crapforgenius

That box actually looks like it might be worth the price for a fan. I'm not a big enough fan to go for it, but it kind of makes me wish I was.

In for the standard LP for sure, though.

http://www.smashingp...e/mcis-reissue/

The official site put up pre-orders this evening - $135 for the CD/DVD box, $75 for the 4xLP. Bonuses are a t-shirt and tote bag.

I do actually quite like the Dover shirt and am considering getting just that - at one point I owned all the MCIS-era t-shirts but have since sold off most of them, only holding on to the ones I got on tour. (Of course, at the time I was into buying shirts really big so I have no use for XL t-shirts anymore, just can't bring myself to get rid of them.) Old habits die hard, yet I also don't need another $22 Smashing Pumpkins shirt hanging in the closet.

Discogs makes it too easy to purchase on impulse over coffee.

Ash's 'Meltdown' LP & 'Twilight of the Innocents' 2xLP are on the way to my house right now. On the bright side, they were only $26 total shipped, which would have been a steal for one of them back in the day. (Which is why I didn't buy them back in the day.)

BTW, does anybody have the Siamese Dream Audio CD boxset? Wondering if it's worth the $20+ dollars for the DVD and Bonus tracks.

With all the stuff it looks like you get, it seems like a good deal to me.

The bonus disc for 'Siamese Dream' is my favorite of the three sets so far - lots and lots of gems. That said, it's one of my favorite albums of all time so I'm a little biased. The live show on the DVD is fantastic as well. If you like the album and are even considering it, you can't go wrong with the set as far as I'm concerned.

Was back in Rochester and paid a visit to the good ol' Record Archive:

Act - Laughter, Tears and Rage - German LP

Colourbox - Colourbox - US LP with bonus 12"

Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation - US 12"

Grace Jones - Island Life - US LP

Howard Jones - What Is Love? - UK 12"

M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up The Volume - US 12"

Ministry - Twitch - US LP

Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities - US reissue 12" (silver sleeve)

Propaganda - A Secret Wish - US LP

R.E.M. - Document - US LP

Someone had apparently traded in their 4AD/ZTT LP collection recently so I filled in some gaps.

My 'Betty' finally showed up today. I'm glad I didn't go with 'Aftertaste' as well - I have it on black but the orange reissue was more appealing than trying to find an original orange - the cover is pretty bad. Looks like a scan of the CD booklet blown up. Heavy pixelation and really washed out colors.

That said, the gatefold is a nice touch - was the EU LP a gatefold? - and the gray vinyl, while not the color I would have gone with, is pretty. Excited to finally have this one on a single LP but I guess for aesthetics I'll still have to track down an original. (Unless the original's sleeve is similarly washed out then nevermind.)

Soundstagedirect has all four for $24.99 a piece - I'd strongly suggest putting that money towards an ORG 'Meantime' or 'Strap It On' if you were thinking about those two, they're much nicer than these reissues are bound to be.

So I was unpacking some boxes that have been sitting around for a while today and came across these:

No idea why I didn't give 'You'd Prefer An Astronaut' away when I cleared out the rest of my cassettes, but I kind of like that it's the only proper full-length album on cassette that I still have. (There are a few cassingles sitting around still as well, apparently.) I had totally forgotten about the 'Downward is Heavenward' sampler - I played the shit out of that in late '97.

Ahh, memories...

i think i bought mine in 98. it was still sealed, but the cellophane had some holes in it. pretty sure i payed $100 as well.

i bought it at bill's records and tapes in dallas, i remember he had an open one a few months earlier for $75 but i couldn't afford it at the time.

needless to say it's not sealed anymore, and the box is kinda beat to hell, but the records are still minty fresh.

I got mine from the Listessa classifieds - oh, mailing lists - from someone who was cleaning out their collection. (It may or may not have been due to disillusion with 'Mellon Collie' and/or the subsequent tour, possibly around the time of the Jimmy debacle, but I'm not 100% on that.) Anyways, it's got a bit of a crease on the front of the box - it looks like it was manufactured that way rather than due to mishandling after the fact - but the records & sleeves are all perfect. After I got that, I traded away my red "Today" for the Japanese CD single to get a digital copy of "Apathy's Last Kiss" - which I later traded away for something else. Wish I hadn't but it's not too hard to track down - that said, in the intervening years I never have. When I get my hands on a peach "Rocket" I'll get another one to complete the set. (Still have "Cherub Rock" & "Disarm".)

great place for those pumpkin boxes. where'd you get that shelf?

also, is that a siamese singles in with your 7"s? thats one of my favorite pieces in my sp collection.

The shelf is a Besta from Ikea. I like it better than the Expidet because it has a back. Obnoxiously, I bought this color because it was new at the time and was told that it was going to be around for a while, and less than six months later it was gone so I can't match it anymore. Black/brown is close but not quite there.

That is indeed 'Siamese Singles' - bought it back in '95 or '96 for either $75 or $100, which was the going rate at the time. It seemed insane to the 16 year old me and it hasn't really held its value, but it's remained one of my favorite pieces. (If I could only find a peach "Rocket" to complete the main 7" set...)

November 2012, the rekkids have moved out into the living room where they belong. Need to get a shelf to hang the speaker on the wall as we lost an Expidet as a compromise to make them fit.

Also, once the CD shelves arrive, that upper left hand corner will get cleaned out, though I'm not sure what to put there as it's so narrow.

My Betty and Aftertaste came in today...Betty is gray and Aftertaste is orange.

I had the original gatefold Betty two 10", but wanted this one too..

I was supposed to get mine on the 3rd but the storm kind of messed that up. Hopefully it shows today - I also have the 2x10" but have always wanted a proper LP copy. The color is a nice bonus!

Yeah, that's how it's been since it was posted.

I swore I had pre-ordered it, but apparently I'm remembering wrong.

Panic for nothing. Carry on.

It's still there.

Yes, but with a $0 price and no way to pre-order it, just add it to your wishlist.

The item page disappeared from the SRC website.

http://www.shopradio...tronaut-LP.html

That would be the biggest tease ever. It had better be some kind of weird glitch.

Yet another format for one of my favorite releases of the past few years. Can't stop buyin' em now!

http://noyesrecords....a-z-series-3xlp

Use code "ARCADIA" for a 10% discount as well.

If anyone is still interested in the new pressings of these, I just got shipping confirmation from Soundstage Direct for my copy of 'Betty' at $24.99. It no longer lists them as colored, but I figured it was worth a shot to see what I got.

Discogs package showed up today, containing:

Janet Jackson - Don't Stand Another Chance (Remix) 12" Promo

Howard Jones - Dream Into Action US LP

Howard Jones - Action Replay US EP

Prince & The New Power Generation - My Name Is Prince / Sexy MF US 12"

Spice Girls - Stop UK 2x12" Promo (I actually have been looking for this forever, so yay.)

The Supremes - I Hear A Symphony (Stereo LP)

The Supremes - More Hits By The Supremes (Stereo LP)

The Supremes - Love Child LP

All for $18. Happy Friday!

This has happened in the past with Amazon.ca and mega box sets - I remember The Smiths Complete Box being one of them. I personally have never ordered in such a scenario, but I know some people got their orders filled at the insanely low price and some had them canceled when their stock allocation ran out. However, this is going to be much less limited than The Smiths Box so I imagine that anyone who orders will get it honored at this price.

Even I couldn't pass it up at that price. If it doesn't get fulfilled, I wasn't planning on having it anyways so in either case I'm fine. But beware if you *really* want it that you might end up with a cancelled order after the release date passes.

*squeal* I've always kicked myself for passing on this back in the day, and now I finally don't have to break the bank to fix that.

I wonder if I still have my cassette copy in a box somewhere...

Thank you so much! One of my favorite albums! Get Smells like Children and Portrait of an American Family now!

This. A proper 2xLP 'Portrait of an American Family' would be absolutely lovely, and I'd be all about 'Smells Like Children' as well.

Fantastic. I prefer 'Portrait of an American Family' but still quite enjoy 'Antichrist' as well.

Productive visit to Princeton Record Exchange:

Adam and the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier

Janet Jackson - Janet Jackson LP

The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health UK 12"

Madonna - You Can Dance (with OBI)

Pet Shop Boys - I'm With Stupid Remixes 1 UK 12" promo

Pet Shop Boys - I'm With Stupid Remixes 3 UK 12" promo

R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction

R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant

Squeeze - Singles 45's and Under

The Supremes sing Holland Dozier Holland (Stereo)

plus the Revolting Cocks 'You Goddamned Son Of A Bitch' 2xCD remaster from a bit back, all for under $45.

More than I should, less than I'd like to. Right? Right.

I adore this record and will definitely be picking it up. Not so big on 'Headtrip' or 'Valley', unfortunately, but I would be all over an LP of 'Last Call for Vitriol' if they did one. (I don't believe that was ever pressed, was it?)

And, really, a reunion tour would be fab while we're getting a wishlist together.

My understanding is that the albums that were originally recorded in Mono were designed to be recorded in Mono, so the Stereo remixes simply aren't as 'good', or at the very least, do not sound as originally intended.

The easy version is that mono was far and away the dominant format at the time so the story goes the Beatles - specifically George and John I believe - were very involved in the mixing process for the mono LP but left the stereo mixing up to George Martin and/or the engineers. For the early records, the stereo mixes are essentially half the instruments in one channel and the remaining instruments and vocals in the other with little to no overlap which makes for an interesting listening experience. (I personally find such severe separation distracting, especially on headphones.) Once you get to the more elaborate albums, the stereo mixes start to also become more interesting. For me, I bought the mono CD box and also all the stereo CDs from 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' on as that's when I feel each mix brings something equal to the table.

I don't get that part:

"A MONO LP box is planned for the Spring and that box, like the mono CD box will contain STEREO LPs cut from the original stereo mixes!"

So, the Mono LP box contains Stereo LPs from the original stereo mixes? WHAT???

The original CD campaign featured new George Martin stereo remixes of 'Help!' and 'Rubber Soul' - though I have no idea the story behind those. The 2009 remaster campaign kept those 1987 mixes on the stereo CDs, but the mono discs in the box for those two albums featured the original stereo mix after the mono album. Apparently the mono LP box is going to contain the original stereo mixes for those two as well, which seems silly but there you have it.