Monday 24 December 2012

Blue Are One

Hot on the heels of the Underdog 7" that I picked up a couple of months ago, I now find myself crossing yet another longtime blue vinyl 7" want off the list. This time, it's the Unity 'You Are One' 7". Wishingwell Records number one, no less.

So I guess that right now would probably be a good time to admit that I've never really understood which side of the sleeve is supposed to be the front cover. In my opinion, the side pictured above featuring the photo of the dude sitting under the tree is the front cover. This is based mainly on the logic that it features the name of the record, which as we all know is usually located on the front.

So, if I'm saying that the photo above is the front, then by process of elimination, the next photo must be the back:

The reason that I think that this side is the back is because it contains the song titles in the bottom right corner. I mean, whoever heard of putting the song titles on the front? That would be stupid.

Seems pretty straight forward, right? The front's the front and the back's the back. Well, maybe. But the confusion for me comes from the fact that about 99% of pictures I see of this record show the cartoon, x-d up dude side of the cover. So? Well, to me that just suggests that 99% of people think that side is the front. If they thought the other side was the front then they'd take a picture of the other side. Also, when Indecision Records re-released this back in 1999, they used the cartoon dude side as the front cover, although the got rid of the text box containing the song titles because, as we know, putting the song titles on the front would be stupid.

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear which side you think is the front, if for no other reason than to confirm I am right.

Moving on, I was conscious that the photos above make the blue vinyl look a little darker than it actually is, so I plonked it next to the window so as to show that it really is quite a light blue.

Next we move on to the issue of the insert. And again, there's a mystery to solve. As you may know, this 7" usually comes with one of two inserts. Apart from my black vinyl copy, that is, which comes without either! But in some bizarre twist of fate, this copy comes with two inserts - one of each version.

On the right, the one with the Unity written in a weird font at the top. It features pics of the band on the other side. And at the bottom, the one which has the lyrics condensed into 60% of the paper on one side, and a pic of the band on top of a building on the reverse.

Once again, I have no idea what the deal is. The 'Die Hard' insert seems to more commonly be paired up with the later pressing of the 7" (the one on black vinyl with red labels). But checking popsike, it seems pretty much all versions of the 7" can come with any version of the insert. In theory, the 'Die Hard' insert is for a later pressing and should never come with the first press blue vinyl record. But there are two that do. So god knows.

4 comments:

J@screamingforrecords said...

Not owning this I always presumed the front cover was the side with the cartoon dude on because that's always the pictured side. Can't fault your logic as to the photo side being the actual cover though. Makes sense.

Anonymous said...

I'd be inclined to follow your logic too...

Anonymous said...

You're right, it's the way I've always thought it was, track titles on the back!

jav said...

My two cents-
The cartoon drawing appears on the front of the Indecision Records repress.

I bought my copy from Zed records, which was owned by Big Frank who I believe ran Nemesis and played bass in Carry Nation. My copy came with NO SLEEVE at all. Just the "die hard" insert. I was told that a large number of these came in such a manner.