Well it's been a while right? And I'll apologise in advance if you've come here hoping for a similar theme to my last post. We've got from 6 inches of screamo/ power-violence to 7 inches of pure twee indie pop brilliance!
The Pooh Sticks - On Tape - 1st Press - Optic Nerve - 1st Press - /250 (Blue Vinyl)
Although this is the first press through Optic Nerve, this is technically the 3rd press and follows almost 30 years since it's original release. Optic Nerve have also released a copy on Pink also /250 with matching art and extras (following a similar pattern of the first press artwork; although at the time there were only 50 made of each).
Optic Nerve have made a singles club of sorts titled Optic Sevens; releasing 12 classic Indie 7"s over the course of 12 months and I'm kicking myself for not getting involved. This copy is only here today because Alan at Different Kitchen grabbed it for me. Now all of the releases have been announced; I'm really regretting letting this singles club pass me by. The latest release is the first The Wedding Present 7'' and if I ever end up with that I'll post it for sure!
Back Cover and B-Side
The B-Side here actually contains an instrumental of the song 'On Tape' that features on the A-Side. This is different from previous pressings; as the original Fierce pressing has a blank B-Side and the 2nd pressing has an etched B-Side.
Held up to the light this record also has a kind of marble quality; which matches the centre labels quite nicely. As well as looking great it sounds marvellous too, and I've listened to it a good few times in the 24 hours or so that I've had it!
Inserts!
I think most of these Optic Sevens come with a fold out poster, and this release is no different. Obviously this is the cover art, and the cover art isn't The Pooh Sticks at all! Mostly this is due to the fact that The Pooh Sticks weren't a band at the time. Essentially it was Hue Pooh and a completely made up lineup; and the cover art is of the band FLESH! (I've never heard of them either). I had a bit of a history lesson on this one from Alan; and it just added to the fun and mystery of this band.
The pink variant of this new pressing comes with pink dots over the faces on the poster; not that you can really see features for all the hair anyway!
Finally we have a couple of postcard sized inserts; and again the Pink copies comes with pink tinged (and completely different) inserts! If you stumble across a copy I would definitely recommend grabbing one, especially as you'd be lucky to find a previous pressing for under £150 nowadays; and with the RSD reissue of The Great White Wonder recently out there's no reason to not add some Pooh Sticks for your collection!
Whilst I was picking this up yesterday, I also got the chance to rifle through Alan's other Pooh Sticks stuff, and there's a lot! I also stand little to no chance of owning any of it, as most of them were released in short runs and the box sets/ extra cool bits are probably trashed by now. Alan's are pretty much mint and are some of the most interesting releases i've seen with my own eyes. If you like this post and would be interested in seeing more similar stuff, I'll try and arrange a couple of guest entires as they're really worth seeing in my opinion!
Maybe my next post will be something a little louder and fast, maybe it'll be an old post that's been saved in my drafts for months that I forgot to post. Regardless; i'll try not to leave it so long next time!
