The Early November – Twenty

The Early November’s “new” album, and first on Pure Noise Records, was released in October 2022. I say “new” album because Twenty is essentially a b-sides compilation. Out of the 10 songs, all but three are actually new songs. The rest are b-sides or re-worked songs spanning their entire catalog, of which some have already been released. Granted, the band re-worked/re-imagined/re-recorded the previously released songs; “Five Years” from The Mother, The Mechanic And The Path era and “Make it Happen” from the For All Of This/Acoustic EP era. So in all only five songs out of the already ridiculously short album (clocks in at 35 minutes long) have never been released.

Because this is a Pure Noise release, there are a ridiculous amount of variants. Though they didn’t go as nuts with them as some of their past releases though, which is nice for variant collectors. When Twenty was first put up for pre-order in August 2022, only six variants were announced, which are all solely dictated by vinyl color. The seventh variant, which again, in typical fashion, was officially announced and put up for sale later, in September 2022, is a cover variant. At the time pre-orders were first announced, the rarest color variant was the baby pink & white a-side/b-side, limited to 300 copies. While that color may truly be limited to 300 copies, turns out only 200 of them were available for sale at first. The remaining 100 copies were set aside for the aforementioned alternate screen printed cover variant. So unbeknownst to everyone who bought a copy of the a-side/b-side variant, there were far fewer copies of it up for grabs than were advertised.

To be clear, the alternate screen printed cover variant does come with the same jacket, which has the regular album art printed on it. The alternate screen printed cover is a slip sleeve, which is a 9/10th fold over sleeve. I say that because it’s not a full size sleeve, and it’s not the typical quarter or half fold sleeves, yet it doesn’t quite fit over the traditional LP jacket completely. Pure Noise does this type of variant with most, if not all, of their releases the past few years. They typically set aside one of the variants to include with the alternate artwork sleeve. I can see why some people may be annoyed that the a-side/b-side variant sold out quickly, and had there actually been 300 of them up for sale when pre-orders were launched it would’ve allowed a lot more people to be able to get a copy of it. But in the grand scheme of things it’s not a shady move by the label; it’s just an odd choice that they picked one of the most limited variants to make the alternate cover variant.

I’ll touch on all the finer points of the alternate silk screened cover variant before going further into the complete pressing info and other details. Like I already touched on, Pure Noise launched pre-orders for it after the main pressing went up for sale. Which I why I always hold off on pre-ordering/buying any of their release I’m interested in. They also, in typical fashion, only had it available as part of an unnecessary bundle. This bundle included a slipmat. The bundle cost $42 before shipping and taxes (should they apply). Considering the label charged $22 for the stand alone record; you’re definitely overpaying for something. If the alternate screen printed sleeve cost $5, that means the slipmat cost $15. All copies are hand numbered /100, which us done on the back of the sleeve in silver ink.

The rest of the pressing info is very straight forward. Unlike some of Pure Noise’s other releases, there appears to be only one hype sticker used instead of multiple ones for random reasons. It’s the typical white circle stock label hype sticker. Some variants, and copies within them, come with a small rectangle sticker somewhat denoting the color of the variant. Though I will say this sticker on the a-side/b-side variant makes zero sense when it pertains to the colors used. It says “TENOTWNTBP.” Considering other variants also have baby pink in them, the fact that ‘BP’ is mentioned in what is essentially a barcode sticker doesn’t help much.

There are the aforementioned 300/200 copies on baby pink & white a-side/b-side that was dubbed the “PN1” variant, 500 copies on white in clear w/ Easter yellow, baby pink and royal blue splatter that was dubbed the “PN2” variant, 500 copies on baby pink and white pinwheel, 300 on gold nugget, 300 copies on half Easter yellow/half deep purple and 1700 copies on white & blue “galaxy.” The two Pure Noise variants were a label web store exclusive, pinwheel variant is an indie store exclusive, the half Easter yellow/half deep purple is a Creep Records (Philly indie record store) exclusive and the gold nugget is a UK/Euro exclusive.

Based on photos, the half Easter yellow/half deep purple had the deep “purple” turn out either burgundy or maroon; you take your pick on what that shade of color is named. Either way, it’s not purple. And at the same time, it’s also not Easter yellow; it’s just yellow. The “galaxy” variant is simply a marble variant; light blue with white marble to be exact. Why can’t we just go back to simplified, actual names for variants?

All copies come in a single pocket jacket. Which seems to be something Pure Noise is utilizing while ditching gatefold jackets for whatever reason(s). A full color, full size insert is incluced, which has the lyrics printed on one side with the reverse side having a photo sheet of promo shots that were likely taken whilst shooting the cover art. A download card/code is included with all copies, which nets you high quality 320 kbps MP3s. It’s a nice touch to first not only see a download card/code included with physical copies these days, but one that gives you access to high quality 320 kbps files instead of 192.

As of posting this, the only variants sold out are the two Pure Noise exclusives and the silk screened alternate cover variant. Both of the Pure Noise exclusives sold out within a couple weeks of being put up for pre-order, with the silk screened alternate cover selling out within a few hours of being put up. Towards the end of September Pure Noise made yet another unnecessary bundle, this time for the /1700 “galaxy” variant, which included a pennant, for $35 before shipping and taxes (should they apply).  This bundle has yet to sell out despite it being limited to only 100 units. It’s sad to see one of your favorite bands not sell through a pressing. But at the same time Pure Noise often times bites off more than they can chew and presses an exorbitant amount of variants.

One last thing I want to add. As I was writing this entry and going back to all my reference material, I discovered that at some point Pure Noise jacked up the price of this record. As mentioned above, when the record was put up for pre-order, they charged $22. Now, as of posting this, all the stand alone variants they are selling cost $23. I get inflation, operating costs, etc. But at the same time you’re punishing people who, for their own reason(s), did not buy a copy of one of your releases. And if one of those reasons was because they couldn’t afford it; guess what? They still can’t afford it after you raised the price.

The Early November – Lilac

It’s tough to watch a band carry on when they should have left it hanging up. After breaking up in 2007, The Early November reunited in 2011 and released their first album post break up a year later in 2012. With each album post break up, the band has gotten subsequently worse in my opinion. Case and point Lilac, the band’s latest album, and fifth overall. While it’s not unheard of for a band to scrap an entire album and start over, it’s usually never a good sign. That is what The Early November did with Lilac. And honestly, it leaves me wondering just how bad was the initial record they were working on if this is what they were happy with.

Lilac is a muddled mess of music. The production is not as crisp as it could be, and frankly should be. For a self produced album recorded in a band member’s studio, they had complete control of the entire creative process. Between that, and the band trying to be something they’re not by blending current musical trends and influences with their own sound, this album is a tough listen. It’s a shame because lyrically this album is not that bad. Personally I think Lilac is the band’s worst album to date.

The album was released by Rise Records. Despite it being almost 10 years since they signed with them, I will always be surprised The Early November signed with Rise of all labels once they got back together. The vinyl version of Lilac was pressed on three variants, with pressing info only released for two of them. There is a bundle exclusive variant on clear with deep purple smoke limited to 200 copies, a “pinwheel” variant on white and coke bottle green limited to 800 copies and “Easter” yellow limited to an unknown amount. The yellow may be a UK exclusive. There are very few definitive details about the yellow variant with the exception that it exists. The pinwheel variant has elements of clear at the points of the pinwheel, mixed into the coke bottle green. See the photo gallery below for an example.

All copies come in a single pocket jacket, with the record in a full color glossy paper dust sleeve, an insert and download card/code. The insert has the lyrics printed on one side with the liner notes printed on the reverse side. The dust sleeve has pictures of, you guessed it; Lilacs! The download card/code is not worth the paper it’s printed on because it’s for awful 160 kbps MP3s.

Retail price on this album is ridiculous; $22 for the pinwheel variant, the only one available from the label outside of a bundle. With the cheapest of those bundles being $35, which included the bundle exclusive variant, your choice of two different t-shirt designs and promo poster. Typically I wait for a good sale to buy any record these days. But I never expected a sale as good as Rise held around the holidays, where all their releases were 50% off. So I bought this for $11 before shipping, so around $16 shipped.

But in order to get that deal, you had to buy it from Rise’s official store, hosted on their own server (click on store on their official web site), not the one hosted on MerchNow’s servers. Even though MerchNow fulfills orders on both shops. If you bought/buy the album directly from MerchNow, you will pay $13.20 for the record.

I know I slammed this album, but at that price I felt it was worth buying, mainly to keep my Early November collection complete. And yes it’s complete, I am purposely not posting about a certain album of theirs so the label doesn’t get any press.

Ace Enders – Silver And Gold 10″ lathe (1st Press)

In what has become an annual tradition, intheclouds Records once again did their 12 Lathes Of Christmas, releasing a new, extremely limited lathe one day at a time for the 12 days leading into Christmas. Each day gets a new release, with the amount made increasing with each successive day. So the first release on Day 1 is limited to 1 per day, the second release on Day 2 is limited to 2 per day, and so on. By the time the 12 days are over the Day 1 release becomes limited to only 12 total copies, but on the other hand, the releases on Day 6 and Day 7 have the most copies; with 42 total copies of each.

Up until this year (2017) there was nothing released that I had any interest in. But this year there was one I immediately wanted, and another I become more and more interested in to the point where I finally caved and bought one on the last day. The release I wanted immediately was the Ace Enders lathe for his Christmas EP entitled Silver And Gold. The EP was first released in 2015, but didn’t have a physical release until now. The eight songs are crammed onto a 10” lathe cut record. The cover art, like the title of the EP, is inspired by the animated Christmas classic Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.

This Ace Enders lathe was the Day 7 release, so it is limited to only 42 total copies. All copies are hand numbered /42 on the back of the sleeve. The sleeve is just a piece of glossy printer paper with a quarter fold. So everything about these lathes is completely handmade at home. Each 10” lathe cost $16 before shipping, which was an additional $6.

All this hype for the 12 Lathes Of Christmas and all the love for intheclouds and I just don’t get it. I was not impressed at all. Another lathe label, Little Elephant, does a much better job. And charges less for their lathes, when they come in not just real jackets, but upgraded jackets made out of thick card stock  Oh, and their jackets are screen printed too. At least for some batches of jackets they used, Little Elephant has since mved on to different style jckets, but they’re still legit single pocket jackets. All for $15. Little Elephant also has to record and master each live session they release. So they just don’t have a lathe, they have to invest in both audio and video recording equipment, plus any editing software and equipment they need.

All the visuals with these intheclouds 12 Days Of Christmas lathes are printed on a laser jet printer. While it’s not a grab your pitchforks and torches complaint, the hand numbering also doesn’t make much sense. I ordered the Ace Enders lathe the second day it was available, and received number 32, while I ordered the Madison lathe the final day of the 12 Lathes Of Christmas and received number 11. When the Madison lathe did not sell out a couple of the days, but not all of them for every day like the Ace Enders lathe.

Due to the nature of this release series, with people ordering one record a day for 12 days for the simplest example, shipping refunds for those who ordered multiple lathes spread across multiple days were issued, but it took many months anyone to actually receive a refund. And Some people who received shipping notifications before me are actually still waiting for the packages to be dropped off at the post office. From what I remember hearing about the 12 Lathes Of Christmas from years past, they all ran much smoother than this year’s. Considering how poorly 2017’s series went, it’s no surprise intheclouds did not do the 12 Lathes Of Christmas in 2018.

In late 2023 Near Mint Records released a re-press/proper pressing of this record on 12″ vinyl. Though this release/pressing is under the I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business moniker. It features new/alternate cover art.

The Early November – Imbue

The Early November’s latest album and second release on Rise Records, Imbue, was pressed on four different colors. A few of them are exclusive to certain retailers, with some of those exclusive eventually being sold outside of the exclusivity. First, there are 300 copies on transparent blue, which was initially exclusive to a handful of bundles that included things like t-shirts (two different designs), hoodies, not one but two different posters, stickers, coffee mugs, a CD and cassette copy of the album and a 7″ record. There were various bundle options, some that included less stuff, with other bundles increasingly adding items to you eventually hit the mega bundle that included all of the aforementioned items. This mega bundle cost $85, with the cheapest option to get the blue variant costing $55. This cheaper bundle had everything mentioned above except for the hoodie and included only one of the two t-shirts.

Eventually the blue variant was sold individually outside of the bundles, which happened before the album was even released, angering some people, and rightfully so. Typically when Rise/Merchnow split up bundles it only after the album has been released. The aforementioned 7″ was also initially only available in the more expensive bundles, the $55 one and the $85, but it too was eventually sold alone outside of the bundles, just like the blue variant.

The remaining variants are translucent red limited to 500 copies, translucent yellow limited to 700 copies and translucent purple limited to 1500 copies. Red is a tour exclusive, yellow a Merchnow exclusive and purple is a retail exclusive. One thing of note though, which can’t be verified because the person making the claim never posted pictures as proof when prompted and is someone who insists on posting things on message boards without any sort of proof (he’s turns out to be right about 45% of the time), is that he bought a copy at his local store and it was red instead of purple. This same person also claimed that red was going to be a Hot Topic exclusive color, which obviously turned out not to be true.

The record comes in a gatefold jacket, which has a matte finish. Also included is an insert a CD copy of the album instead of a download code. The gatefold artwork is rather bland and frankly, lame. The insert has the lyrics printed on one side and yet another boring photograph on the reverse side. One thing of note is that I think only the retail copies of the album, the purple variant, come with a hype sticker on the cover. I saw it in my local record store before I bought a yellow copy online and assumed every copy would come with the same hype sticker, but no. My yellow copy does not have a hype sticker but rather a price tag type sticker denoting the vinyl color. Which makes sense given the purpose of hype stickers and every copy except for the purple ones would never see a store. Said hype sticker didn’t mention anything other than “new album!” and “colored vinyl!” however.

The Early November – Digital Age 7″

When pre-orders for The Early November’s latest album, Imbue, were launched there were a handful of bundle options available. Two of them had what at the time was an exclusive 7″, which was single sided and featured a newly recorded version of the song “Digital Age.” “Digital Age” was a song off the band’s previous album In Currents, which was mostly acoustic. This new version is mostly electric and is also longer, almost double the length actually.

The 7″ was only available in the two most expensive bundles; an $85 option that included everything possible, with the likes of a coffee mug, two different t-shirts (designs different), a hoodie, two different posters (1 screen print and 1 on glossy paper), stickers and last but not least not only a vinyl copy of the album but also a CD and cassette copy as well. The cheaper ($55) of the two bundles containing the 7″ had all of those items except the hoodie and only one t-shirt design. Eventually the 7″ was made available for purchase outside of the bundles, which happened well after Imbue was released at some point in early July 2015.

The 7″, The Early November’s first solo 7″ release, is limited to 500 copies o translucent green and it’s single sided. The b-side is etched however, which was never mentioned anywhere. So it was a very nice surprise and made the 7″ a little more worthwhile. It cost $6 before shipping, but I made a huge order with Merchnow for seven records I held off on ordering because of waiting for bundles to be broken up and the fact there was no rush because they were not selling out fast.

These bundle exclusive records, whether exclusive color or records themselves are ridiculous at this point. Rise couldn’t even sell 300 of them. I know this because in the bundle was an exclusive blue variant of Imbue limited to 300 copies, and combined with the fact there were about 250 copies if this 7″ left when Merchnow sold them on their own outside of the bundles. For good measure, there were about 40 copies of the blue LP variant left over when those were sold outside of the bundles.

 

The Early November – The Mother, The Mechanic, And The Path (1st Press)

In late spring 2014 TDR Records announced that they would be pressing The Early November epic triple album The Mother, The Mechanic, And The Path on vinyl. Getting this album pressed on vinyl was a long time coming but was a huge undertaking that most labels didn’t want to touch with a 10 foot pole given the length of it; 47 tracks clocking in at a whopping 2 hours, 11 minutes and 55 seconds. Because of the length the album had to be pressed as a triple LP, which obviously added to the manufacturing costs and as thus would add on to the cost of the consumer.

The aforementioned consumer costs wound up being $35 before shipping. In the end the cost in my mind was well worth it. This release turned out amazing. The triple LP record comes housed in a triple gatefold jacket, which has a matte finish. The records were pressed on 180 gram vinyl and an insert for each album within the triple album is included. All of the inserts are full color as well. Overall this release was done with quality and every detail in mind.

For the first pressing there were four variants, with three of those being available to the general public. The three colors available to the public were 104 or 100 copies on transparent coke bottle green, orange crush, swamp green. 177 or 200 copies on a-side oxblood/b-side mustard yellow and 212 copies on clear with olive, orange crush and swamp green splatter. There was also a Drive-Thru Records exclusive variant limited to 29 copies on transparent coke bottle green, orange crush and swamp green with black splatter. Those Drive-Thru exclusives for the first pressing will never be made available to the public, except maybe for a copy or two that winds up on ebay because the person connected to DTR who got one decided to sell it for whatever reason. I listed two sets of numbers for each of the general public variants because the label listed the first number (the not rounded off number ) and the band posted their own pressing info on social media which is the second number (numbers rounded off evenly). So it all depends on who you believe. Both numbers make sense in their own right. The number listed by the label is most likely the actual number up for sale to the public, while the number listed by the band is most likely the amount ordered. I was able to order the a-side/b-side split variant, which is picture below.

Once again I was screwed out of the rarest variant for an Early November record. I initially missed out on the box set released by Enjoy The Ride Records for the band’s two EP’s and I missed out on the /100 variant for this album. I refreshed my page at 2:59 (I’m in the Eastern Time Zone) and the record wasn’t live yet, I refresh literally five seconds later and the /100 variant was already sold out. Pretty ridiculous that something sold out in literally five seconds because of A) jerks holding all the copies in their cart and/or B) overzealous nut job fans who constantly hitF5 to refresh their pages. For once flippers weren’t really a factor because the only copies I’ve see up onebay are the variant I bought, the one limited to 177 or 200 copies depending on who you believe.

V/A – Rise 200

To commemorate their 200^th release, Rise Records released a vinyl box set (a CD version was also released) featuring songs spanning their entire history. A song from every album in their entire catalog is not featured however, as only 50 songs are on the compilation. The 5-LP box set comes in a slip lid box, with each record being housed in a card stock dust sleeve. All of the dust sleeves are exactly the same and feature the logo artwork used on the box set lid on both side of the sleeve. An insert is included as well, which also features the Rise Records logo on one side with the compilation’s track listing on the other side.

There were two variants for this, clear vinyl limited to 200 copies and black vinyl limited to 800 copies. Rise was charging $50 before shipping, (shipping was expensive) for the box set, but you could get it for as little as $35 from other outlets if you were smart and bought it during holiday (Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, etc.) sales or used a coupon code. All in all this was an all around cheap and lazily put together release. If it wasn’t for the completist in me I would have skipped over it. At the time of release it was also the only way to get Anatomy Of A Ghost music on vinyl, even if it was only one song. Compared to Rise’s Dance Gavin Dance box set, this Rise 200 box set looks like utter crap.

I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business – Enola

I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business’ latest album, Enola was released by Rise Records. The same label The Early November is signed to, so it wouldn’t surprise me if anything Ace Enders releases is under contract by Rise too. The album has not even officially been released yet (as of writing this) and I can already tell Rise pressed way too many copies of this record. Enola was pressed on three different colors totaling 1500 copies. If The Early November haven’t sold through 500 copies of a single variant from their latest album in almost a year I highly doubt I Can Make A Mess will move 1500 copies. Rise also did their typical rarest variant only available in bundles that nobody wants full of stuff nobody needs. Rise will most likely break up the bundles once they realize nobody is buying them and they are sitting on hundreds of copies of unsold merch. The pressing info is 200 copies on dark blue, which so far is only available in bundles, 300 copies on white, which is only available through Rise’s web store and 1,000 copies on clear and pink starburst, which is available through all retailers. The pink is not an Amazon exclusive, despite the assumptions of a few people who think they know what they are talking about.

I chose not to order through Rise as it was much cheaper to order elsewhere. As expected I received the “clear and pink starburst” which is actually white instead of clear and is what most people call swirl rather than “starburst.” A CD copy of the album is also included with the record. The record comes with what is arguably the most pointless insert of all time, as it’s just two photos; one of a house on a tropical coast and one of a sea plane. The credits are printed at the very bottom of one said, but it mostly reads “Ace Enders” as if no one buying this didn’t know it is mostly his hand involved with this album. I would be better had the record not come with an insert at all as it would’ve cost less money, at least in he theoretical world. To my amazement this album did not leak either, an impressive feat in this day and age.

The Early November – In Currents [Regular Version (1st Press) & Photo Book Version]

I was going to wait and post this until I received the photo book with the 180 gram LP, but it’s delayed till the end of August EDIT –  make that mid November. So without further delay here is the entry for The Early November’s first album after their hiatus/break up, In Currents.

I’m a big fan of The Early November, and initially I was disappointed with this album. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was a little let down after the first listen. After a few more listens the album started to grow on me, and it is still growing on me with every listen. But with that said I would still put The Room’s Too Cold ahead of this album in the typical ranking of a band’s discography. In Currents is about even with The Mother, The Mechanic, And The Path in my opinion, but as time goes on I can see In Currents overtaking the triple disc album.

As mentioned above, this is the band’s first album after reuniting from a five-year hiatus and subsequently first release on Rise Records. There were several variants for the record, with some being exclusive to certain retailers or packages. First there were 300 copies on red, which was only available in a bundle that included a t-shirt and poster. There is a Hot Topic exclusive color, which is white limited to 1000 copies. There is also the aforementioned photo book that is limited to 1000 copies and contains the record on 180 gram black vinyl. There are 500 copies on clear, which may or may not be a Rise exclusive. Finally there are 700 copies on green, which is widely available and not exclusive to any specific package or retailer.

After much delay, the photo books started shipping in mid November, oh so close to one of the best puns in history. In this day and age delays with records shipping are more common than the sun rising, but these photo books pushed the envelope very far. Pre-orders went up in April, and while lately I have held off on pre-ordering as long as I could or not pre-ordering at all in some instance, I made the decision to pre-order In Currents the day it went up for sale, which was in April 2012. The record did not have a release date till July so most would assume that time-table could easily be met, boy was everyone wrong. What made this even more laughable is that Minus The Bear and Bad Books released similar book packages, that went up for pre-order  and had a release date later than The Early November, but still managed to ship on or close to the street date. Granted the MTB and bad Books books were smaller in size, it’s still no excuse given how long the In Currents book was being planned, at least 7 months, probably longer.

But with all that said about the photo books, it was well worth the wait. While some are disappointed in it for various reasons, I am thrilled with it. The cover is made of cloth, which is a nice touch. The book itself is more of a retrospective of the band’s entire history, not just through the making of In Currents. There are photos from the band’s first few shows, photos of the band hanging out in their early days, little blurbs written by and about each member of the band, photos of back stage passes from festivals and shows the band played and various live shots of the band. Advertised as 100 pages, the book is actually longer than that by a few pages, not counting the blank pages at the end.

I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business – Gold Rush (1st Press)

This record is a perfect example of what can go wrong when an upstart vinyl only “label” is established. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the effort it takes to release music, but with the upswing in the vinyl marketplace over the past few years and the licensing albums to press on vinyl trend, it has opened the door for people who have no business running a label doing so. Many of these upstart labels are run efficiently and smoothly, but in the mean time, others, like the label that released Gold Rush by I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business on vinyl, seem to go about everything the wrong way.

American Dream Records, a “label” run by two guys who frequent one of the most childish, ill-informed and argumentative  message boards/music news sites around (absoultepunk), released this album by The Early November frontman Ace Enders. Rather than spending my time summing up everything that went wrong in one fashion or another with this release, I will post a link to a thread devoted to this release. It’s well worth the read, and I strongly advise everyone to take the time to read the entire 13 page thread as you will not be disappointed in the sheer comic value found in it.

http://vinylcollective.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=63194&page=1

The pressing info for the record is as follows; 50 copies on 180 gram black vinyl with “hand written” lyric sheets, 75 copies on “Riverside Blue with gold swirl” (which turned out to be clear with blue and gold/yellow splatter), 100 copies on “Maroon clay with gold marble” (which turned out to be maroon with black marble) and 125 copies on “Gold Rush” yellow (which turned out to be orange). The 180 gram copies cost $30 before shipping, while all the other variants originally only cost $15. The 180 gram copies were also sort of a special edition in that it was more limited than all the other variants, was the only one pressed on 180 gram vinyl (all others were pressed on 140 gram) and included “hand written” lyrics, which turned out to be a sham. The lyrics sheets that were supposed to be hand written technically were, but customers who spent the extra $15 were disappointed to find a photo copied piece of paper for the lyrics to just one song off the album.

On a personal note, the way this release was handled and the behavior of one of the guys who runs American Dream Records (read the entire thread linked to above to get the full gist of everything that transpired over the course of this release) sat wrong with me since day one. So much so that I refused to give the label any of my money and never will. I was able to buy this record from someone on a message board for less than it would have cost me had I bought it from the label. Below is a photo of the “‘Riverside Blue’ with gold swirl” that somehow turned out to be clear with blue and gold/yellow splatter .