Body Bag In A Bag

Today's post is another limited repress from It's Alive Records. The label had been quiet for many years until a year or two ago when it started repressing it's releases on colour vinyl runs of 100 copies. I think (but not 100% sure) that this was partly brought on by the closure of Californian pressing plant Rainbo Records and Fred retrieving the metal stampers from them before they closed their doors permanently.

The 'Body Bag EP' was released by Philadelphia band Rain On The Parade back in 1996. It was initially put out by a label called Contention Records (owned by the guitarist) and was later repressed by It's Alive Records. And here we are, twenty something years later, with another 100 copies pressed for (probably) the final time. I actually picked up this record before Xmas, but I only just got around to opening it this past weekend. It came in the most annoying packaging of all time, and I knew I would need a chunk of time to sit down and try to open it without damaging anything. So five or so months later I finally got around to it.

The first layer of packaging is this oversized envelope in a poly bag:

The 7" was sealed inside the envelope. It's basically a regular envelope with a screened print on the front, but the tab was sealed at the back. So I sat there and very slowly just prised open the seal. I was basically pulling the flap very slowly, so that it lifted away from the glue on the back of the envelope. I was actually surprised that I managed to pull it all the way open without a single tear. After opening the flap I then had to pick the glue off so that I could freely open and close the flap in future. All in it took the best part of an hour do to this. Inside was a 7" sealed inside another poly bag.

The second poly bag was also sealed shut with a sticker on the back, but this was just a plain white rectangular sticker. I managed to pull it off in one piece and because it was just a plain white sticker with nothing printed on it, I binned it. I don't really see that it was needed at all, but it feels like it was just added to piss people even more off by making the record even more inaccessible. But once the record was out of the poly bag, the beauty of this item started to become apparent, starting off with the printed inner paper sleeve:

I also like that the cover is printed on glossy paper. It's a better quality job than the original pressing that this label put out, which was photocopied. I hate photocopied sleeves as a general rule as the ink is always at risk of coming away if stored badly.

As usual with these It's Alive represses, there's a lot of work gone into this and there's a few extra bits and bobs included. There's an insert and stickers, and it's all hand numbered. I can't fault the quality of this at all.

Normally after picking up another record from a band I collect I'd be trying to take an updated collection photo, but with Rain On The Parade I can't be bothered as it would be too big a job. I'll do it one day I'm sure. This was actually one of the first bands that I got ito collecting multiple versions of, because I loved the aesthetics of their records and I found them to be musically more interesting than other bands of the same era. Getting this 7" made me listen to them for the first time in a while too, and I think it still holds up.

The only issue left to resolve is where I'm going to keep this thing. I hate oversized sleeves with a passion as they don't fit into regular 7" sized boxes. These are the kinds of things that keep record nersds awake at night...