Anniversary pressings have picked up steam of late. It’s not a new trend, but many bands and labels are using anniversaries as excuses to cash in on the resurgence of vinyl. At least this one has extra tracks and was released to coincide with a reunion tour, which unfortunately was postponed due to COVID-19.
Armor For Sleep might have broken up over 10 years ago, but the love for their sophomore album What To Do When You Are Dead is as strong as ever. 2020 saw the 15th anniversary of the album arrive, and to commemorate it Equal Vision Records decided to re-press it as a double LP, with the second disc in the set dedicated to b-sides and demos. The demos are not limited to the WTDWYAD era though, as some demos of songs that appeared on the band’s debut album, Dream To Make Believe are featured.
Just to illustrate the demand for this album on vinyl, the standard single LP version has undergone two pressings, both of which are long sold out, with this latest 15th Anniversary Edition getting a second pressing as well, which also quickly sold out. But that fact can be a bit deceiving, as one of the two variants for the first pressing were dedicated to their reunion shows and a VIP ticket package.
In late September 2020, the new, second pressing was released, without a pre-order, which is great. This go around the label opted to do more variants, three in total, with one of them selling out in the first day the pressing was put up for sale.
I’ll give a run down of the pressing info for both pressings. Yes, I firmly believe there are two pressings despite what Discogs says. I doubt the label would sit on three additional variants for as long as they did (five months), especially given the financial climate as a result of COVID. As mentioned above the first press was done on two variants, with one of them being sold exclusively via the label’s web store, with the other being exclusive to a VIP ticket package for the band’s reunion tour that was postponed. The general public variant was on clear with blue and green splatter and was limited to 500 copies. Pressing info for the VIP exclusive, which is on “champagne” colored vinyl, has not been released thus far, and to be honest I don’t even think it has seen the light of day to this point. I don’t think the band nor label mailed them out to any VIP ticket holders; and I don’t think they even offered this as an option.
The second pressing has three variants, all of which are limited to 500 copies. There is a green/white “galaxy,” green white split and a transparent blue-green. The “galaxy” variant is the only one to sell out, and in my opinion it looks the best given everything to consider, which is why I bought it. I will say that the hype sticker on the record says “green and white mixed vinyl.” That is the best description of the record, as it’s not quite a marble, not quite a swirl, and definitely not a splatter. The green white split definitely has the green as completely translucent, with the white appearing partially translucent when held up to the white. The transparent blue-green is simply an aqua/aquamarine or teal color. Considering the label had these in hand when putting them up for sale, it’s stupid to call the variants different names than what is on the hype stickers.
All copies of the 15th Anniversary Edition of What To Do When You Are Dead come housed in a “triple gatefold” jacket according to the label, but in reality it’s a tri-fold jacket. You can’t have a triple gatefold because gates don’t open in three parts, which is what gatefold alludes to. The first portion of the tri-fold has the lyrics for the first disc printed on it, the middle section has imagery used from previous iterations of the album, and the third panel has liner notes about each of the songs found on disc 2. The inner panel of the tri-fold, the one you see when you first open up the jacket, has overall liner notes about the anniversary of the album, along with the credits. A download card/code is included as well, but it’s for awful 160 kbps MP3s. Which is a slap to the face to everyone who bought a physical copy of this record considering you can buy a digital download of the 15th Anniversary Edition with all the bonus tracks in high quality 320 kbps MP3s.
Retail price on the 15th Anniversary Edition was $30 before shipping for both pressings. After the first pressing sold out, it started fetching crazy amounts on the secondary market; by crazy I mean upwards of $100. This release is a good example as to why you shouldn’t buy things on the secondary market immediately after they are released or sell out. Wait a while to see if there will be a re-press, because even if you are after a certain variant from a certain pressing, typically re-presses drive down the price of earlier pressings. You can save yourself 70 or so dollars in this case.
Stitches and Grooves 