Sometimes I am incredibly overwhelmed by the generosity of friends. This is a record that I have been after for quite some time, in any wax form for a few years. Recently, great dude Alan Beningfield parted with this so I could have a copy for my collection, and for that i'm incredibly grateful. I felt bad taking it off his hands, but i'd like to think we both walked away happy. Again, thanks bud!
Hormoaning by Nirvana. Obviously this is a bootleg, and I don't have any problem with that. The original copies are rumoured to be of 4000-6000 copies, but most state 4000. Also, the 1st press is the only variant consisting of red and blue swirled vinyl. As far as anyone can tell, it has never been booted/ replicated on the original colourway to any realistic degree. There was a later (2011)Record Store Day press on brown marbled vinyl, with again rumours of 4000-6000 pressing numbers. But if your copy is not brown or red/blue swirl, it's a bootleg. But come on, 8000-12,000 max of a Nirvana release just isn't enough to spread the wealth, it was obviously going to get bootlegged. It's just cool to have a copy.
I kind of love that despite the obvious bootleg nature, this copy still contains some sketchy photocopied Geffen labels and contains similar matrix numbers (though not identical, numbers vary for the second side between the official press and this particular boot. Also, the RSD press has completely different matrix numbers so I am told). Oh, and a barcode!
When held up to the light, this sucker comes out in quite a nice marbled effect that you don't really see otherwise. After doing a little reading on the various bootlegs around, it turns out that this surfaced out of Germany somewhere in 2005. This 2005 press also came on green, which is marbled when held to the light also, but pressing info is non-existent as far as I know. Apparently, although an obvious bootleg, there are some upsides to this particular press than others, such as higher print quality on the text/ covers and some minor cover details to differentiate from the original press.
This back cover differentiates from certain boots and the official pressing(s) in a couple of ways. On the original, the text is sharper (obviously, my iPhone camera doesn't help things) and the stars along the edges are different. Also, some bootlegs contain a staggered flag that looks incredibly dodgy, and misplaced stars again. I'm not getting precious at all at this point, a bootleg is a bootleg regardless of quality I guess, but at least this copy looks nice?
Finally, the cover has some minor detail changes from the original/ other boots. The obvious telltale is the missing shower head in the top right corner (although some bootlegs still have this). But there are details that vary over pressing to pressing, such as the blurry nature of the bottom left corner (the bottle on the shower ledge) and the staggered look of the black tile to the right side of the sleeve, along with the blurred area above it. I mean, every press contains similarities and defects to the original, but in picking up and looking at it, you can tend to guess it almost.
It was important for me to own a copy of this, although you can find the tracks elsewhere; it just felt right to have them together in one place. Hearing those Vaselines covers on wax is a fairly wonderful. Another thing; this sounds incredible. Original press or not, it sounds really great and has been played a bunch of times. There's an RSD press in my local store, that I have made offers on countless times but the owner won't budge. He's keeping it, and I get that as it must suck owning a storemand never being able to get in on the RSD morning queue action. But damn just take it home, play it and stop me gawping over it every time I go in the store. It's still in shrink. This shouldn't be a thing. Definitely glad to finally own a copy after that one staring at me for so long.
No comments:
Post a Comment