I am marching to the beat... Part 2

Okay so by now we should all know how I feel about this album. Here's when things can get a little more interesting. The second press had a couple of small but significant design changes. Let's have a look!


 First up is 2nd press clear green (herb) /420; nothing too spectacular to see here, but it's a great colour and continues the 'elements' theme through the pressings.

Next up is 2nd press of light blue (rain) /500. This one gathers a bit of interest. Due to the varying amounts of white splatter in the mix; I've seen copies that are practically solid blue and others that contain heavy amounts of white. I think mine is a nice mid ground; that isn't to say I would say no to a drastically different variation! This could probably be my favourite variant of this record. I managed to score both of these from friend and cool collector named Dan Flanagan, who's since taken tons of my money. The guy has a complete Full of Hell collection that is pretty damn impressive, have a look at fleshin2gear.tumblr.com

Now to the possibly more interesting bits, the design changes between the two pressings! I get real into nerdy stuff like this, not even a little ashamed.

The printed dust sleeve here came with the first press. I thought this was super cool at the time because it was the first time I had seen a heavily printed sleeve. It just looked great alongside the black and white art and looked very DIY, I still get taken back whenever I look at it. Whilst spinning this LP I still look at it, digesting all the information and marvelling at that great live shot.

However, by the second press, stuff got changed up a little! The printed dust sleeves were scrapped in favour of this insert. Again, this interested me as the insert has been cut down to an odd size. The layout of the text and photos is a bit of a weird one too. But what gets me more is the amendment of the information across the two inserts:

 One thing that immediately stuck out in the first press insert was the fact that no drummer was listed with the band members, although it does credit Jeremy Zsupnik under 'drum tracking'. Jeremy performed drums on the demo 7'' and To the Beat... but by the time the LP came to press he was no longer with the band. However, by the second press insert, Elliot Babin was added with the rest of the band members and a full time member of TA. Jeremy Zsupnik is still credited under 'drum tracking' through all of the pressings. There is also some editing in the thank you's; the inclusion of Pianos Become the Teeth on the second press insert is one I remember off the top of my head

Another weird little extra is the cd's that came free with the first two pressings of the LP. Some are white, some are clear, but they seem randomly mixed in. Both pressings contain both colours of the cd and I'm kind of stumped about it, so if anyone has any answers let me know! And yes, that is a heartagram tattoo you see. Moving swiftly on... 

In the first two pressings, there was also a huge two-sided poster included with every copy of the LP (as far as I'm aware). The only copy I own that doesn't include a poster is the brown/300 1st press. Presumably the seller kept it. I can't complain. I have at least 6 of them all in the sleeves that most likely will never get used because I'm far too precious about stuff like this. Maybe one day I'll hang one in a nice frame to go with my Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me (TA's second LP) print.

Front

Back

I apologise that these pictures are a little off centre. It's hard taking a photo of a 24'' by 36'' poster when you're a short dude armed with only an iPhone. It's a shame that these are just tucked away in sleeves, they look incredible. I love the artwork, and the lyrics printed on the back is a great addition (although a little awkward to try and read due to the size of the poster). Again, all of the design work here was done by guitarist and design guy Nick Steinhardt under the company name of 23in. The dude comes up with some pretty incredible design work. You'll see plenty of it in this blog over time!

Anyway, that about covers the second pressing and comparisons. Don't worry herbs I haven't forgot about the tour versions of the first two pressings, I'm doing a post on all the tour/special editions and linking it all in (in my head it seems organised but we will see!). My next post will tackle out the third, fourth and fifth pressing of this LP as they're all single colour pressings. And yes I'll get nerdy and weird over the packaging. It will be real fun though I promise. Only another three posts on this album and I'll be done! Maybe I'll take a little break from TA posting then (not for long of course), I've bought some super cool records lately that I can't keep hidden away for much longer...

Thanks for reading! Kane