Peace is the 15th song from folklore, and it's something that is impossible to have these days for some reason. Those in the know, know of a certain Eras Tour streamer who has come under fire for various reasons, and also of a certain Facebook buy / sell/ trade group admin that has caused quite an uproar while engaging in... chauvinistic behavior. 

Not too long ago, everyone found out about the Chinese reissue of the Record Store Day exclusive release of folklore: the long pond studio sessions. First of all: sorry not sorry, I consider it a reissue. If they wanted to release it at the same time as the rest of the world, surely there's something that can be done given that it's coming from the team behind the biggest pop artist in the world.

I have mixed thoughts about the release as a whole: it's kind of a slap in the face to the RSD people, whose main mission is to create releases that support local indie record stores. This 'Chinese exclusive' release that has already begun shipping worldwide from resellers and forwarding services is definitely not supporting any small businesses. It's great that the release is available in the market that it wasn't previously available in, but the rollout makes it yet another capitalistic profit-making release. The LPSS release was never even all that–it's a thin matte standard jacket with black paper poly-lined inner sleeves with a credits insert. And at retail, it cost more than some of Taylor's current gatefold 2LP releases!

Yesterday, vinyl for Benson Boone's Fireworks & Rollerblade album began shipping and I unfortunately did not catch wind of any restocks happening for his webstore exclusive Firework Splatter vinyl variant. It's the best variant from the album, in my opinion, and sadly I waited too long before deciding that I really wanted it. Fingers crossed that I can find it for retail before time runs out and people start scalping it... because I really want that multi-color splatter colorway on my instagram page, lol.

In more personal news, I received a very exciting request this morning. I hope it's a first step to making a mark on the hobby and positioning myself as a friendly face of vinyl knowledge authority! 

Today I'm diving into my newest acquisition: the deluxe release of Olivia Rodrigo's GUTS on double splatter LP and known as GUTS (spilled).

First things first: the price for this release is absurd. On her US webstore, the current listed price is $45.99, without the shipping fee and taxes added on afterward. If I were to purchase it right now, I'd have to add $8.47 for standard shipping and $4.48 for taxes for a borderline criminal total of $58.94. For nearly $60, I have very high expectations... but we'll get to that. Instead of buying from the webstore, I elected to purchase my copy from a music store in Denmark that set me back $46.98 instead. And that's including shipping! Why it costs so much more to buy a copy domestically than to get it from a retailer on the other side of the Atlantic ocean is a mystery to me. My copy took three days to arrive–arguably on track with how long it would take from a US warehouse–though with a slightly bent sleeve. The vinyl were in fine shape and there were no smashed corners, so all things considered I don't regret my decision.

Secondly, the marketing was downright misleading. On the webstore, the release is marketed as such:

3-time GRAMMY® award winning recording artist olivia rodrigo reissues GUTS on extremely limited edition 2LP deluxe vinyl. housed in a gatefold jacket, featuring reworked artwork and 5 extra tracks, this special edition splatter vinyl is the only pressing featuring the full collection of GUTS songs. Available to pre-order now.

Given the fact that this is still available for order on the webstore, indie record stores, and multiple online retailers, "extremely limited edition" just isn't true. There's no hype sticker on the release that mentions this either (another disappointment, given the high price tag. Many of the retail exclusive variants for GUTS came with hype stickers...). Additionally, "reworked artwork" is a reach: the front cover is changed to the slightly-different deluxe cover, and the rear cover includes the 5 new tracks underneath the original 12 scrawled in Olivia's handwriting, but the rest of the release is unchanged: the printed inner sleeve for the first LP is identical, and the interior gatefold is exactly the same. The only real new artwork is the inner sleeve for the second LP, which follows the same design theme as the first.

Now, speaking of the second LP... the actual vinyl LP's themselves are a mess. We'll split this next part in two, because we need to talk about the "splatter" vinyl records and the music that's on them separately.

For an unknown reason, the vinyl LP's were advertised with a mockup graphic that depicted them with a solid white background with red splatter on one LP and purple splatter on the second. The mockup is displayed on a purple background on the site, so the main body color of the vinyl is very clearly white and doesn't display any form of translucency. As a result, image the internet outrage when it's discovered that the vinyl are 'clear' with the colored splatter. 'Clear' isn't even an accurate description, either. For some reason, Olivia's vinyl team are allergic to truly colorless-and-transparent vinyl, and she has consistently only released 'clear' vinyl with a cloudy blue/grey tint (the first one was called 'Crystal Vellum' for SOUR, so I affectionately call all similar releases the same name). For this release, the LP's are unfortunately not transparent and are only see-through at close distances. This said, it wouldn't be so awful, if they were able to consistently produce good splatter vinyl. On every single copy of GUTS (spilled), the first LP with red splatter has been utterly pitiful. Thin, faint, and almost nonexistent splatter. Compared to the second LP, with vibrant and almost overdone purple splatter, the red splatter doesn't deliver on what the mockup promises. On many copies as well, the purple splatter has almost merged in a blob, seemingly a s result of the wax and the purple pellets not being distributed evenly or pressed on-center. On mine, the purple is a blob with some splatter lines hanging off to one side while the other side has almost zero purple or splatter.

Lastly, we arrive at the biggest aggravation: the allocation of songs per side. Given that the deluxe is a 17-song album being reissued on double LP, it only makes sense to space out the songs on the 4 sides available for music. A sensible decision would have been to put 4 songs each on Side A, B, and C, and put the 5 new deluxe songs on Side D. With the copies now in hand, the reality is different: instead of spacing out the songs, the original tracklist for the standard edition vinyl has been replicated–7 songs are on Side A, 5 songs are on Side B, and the 5 deluxe songs are on Side C... and Side D is entirely empty.

A1 All-American Bitch
A2 Bad Idea Right?
A3 Vampire
A4 Lacy
A5 Ballad Of A Homeschooled Girl
A6 Making The Bed
A7 Logical
B8 Get Him Back!
B9 Love Is Embarrassing
B10 The Grudge
B11 Pretty Isn't Pretty
B12 Teenage Dream
C13 Obsessed
C14 Girl I’ve Always Been
C15 Scared Of My Guitar
C16 Stranger
C17 So American

*note: the tracks on the deluxe are numbered sequentially regardless of side.

I know what you're thinking. If they reused the tracklist from the standard edition vinyl, that means that they just repressed the first LP using the existing metalwork/lacquers/stampers to save time and money! There's no need to mess with what's already working.

And I'd agree... if they actually did reuse the existing metalwork. Foremost, the new Side B only has five tracks. On all of the original 2023 releases, Side B always included 6 tracks: the last 5 tracks on the album, and 1 bonus track specific to various variants. For most of the standard and retail exclusive releases, the 6th and bonus track was 'obsessed'. Since the new release doesn't have any bonus songs, it has to be a new cut. So while Side B isn't repressed from the original lacquers, maybe Side A is, because it's exactly the same?

Welp, they didn't do that either. While examining the runout matrices on this deluxe release, it doesn't match the original release at all. Take the runouts for the original pressing:

Matrix / Runout (Side A runout): 00602455977625-A (1) JN-H STERLING [MPO Logo]®23 316708 M1
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): 00602455977625-RE1-B (1-2) JN-H STERLING [MPO Logo]®23 316709

Some things to note: the original pressing has catalog number 00602455977625, was cut by JN-H (Joe Nino-Hernes), and is pressed by MPO in France. Now, let's take a look at the newest repressing.

Matrix / Runout (Side A runout): 0602465697063 A 602465045864-LP01-A (1) JN-H STERLING [MPO logo]®24 343462
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): 0602465697063 B 602465045864-LP01-B (1) JN-H STERLING
Matrix / Runout (Side C runout): 0602465697087 A 602465045864-LP02-C (1) JN-H STERLING [MPO Logo]®24 340677

Side A starts with catalog number 0602465697063, which doesn't match any existing releases, nor does it have the same amount of digits either: a leading 0 is omitted from the catalog number. A second catalog number (which is used on all three sides), 602465045864, doesn't match any existing releases either (it's the barcode for the 2024 deluxe edition, so naturally it wouldn't be seen on 2023 non-deluxe releases).

With the information we have now, it's clear to see: despite scrapping the metalwork and stampers from the original release and starting anew, the team behind the deluxe release decided to, again, cram SEVEN tracks on Side A for seemingly no reason, and leave on side of the second LP blank. Why? We may never know.

And if you thought this was weird, wait until you hear about the Blood Record exclusive reissue. Sporting a downgraded purple-foil gatefold that looks nothing like the mockup, a reused rear cover from the webstore 'S' purple variant, and a cover that doesn't have the new track titles, this is the tracklist for their release:

A1 All-American Bitch
A2 Bad Idea Right?
A3 Vampire
A4 Lacy
A5 Ballad Of A Homeschooled Girl
A6 Making The Bed
A7 Logical
B1 Get Him Back!
B2 Love Is Embarrassing
B3 The Grudge
B4 Pretty Isn't Pretty
B5 Teenage Dream
B6 Obsessed
C1 Obsessed
C2 Girl I’ve Always Been
C3 Scared Of My Guitar
C4 Stranger
C5 So American

*note: the tracks on the original 2023 rear cover aren't numbered, so therefore the Blood Record exclusive isn't numbered either

You read that right: Track B6 and C1 are both 'obsessed'. The same song, twice, on different sides! So obviously, the brand new metalwork used for the splatter variant didn't make its way over to the Blood Records release, and they ended up reusing existing Side A & B stampers for the standard edition. The reusing of lacquers combined with an old rear cover & missing printed inner sleeve for the second LP, the new Blood Record exclusive doesn't seem very... high quality.

As a matter of fact, the whole GUTS (spilled) rollout seems cheap. And for such a fantastic sophomore album, it really deserved more thought put into it.

In lieu of an update post, I'm just going to ramble about pressings I wish existed.

• 21 by Adele & 25 by Adele: Her 2011 and 2015 albums deserve fun heavyweight pressings on colored vinyl. The current pressings are just so thin and boring.

• eternal sunshine (deluxe) by Ariana Grande: I just really want to listen to supernatural (feat. Troye Sivan) on vinyl, because it's clearly superior to the version that's pressed on vinyl right now.

• Big Hero 6 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack): Genuinely one of Disney's non-musical scores, if not one of the best animated scores ever. Second-best to John Powell's How To Train Your Dragon, of course. This would look great on a white pressing, or even a galaxy-esque pressing similar to the landscape of the void universe that the Project Silent Sparrow portal takes the main characters into.

• Until Dawn (Original Video Game Soundtrack): This interactive choose-your-own-story horror video game was groundbreaking for its time and genuinely one of the best games I've ever played. Jason Graves's score is haunting and exciting at the same time, and I'm sure you could do some fun colorways for this one.

• The Quarry (Original Video Game Soundtrack): The spiritual successor to Until Dawn, the Quarry features some contemporary lyrical music as well, though I doubt the rights to press these on a compilation LP would ever come to fruition unfortunately. 

• get him back! – Single by Olivia Rodrigo: The last of her GUTS singles not yet on a 7" vinyl. Arguably one of the best songs on the album!

• Reputation: Lover got a surprise 5-year-late black pressing, so reputation should as well. I'd like to stop having to worry about damaging my orange reputation each time it gets a spin.

• Cruel Summer – Single: This #1 hit is long overdue for recognition, and a 7" release would've been a great push to get it to top the charts back in June of 2023, but a physical release now, without celebrating any occasion, seems unlikely.

• Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) – Single & I Can Do It With A Broken Heart – Single: As the first two singles from her newest album, these would surely help promote the release of Tortured Poets Department.

• Midnights (The Late Night Edition): As one of the most complete (but unfortunately not fully complete), it would be nice to have the various bonus tracks from this album pressed on vinyl for the first time.

• Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version): Containing the full 2.5 hour show, pressing the entire Eras Tour setlist on vinyl would be a sure must-have release for fans of the recordbreaking concert.

• The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology: With 31 songs, pressing The Anthology tracks on vinyl would be a great opportunity to keep Taylor's newest album on the charts and renew public interest.

Today my Speak Now RSD was officially delivered it to the friend that bought it from me. It's not mine anymore. Or, at least for the moment. This friend is the absolute nicest and offered to sell it back to me when I was in a better position to have it, and I keep wanting to voice my appreciation. I was just thinking about the journey that this particular record has been on: originally manufactured in the US, sold domestically, eventually making it's way to Italy, and eventually to me in the South and then to the West Coast. Must be all that carbon emissions Tayhaters keep talking about.

Yesterday my The Last Of Us (10th Anniversary) boxset was delivered and I was absolutely ecstatic to have it at long last. It was a pretty lengthy preorder, and it's my first ever boxset. It's gorgeous. I was able to do a lot of fun discogs-related info dumping as well, including noting that Sony Classical reused lacquers from the 2018 & 2019 Mondo reissues. At least for the European releases, it seems to be pressed again at GZ, while the US release doesn't seem to be–I saw a couple of #2, #3, etc. marking in the runouts that I immediately remembered also being on my Troye Sivan Bloom release that was made in the USA. Given that the GZ lacquers from the Mondo releases were reused, it means that GZ had to have been involved somehow, and as a result my determination is that the US release was pressed by the GZ-subsidiary Memphis Record Pressing, which should sometimes utilize externally produced lacquers. Precision Record Pressing in Canada often does the same, so I figure MRP should as well.

I'm still waiting on my Dua Lipa Illusion preorder, which I was sure was supposed to be shipped on June 28th like the EU copies were. The US site doesn't even list a shipment date so maybe they're not meant to be delivered until a while from now... which kind of sucks. I've already designed a jacket for these 7" singles and have already sold a couple–so the fact that I don't even have mine yet is kind of rubbing it in. A couple things about this release: I'm pretty sure / 99% sure that the vinyl is going to be blue translucent like the deluxe blue / white split vinyl ended up being, even though the site clearly advertises it as transparent blue. These companies almost never get this stuff right. And secondly, I had to compromise on the design of the rear cover. For some reason, the genius designing the cover went for an all-black cover with blue logo text and white copyright text... which is SO boring. I opted to go for a blue background with white text, which just looks way more fun. Unfortunately, the "illusion" logo was somewhat merged with Dua's name, and I didn't want to separate it to create the same 'Side A' and 'Side B' text that I usually do, so it's just the one giant title in the middle this time.

After an extended time away from, I've run out of inner and outer sleeves for my vinyl. I should place an order soon, especially before a bunch of things arrive in late July through August. I should plan for Olivia's GUTS releases as well as Sabrina's new album.