Thrice – The Artist In The Ambulance Revisited (2nd Press)

Thrice has started to gain a reputation for cash grabs. And this release sheds some light on why the band is trending in that direction. Thrice is not the first band to do some of what they have done over the years; like a fee required fan club, anniversary tours and releases, and VIP ticket packages. They’re also not the first to re-record an album to get around legalities. Which is what they did with arguably their most popular album, The Artist In The Ambulance.

Officially, the band re-recorded the album because they wanted to give it a new interpretation; to put a new twist on it 20 years after it was first released . Unofficially, you can read between the lines to see that the main reason the band went back into the studio to re-record it was to circumvent the ownership rights of the album. The Artist In The Ambulance is Thrice’s major label debut, released by Island Records in 2003. While the band undoubtedly benefited from some promotional aspects a major label provided, for instance getting a song, “All That’s Left,” featured on the Madden 2004 video game. Most major label record deals ultimately leave the artists(s) with a financial burden. The contracts heavily favor the label, to the point where nine out of 10 times they own an artist’s music (however many releases put out on said label) forever and can do whatever they want with it.

Was a re-recorded version of The Artist In The Ambulance needed? As in were fans excited about it or clamoring for it? Absolutely not. A simple, straight forward 20^th anniversary re-press would be better in most people’s opinions, even if they had no intention of buying another variant/pressing of the record. In my opinion, this re-recorded version does not hold a candle to the original version. It does a great album a disservice.

Sometimes, when a band is running towards the end of a contract, which most often stipulates a release or even album requirement to fulfill the contract, a mutual end to things means stuff like an acoustic or live release.  The Artist In The Ambulance Revisited is not one of those circumstances. The band self released The Artist In The Ambulance Revisited. Going as far as recording it in guitarist Teppei Teranishi’s home studio, New Grass Studios. Don’t be confused by the terminology on the back of the jacket; “under exclusive license to Many Hats Endeavors.” Many Hats Endeavors is not a label, they are a distributor.

So the band cut out the middle man as much as possible with this release. Which is well within their right. But it came at the expense of quality. Which is painfully illustrated by the fact they had the printed dust sleeves printed up with the text being backwards. Basically, it was a mirror image of how it should be. These types of problems are not unheard of, but it’s still a very embarrassing outcome on a release where the band clearly wanted to control as many aspects as possible.

Look, mistakes happen. It’s why, as they say, pencils have erasers. Or in this case, why test pressings are made. But often times artwork and other aspects of the packaging get not just overlooked, but egregiously so. How nobody noticed the fact that the lyrics were printed backwards on the dust sleeve is beyond me. At some point the band caught wind of what happened and included a corrected dust sleeve with the variants they sold in their web store. So some people received two dust sleeves; one incorrect/misprint and one correct. But many of the other variants were SOL. How you are aware of a misprint and still allow thousands of copies out into the general public and not issue a recall is reprehensible. These records were done and in hand long before the release/ship date in March 2023. Everyone knows this because Banquet Records posted in February 2023 a picture of a copy of their exclusive variant; not a mock up image.

I just mentioned variants. The Artist In The Ambulance Revisited sold very well. The band did a whopping nine variants for the first pressing, with all them being exclusive to one place or another. Some of the variants were not announced till well after pre-orders initially went live. Pressing info has been somewhat officially released for all the variants. I say that because there are some discrepancies between what was announced and what actually appears on the hype stickers. What is important to note is that pressing info was not announced for many of the variants when pre-orders launched. So here is the pressing info I can confirm:

1500 copies on blue and cream “galaxy”/blue “galaxy,” 1,000 copies on clear w/ blue and yellow splatter, 300 copies on cloudy clear w/ cream, green, and blue splatter, 300 copies on blue, 300 copies on green/cream split, 1500 copies on green/olive green, 1500/1,000 copies on blue and cloudy clear/blue in cloudy clear. There is one outstanding variant without a confirmed number; black 180 gram.

The blue and cream “galaxy”/blue “galaxy” and cloudy clear w/ cream, green, and blue splatter were exclusive to Thrice’s web store. The blue was a Banquet Records (UK indie record store) exclusive. The blue and cloudy clear (web site description/blue in cloudy clear (hype sticker) is an Urban Outfitters exclusive. The green (band’s web store)/olive green (hype sticker) is a mass retail variant, which Thrice also sold in their web store. The on green/cream split, which a half and half split done vertically, is a Newbury Comics exclusive. The clear w/ blue and yellow splatter is a tour exclusive, and it’s one of the variants that was not known about when The Artist In The Ambulance Revisited  was first announced. Some fool actually called this the “blockbuster variant; please be aware that is not the official name/description of the tour exclusive.

The black 180 gram is an Alliance exclusive, which is Thrice’s fee based fan club. Despite all the variants coming with a hype sticker that say how many copies that variant is limited to, I have yet to see a picture of the 180 gram black variant let alone the hype sticker for it.

I feel like I say this with every post, but I don’t put up rumored, as in unconfirmed pressing info. In the past I used to mention it. But at this point I don’t even say those said numbers. It’s easy enough to get pressing info. Either the band or label puts up the numbers with the item page in a merch store or via social media. There is no need to speculate. It just adds to unnecessary confusion. Especially when the band posts potentially incorrect info that conflicts with what is printed on the hype stickers.

Echoing the quality control issues, the band sold some variants on their Bandcamp page; the blue and cream “galaxy”/blue “galaxy” and the “ultra” clear. But for whatever reason they have the “galaxy” variant as being limited to 1600 copies, which is wrong according to the hype sticker affixed to all copies of this variant. But at the same time it also begs the question; did the band actually get 1600 copies of the “galaxy” variant due to an overrun? The math there is about right, as overruns can be as much as 10% of an order.

Another variant with some confusion surrounding it is the UO exclusive. When they first put up their pre-order (and still till this day as of posting) they listed it as being limited to 1,000 copies. I know this for a fact because I have a screenshot of it that was taken on February 1, 2023. Meanwhile the hype sticker for the UO exclusive says it’s limited to 1500 copies.

Another interesting tidbit about one of the variants revolves around the Newbury Comics exclusive, as it popped in and out of stock. For a bit, mainly around the time pre-orders were launched, it was listed as “out of stock,” but as of writing this in July 2023, Newbury magically has copies back up for sale. So it’s simply more shady sales tactics by Newbury, who have also shamelessly resorted to jacking up the price of some of their exclusives to even more absurd prices; like $65 before shipping and taxes (should either apply) for their exclusive variant of the most recent re-press of Alkaline Trio’s Remains and $109 for Operation Ivy’s full length.

Despite the first pressing still be readily available, the band decided to launch pre-orders for a second pressing at the same time as the first pressing. Literally the same day, but of course after they sold out of their web store exclusives. The second pressing, which comes with the properly printed dust sleeve sealed inside the jacket, is limited to 6,000 copies on “ultra clear.” Many of these copies were sent out to various retail outlets, but while Thrice’s web store sold copies on “ultra” clear, they quickly sold out of it as if by magic.

On that note, a third pressing has ben quietly in the works. It will apparently be on cream vinyl limited to an unknown amount, and it’s slated to come out in September 2023. There seems to be some minor confusion about how many pressings there are. The first and second pressings were both announced and out up for pre-order at the same time. The problem lies in the fact that the band failed to mention that the “ultra” clear variant is a second pressing. Which is based on the fact that it had a release/ship date well after all the variants from the first pressing. The first pressing was slated to ship in March 2023, while the “ultra” clear variant had a release/ship date of May 2023. As for the third pressing, I literally stumbled upon it when I went to buy a copy of The Artist In The Ambulance Revisited , discovering a cream variant/pressing listed for pre-order from the indie record store.

I also want to point out that it’s pathetic that the band’s web store goes as far as making the statement that “flipper orders will be cancelled” but they have a limit of two. So people could easily buy two copies with the sole intent to flip both, or buy an extra copy just to flip. Again, well within the band’s right to enact purchase limits, but it’s a bit hypocritical that they can circumvent the system for a cash grab release while wanting to restrict other people from making money.

I touched on some of these aspects. But all copies were pressed as a single LP instead of a double LP like every other pressing of The Artist In The Ambulance. How and why they managed to squeeze this album onto a single LP is ridiculous. Oh that’s right… this is a cash grab. As such, it should not come as a surprise that this record comes housed in a single pocket jacket.

An insert is included, which is a surprisingly nice touch for such a cash grab release. The insert has notes from all the band members about each song on the album. There is not a download card/code included (yet another greedy cost cutting move by the band). Each copy comes sealed with a similarly designed silver square/rectangle hype sticker that denoted the variant and how many copies it’s limited to. Some variants, kike the UO and Newbury Comics exclusives will come with their shameless self promotion exclusive variant hype sticker as well. Retail price on this ranges from $25 on up to $29 for the UO exclusive and an even more ridiculous $40 for the Newbury exclusive. So no wonder why those two variants some of the only ones from the first pressing not to be sold out as of posting this.

Thrice – Horizons/East

Thrice have routinely churned music. Other than their breakup/hiatus, this is the longest gap between albums for the band. But unfortunately circumstances were beyond their control, as the pandemic put the brakes on pretty much everything worldwide. Musically this album still probably won’t please all their fans though. It’s doesn’t hearken back to their early days, it’s not the so called dad rock from some of their latest albums, and it’s not a breakout hit like Artist In The Ambulance. The closest comparison in their catalog will be The Alchemy Index.

Some people love The Alchemy Index albums, myself being one of them. But they’re very moody albums. You can’t just play them and jam out. One thing I will say about Horizons/East is that you can lose yourself from a pure musical standpoint during many songs. Lyrically the album is a lot to take in. An album should require multiple listens before passing judgment, of course only if you can actually get through the first listen before giving up midway through, but Horizons/East demands more than one listen to full appreciate. Does that mean it’s a complex album? By no means. But the true test of any album is making it past that first listen.

Since this is an Epitaph release, there are lots of variants. It’s not something Epitaph has always done, but they have started to do it of late. It’s Thrice’s second release for them, and for whatever reason they went overboard with this pressing. Maybe it was pandemic economics, but this album did not sell out via pre-orders, unlike many of its contemporaries. Possibly that was by design; but I’m a staunch believer in pressing five or more variants leads to over saturation. Horizons/ East is a prime example.

There are 10 variants for this album. You could make the case that there are separate U.S. and Euro pressings, but considering all the variants were actually pressed in Europe, and pretty much anyone around the world could buy them, it raises some red flags. Pressing info is sparse at best, as literally half of the variants have it released. And I would not hold my breath for the outstanding pressing info to be released if it hasn’t already. So here is the overwhelming pressing info…

In order of rarest to least, here goes: 375 copies on orange & mustard “galaxy,” 500 copies on clear, pink, blue and yellow, 1,000 copies on cotton candy “splash,” 2,000 copies on pink translucent and 2,000 copies on light purple “blast.” Lots of buzz words there. Like what does a galaxy truly look like? How do you capture a blast of color on a record? What constitutes a splash? I will do my best to describe all these variants below.

Orange & mustard galaxy is simply a blend of those two colors. There is no significant marbling, swirl, splatter, haze, etc to be found. Cotton candy splash is apparently an opaque red with a minimal amount of blue/white/purple swirl.  The clear/pink/blue and yellow turned out to be a clear base with pink, blue and yellow mixed and/or swirled in a wispy fashion.

Now for the variants that have not had pressing info released. They are black, purple & mustard “galaxy,” “cloudy”/light purple, opaque yellow and neon yellow/neon violet color in color. “Cloudy” purple turned to be a transparent base with so much magenta thrown in that most of the record appears to be translucent magenta. You can even see where the pellets of “purple” were thrown in, to the point where they bled out and spread across the entire record. The neon yellow is actually a very accurate description, but that is where the accuracy ends. The “violet” actually turned out to be red. It is a color in color, but not the exact colors listed.

As you’d expect all of the variants are exclusive to one place or another. The orange & mustard “galaxy” is a German indie retail exclusive, the clear, pink, blue, yellow, cotton candy “splash” and “cloudy” / light purple are/were a Thrice Alliance exclusive, purple & mustard “galaxY” and “cloudy purple are Kings Road Merch (KRM) Euro exclusives, the opaque yellow is a U.S. indie retail exclusive and the neon yellow / violet color in color is a UK indie retail exclusive. To be clear about the Thrice Alliance and KRM Euro variants, I believe all orders for those variants were fulfilled by KRM; it just depends on what site you ordered from. Nobody based on region was barred from ordering from either site, but obviously shipping  charges varied based on region.

Which bring me to prices on this record. It all depended on which variant you bought. The Thrice store charged $2 more for the colored variants; $26 before shipping compared to the $24 for black. Around $25 seems to be the going rate. So this record is literally a buyers choice. It all depends on what you’re looking for; best price, rarest variant, certain color. As of posting this the only variants still available are black, neon yellow/neon violet, opaque yellow, pink translucent and  light purple blast.

All copies come in a single pocket jacket, which has a monochromatic finish. This finish requires special 3-D type glasses to view. I looked through the glasses that came with my copy and did not see anything. It may be that the glasses that came with my copy were faulty, and I have not seen any similar complaints. But odds are there is nothing special about the cover art. These glasses come sealed in a poly bag, so I have no idea have the lenses were scuffed up. The back of the jacket is die-cut, with the sleeve showing through it, which adds an element to the overall artwork. A download card/code is not included with physical copies, and I don’t know if you were e-mailed one if you ordered online directly from the band or KRM.

Thrice – Just Breath 7″

Thrice is a band that tends to capitalize on their fans. The powers at be are well aware of the fact that pretty much anything they release on vinyl will sell well. Sometimes it does benefit the fans, as albums tend to be re-pressed that are in dire need of it. But other times it results in things that don’t necessarily need to be pressed on vinyl. This 7” is one of those examples.

The Just Breath 7”, as it’s properly titled, features two alternate takes of “Just Breath” and “A Better Bridge” (which is titled Better Bridge for this release) that were originally recorded for an Octane Session, are simply not necessary. They are acoustic version of those two songs. Just now I said Octane Session simply for grammatical reasons. But these two songs were done as part of a series entitled Acoustic Sessions For Octane, with ‘Octane” being is a hard rock channel on SiriusXM satellite radio. There is no given date as to when the songs were recorded, but they were done so somewhere at the band’s home camp amidst the pandemic lockdowns.

Pressing info has not been released for this 7”, which is one several reasons why I held off on buying it. With the biggest other reason being how much this cost. While the price of the record itself is not all that bad, $8, the shipping price was laughable considering the only choice available was $8 via DHL. And we all know you can ship a 7” for under $5. Main reason I bought this was because I stumbled upon a store wide 15% off sale. Which only resulted in me being even angrier at the shipping costs, because it was no more than the record itself.

To make matters worse, Sandbag is the merch distro in charge of Thrice’s web store, a fact I was not aware of until AFTER I placed an order for this 7”. If you’re not aware, Sandbag is probably the most applicable name ever for a business that handles mail-order.  Not only are their processing times absurdly long, they have no clue how to ship records properly. Oh, and their customer service is a joke too. So not only will you wind up waiting longer than what many people deem acceptable, even in a pre-pandemic world, chances are your record will arrive damaged, and when you contact them about it, you will get the run around.

I’m apparently one of the lucky ones, as this 7” somehow arrived completely unscathed despite it being shipped in a thin cardstock envelope. But I did wind up waiting close to one month for it to arrive. Once Sandbag actually shipped it my package arrived fairly quickly though. So for once it’s a win for the USPS.

I mentioned pressing info above, but there are two variants for this 7”; clear vinyl and black vinyl. The rather non-descript jacket has a die-cut center hole. I just wanted to use two hyphenated words in the same sentence. One glaring head scratcher with this 7” revolves around the center labels. As you can see by the gallery below, the cover art is black, but the a-side of the record has a red center label, with the b-side of the record having a black label, but the cover art for the b-side (reverse side of the jacket) is red. Literally the perfect scenario, but some idiot dropped the ball Leon Lett style.

As of posting this the only variant sold out is the clear. Which further proves that people have an affinity for colored vinyl, despite pressing info not being supplied, and there being an painfully obvious choice to pick black vinyl so it matches the cover art. Since this the only place to buy this is online, you will be e-mailed a download code after ordering, but it’s in WAV files. Which is a blessing or a curse depending on how you look it.

Thrice – Beggars (10th Anniversary Edition) [1st Press?…]

For a long time a handful of Thrice records were OOP. But the band and their labels have done a good job lately of re-pressing almost everything and keeping them in print. Beggars was one of those albums, as it started fetching insane sums on the secondary market; over $250 for copies from the first pressing and over $150 for copies from the second and third pressings. This latest pressing, the fourth overall, is the first in over five years, and also marks the album’s 10^th anniversary.

So naturally this pressing is titled the 10^th Anniversary Edition. The biggest thing that differentiates this pressing from all the rest is the bonus 7” featuring two unreleased (on vinyl) b-sides from the Beggars session. But that is not the only difference, as the full size booklet is printed on glossy paper instead of matte paper. At least from the first pressing to the fourth. I can only speak for the booklet from those pressing as I haven’t seen one from any of the other pressings I don’t own a copy from. It’s also quite obvious from the photo gallery below that the booklet does not come autographed for the 10th Anniversary Edition like it does with the first pressing.

Maybe it’s the times we live in, granted it’s been 10 years, but I remember buying the first pressing of Beggars for $20 shipped, but this 10^th Anniversary Edition costs $35, with the only difference being a 7”. That price is why I held off on buying this for so long. I have a complete Thrice collection going (at least the variants I collect), and thought buying an OG copy of The Artist In The Ambulance with the alternate artwork for $40 shipped 13 years ago was a score.

But as I waited for a good sale, the 10^th Anniversary Edition became harder and harder to find. Not that it’s selling for a ridiculous amount on the second hand market; I just don’t want to pay more than retail just to get a copy of a record I already own aside from the 7”. Which is the only reason I bought a copy from this pressing. I would like to add that it was not only easier to find, but actually cheaper to import a copy from the UK.

There are three variants for the 10^th Anniversary Edition, with pressing info not released for any of them. They’re all striped variants, with the three colors chosen reflected in the cover art. First up is a blue/yellow/red, next is a brown/orange/green and last up is a green/blue/yellow. The stripes are all down vertically, left to right. All copies of the bonus 7” are pressed on black vinyl, and come in a separate jacket. It’s just slid into the LP jacket; the 7” does not have its own pocket inside, or affixed to the inside of the LP jacket.

For whatever reason the bonus 7” comes shrink-wrapped inside the LP jacket. The two songs found on it are “Red Telephone” on the a-side and “Answered” on the b-side. I mentioned the full size booklet, which is replicated from the earlier pressings aside for it being printed on glossy paper. A download card/code is also included, which is nice considering many labels are doing away with them. But it’s  for a wful 160 kbps MP3s. Not only that, the two b-sides/bonus tracks are not included on the download card. Thankfully I already have said songs.

My copy of the variant featured below has the center labels placed a bit off. It doesn’t affect play, the labels are just not aligned properly with the correct order of the three stripes on the record’s playing surface. Which is illustrated in the gallery below. Not sure of this is a feature for UK/Euro copies, because they only got copies of this variant to sell.

Apparently there is a re-press of this, which pretty much defies logic as there can only be one 10th Anniversary Edition/Pressing. But here we are, in 2021, discussing such matters.

Thrice – Red Sky EP

Typically I hold off on buying most releases these days, but there are exceptions sometimes. This is one of them. $RC pressed Thrice’s Red Sky EP, with a rather quick turnaround by any means, let alone by the substandard they set for themselves. And it was somewhat reasonably priced to boot; $20 before shipping.

Red Sky was pressed as a 12” limited to 2,000 copies on clear with black and white “Hi-Melt,” Hi-Melt is a fancy word for marble and swirl blend. There are hints of both marbling and swirling if you hold the record up to the light. An insert is included, which is on nice card stock. Not super thick card stock, but it still beats glossy paper most inserts on printed on. All copies come with a $RC 10^th Anniversary hype sticker. This sticker does not mean it’s the 10^th anniversary of this release, $RC is celebrating their 10^th anniversary as a business entity. They haven’t been a “label” for 10 years.

$RC is claiming this will be a one time pressing. Which is why I bought this sooner rather than waiting for a price drop. I was still actually able to get this for 25% off though by stumbling upon a sale SmartPunk was having. Granted SmartPunk charged $22 for this, but I was also able to get free shipping. It wouldn’t surprise me if $RC re-presses this at some point in the future, after all, they’re known for shady business practices. And I don’t think they needed to lie about this being a one time pressing because it was selling extremely well, and it’s pretty much OOP as of posting this. $RC is sold out, so you have to rely on a distro or indie record store in order to buy this on the retail market.

Thrice – Palms – Deeper Wells

I was already disappointed with Thrice’s latest album Palms, and became even more so after hearing their b-sides/companion piece to the album; Palms – Deeper Wells. Released for Record Store Day (RSD) 2019 as a single sided 12”, the four songs found on it are all better than pretty much every song found on Palms proper.

Palms – Deeper Wells is limited to 4,000 copies on white vinyl. It comes in a single pocket jacket and has an etched b-side. Etchings seemed to be the theme for RSD 2019, as practically every release I bought had an etching. And far more I didn’t buy had etchings as well. The etching is of hands (you guessed it, palms up) wrapping around the edge of the record. The cover art continues the dot imagery found on Palms, only arranged in a diamond pattern instead of an octagon. No insert is included, so no lyrics or liner notes to be found anywhere. There also is no download card/code, which is par for the course for every RSD release I bought this year.

Thrice – Palms

Whenever Thrice announces a new album I get excited. Not because they’re one of my favorite bands, but because they have a tendency to experiment in a good way. Thrice has evolved greatly over the years, and have changed their sound just enough with each album to keep things interesting. I tend to not be too disappointed with them, because I go in with zero expectations. So the aspects of their sound that changes does not leave a sour taste in my mouth. But with all that said, Thrice is capable of boring albums. And their latest effort, Palms, is a boring album.

Palms is a big departure from their previous album, To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere. It’s more mellow, probably the band’s mellowest album since Beggars, but that is not what makes it boring. The album just lacks a certain energy that can be found on most Thrice records.

For this album the band signed with Epitaph Records, the band’s fourth label. Epitaph tends to not go overboard with variants for their releases but for Palms they seemed to have made an exception. There are seven variants for Palms. And if you want to get real technical, there are 106 variants. Let me further elaborate.

One of the main seven variants is called a “wax mage” record, which is a subset company run out of Gotta Groove Records. Wax Mage Records as the company is called, is run by a pressing operations supervisor at Gotta Groove. Basically he makes handmade records in very limited quantities using specialized processes. Often times this leads to completely unique records where no two look alike. And that is the case with the “wax mage” variant of Palms. There were 100 copies on the “wax mage” variant, and they are all unique in color scheme, though they all feature a splatter design. Almost every color of the rainbow was used; some records are blue dominant with several different shades of blue, some are green white and yellow while others literally look like someone threw up a bag of skittles.

So since the “wax mage” variant has 100 unique copies within itself, you could make the case that they are all their own variant /1. Though I hope nobody is so nuts as to try and track down as many of them as they can. And of course the only way to get one of this /100 “wax mage” variants was to buy a bundle that included three other variants of Palms along with several other unnecessary items like a pin and slipmat.

On top of the “wax mage” variant there is another bundle exclusive variant limited to 100 copies on clear with red and black splatter, a U.S. indie store exclusive on red with black smoke limited to 500 copies, an Epitaph exclusive grey with black swirl limited to 2,000 copies, a UK/Euro exclusive on beer/black limited to 500 copies, a UK/Euro indie store exclusive on oxblood limited to 500 copies, a tour exclusive on clear with black swirl limited to an unknown amount  and an unknown amount on 180 gram black. The 180 gram black is the widely available variant.

All copies come housed in a single pocket jacket with full color printed dust sleeve. The dust sleeve has the lyrics printed on one side with artwork on the reverse side. No download card/code is included, as it appears Epitaph is making the move to not included them with their vinyl releases like so many other labels. Retail price on Palms is around $20. All of the limited variants have sold out and are fetching a pretty penny on the secondary market. A “wax mage” variant has sold for $150. So make of that what you will. I bought my copy on black vinyl for $13 shipped…

 

 

Dustin Kensrue – More Thoughts That Float On A Different Blood 7″

This record epitomizes everything wrong with Record Store Day (RSD). Not this particular record single-handedly, this is just a great example for a case study. Similar things happen with many RSD releases every year. And therein lies the bigger problem.

As RSD expanded to include a Black Friday Record Store Day, the already watered down “holiday” for record collectors and music enthusiasts that was initially intended to save and support independent record stores, became oversaturated. Black Friday RSD typically is not of the scale as the main RSD held in April, and the affects or not just limited to less releases by volume, but also by quality. Not as many desirable releases or big titles come out on Black Friday as do on the main RSD in April. Combine that with people out shopping for bigger ticket items like big screen televisions, computers, video game systems and video games, and Black Friday RSD suffers even more.

Every year on Black Friday RSD I never have to go out and line up in front of my local store waiting for them open because I could go way later in the day or even the next day, and the release(s) I wanted are still there because they didn’t sell out. And my store is one of the more popular/frequented stores in the country, not just the area. And there lies the dirty little secret of RSD; many stores are stuck with RSD releases long after the event. We’re not talking about one week, one month or even one year. Some stores still have RSD releases from 2013 that they simply cannot get rid of.

Now comes how this particular record can be used to illustrate the unsellable RSD phenomenon. Dustin Kensrue is the lead singer of a very popular band, Thrice, and his solo stuff is also popular. To accompany his solo covers album, Thoughts That Float On A Different Blood, Vagrant released a 7” with two additional cover songs left off the full length album on Black Friday RSD 2016. Initial retail price on it was around $8.

I watched a copy of this 7” on eBay that was being sold by an indie record store. They initially had it listed for that $8 price with $2.95 shipping. But as time went on they offered more and more flash sale type deals on it, where it was 10% off for a limited time. It still didn’t sell. As things continued to get worse, they marked it down to $4 plus $2.95 shipping, not a limited time sale on it; that was the permanent Buy It Now price. It still didn’t sell. Fast forward a few more months to the end of July 2017, and they marked it down to $3.60 with free shipping, which is when I bought it.

So this store took a big loss on this RSD title just to clear it from their inventory. And they didn’t drastically mark down just this Dustin Kensrue RSD release, they did it with all their leftover RSD stock. Marking LP’s down to $7 and change, and some 7” releases even further than this Dustin Kensrue release, to $2.80. There were easily over a dozen different titles listed, and there could have been more actual items because they might have multiple copies of one or more of the individual titles. I didn’t check to see if that was the case. It was just a cursory glance through their items for sale to see if this store was offering any other insane deals.

So the question begs to be asked; how long can a store that is teetering on the brink keep losing money on RSD titles, keep their doors open? Sure, RSD saved a lot of brick & mortar independently owned businesses from going under, but in the long run they might be doing just as much harm as good. A store’s entire earnings from RSD could be erased by having to take titles they can’t sell and needing to mark them down by over 50% just to get rid of them. Granted selling an $8 7” for $3.60 isn’t that big of a hit, but selling a $25 single LP for $7 and change is.

I’ll be honest; I could have bought this Dustin Kensrue RSD release from my local store, as they still had copies left after the morning rush the day of. But I was purposely waiting to buy it bundled with Dustin’s covers album. Because you see, Vagrant pretty much sabotaged their own RSD release by announcing there would be a non-RSD variant for sale online. And they offered it bundled with the full length covers album, which has yet to sell out (but that didn’t stop them from re-pressing it on a fancy color) at a discounted rated where you’d save $1 on each record.

But even with that discounted bundle option, it was still overpriced for my liking. So I was waiting for a sale or coupon/discount code to apply to my order for the bundle. That never happened, even after multiple holidays passed. Then this indie record store marked a copy of the 7” down to he aforementioned $3.60 price tag with free shipping on eBay, which is cheaper than it would cost in the bundle from Vagrant.

More Thoughts That Float On A Different Blood  was pressed on two variants, with only one of them having pressing info released. The RSD exclusive variant, which is on red vinyl, is limited to 1,200 copies. The Vagrant/Dustin Kensrue exclusive, only available from his/the label’s official web store hosted by Kings Road Merch, is on red/black vinyl. This red/black (which is what the color is called in the web store) is red with black swirl/haze/smoke. Pressing info for it has not been released.

One obvious difference between the variants that will help you tell them apart if you’re looking for a particular variant, is that the RSD exclusive has a thin rectangle RSD sticker in the top right corner. The red/black Vagrant/Dustin exclusive does not have any hype stickers. The jacket for this record is very thin, basically one step above a picture sleeve found with 45 rpm singles from the 70s and 80s.

The two songs on the 7” are an Imogen Heap cover, “Hide & Seek,” and a Mumford & Sons cover, “Sigh No More.”  A download card is included with all copies.

Thrice – Sea Change 7″ (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 four 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”. I have a complete Thrice collection going and didn’t want to ruin that or have to pay upwards of $30 for a 7” if it was somewhat easily avoided. This 7” features two songs, one b-side from the To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere and a live version of a song of that album as well. I don’t consider a song recorded live at a radio station to be a b-side, even though this 7” was marketed as having “2 b-sides”

The one b-side is entitled  “Sea Change” and is apparently about sea levels rising and climate change based on Twitter posts Dustin Kensrue made the day of RSD, which coincidentally was also Earth Day. I didn’t get that meaning after listening to the song though. I got more of a song about general struggle and adversity vibe, not as specific as rising sea levels and/or climate change. The live track, “Black Honey,” was recorded at Sirius XM. There is one track per side.

The 7” was limited to 2,500 copies, and is pressed on translucent blue vinyl. The Fact that this 7” is pressed on colored vinyl was never mentioned anywhere. It wasn’t on the official RSD list, no store made mention of it, the hype stickers didn’t nor did the band or any band members. It came as a complete shock to me, and probably everyone else who bought a copy too. But given the apparent meaning behind the song, the choice of blue vinyl is very fitting.

As aforementioned, there is not one but two hype stickers on the cover of this 7”. The obligatory Record Store Day sticker (though not one of those square silver foil RSD stickers) and another one indicating that a portion of the proceeds from this release got to Climate Central. Which I’m assuming is a non-profit  aimed at working towards environmental issues. Again, that Climate Central hype sticker is in line with the apparent them of the lead song, “Sea Change.”

A download card/code is included, which yields WAV files. There is no insert, and the jacket is extremely thin and cheap. It’s a shame, but that is becoming a trend with RSD releases; making them as cheap as possible while still charging top dollar for them. Of course there are always the super nice releases sprinkled in, but for the most part I’ve never been impressed with the bulk of the RSD releases I get, especially for the price charged for them. This 7” cost around $8 depending on the store, when it should have cost no more than $6 given what it turned out being. Because it’s an RSD release the powers at be feel like they can get away with tacking on an additional $2-3 to every release. I’m actually surprised this 7” came with a download card, many times RSD releases don’t. This 7” was one of two RSD releases I bought this year that actually came with a download card, and I wound up buying 10 releases this year.

 

Thrice – To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere (1st Press)

Yet another band to go on hiatus in recent years, Thrice, came back to life with a new album in 2016. The album, To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere, is the band’s first new album in five years. Thrice has very finicky fans, some of the hardest to please I think. And they can be split into three basic camps; those who feel they can do no wrong, those who hate anything that doesn’t sound like their early, harder albums, and those who prefer their later, less edgy sound. Whatever camp you fall in there is no doubt Thrice fans have very high expectations, which only sets up most of them to be let down. At this stage in their career it’s unrealistic for them to make an album that harkens back to the First Impressions or Identity Crisis era. But that doesn’t stop the hate anything that doesn’t sound like their early, harder albums camp from making their disgust known.

Some people actually felt like Thrice just churned out a “dad rock” album after hearing To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere’s first single, “Blood On The Sand.” Which couldn’t be further from the truth. And I’m not even going to go into how unfair it is to judge an album by one song, especially its first single before the album is even released. Yes, this latest Thrice album is far from First Impressions and Identity Crisis, but it’s by no means a bad album. It follows in the vein of their more recent work.

The vinyl version of the album sold out of its first pressing pretty quickly, but it was still slow by Thrice standards. When pre-orders first went up on March 24, 2016 only one variant was available; “smoke” 180 gram limited to 1,000 copies. This variant was only available through Thrice’s official pre-order hosted by Music Today/Delivery Agent, a relatively unknown store host. By all accounts that merchant is terrible. The smoke variant cost $20 before shipping

The smoke variant sold out in less than one day, and almost immediately after it sold out another variant was put up for sale; black 180 gram, also limited to 1,000 copies. There is some debate on how many black copies actually exist. When the black pre-rder first went up it said “limited to 1,000 copies,” but that was later removed. The band themselves also advertised the black 180 gram as being limited to1,000 copies. Seeing as how quickly black disappeared I think it’s safe to it actually is limited to 1,000 copies. Sales immediately slowed after the black copies went up, as other online retailers started putting up cheaper pre-orders. You have to admit, it’s a clever sales tactic; release the variants one at a time without ever announcing how many variants there will be, all increase sales by making people think there will be only one variant.

Eventually the black copies sold out online too, but a big part in that was some black copies were sent out to indie record stores. I don’t think any online distros received copies, as it was impossible to find online. Amazon had a pre-order for it, but I don’t think they were able to fulfill anyone’s orders, they just kept people waiting for something that it sold out and will be on back-order for a long time. A severely limited amount was sent to physical stores though, as they’re all sold out and did so in a matter of days, I doubt any stores had copies last for a week.

When pre-orders started shipping many people were disappointed with how the “smoke” turned out. The smoke variant is basically grey marble. Other bands/labels have released smoke variants in the past, and they’re generally clear with various shade of grey and black swirled in. This “smoke” variant is very far from that.

Going back to how terrible the merchant hosting Thrice’s pre-order is, there were some major problems. Many people received the wrong variant, some who ordered smoke received a black copy. And their customer service was hit or miss. They sent some people out the proper smoke variant they ordered without having the customer return the black copy, they took a long time to respond to some people about an exchange, they told some people to return the black copy in order to receive the correct smoke copy. The wrong variant problem eventually got so bad the merchant ran out of smoke copies to give to people who ordered them in the first place. Those people were basically SOL, as they didn’t offer refunds for people who wanted to return it.

And if all that wasn’t enough a third variant was announced well after the smoke 180 gram and black 180 gram sold out; Thrice would be selling a tour variant on their summer tour. The tour exclusive is on teal 180 gram. Pressing info for the tour variant was never released, and so far the band has had copies on all the stops. However, there was some miscommunication about the tour variant being sold out, as Dustin apparently announced at the Orlando date it was sold out, but that was obviously wrong as they were still selling copies at dates after the Orlando show. Why he would say something blatantly wrong is beyond me, but maybe he meant they sold out of their allotted copies for that specific show. That is the most likely explanation, but there is a problem with that theory as well, as they weren’t limiting how many copies a person could buy at any stops on the tour prior to the Orlando date. Many people posted online, with one person even admitting to it, that people were walking around venues with five copies of the tour variant.

As expected, many tour variants wound up on ebay, where they sold for over $80. The smoke variant was also ebay gold, as they sold for over $70. Many people even bid up black copies to over $40 after the realization sunk in that the album may be sold out and OOP. Because I purposely held off on pre-ordering/buying this album with the expectation of buying a black copy for well below retail price at a gem of a site I found that routinely has great discount codes on records already listed below retail price, I too had to resort to ebay to buy this album. But I only spent $20 including shipping on it, which is less than I would’ve spent had I pre-ordered it from Thrice’s official pre-order. Sadly it’s not the $13 I would’ve spent had that online distro been able to get copies, but I still came out ahead.

All copies come with an insanely nice booklet along with a download card. The booklet is 22 pages long and is as big as it can get (size wise), likely 11″x 11″ (I’m not going to measure it). Because of the booklet the record jacket is oversized. It comes in one of those overzied double LP jackets, you know the ones, the ones where the label is too cheap/greedy to spring for a gatefold jacket but still wants to overcharge for the release. The booklet has the lyrics, with each song getting its own page. Other imagery is found inside the booklet too, typical Thrice artistic randomness, as you can see in the photos below. Christopher King of This Will Destroy You was responsible for the art direction of the album. Instead of traditional binding the booklet it actually sewn together, with the stitching showing on the cover and back cover. It’s also important to note that the colored and black variants each have their own respective hype sticker. The hyper sticker on the colored variants (smoke and teal marble) say “limited colored vinyl” while the black variant makes no mention of color or being limited.