1st Press 2nd Stage

From time to time, we have all stumbled on a cool record that's pretty sought after and everything just seems to fall into place right? This last happened to me about 4 or 5 days ago on a Facebook group of all places. This came up at a great price and no one seemed to want it; so I happily gave it a loving home. 

Coheed and Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade - Defiance Records - 1st Press - Black /500 

Cover art. 

Layout and Design is credited to Bill Scoville, who has done a bunch of stuff for Equal Vision artists. He deals in artwork, packaging and design; working for a whole host of great bands over the years. But here we are with this today. The sleeve is kind of a thick textured card deal, and the art really lends itself to the dimensions of an LP. 

Back Cover. 

Little bit of scuffing and ring wear, but considering the age and price of this one I could not care less. 

There has been a repress or two of this over the years, and the 10th anniversary re-press came with a bonus 7'' with IRO-bot on. It was a hidden(?) track originally from the CD version of this release, but it's not featured on this press. 

Close up of the label marking on the back cover. Equal Vision handled this in the US; Defiance are based in Germany and so made this available for Euro dudes. Defiance have done some great releases in their time, including Watch Out! by Alexisonfire. Getting this record has really got me in the mood for some early 2000's classics. 

Insert. 

Your Dreams Can't Last Forever. 

The colour scheme on this record is neat, and follows through the entire release. 

Other side of the insert. 

Lyrics and thanks, pretty standard stuff. The city skyline carries through the bottom of the insert though, and reminds me a little of the Celestial re-issue art by Isis. 

Finally, centre labels. 

As the record is plain black, I thought closing up on the labels would be a bit more interesting. Defiance Records printed on the labels; and instead of 'Side A', we get 'Side Co'. 

Similar deal. Instead of 'Side B' we have 'Side Ca'. 

I didn't really understand the demand of this record, until I had a quick lurk on Discogs after snapping this up. The average selling price of this record is £98, with highs of £120. At some point, this has gone on eBay for £200+. Ridiculous money for a record. I couldn't be happier with the price of this one though, and it's not leaving my collection any time soon. Unless Jeremy Bolm wants to swap out some Touche Amore test presses. I'd probably cave on that. 

Lastly, a quick shout out to the dudes out there selling records for a price they think is reasonable, and not having their price influenced by eBay and such. You're doing a good thing. 

Cheers!