Here's Where You Should Try To Be

If you read this blog on a regular or semi regular basis, you will know that I am a big fan of Gameface and also singer Jeff Caudill's solo work. Earlier this year it was announced that two of his early solo releases were being put out on vinyl for the first time. That was all I needed to know that I wanted one. When the orders opened I bought one right away.

The record is a double LP titled 'Here's Where You Should Try To Be'. It's quite a cool release, and well thought out. The title is a combination of two previous CD only releases; 'Here's What You Should Do' (released in 2005) and 'Try To Be Here' (released in 2008).

There were 200 copies on clear vinyl and 300 on black. I figured that one copy of this one would be fine, so I opted for the habit of a lifetime and grabbed the coloured version.

When I placed my order I also made sure to grab one of the test presses that was available. A few minutes after I placed my order I got an email from the guy who does the label telling me that he had only put up two test presses for sale. So I count myself lucky to have been able to grab one.

As the photo shows, the test press comes with a cover that was hand drawn by Jeff himself. What I like about this is that it's a hand drawn version of the regular cover. It's a black card cover drawn in silver ink, and looks great.

Also, one point of note here is that this record was pressed at Third Man Pressing, which is the pressing plant owned by Jack White's Third Man Records. I usually like to monitor where things are pressed these days, and I don't think I own another record pressed there. And unsurprisingly, these records look and feel like the usual high quality US vinyl. These days I'm happy to get anything other than stuff pressed at the Euro plant as it seems increasingly rare.

Anyway, I hadn't heard either of these two albums before, so this was a great release for me. Two new albums for the price of one, so to speak. But given this is a reissue of two old albums, it probably can't count in a list of best releases of the year (which it is almost time to start thinking about again, somehow). Or can it?