Okay, so I'm a little late picking this up. But this time with a good reason. For the most part, this record was ludicrously expensive in the UK and I don't agree with paying £18+ for 19 minutes of music. I know it's quality over quantity, but a new release just should not cost that much. So I waited out a little and scored it for a little over a tenner with postage, which I thought was more than fair.
Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again - Epitaph Records - 1st Press - /?
Honestly, I would guess that there is at least 4000 on black for the 1st press. It's Epitaph so you can imagine that it isn't a small run right?
The first thing I want to point out is the barcode on the front sleeve. I don't even mind it being there, and normally I hate the sight of them as they ruin artwork and stick out like a sore thumb. Here though it's worked in pretty well and I almost see a funny side?
Sometimes it's nice to pick up the normal 'distro' copy of a record. I used to be a bit funny about variants but more recently I've had a slightly more relaxed attitude for the most part. If you're not collecting them all, does it really matter what colour it is?
Back Cover // B-Side. One thing you can always count on with Joyce Manor is a weird layout. On all their LP's I have found that the art and layout always seems to have something going on in the background that doesn't quite make sense.
On S/T we had all the weird photos of kids sat together.
On OATIWSGT we had the blue 'O' made famous by the band Germs. Even the font was pretty similar. And the weird track lengths that did not correlate to their actual lengths.
And here we have these weird photographs; completely off the cuff and unrehearsed, and Frances Quinlan of Hop Along is on the cover. Some of the band aren't even pictured anywhere on the sleeve.
Also, although it is hard to see, the Epitaph logo has a new font; the large 'E' has remained the same, but the underlying 'Epitaph' is no longer in that Old English style font.
The B-Side label art is also used on the CD version of the release.
And we move on to the printed dust sleeve. I like these for the most part, and whilst I don't get too hung up on the plastic kind of sleeves, this is a decent stock printed card and it's just a little nicer. It's really hard to photograph with a decent focus on the text, but this is all the lyrics. Much the same as the Big Scary Monsters press of OATIWSGT, printed inner with all the lyric on one side. I like that this is one staple theme throughout the two records, whether it was intentional or not.
This is all the text on the other side of the dust sleeve and the rest is blank so I thought this is all you needed to see.
There we go. I'll always have something to say about this band, I think they're incredible and although their albums never punch above 20 minutes (at a guess) they are always great records. Maybe my top 10 will be a top 20 this year.
Oh, and as we talk about design stuff on this blog, it might be worth pointing out that Joyce Manor release every record on a different label. That may be accidental, but so far every LP and 7'' have been under different labels. Weird huh?
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