Either // Or

It seems that around this time of year, I'll take a dive into an artist that I've heard of but never taken the chance to listen to. I'll also dive in by blind buying one of their LP's and taking it from there. Last year I bought Pink Moon by Nick Drake and absolutely obsessed over it for weeks. This year I went with Either / Or by Elliott Smith. Normally a mass reissue of an LP wouldn't be much to sing over, but I managed to pick up the expanded edition for cheap from that crazy All Your Music sale in August. It was listed as used, it came brand new and sealed. It was a great come up, and I bought a few more from that sale too. 

This new expanded edition comes as a double 180 gram deal and released by Universal; quite a long way up when you consider that it's initial release came from Kill Rock Stars in the US and Domino records in the UK. 

First up, this record came with a cool obi strip which you don't see too often nowadays.

The back of the obi advertises some of Elliott Smiths other recordings. Since buying this a couple of months ago, I've also picked up Roman Candle, the Self Titled LP and XO. However, they are just Back to Black reissues so I'll likely not post about them.

A close up of the front obi shows the explains of the record, including some great photographs and an essay by Larry Crane on the time surrounding the recording and release of this record. Even as a complete newcomer and layman to Elliott Smith, this was a great read and the bonus stuff was just as enjoyable a listen as the studio LP. 

As I said, the record comes on plain black double 180 gram in printed jackets. I believe there were a couple of variants for this release too. An indies only copy, and a mail-order exclusive too on Buttercream Splatter. I wasn't bothered about a colour copy at the time, but the Kill Rock Stars store won't allow orders to the UK anyway. 

One side of the jackets contain all the lyrics... 

The other side contains some credits and some archive photographs. The photographs all seem to be credited to a Felice Ecker; who I gather was his publicist. Initially I assumed it would be his then partner, but a quick read online told me otherwise. 

The inside gatefold contains more photographs and the essay by Larry Crane. Larry Crane I gather was a friend/ producer/ archiver and Jackpot! Recording Studio owner. From what I understand, a bunch of these recordings were made on 4-track or 8-track. Certainly the albums prior to this were. The essay is pretty in depth about the time of this recording, and Smith's distance from Heatmiser too. 

Finally, the download code comes as a postcard. I assume they're reels or VHS  tapes cased in those boxes. It's a cool piece of history that won't really come around again. 

I was always fascinated by the life and death of Elliott Smith, and for years was aware of his music without diving in. However, I'm doing my best to make up for lost time and grabbing as much as I can. I'm still worried about listening to Figure 8 and the posthumous recordings, as Figure 8 sounds like a big departure in sound. I'm sure I'll get into them at some stage, but for now I've got a decent amount to go on. 

Red Pleasure

Following seeing Citizen on their short UK/ Euro run earlier this week, I was massively feeling the hype for the new record. Today I got ahold of my pre-order for the new record (As You Please), and before it even hit my turntable I grabbed a few quick photos to make a post. 

A couple of things: I'm in the middle of redecorating my house, so places to photograph are becoming limited, especially being in Grey British weather. Also, this is one of seemingly a million backlogged posts; they're not coming in order of what arrived when, but they're definitely coming! 

I pre-ordered the Deluxe Box Set LP. As the variant is exclusive to the box set and is /500, I'm going to assume that the whole package is limited to this number. The box is pretty chunky and feels super sturdy, with foil stamped front and sides. 

The side of the box also has the label Catalogue Number too (RFC162). 

As part of the contents for this box, you get a massive (A1) poster that hasn't photographed too well but looks great in person. I'm not normally one for separating stuff from their sets, but I'm pretty tempted to frame this. The only immediate downside here, is that this poster is a trade in for the regular poster that comes with the standard copy (from photos I've seen it may have a Cheetah on it). This means that the LP is missing the poster, and there's also no insert/ lyric sheet. Not the biggest problem, but it would've been a welcome addition. 

Next up are the pin and dice set. The dice come in a bag, and the pin comes with a locking back which I'm a fan of. Being a sucker for a good pin made this box set all the more appealing (as did the dice but I'm really not sure why). 

This is the mixtape (the shell appears to be clear red but I haven't removed it from it's cellophane yet). It apparently contains remixes and other 'curiosities'; not a clue what that means but I'll have to wait for my new cassette deck to arrive before finding out. The pin and cassette are fastened to this cream background with the AYP Star logos in red. The cassette fastened by a light adhesive that should peel off without any damage, and the pin is fastened through the card which is cool as it kept it from getting thrown around too much in transit. Plus it looks nice and packs out the box a little more. 

Finally, this is the full set (minus poster) laid out. The variant is described as Red/ White Mix Swirl and as I said before is /500 and exclusive to the box set. I didn't photograph the B-Side, but it's mainly white with a small red streak running through. 

All in all I'm really enjoying this package, and the album is truly stunning. It's sold out on the main RFC store, but there may be a couple copies left on the UK one. I'd jump on it quick though!