PART 2 is the next upload (50 more) Let me know what records you want to see featured in future parts! I'm specifically looking for records with interesting backstories, not so much super gimmicky releases.
The Flaming Lips released an album in 2012 called "The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends" and the vinyl was filled with the band members blood. Mentioning Jack White reminded me of his newest release, "No Name", where it was randomly released on July 19, 2024 in Third Man Records stores in Nashville, Detroit and London. Love to see some background on why it was randomly released.
A limited edition release of "The Chopping Channel" by Negativland came with a small baggie of the REAL ASHES of dead member Don Joyce. Negativland also had an EP called "U2," named after the Lockheed fighter jet; which they were then sued over by the band U2, afterwards releasing an album named "The Letter U and the Number 2" about the lawsuit. The original cover of the album "Meet the Residents" by The Residents was just the cover of "Meet the Beatles" but with doodles drawn all over it, they got in trouble with Capitol Records and had to change it soon after. A promo EP was produced shortly before the album came out but only sold 40 copies as nobody thought the album was real, because it was set to release on April 1st. Also I'm surprised you mentioned Aphex's RDJ Album coming with hair but not the extra-wide sleeve for Drukqs, or the recent acid-etched copper box-set for Selected Ambient Works vol. II.
The inner sleeve of most of DEVO's vinyl releases starting with Freedom of Choice was actually an Order Form for Club Devo, where you could buy things like the energy dome hats, the yellow devo radiation suits, or an Easy Listening Cassette of their hit songs The sleeves of the Oingo Boingo Demo EP from 1980 were all spray painted by hand by members Charlie Unkeless and Sean P Riley in a garage in Venice Beach. Also, The Low Spark of the High Heeled Boys by Traffic, the versions with the snipped corners!
Super interesting video! Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull is my favorite record sleeve idea, being a 12-page newspaper the band spent more time designing than the music itself. The newspaper has a crossword and a dot by dot which a lot of people filled out on the original release. This makes an original one without markings super rare.
Ur Video Editing style is so satisfying. The Music, the fast pace switches from album to album, the floating head, everything. Really a breath of fresh air
Great video; one of my favorite vinyl fun facts is that the original pressing of Brockhampton’s “Ginger” contained a booklet with the names of everyone that ordered the vinyl
18:56 you forgot the best part of this pressing! the b-side of the vinyl has the final three tracks of "the downward spiral" (reptile, tds, hurt) playing in reverse.
Love the video! Here are some of my favorite vinyl oddities. Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull. This album cover is in the style of a newspaper, when opened up the gatefold reveals multiple pages of stories, puzzles, and illustrations. The contents of the 12 pages were all fabricated by the band and add background to the concept of the one 43 minute continuous title track. RRR 500 This record is composed of 500 locked grooves featuring material by 500 different artists, including the band Sonic Youth. A Giant For A Day - Gentle Giant While not there most appreciated by there fans, Giant For A Day is unique since the sleeve instructs the listener to cut out the picture on the cover, and use it as a mask. Black Moses - Isaac Hayes When folded out, the albums reveals a poster-sized picture of Isaac Hayes. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery The records pictures a grim portrait in a skull-shaped machine, most of the mechanism covers the portrait. The record opens from the middle, and when opened reveals the uncovered body. Below the chin, there is rumored to be an airbrushed out phallus. The cover was drawn by H.R Giger. Any album by the Slovenian-Italian band Devil Doll. Most albums made by the band were made in extremely production. Some albums only had numbers in the single digits produced. One of the albums, The Girl Who Was Death, had 500 copies. 150 of those had a note from the band leader Mr. Doctor, written in his own blood.
Coolest vinyl I've seen is a rare version limited Edition of Choose your Weapon by Hiatus Kaiyote, it has bioluminescent sea water from the Sea of Stars in the Maldives sealed within the vinyl. When you shake it, it glows very bright. Similarly, the vinyl record for the Saltburn movie is filled with "semen" filled bath water, yes...really.
You already mentioned one album by King Gizzard so it's a given you know, but for those who don't Gumboot Soup features a locked groove on the second side that will endlessly play the last bit of The Wheel until stopped. Also Laminated Denim had three variants in which the sleeve was completely made of denim. Also worth mentioning that most of their albums releases come in either a designed paper or cardboard protective sleeve in place of plastic wrap to cut down on waste.
Love this video. You have to include one of Private Function’s vinyl records in part 2. They’ve done vinyl with drugs pressed into them, scratch card record sleeves and even records filled with band’s urine.
Don't know if your taking suggestions for this but: Faust - Faust (A clear vinyl, with a transparent lyrics sheet on top) The Brian Jonestown Massacre - The Future Is Your Past (Features a colouring book esque cover, and comes with a packet of pencils to colour in the cover) Christian Marclay - Record Without a Cover (take a guess what the gimmick of this one is. Any damage done to the record via like shipping or stuff was apart of the artwork) Graf Orlock - Doombox (Folds out into a boombox) Perfect Pussy - Say Yes To Love (Blood infused again) Ensemble Kluster - Klopfzeichen (Limited to only 300 copies, this came in a neat plastic embossed cover) The Mothers of Invention - We're Only in It for the Money (May be a stretch to include here, but the cover photo drama is a real neat bit of history)
They didn't get a mention in this video, but Caroliner has to be the funniest and most crazy vinyl gimmick, their album ''Rear End Hernia Puppet Show'' if you order or buy it comes with random items packaged inside. Someone on an online review said they bought the album and it came with a wrench which scratched the whole record and they couldn't play it LMAO. Someone else said they got used tampons with dried period blood, it's insane.
Also the Soft machine's first album has a cool gimmick where it's like a circle you spin with the real album cover behind it, but with a few holes in the circle so its like the pictures keep changing/moving. I wish interactive album covers became popular again, it's why vinyl will always be more interesting than streaming.
If you're looking for records w/ interesting histories, I'd check out some of the pressings done by Haitian-American rapper Mach-Hommy. He's probably best known in the record-collecting community for the 2017 release of "The G.A.T... (The Gospel According to...)", which was allegedly limited to 28 copies for ~ 3,000 dollars a piece (I've heard several price estimates). This record was a 2xlathe cut with three spindle holes per disc, requiring you to recenter the record to play a new song. Info and pics are scant, but what I've seen is super impressive.
I thought the Skynyrd Street Survivor cover was more rare than it actually is. I got a copy of it, and I was looking around on Discogs. It seems at the time, both the original art, and the swapped back cover version were being produced. If I recall, they made a different insert for the post crash Flame covers. The original insert had their tour dates and merch, and I think later versions had a memorial for the deceased band members, from their respective families, or something along those lines. My copy has the tour dates.
There used to be a New York punk band called Perfect P***y - with their debut album they had a limited coloured press which was made using the lead singer's period blood. Don't know what happened to them, the album wasn't all that memorable
Similar to Fall Out Boy's "crynyl" release, another odd liquid-filled limited release is the Flaming Lips's "The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends", which is filled with "a diluted mix of blood contributed by several of the collaborators".
Pronouncing "Illinoise" without the S when it's clearly meant to be pronounced as part of the album title is like the complete opposite of most people pronouncing the S when you're not supposed to in reference to the state of Illinois.
I'd love to hear u cover Propellor by Guided by Voices! I think the story behind the original covers for that album is super interesting. Also, u should cover The Locust's puzzle pieces EP. love ur vids btw!!
Fuckin banger of a video as usual!! Here are a couple of my favorite odd vinyls: Monty Python: The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief: Comedy album that was said to be a "three sided record". There were two grooves on side 2, both sides were marked as "side 2" and no track listing at all so the listener would be surprised when they listened a second time and heard material they didn't hear on their first listen through. Car Seat Headrest: Making a Door Less Open: The Vinyl, CD, and steaming releases all have straight up different versions of each songs (besides a few) that are only available to their specific releases. PANCHIKO: D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L: Since the band was rediscovered 20ish years after they quit making music by someone finding one of their CDs in a charity shop with the disk having succumbed to diskrot, all rerealeases of the album feature some of the songs in their rotted format, just in case you prefer to listen to them that way.
