Deluxe Colo(u)rs

This record has fucked with me an awful lot. Before the new Coheed record dropped, I heard that it was a departure from the concept and I was almost hoping it would suck. I just wasn't prepared for such a radical change, until I got about 4 seconds into the LP and fell in love. 

I did buy the LP, but that's not important in comparison to what I'm on with today. I had a little Christmas money left over and decided I should drop it on this. This post will be really picture heavy and hopefully a little light on the words. I nearly did a video post for this, and still might yet but we will see. 

Coheed And Cambria - The Color Before The Sun - Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set - 300 Entertainment - 1st Press /? 

The box set is housed in a die-cut O-Card, and the first thing you are greeted with are two Hardback 'Coffee Table' books. All of the design was handled as a collaborative effort between Claudio Sanchez and Nick Steinhardt from Touche Amore. Nick's design has been mentioned a fair amount in this blog, and this is my favourite of his work outside of Touche Amore. 

A quick spine view of both books. 

On to the first (well really it's the second, but this seemed like the best place to start) book, titled 'The Unraveling Palette Of Dawn'. The cover is letter-pressed and textured in a similar way to the Garrod & Lofthouse sleeve of Unknown Pleasures. The central image is of Claudio's house 'Big Beige', with 10 smaller images surrounding, each representing a track off the record. 

Inside the cover is a certificate of authenticity. If you pre-ordered then it came signed, but I jumped on late. No worry though as it looks incredible without! 

Inside the book. 40 pages of words and photographs, and it's pretty incredible. 

This book tells the story of the writing of the record, picking up from the final touches of the 'Afterman' records and spans a few years. This is told by Chondra Echert (Claudio Sanchez' wife), and is accompanied by a bunch of photographs documenting their moves and the birth of their son. 

The Bag On Line was the original working title of the Amory Wars, and was taken from a shop in Paris. The other photos I believe are from Florida where they spent a little time. 

Some more photographs, the main one on the right taken in their 4th Street Apartment where some of the album was demoed when Claudio and Chondra rented out the Big Beige and it got turned into a Grow House (it's a long story that probably requires a full read through of the book). 

Some more of the story. 

At the back of the book is a little embossed area where a Keywork key sits. Apparently you can get this key cut to fit any lock, but in here it will stay. 

The first book (that I should've started with) is the lyric book with expanded art, and holds all of the musical content too. The art is the same from the LP minus the text and it looks truly beautiful. 

Similar to The Unraveling Palette Of Dawn, you get a title page. 

Each song comes with a full lyrics page and individual art, and also another page with the title behind another load of art. It's hard to photograph, but the title is also spot UV finished. 

You can see it for the track 'Colors' here. 

Art related to the track 'Atlas'. 

The artwork related to this track is super cool, and potentially my favourite track from the album. 

Credits and band photo. A great thing about this record is Josh coming back on drums after a good few years away. I recently watched 'The Fiction Will See The Real' documentary, and seeing him talking about being in the band was a little heartbreaking. His drumming is incredible too, and you can definitely hear him in this LP. 

The next few pages are the names of everyone who pre-ordered early, with the pages aptly titled 'Children of the Fence'. 

Table of Contents 

The discs are all held in an inside gatefold within the book, and you can see above what is contained. 

First up is the album on CD (I already have a CD copy as it was included with the LP, but that's not taken up permanent residence in the car). The lower CD is the Big Beige/ 4th Street demos; it follows the same track-listing as the album. I love hearing Coheed demos, and nothing has changed here as these have the same charm they always do with this band. 

Next up is the 7'', all copies pressed on clear. Bridge and Tunnel is a cool and lively tune, and the B-Side being an acoustic song. Both tracks are great, but each time I spin this I never put it away without repeating the B-Side a few times.

B-Side alongside 'The Physics Of Color' documentary. The little cutaways that the CD's/DVD/7'' fit in are lovely, and the little details in the background of them are really nice too. 

To round off this post, here is the back cover which is an aspect of the front cover. It all ties in nicely which I like. 

Alongside the box set you also get an Amory Platinum 'Children Of The Fence' membership that I really need to complete.  

Also, there is this super cool lapel pin. Throughout last year, I managed to grab a few enamel badges from some great bands, so it's nice to add this one to the fold. 

Whilst I was ordering, I couldn't help but add this to my cart. Super cute right? I saw these pop up on Instagram after a Comic Con the band did and instantly wanted one. Spoiled brat gratification is truly a wonderful thing. 

Here is a little explanation of The Dragonfly logo. 

Details 

I feel that I can't do this box set justice. For all of my enthusiasm and photographing I cannot how you everything this has to offer. I can't show you the studio where the record was tracked live that you see in the documentary. I can't show you every photo, or let you know my favourite parts of the story told. My only advice is if you love this band, and you're curious about this box set then just buy it. As someone who was super skeptical about this record, I'm completely in love. This band are no stranger to a box set, and this far in they're doing it better than most. A friend has the Year of The Black Rainbow deluxe as well as the Neverender Box Set, and they look lovely too!

Finally, I was going to do an entire post on the LP and still have all the photos to do it. But after all of this it seems a little redundant right?

It's been a long one, thank you for sticking through it with me!

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!