This is the definition of an album that grows on you. At first I thought Makes Me Sick was the worst album New Found Glory ever released. It didn’t sound like them at all, and there is even a song that sounds like it should be on a Jimmy Buffet album more than a New Found Glory album. But after several listens, I like the album more and more. The production quality is top notch, which worried some people as Aaron Sprinkle produced the album. So don’t worry, he didn’t dull down NFG, if anything he makes this album better. With that said it’s not their worst album (that distinction remains with Resurrection), but it’s far from their best. But at least they seemed to figure out how to go forward with a single guitar player.
Makes Me Sick was pressed on six variants, with all of them being exclusive to some place. There are two Hopeless Records exclusives that were only available online via Merchnow; yellow limited to 500 copies and white limited to 1,000 copies. Yellow was a bundle exclusive that came with a t-shirt and enamel pin. Every so often a new merch trend appears, and the latest one is enamel pins. There is an Urban Outfitters exclusive, which is “paint splatter” limited to 1500 copies. “Paint splatter” is half white/half yellow with purple splatter. There is a picture disc limited to 500 copies, which is a tour exclusive. There is also a black variant and a tri-color HMV (UK entertainment retailer, think F.Y.E.) exclusive variant. The HMV variant is yellow, black and white, split into diagonal sections like a sliced pizza. Pressing info for the black and tri-color variants have not been released, it appears my contact at Hopeless is flat out ignoring me know when I ask about pressing info. Black is available at all retailers aside from HMV. Urban Outfitters does carry black copies in physical stores, as I saw some copies there along with their exclusive splatter variant..
Regarding Urban Outfitters (UO), they seem to be picking up their game with exclusive variants, filling the void left by $hit Topic, who are scaling back their vinyl section, which is a shame because UO also overprices their exclusives. This NFG exclusive is $22 (plus tax) in UO, while you can easily find it elsewhere for $18 or less. I bought this for $13 shipped from an online distro.
All variants, except for the picture disc, come in a single pocket jacket with printed dust sleeve made from card stock. A download card/code is included with all copies though. There is a hype sticker on all the traditional variants, which indicates color. Most of them are small white circles affixed to the top right corner. The UO variant has its own, unique hype sticker however. A giant yellow rectangle affixed to the right side that advertises the UO exclusivity along with the color of the record. The HMV variant has an additional hype sticker along with the white circle, which is a simply a white square saying “COLOURED VINYL.” No, that is not a misspelling; it’s the British way, or what they would say, proper way, of spelling color.
If you’re familiar with NFG vinyl, the picture disc for Makes Me Sick is practically identical to their self-titled album. It comes in a picture disc sleeve with a flap, and has a backing insert. This insert has the lyrics on one side (the front) with the track listing and artwork on the back side. The lyric side of the insert has a similar design to the printed dust sleeve with the traditional variants. If you look at the photos below of the dust sleeve, where it has the lyrics divided between the A and b-sides split between each side, the picture disc insert simply has the same design, just combined onto one side.
Stitches and Grooves 