernails to peel up the glue. I don’t recommend using any sharp objects or adhesive remover as you’ll just waste the later.

Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues (1st U.S. Press)

What will likely be the final Against Me! album, their seventh overall, is entitled Transgender Dysphoria Blues. I say likely because there are a number of factors that could determine the outcome of the band, and nothing official has been announced, only hinted about and rumored. This is also Laura Jane Grace’s first album with the band. In typical Against Me! fashion they kept this album cheap, a welcomed tradition that’s a break from the ongoing price gouging that has been going on with records over the course of the last one-to-two years. You can buy this record for $12 (before shipping and excluding the picture disc variant) direct from the band/their label, Total Treble. Even if you don’t buy it from them you can still get this for no more than $15 (before shipping, or at your local record store).

Also in typical Against Me! fashion they released several variants, with the rarest selling out fairly quickly. The full pressing info has not been released, but for the first pressing there were 1000 copies on blue, which was a Total Treble exclusive, 1000 copies on blue/white swirl, which was a tour exclusive, an unknown amount on black and an unknown amount pressed as a picture disc. The picture disc was also a tour exclusive, which was made available in the middle of the band’s first tour after Transgender Dysphoria Blues came out, and I believe after the blue/white swirl tour copies sold out. You can make the case that the picture disc is a second pressing. There is also a UK pressing as well, which is distributed by Xtra Mile Recordings. The UK pressing is on blue/white swirl vinyl. Other than the Xtra Mile Recordings logo on the back of the jacket I’m not sure of any other differences with the U.S. blue/white swirl pressing. Odds are there are different bar codes and matrix numbers though.

In June 2014 it became known there would be a second pressing of the album, for no real reason in conventional terms. The second pressing of Transgender Dysphoria Blue is part of a series of records being pressed on pink vinyl in support of breast cancer, which will all be released in Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October).