Four

Believe it or not, I didn't used to like test presses. I used to only want them if there was no limited pressing of a record available. If I like a record then I naturally want to own a special version, and when there aren't any coloured copies or limited sleeves or anything, then the only possibility of a 'limited' version would be a test press. Somewhere along the way my philosophy changed to wanting to collect tests of my favourite records, or tests that are relatively cheap, but tests of records that have no limited version is still the most exciting to pick up.

Today's post is a great example. This is a test press of the second Seaweed LP 'Four'. This was released by Sub Pop Records waaaay back in 1993, and despite the label's history of making lot of crazy colour vinyl editions for most of their releases, this one only ever came on black vinyl. So this is a great test to own.

As you can see, this test comes in a plain white card sleeve which has the band name hand written on the top corner, with the date and label catalogue number stamped on both the cover and the record's labels. Insane to think this album is now twenty years old. Wow.

As I often do, I pulled out the regular version of the record for a more interesting photo.

I frickin' love Seaweed, and this album is, in my opinion, their finest moment. If I had to pick just one test press of theirs to own, this would be it. So it all worked out well.

For the two of you who are interested, the test press count for the year has now hit 49... and there's only one day of 2013 left. Tune in tomorrow to see how this story plays out...