Give 'Boots Of Faith' 7"

One of my favourite current bands right now is Give. They're one of those bands (everyone has their own) that, for some reason, you are instantly attracted to, and you find to be a bit different and a bit special. Sure, Give make good music (if you've never heard them, they sound a hella lot like Swiz), but there's something more to it than that. There's something about this band that I am really into that I can't necessarily describe. Something that made me like them before I had even heard any of their music. I thought about it a little, and it pretty much comes down to two things:

1. I like the artwork present on their records. Their first release was a 12" EP (which I still don't own), but when I first saw it I found the cover interesting and it made me want to hear the band. Here's the artwork from the 12":

Definitely interesting, isn't it?

2. Just like the artwork above, my initial impression of the band was (and still is) that they don't easily fit into any box that you may want to put them in. Again, this makes them interesting. It kinda suggests that they haven't gone about trying to sound like a particular band because it will make them popular. They're just doing what they're doing. Seems to me that this is pretty rare (and refreshing) these days.

Anyway, like I said, it's not easy to describe what I mean here. But suffice to say, this band has something a little different about them, and it excites me.

All of this guff is of course just a big pre-amble to me showing you a record that I acquired recently. The record in question is one of two 7"s that Give released towards the end of last year. The title of the record is 'Boots Of Faith', and it was released by Deranged Records. I decided that I wanted this record, but then I looked into placing an order from the label to get a colour copy, and realised that the shipping would cost me about two month's pay, so I subsequently decided that I didn't want it after all. What I did next was what I do best - I moaned about it. This time, I moaned to Doug about it in an email, and not long after he found a copy in a local record store and very kindly sent it to me in the mail. Perhaps I should moan more often (although I'm not sure that is technically possible, seeing as moan is pretty much all I do)?

I don't know how limited the purple vinyl is, but it's a nice colour as you can see. And if you want one, the label still has it listed in the store, although it'll cost you two bucks more than the black one, and you'll probably need to remortgage your house to pay the shipping (if you don't have a house then I suggest buying one, then remortgaging ASAP).

The other thing that I really like about this 7" is that it matches the 7" recently release by React! Records. Despite both records being released by different labels, it's as if they are part of a series - both have the same layouts, have big holes in the centre of the records, and contain two songs. Check these photos of the two side by side to see what I mean:

Nice huh?