L.S. Dunes – Past Lives

One of the most hyped releases of 2022 was L.S. Dunes’ debut album Past Lives. The post hardcore super group featuring Anthony Green, Frank Iero, Tucker Rule, Tim Payne and Travis Stever. Generally, going into anything featuring Anthony Green on vocals I know I’ll like it. But for once I went into it with little to no expectations. Because a project like this can go one of two ways; either it’s close to perfect because it’s a bunch of great musicians that haven’t worked together previously but have been friends for years, or it’s awful because it’s too many cooks in the kitchen. Fortunately this album is a banger; the perfect outlet for Anthony Green. Think if Circa Survive and Saosin had a baby.Because I have not been as keenly paying attention to things going on in the music world of late, I missed the boat on pre-ordering the rarest variant. Which happened to have an alternate “cover;” something I’m a sucker for. Thankfully that turned out to not be an actual cover in the literal sense. There are quite a few variants for Past Lives, and amongst them are three different covers that may or may not be included. So let’s delve into those covers.There is the main cover, which has the original cover art printed on the jacket in the traditional single pocket style. All the variants will come with this cover and jacket. Most of the variants will come with an additional, alternate cover, which comes in the form of a plastic slip case style sleeve. The third cover, which I touched on above, is not actually a cover for the very pertinent fact that it does actually fit over any of the jackets and/or covers meant to go beneath it. It’s a problem that should have been easily foreseen, yet it was not adequately dealt with in the design process. It’s very obvious a traditional, single pocket sized slip case would never fit. Figures the one time one of these alternate artwork screen printed covers actually is a full fledged cover and not a half or quarter fold sleeve, it doesn’t actually work as a cover by the dictionary definition.If you look at the photo gallery below, you will get an actual visual of how the packaging is laid out for this release. As I already stated, most of the variants come with an additional alternate cover that is made of plastic. This is the APET o-card outer slip case that mentioned in the item description. It’s the black cover, and it’s made out of a thin, semi-rigid plastic material similar in nature to plastic folders that are used for paperwork. This alternate outer slip case, or cover, is exactly that; a slip case. I’m not sure if it’s a widespread issue, but my copy, which I ordered from Target (with the order fulfilled by a distro, not Target themselves), come with cracks/splits along the bottom edges on both corners. This could easily be shipping damage, especially considering my package bounced around unnecessarily to different regional sorting centers thanks to the ineptitude of the USPS.Pressing info has been partially released. First up is the 180g black vinyl, limited to 500 copies, but it’s technically split into two separate variants. The first comes with the additional alternate artwork screened, autographed and hand numbered cover, which is limited to 250. Which leaves 250 copies without said additional alternate cover. All copies on black vinyl come with the APET o-card slip case. There are several more variants that come with the APET o-card slip case; custard limited to 1,000 copies, purple & black swirl/magenta marble limited to 500 copies, “ghost” marble limited to 3,000 copies. “Ghost” marble is clear w/ black and yellow smoke, matching the mocking pretty well. There is also an unknown amount on orange “crush” vinyl that come with the APET o-card slip case. Orange “crush” is simply opaque orange.On top of all those, some variants don’t come with any additional and/or alternate covers. There are only three of them (based on vinyl color), but even still, one of them, once again, has variants amongst itself. Let’s touch on that one first. First off, there is an unknown amount on bubblegum pink vinyl, and amongst them is a limited to 100 variant that features an exclusive hand numbered Japanese Obi. This obi-strip variant is an Assai Records exclusive, which is a Scotland indie record store. On top of that, there is another variant that comes with the bubblegum pink record, which has an exclusive metallic ink print. This print is not a cover; it appears to be an insert included with the item; either inside the jacket or thrown in with orders separately. This metallic ink print variant appears to only be sold via The Sound Of Vinyl for $44 befrore shipping (should it apply); a Euro distro for various releases spread across the major labels umbrellas. But with all of that said, the bubblegum pink variant is a Euro exclusive. Though not much, if anything, is stopping anyone from around the world from buying a copy aside from higher shipping costs and any/all import duties/taxes associated with such an order.The two remaining variants without any additional covers are “bloodshot” translucent limited to 1,000 copies and blue marble/“serenity” limited to 1500 copies. “Bloodshot” translucent is clear with red smoke, and blue marble/“serenity” is a true marble variant that has some white elements mixed in.Almost all of these variants were exclusive to a certain place/retailer, or region, which I’ve touched on a bit. But here is the full breakdown. The 180 gram black (both variants), custard and “bloodshot” translucent were exclusive to the band’s web store. Purple & black swirl/magenta marble is a Brooklyn Vegan/Revolver/The Hard Times exclusive. I want to point out that Discogs lists this as a Project M exclusive, while only listing those three specific retailers. I know very little about Project M, and never heard of it prior to seeing it mentioned on Discogs. So I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a Project M exclusive, because I don’t much about them other than they are a digital media and e-commerce company. I don’t know what/who/whom, let alone how many companies they own under their umbrella. I do know they bought Brooklyn Vegan in 2021, Revolver Magazine in 2017 and The Hard Times in 2020. After doing a little digging it’s now easy to see how and why these three relatively unknown entities, especially in the vinyl game, suddenly started getting exclusive variants out of nowhere.The bubblegum pink is a Euro exclusive, with the obi-strip variant being an Assai Records exclusive. Orange “crush” appears to be a mass retail exclusive. So even if you buy this from an indie record store in the U.S. (possibly even Europe) you’ll most likely get a copy on orange “crush.”Some more in depth info about the descriptions/names of the variants. In what is happening more and more with records, the description given on pre-order/item pages for variants says one thing, yet when the records start shipping there are hype or barcode stickers that say something different. Sometimes these discrepancies are slightly off, while other times they make zero sense. With Past Lives you get a bit of both. “Serenity” being used on the barcode sticker for the blue marble variant is an example of something that makes zero sense. Purple & black swirl is/was the description on the band’s web store, but the barcode sticker on those copies reads magenta marble. Or you know, you can always go by what Discogs says, and have it called something completely different, like magenta/black marble, because you know, we allow practically anything these days to be presented as factual information.Design/packaging issues plague this release. I’ve touched on the fact that the one of the additional alternate covers is not actually a cover enough. But there was yet another glaring error with one of the variants. The UO exclusive has the same hype and barcode stickers as the orange crush variants. If not for the additional (I don’t think I’ve ever used the word additional as much as in this entry) stickers UO placed on their variant, you’d be led to believe that specific copy you’re holding in your hands was on orange crush. UO placed an obnoxious hype sticker on the cover saying it’s on “ghost” marble, and on the back they placed their typical gigantic barcode/UPC sticker over the top of the small rectangle barcode sticker the label placed on all copies.Retail price on Past Lives is around $25. You can find it a lot cheaper, or you could find it a bit higher. It all depends on which variant you wanted/bought. Personally, I bought this for $14 shipped thanks to Target’s most recent buy two get one free on media items, which essentially equates to 33% off if you play your cards right. Some of the variants sold out fairly quickly. The alternate artwork, screen printed, autographed and hand numbered cover variant was the first to sell it. It was either available in a bundle that included t-shirt and patch that cost $80 before shipping, or as a standalone item for $70. Why such a miniscule difference between the two considering what you’re getting is anyone’s guess. With their logic, it means you’re getting a t-shirt and patch for $10. Mind you a patch they are selling for $3 in their web store. So you’re definitely getting ripped off if you’re buying the stand alone record with the alternate artwork, screen printed, autographed and hand numbered cover. Other sold out variants as of posting this are the remaining 250 copies on 180 gram black, “bloodshot” translucent, custard and the purple & black swirl/magenta marble.  

My Chemical Romance – Life On The Murder Scene

2020 has been a crazy year. I think that is something everyone on the planet can actually agree on. One of the countless things that were upended was Record Store Day (RSD). RSD has adapted, like many, and the events happened as best they could. I wasn’t sure what to make of the RSD events this year. I didn’t attend any of the three drops, mainly because there was nothing I wanted for the most part. At least nothing I thought would be difficult to find on the secondary market later on for retail, if not less than that.

I have no idea if people camped out at my local record store, or any record stores around the country for that matter. My store typically has a line that forms around 5 pm the day before, with the bulk of people showing up by midnight, with the line eventually wrapping around the store by opening at 8:30 am. So I wasn’t sure how releases would sell; not just at my store but on a nationwide scale. My store appeared to do fairly well based on the leftover bins from the three drops. Yes it was a scaled down list of release compared to the hundreds that we’ve unfortunately grown accustomed to. But what did surprise me was one of the Black Friday releases, and how it did NOT sell out.

My Chemical Romance has become a band that call sell out pretty much any merch or music related item if there is a limited aspect to it. With the rumors of their reunion continuing to pick up steam, which brings their name even more into the limelight, Life On The Murder Scene was pressed on vinyl for the first time. Originally slated to be a regular RSD release, it was pushed back for whatever reason and became a Black Friday RSD release. Nothing changed about the release other than that. They didn’t press additional copies on top of what was originally announced back in March, the color didn’t change, the price didn’t go up, etc.

There were 7500 copies pressed, all on clear w/ red splatter. Though my copy has the splatter looking more pink than red. Which stands out even more when you have it side by side with the cover. Not sure if that color issue is across the board with every copy, or the one I bought was towards the end of the run, which can result in faded colors as the pellets start to wear or run out.

Unsurprisingly, there is not a download card/code include with the release. The record itself is housed in a full color, printed dust sleeve on thin card stock. The single pocket jacket has a spot gloss finish, which is done on the blood drops. There is the typical RSD silver hype sticker, along with an additional red rectangle hype sticker.

Retail price on this is around $21. My store, which typically gets in whatever they order (item and quantity) and is located in a high population metro area, had at least 10 copies left around 6 pm on Black Friday, even after doing online sales since 1 pm. I was shocked when I walked in a saw a whole stack of them on the shelf. I knew they had copies left, but never expected that many to still be there.

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Frank Iero And The Patience – Keep The Coffins Coming

Frank Iero has released material under many different names. He’s been quite busy since My Chemical Romance broke up (yes, I know they somewhat reunited), and some of his releases get lost in the shuffle due to name changes and exclusivity. Take this 10” as an example. It’s a UK exclusive release, at least physically. Though a minute amount of copies did make their way stateside for sale; it was never distributed this side of the pond.

He released this EP under the Frank Iero And The Patience moniker, with the title for it being Keep The Coffins Coming. Pressing info was never released by Hassle Records as far as I know, but all copies were pressed on black vinyl. As of posting this Hassle Records has this up for sale on Bandcamp for a pay what you want scale. The 10” features four brand new songs, two per side.

Given that this is a UK exclusive release prices range widely for those of us stateside. For whatever reason it’s more expensive regardless of shipping if you buy it straight from the label than some other outlets. I bought this from UK indie store Banquet Records, and it cost nine GBP instead of the 12 the label wants for this record. The label does charge less for shipping though, but not by much. When this was available for purchase from a U.S. distro (which has since sold out of their stock) they charged $25 for it before shipping. Which is somewhat understandable, but in the end it was still cheaper to import this from the UK. I paid a total of 22 USD for this record.

A download card/code is included with this record, but it at this point it takes you to a defunct web page. I’m assuming Hassle Record switched download hosts over to Bandcamp, because the site listed on the download card has it hosted on the label’s own website. There is no insert included with this 10”; it’s just the record in a single pocket jacket. It’s also important to note that this record does not come sealed, instead coming in a Euro PVC protective outer sleeve, so the quality is a bit different compared to U.S. counterparts.

V/A – Kerrang! Legends

While Discogs has its many faults, it also has plenty of advantages. Without Discogs I likely would have never found out about this compilation; Kerrang! Legends. That name may be unfamiliar in the states, but across the pond in England it’s a somewhat popular rock music oriented magazine that has been around since the early 80s, eventually branching out into digital radio and tv a few decades later.

This comp features many popular acts spanning numerous genres; from Motorhead to Paramore, from Nickelback to Slipknot. But I bought it for the Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance and Panic! At The Disco songs in order to keep said collections complete. None of the songs on this double LP are unreleased, in fact they’re all popular singles/songs from various years, even decades.

Pressing info has not been officially released for Kerrang! Legends, but it was released in a joint venture with Rhino Records, so there were likely thousands of these pressed. As far as I know all copies were pressed on black vinyl and come housed in a gatefold jacket. A download card/code is not included, which is not unusual for a compilation. Retail price for this comp is around $25. But you can find this for cheaper if you shop around and/or wait to take advantage of coupons or sales.

 

My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade Is Dead

As it usually turns out with Record Store Day (RSD) there are some releases that I buy that I didn’t necessarily have to buy since they weren’t hard to find afterwards (in some instances for below retail), and there are some that I’m glad I bought because they were a hot commodity. This My Chemical Romance record falls into the latter category.

There may be a catch with this RSD release however, as apparently many Warner releases were held up for a number of reasons. As Warner changed the way they distributed their titles, which caused a shipping delay to begin with, and then because of the distribution change, it impacted some record stores in a different way. Warner upped their quota, meaning retailers had to order a higher amount of Warner releases in order to be granted shipments of their RSD titles. Which meant some stores, who rightfully either didn’t order things or cut down on the number of copies they ordered of things they knew they either wouldn’t sell or would struggle to sell, weren’t able to get Warner RSD releases. Since The Black Parade Is Dead is a Warner title, it meant it was tougher to find for one or both of the reasons just mentioned.

Despite there being an unannounced number (according to the official RSD release list) of copies pressed, which typically means it’s not worth advertising the amount of copies because it’s such a high number in order to drive up sales, The Black Parade Is Dead was one of the most sought after releases when RSD came and went. But with that said, prices aren’t nuts on this. Maybe it’s because enough people spread the word that more copies would be making it out to stores and to not resort to flipper prices on the secondary market. Retail price on this double LP set, housed in a gatefold jacket with a multiple inserts, was around $30 depending on the store. And you can find a copy on the secondary market (often times from an indie record store) for under $40 before shipping.

Now with just mentioning pressing info was not officially announced, I am going to break from the norm with this blog and give in to a bit a speculation. But speculation with more merit than just message boards and social media posts. Bull Moose, one of the best indie record stores around, posted pressing info with most if not all of the RSD releases they carried, and for The Black Parade Is Dead they listed 3,000 copies on their web store. By no means is that an official number, but it’s as close as we’re going to get.

This release is one of the nicer RSD releases I bought this year. I said above there are multiple inserts. One of them is a replica (since this is a re-release it counts as a replica) death certificate that was included in the original CD/DVD release Of The Black Parade Is Dead from 2008. The main insert is not much to speak of as it has liner notes and credits on both sides of it. The artwork for the gatefold is also not very impressive, as it’s just a back lit silhouette shot of Gerard Way on stage during the performance this live album was recorded from. So when I say this is one of the nicest RSD releases I bought, it speaks volumes to everything else.

No download card/code is included, which sadly is becoming the norm with almost every label these days. For anyone wishing or hoping the DVD from the original release would be included; you’re out of luck too. This release is just two records on standard weight black vinyl with only slight frills. Not no frills, but just above it.

V/A – Transformers Dark Of The Moon: The Album

Soundtracks were the name of the game for Record Store Day (RSD) 2019. In fact, I bought eight of them! Fortunately, most of them were for more than one song. Others I can’t say the same for, but I don’t regret too much. One thing I thought was considerate of Warner was that they released the soundtracks for multiple Transformers movies all in a single RSD.

The soundtrack to the third Transformers movie, Dark Of The Moon features a pretty decent track list. I bought it for the My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday songs. Unfortunately those songs are not exclusive to this soundtrack, but it’s a necessary evil when you’re a completionist like me. The soundtrack also features songs from Linkin Park, Mastodon, Paramore and Goo Goo Dolls. The official title for this soundtrack is Transformers Dark Of The Moon The Album.

All things considered this soundtrack was reasonably priced; around $20 depending on the store. It was pressed as a single LP on brown vinyl limited to 1500 copies. It comes with a full color, double sided insert. The insert has stills from the movie on one side with the liner notes and even more stills on the opposite side. For something like this a download card/code is too much to ask for, and I was never expecting it to be included, so I’m not going count that as a strike against this release. But I will say that it’s lame every single record I bought for RSD 2019 did not come with a download card/code. Apparently this is a RSD first release, implying it will see a wider release at some point in the future. Which might be the marketing strategy behind the hype sticker saying “first time on vinyl.”

V/A – House Of Wax Soundtrack

Yet another soundtrack Record Store Day (RSD) 2019 release that I bought; the House Of Wax soundtrack was pressed as a double LP with an etching on the d-side. Yet another theme with RSD this year; etchings. There were 1500 copies pressed on coke bottle green vinyl. Despite this being a double LP, it comes in a single pocket jacket. But there is an insert, which has stills from the movie on one side with the liner note on the opposite side.

I bought this for the My Chemical Romance song featured on it. And for anyone curious and doesn’t know, this is the soundtrack for the 2005 reboot, not the original 1953 film with Vincent Price.

V/A – Yo Gabba Gabba! Hey!

Just when I thought the embarrassing additions to my collection were done with; bam… more Yo Gabba Gabba records. Enjoy The Ride Records (ETR) had a hand in these. The guy behind ETR started another “label” called Enjoy The Toons, which seems to deal only in soundtracks of various degrees.

Because this Yo Gabba Gabba! Hey! record is part of ETR’s stable, it’s severely overpriced; $23 for a single LP in a regular single pocket jacket with a gimmicky “insert” in the form of a sticker sheet on lightweight vinyl. And because this is an ETR associated release, there is a vast amount of variants. There are six variants for this, and all of them are exclusive to some place or another.

ETR has three exclusive variants for this record, and there are three other exclusives out there spread out amongst three different retailers. The ETR web store exclusives are “Yo Gabba Gabba! Logo FunSplosion” limited to 100 copies, “Foofa themed” limited to 150 copies and “Muno themed” limited to 200 copies.  The “Yo Gabba Gabba! Logo FunSplosion,” which is featured in the photos below, is yellow/orange swirl with blue and pink splatter. The “Foofa themed” variant is pink with white circles and the “Muno themed” variant is clear red with solid red splatter. The “Muno” variant also has an exclusive b-side center label, which is Muno’s cyclopes eye. The pink in the “Foofa” variant is baby pink, and the white circles appear around the center label, as if they’re coming out from the label. These “circles” are also more like brush strokes than circles.

The other, non-ETR exclusives are a “Brobee” split limited to 250 copies, which is exclusive to Turntable Lab. “Brobee” split is half clear dark green and half solid mint green, which is split vertically right down the middle. Next up is a solid red/milky clear split limited to 500 copies, which is a Books-A-Million (BAM!) exclusive. This BAM! exclusive cost $35 before shipping, which is completely absurd considering all the other variants are already overpriced at $23 before shipping. If that $35 price tag was not high enough for you, the last variant cost $40 before shipping. And considering this variant is a UK exclusive of sorts, expect shipping to be expensive. This variant is a Zavvi exclusive, which is a UK based retailer, and it’s on “Toodee Blue.” Limite to 500 copies. “Toodee Blue” is a color in color, with the most likely color(s) being blue of some sort.

All copies of Yo Gabba Gabba! Hey! come with a “repealable” (that is how ETR spells “repealable” on his official web store, “repealable” is not actually a word) sticker sheet, consisting of 12 different stickers that range in size. You get a sticker of each of the four characters from the show, along with speaker cabinets and microphones, and  even a sign for the crowd. The stickers are meant to be used to re-create a scene with the characters playing live on stage, which is the cover art for this record. Which brings me to the next facet of these Yo Gabba Gabba records.

If you bought both Yo Gabba Gabba! releases (Yo Gabba Gabba! Hey! and Yo Gabba Gabba! Fantastic Voyages) from the ETR web store in the same order, you received an exclusive fold out insert. This fold out insert has four different scenes/backgrounds from the show, which you can also use the “repealable” stickers with. Regarding those “repealable” stickers, I don’t think they are actually “repealable.” I tried pealing one off the sticker sheet, and it felt just like a regular sticker with a very tacky back. And if I were to actually use them, it would be rather difficult to get the stickers back on their appropriate space on the sticker sheet, let alone getting them off whatever I stuck them to.

The track listing on this comp is pretty extensive, and features some great bands/artists. Because most of the songs are kept to two minutes or less, way more tracks than you ever thought could fit on a single LP are crammed onto this comp. There are 19 songs in total, 10 on the a-side and nine on the b-side. I bought this for the Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday and My Chemical Romance songs. Here is the track listing:

Side A
1. Yo Gabba Gabba! Theme
2. Weezer – All My Friends Are Insects
3. Jimmy Eat World – Beautiful Day With My Best Friend
4. Taking Back Sunday – We All Love Our Pets
5. My Chemical Romance – Every Snowflake Is Different
6. Rocket From The Crypt – He’s A Chef
7. Mariachi El Bronx – Friends Can Make You Smile
8. The Aquabats – Pool Party
9. Gogo13 ft. Alex Desert – Pick It Up
10. DJ Lance Rock – DJ Lance Says

Side B
1. Metric – Everybody Has A Talent
2. Hot Hot Heat – Time To Go Outdoors

3. Devo – Watch Us Work It
4. Money Mark – Robo Dancing
5. The Apples In Stereo – That’s My Family
6. George Clinton ft. Madame Mims – Atomic Frog
7. Weird Al Yankovic – Circus Parade
8. Yo Gabba Gabba! featuring Jack Black – Goodbye Song
9. Biz Markie – Biz’s Beat Of The Day #1

 

 

Gerard Way – Into The Cave We Wander 12″ (RSD 2017)

Once again I decided to camp out for Record Store Day (RSD), getting to my store 8 ½ hours ahead of opening. I know I said on Twitter that I likely wouldn’t bother with RSD this year, but things changed obviously. That thing was adding more and more things to my list, which ending the debate of do I want to go out for the one thing I know I won’t be able to find online for retail price. I’d rather not spend $30 on something if it means the only thing being sacrificed is a good night’s sleep. If you think I’m crazy for waiting that line and getting to a store that early, keep reading. But I do sleep for at least 2-3 hours of that wait time. If you want to skip this column-esque story, skip ahead five paragraphs for the start of the write up on this particular RSD release.

To lay the ground work for RSD this year, I actually had fun the past two years (2016 & 2017) waiting in line, which makes the time go by faster. That was not the case every other year, and I’ve been attending RSD since its inception in 2008. I had some cool people to talk to these past two years, which rarely, if ever happened every other year for RSD. I’m talkative person, it’s the other people who either can’t or refuse to hold a conversation for whatever reason. The past two years I was next to the same group of people actually. You see, at my local store, the same groups of people show up around the same time every year, especially the diehards. I’m talking about the real early birds, the people who get there 7+ hours ahead of opening. And at my store you have to show up by 4 am (for an 8 am opening) in order to have a serious chance of getting what you want. Otherwise you’re like 150+ in line and will spend around 2 hours (after opening) just waiting to get in and get checked out. It’s a popular store in a highly populated area.

For those curious about what store I go to, I never mention it because I want to maintain some privacy for myself. I don’t want people knowing where I live. It’s not a matter of turning people onto the store and having more people show up. Trust me, this store is well know and one of the most popular stores in the region. It draws people from four different states for RSD, and there are no shortages of record stores in the area either.

The only thing that changed in the 10 years RSD has been happening is how early I have to line up in order to get everything I want, or at the very least the few things I would have a hard time tracking down for a decent price online. I used to get to my store around 5 am, and got everything I wanted with no problem. But ever since 2015 the line has gotten out of control. I used to be no more than 20^th in line with a 5 am arrival from 2009-2014, but I learned my lesson in 2015 after getting there at 2 am (thinking that additional 3 hours would be enough to compensate for the Deja Entendu release) and being like 50^th in line, resulting in missing out on stuff I wanted for the first time ever. And I mean for the first time ever. Prior to that year I never missed out on a single thing on my list.

Ever since then my goal was to get there by midnight, and it’s worked. And I’ve had more fun in line than ever. People bring beer, people are more talkative, offer to get food and coffee for people and are just more helpful and nicer in general. I think a lot people are immediately grumpy when they get there later in the morning and come to the dreaded realization of how long the line actually is. The line can be a bit deceiving because it wraps around the building/strip mall. Lots of people see what they think is the end of the line at the end of the building/strip mall, only to walk over and discover it keeps going. I’ve heard plenty of obscenities being yelled at 5 and 6 am, some from like a hundred feet away.

That one thing mentioned above was the Thrice 7”. That is what drew me out for RSD, but I also picked up a bunch of other things rather than deal with paying for shipping and the potential for damage during shipping. The Gerard Way 12” was one of those other things I wanted, but felt wouldn’t be hard to find online for retail price. Especially considering it is one of those RSD first releases, meaning it would see a wider release after RSD.

I decided to pick this 12” picture disc up on RSD rather than waiting because I was a bit worried that the non-RSD release wouldn’t have the poster and comic that came with the RSD version/variant. I felt the price wouldn’t be much lower after RSD than on RSD as well, so if the non-RSD version didn’t have the poster and/or comic it would be a giant rip-off.

There seems to not be a consensus as to what the official title of this release is. The official RSD list has the title listed as “Into The Cave We Wander,” which is the lead track on the release. But places like Discogs, which I never trust or rely on for any info, has the title listed as “DC’s Young Animal.” To further illustrate why I don’t trust Discogs, they have the pressing info listed as 5,000 copies while the official RSD list has it listed as 4,800 copies. To muddy the waters a bit more on the title confusion, the hype sticker on the bottom left corner of the sleeve says “DC’s Young Animal” as well.

Personally, I’m sticking with the title being “Into The Cave We Wander” for several reasons. And not just because I don’t like Discogs. Here’s why. “DC’s Young Animal” is a comic/graphic novel series Gerard Way is curating. And this RSD 12” picture disc release was concocted solely to promote that comic series. A textbook example of the problems with RSD, but that is for another day. But that is why “DC’s Young Animal” is plastered all over this record. Not just the hype sticker, but the most glaringly obvious part being the comic this record comes with along with the poster. Another obvious aspect of this record being a promotional vehicle for the comic series is the artwork on the picture disc itself, which is straight from one of the comics in the Young Animal series.

All that is aside from the fact that 12” singles, or any singles for that matter, don’t have proper titles. They go by whatever the single’s name is or whatever songs appear on the single; the infamous “b/w” moniker. Anyway, this 12” single has two songs on it, the aforementioned “Into The Cave We Wander” on the a-side and “Film Excerpt – Poggy’s Cavern” on the b-side. An interesting note about the music, it’s not just Gerard Way, his old My Chemical Romance band mate Ray Toro is credited as writer and performer as well.

I mentioned it above, but the pressing info for this may be a bit misleading if you take Discogs into account. Discogs has this 12” single being limited to 5,000 copies. Of course, that is a nice round number, but the official RSD list has the pressing info as 4,800 copies. I will take the word of the official RSD list over Discogs any day, but even with that said the RSD list has mysteriously been changed/updated in past years. The RSD folks like to re-release the official .pdf list with minor tweaks, amendments, corrections; whatever you’d like to call them, and sometimes the .pdpf list doesn’t match up with the viewable list on the official website too. It’s why I download the .pdf the first day the official list is released and download another copy the day before RSD, to catch any discrepancies. However, none of that affected this Gerard Way 12”, the 4,800 number held strong to this day.

The comic that comes with the record is likely exclusive to this record. I know comic collectors can be as nuts as record collectors, and comics can go through variants and exclusives just like records. The Young Animal comic that comes with this records is a sampler, with short excerpts from each of the four separate titles in the series;  “Doom Patrol,” “Shade The Changing Girl,” Cave Carson Has A Magnetic Eye” and “Mother Panic.” The official title of the comic that comes with the “Into The Cave We Wander” 12” picture disc is “DC’s Young Animal Mixtape.” For copyright concerns I’m not posting photos of the entire comic, only a handful of pages, of which don’t reveal any major plot lines.

If you are into comics/graphic novels you’re probably aware that this 12” picture disc is technically not the first release of this single. It was released on cassette for New York Comic Con, and given to attendees of the Young Animal panel. That cassette is a promo release and not meant for sale, and guess what the title is; “Into The Cave We Wander.”

 

 

My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade / Living With Ghosts

In 2016 Reprise Records re-released The Black Parade in a 10th Anniversary set with a slightly tweaked title; The Black Parade / Living With Ghosts. The newly released version of the album was pressed as a triple LP in a tri-fold jacket. It was pressed on two different variants; black and clear with white. The clear w white is a F.Y.E. exclusive, and some sites are calling it “clear w/ white swirl” despite the hype sticker (which said site has a picture of) only stating “clear with white.” Pressing info has not been released for either variant, and never expect it to be because it’s a major label release.

The Black Parade / Living With Ghosts features 11 exclusive bonus tracks, which are all demo versions of songs recorded during The Black Parade sessions. Some of these songs wound up as album tracks on the final version of The Black Parade, while others are making their first appearance out in the world. These never before heard tracks are (in order of appearance) “The Five Of Us Are Dying,” “Kill All Your Friends,” Party At The End Of The World,” “Not That Kind Of Girl,” “Emily,” “Disenchanted” and “All The Angels.”

Initially the only variant available was the black, posted for pre-order in the band’s web store in a bundle with a flag that cost $50 before shipping. Of course a few suckers fell for this bundle thinking it was the only way to get the vinyl version of the release. That bundle is still the only option for the vinyl version on MCR’s web store, but it did become available separately from various online distros, Amazon and indie record stores, which honestly shouldn’t surprise anyone. For a release as big as this, from a band as big as My Chemical Romance, you should expect a wide release. If The Black Parade / Living With Ghosts was going to be limited, or a specific variant was going to limited to a small amount, you better believe a major label would make that information as visible as possible to drive up sales. Plus, major labels rarely, if ever, limit an entire release to any quantities less than thousands.

The tri-fold jacket for The Black Parade / Living With Ghosts is inspired by the original release of The Black Parade, but there is an obvious twist to it. You can see the inner panels of the tri-fold in the photos below. An insert is also included, which has the lyrics printed on both sides of it. As aforementioned, every copy has a white square hype sticker affixed to the top left corner. The hype sticker only indicates color of the F.Y.E. exclusive color, the black copies do not mention vinyl color. No download card/code is included with the release nor a CD copy, which is inexcusable these days. If small indie labels can afford it a major label better not cheap out on a release they’re charging over $30 for (F.Y.E. exclusive costs $33). But as an incentive to buy it directly from Reprise via the MCR web store, a digital download is included with every purchase. But you’re no doubt paying for the digital download “included” with the bundle as it’s likely factored into the total price. But I bought this for $22.50 shipped via an online distro whose prices are already $4-5 cheaper than retail, and on top of that used a 25% off coupon.

You can read about the original release first pressing of The Black Parade here and you can read about the special edition box set released during the original run of The Black Parade here.