I'm kinda fascinated by hype stickers (the stickers placed on the shrink wrap of LPs by labels to get consumers fired up). Most have ended up in landfills, so when they pop up it's always cool.
The above example is from the first pressing (identifiable by the yellow back cover) of Elvis Costello's remarkable debut LP. The review sums up the dawn of Elvis' career quite nicely and is intelligently written. No surprise that Columbia records chose it to hype their new post-punk genius.
Within a year, the graphic design of the LP changed a bit (the back cover background switched to off white), and the record was the critics choice for album of the year in Rolling Stone; a highly relevant honor for the time! The new hype sticker reflects this distinction. The other sticker ('new from Columbia') is also on my first pressing copy as well. By the time of this release, the album certainly wasn't 'new' anymore.
The above example is from the first pressing (identifiable by the yellow back cover) of Elvis Costello's remarkable debut LP. The review sums up the dawn of Elvis' career quite nicely and is intelligently written. No surprise that Columbia records chose it to hype their new post-punk genius.
Within a year, the graphic design of the LP changed a bit (the back cover background switched to off white), and the record was the critics choice for album of the year in Rolling Stone; a highly relevant honor for the time! The new hype sticker reflects this distinction. The other sticker ('new from Columbia') is also on my first pressing copy as well. By the time of this release, the album certainly wasn't 'new' anymore.
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