Vinyl Worship

We all have those albums in our collection that we all wished we had on vinyl right? Either the vinyl version is just way more than you want to spend on one record; or it simply was never produced on wax. There are holes in every label where vinyl was never an option, even predominantly vinyl labels like No Idea have been known to make the occasional CD only release. But, when you've waited and waited for a vinyl release and it finally happens; damn it's worth it. 

A few years ago we got treated to this absolute classic on vinyl for the first time. 

Glassjaw - Worship and Tribute - Warner Brothers - 1st Press - Black/1000 (Record Store Day 2011 Exclusive) 

2011 was the 1st time I really paid attention to RSD, but on the day the shop closest to me didn't have this in. So I chalked it up as a chance missed and that I was unlikely to stumble across one for a fair price for at least a few years. Being realistic, there must have been thousands of kids that connected with this record. For many, Glassjaw opened the doors to heavy music, and this album still holds up and sounds just as fresh as the first time I heard it over a decade ago. Thankfully, a friend tracked me down a copy of this for my birthday a little while later.

B-Side // Back Cover. The layout stays fairly close to the CD equivalent, which makes for some really interesting packaging. 

Close up of the centre label. Nothing too crazy going on, but a little different from the CD design. The Warner Bros and GJ logo are still kicking on the label which is cool. 

Sticker on the sleeve. The record comes in a heavy duty plastic polysleeve. So far it's not got a seam split or any creased edges which makes a change. On the top left of the sleeve was this sticker, explaining that this was the first vinyl press of the album. Since then it's had two consequent pressings: a Hot Topic exclusive White /1000 (2nd Press) and the 3rd Press is also /1000 on Clear. I think the Clear copies also come in a hand numbered sleeve. 

Close up of the back cover. So many of these songs hit so hard. I remember seeing the video for Cosmopolitan Bloodloss on something like P-Rock way back in the day; and that's what connected so well for me. I think I got into Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence after this, which is a little heavier and still fantastic. But the songwriting here just hits a whole other level. 

On to the most intriguing part of this release, and probably the justification for swooning over this record for the past couple of paragraphs. The packaging for this LP is so damn cool. If you ever had the CD, you'll remember being really miffed that instead of cover art and an inlay card; you got this weird piece of plastic with a tonearm and second arm on it. Plus your CD looked like a record but really wasn't, which added insult to injury (plus Kanye West kind of ripped this off last year with Yeezus but that was a great record so w/e). 

Anyway, this time around you get the exact same thing, except you have a record now which is really cool. The LP sits between these two pieces to re-create the cover image from the original release. Probably one of the neatest ideas for this record, as it would have been easy to slack off and just stick it in a normal sleeve. Who knows, if they hadn't met demand for this until a few years after, maybe it would be different. I'm really glad it's not though as this is great. 

All the separate elements together. Probably the only time I wasn't annoyed at not having a lyric sheet. It just adds a whole new dimension to the nostalgic feel that I get from this record. I haven't bothered getting any other Glassjaw stuff on vinyl, but after a couple years of owning this and constantly returning to it I may have to take the jump. Anyone seen those 7''s with the 'GJ' adapter? From the off though, those things were damn expensive, and the flipping started almost immediately. For a band so cool, that was a real dick move from some of their fans.