The 1975 Live

So a few days ago I made some last minute plans with a mate to catch The 1975 on their 3rd night out of 5 Sold Out shows at Brixton O2 Academy (last night, or the 7th for anyone catching this late). They kicked off their tour there, so it seemed as good a place as any. So from my house, we had about a 90 minute drive, grabbed a train, a tube stop or six and there we were outside the venue. The queue was around the venue, but we managed to get in with a good spot in plenty of time to catch the support band (The Japanese House - who were cool), and watch The 1975. They were great, the light show alone was worth the price of admission, but to play a nearly two hour show that held my attention at all times was really special. I could gush about it all day, but this post is going to be heavy enough as it is. Here is the merch I grabbed from the night, so here we go: 

First up I bought a couple of wristbands. They are identical with both sides shown here. I originally bought one for my niece who couldn't attend the show, and then got one for myself too. 

They were selling the LP and the CD, but I hadn't seen a cassette version of this before and it was reasonably cheap so I bought it. I probably won't listen to it much with having the LP already, but it's a nice souvenir to have. From what I can see, this is an Urban Outfitters exclusive, but their copies have a small Parental Advisory sticker in the bottom right corner that could well just be an alternative shrinkwrap. There is also no real indicator online as to what colour the shells are for Urban Outfitters, but I assume they are the same as this. 

I would like to find the Love Me / Ugh! promo tape too, but for now I'm pretty happy with this. I have no clue on pressing numbers for this one either.

Much the same as the LP gatefold, the J-Card for the cassette contains this photo set, with the track-listing. There are 9 tracks on the A-Side, with 8 on the B-Side. It's a neat touch that the A-Side of the J-Card contains the first 9 photo sets too right? 

And here is the B-Side of the J-Card for lack of a better phrase, with the remaining 8 photo sets and thanks. No lyrics, but it's pretty well packed out as it stands. 

Lastly I bought a tour shirt. It's a terrible compulsion that I can't really go to a gig without grabbing one. The front of the shirt is the album art. 

And here is the back. The dates carry on down the shirt through til Mid-April, but I'm sure you get the idea. There's no tag in the back shirt and is instead printed with the band logo, size and washing instructions. 

Clear Sleep

I have mentioned before on this blog that I am a big fan of The 1975, and since their newest record landed a few days ago, it seems about right to talk about it. I've given it a couple of listens and I'm really impressed by both the musical content and the packaging. As I'm writing this I'm giving Vile Art by Ritual Mess a spin, and it feels a world away but we'll see how we get on. 

The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It - Dirty Hit // Interscope // Polydor - 1st Press - Clear - /? (2 x LP // 180g W/ HMV Exclusive Slipcase) 

This is the slickest packaging I've seen for a double LP in quite some time. It definitely feels worth the jump compared to it's CD equivalent which you sometimes don't get from major labels. The records are housed in a nice thick gatefold sleeve with lovely printed inners, but more on those a little later. 

The LP comes housed in a pink O-Card. It's completely plain and was marketed as a HMV exclusive. I think there was an Indie Store exclusive postcard set, and then an Amazon exclusive variant on White instead of Clear wax. 

Sticker on the shrink, I guess with having nothing on the O-Card this is handy. However, if you went into a HMV looking for this record, I guess even without the sticker you could have an educated guess right? 

The cover is obviously similar to the first album, only in colour as opposed to Black and White of the self titled. The album even kicks off with a reinterpretation of the opening track from the debut. 

The back cover is the album title written in lights, an artistic theme throughout the record. 

The centre labels are fairly identical for all four sides, but they look great with the circular text. 

The inserts are used for the lyrics only, and so it seemed a little pointless photographing all sides when you can get the idea from this small section of the A-Side insert. 

All four sides of the insert come with the text THE 1975 - ILIKEITWHENYOUSLEEPFORYOUARESOBEAUTIFULYETSOUNAWAREOFIT along with the respective side letter A-D. 

The strip lights come into play again with the album art, as they spell out the track titles for all 17 songs on the record. The lights are all in different locations, and I believe the Indie exclusive postcards were a few of these photographs. 

As there are 17 tracks and 18 squares 'The 1975' gets used twice. 

To keep the inserts for lyrics alone, the credits fit inside the gatefold under the photographs. There are all credits, individual and band thanks. 

Finally, the record came with a couple of download codes. They got a little bent inside the gatefold, but they're still pretty great looking. 

I know they're not everyone's thing, and I guess a good percentage of the readers here aren't big fans. But you can't deny that this is a really well thought out package. I kind of wish I dived in on the boxset, but you can't buy everything right? 

Cheers!

If God Made Anything Better...

It's not often that I stray too far out of the norm here, you kind of know at least a little about what a band may sound like on this blog. That's not to say that what you see here is all I listen to, and sometimes I am unashamedly dancing around to out and out pop music. 

The 1975 - Medicine - Dirty Hit Records - 1st Press - Amber // Yellow /1000 (Promo) 

I believe this was originally released as a promo and giveaway record through Dirty Hit Records, and the song Medicine was originally part of the Radio 1 Drive Re-Score. Since I first heard this song I fell in love with it. It suited the film perfectly and the cover art portrays the same idea from the section of film. It just works together. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

So here's a quick story about how I got this record. At it's highest point this record has sold for £180 on Discogs, but the good dudes at Dirty Hit Records have re-pressed it so hopefully that will put an end to anything near that selling price. Around the same time of announcing that a re-press would be happening, they also announced that the remaining 1st press copies would be going up for sale at their stall at the Spitalfields Indie Label Market for £5 each. 

Long story short I wasn't able to go, but I knew someone who also had a stall there who managed to grab it on my behalf and post it over to me. 

On the centre label you can see the 2014 // Promotional Purposes Only marker. Both the label and back cover of the repress say 2015. 

Obviously I would have settled for a repress if I didn't grab a copy from the label on that day, as I can't justify spending that much on any record really, but there's something really special about owning this one for me. I wish I had thought to photograph it too, but there is a spine on the record too that reads the band name and release. 

As a cool parting note for this 7'', the run off grooves are 'If God Made Anything Better....' // '...He Kept It For Himself' which is a quote from William Burroughs. It'd probably be a little more romantic if he wasn't talking about smack right?

The 1975 - Fallingforyou - Dirty Hit Records - 1st Press - Transparent /? 

I know this is technically a repress, but this is the first UK press. The original press was through Interscope Records as a promo. Dirty Hit repressed this one up for the Indie Label Market and then was later made available online. I have no idea on pressing numbers but I assume it's in the 1000-2000 range. Both tracks on this 7'' are available on the IV EP, and I really regret not picking that up on Record Store Day. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

Although I took a fairly shitty photo of this side, you get the idea, with the back cover layout following the same theme as the 'Medicine' 7''. 

Finally here's the two of them together

This was my first post not using my iPhone camera. I may go back to it yet, but if I carry on with this one please expect a few quirks, a few blurry photos just while I get accustomed to it. I don't deal well with technology.

Cheers!