Keeping in line with all their previous albums that hit the 10 year mark, Circa Survive released a 10 year anniversary edition of Blue Sky Noise. It was also pressed as a triple LP, with only one variant; pink (disc 1), yellow (disc 2) and blue (disc 3), limited to 4,000 copies. Also included with this is the long out of print Appendage EP, which was a Record Store Day exclusive release from 2011.
The records come packaged in a tri-fold jacket, with the album’s original cover art. The inner panels, when all folded out, feature the artwork used for the deluxe edition double LP released in -. One of the inner panels features the artwork for the Appendage EP, which does not interfere with the full artwork on the other inner panels of the jacket. An insert is included, which is the same as the insert found with the single LP first pressing. The back of the tri-fold jacket has artwork taken from the gatefold of the double LP deluxe edition.
The front and back covers of the jacket have a spot gloss finish, which was never mentioned in the item descriptions anywhere it was being sold/up for pre-order. Not that it would be a strong selling point. It’s just a nice touch that I fully appreciate, and should have been mentioned somewhere. It was a nice discovery when I finally got my copy in the mail that I ordered back in March. Another interesting touch, and a unique one at that, involves the download card include with this release. Wildflower seeds are embedded into the card, which is printed on a cloth material instead of the traditional card stock/paper. The idea is to plant the entire download card somewhere and watch the flowers grow. No word on what flowers are contained in the download card; if they all feature the same seeds or they’re unique amongst several or all cards. To go along with this effort, the band is taking $1 for every album sold and using it to plant a tree through a donation to One Tree Planted (charitable organization working towards reforestation).
The release features five bonus tracks, all demos, which are dubbed the Appendage II. Some of these were previously released songs (in various forms) to the band’s fan club, the Creature Club. Some are demos of songs found on the Appendage EP or one of Anthony Green’s solo releases (Young Legs). So all in all this is not as good of a release for bonus tracks as the other 10 year anniversary pressings. There are no stems or WAV files included with the download card/code either.
All things considered this is a relatively affordable release. Retail on it is $35. But with that said, many people (including myself) bought this when it was on sale for 30% off when Hopeless Records (who apparently obtained the rights to this album) ran a store wide sale in the first few weeks of the Covid pandemic. I managed to get this for even less (same percentage sale) from another source because my order qualified for free shipping. Prices on the secondary market are still reflecting those sale prices. Odds are since so many copies were pressed, and this album was recently re-pressed, thus squashing demand, this release will not sell out any time soon.
Hopeless also sent out copies to distros, which is a sign they’re struggling selling. And that happened before the Covid pandemic. That didn’t happen with the two other 10 year anniversary editions. But with that said, Equal Vision Records might not have the same resources or access to distros that Hopeless does. Basically it’s impossible to put a finger on a single reason for this likely being cheap. Point is you shouldn’t have any issues picking this up easily, and not only that, but for cheaper than retail price. Not saying wait around years to pick this up though.
Stitches and Grooves 