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Shit CD Packaging

paulfromcamden

paulfromcamden

Baffled
I bought my OH the 'expanded' edition of the new Suede album.

Looks like this on Amazon etc.

MDEtMjE2MS5qcGVn.jpeg



What I didn't notice was the serrated pull-strip across the front... hmm.

We tried opening it today to get the the CDs. No matter which way we looked at it - and we did for a solid ten minutes - the ONLY way to open the packaging is to rip it right across the cover artwork.

This isn't an outer sleeve or something - this IS the CD packaging. Here's a photo from the interweb. We ended up with pretty much the same result.


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There is a Kamasi Washington album where the extra tracks are hidden and need to be cut out of the sleeve. It’s artistic intent, I have no real issue with it, though I’m such an obsessive collector I’d spend an hour and three quarters with a really sharp craft knife following the perforations (as I did with the Kamasi CD!). The Kamasi Washington was an obvious joke though, hiding hidden extra tracks even on vinyl. Not sure about the Suede.

PS Suede CD here, suitable craft knife here.
 
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Nasty. I’m tempted to order it to see if I can open it (kind of) neatly now.

I expect a few here have the original release of Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, sealed in foil and plastic like a giant tablet. Oh how I laughed…
 
Alex N said:
expect a few here have the original release of Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, sealed in foil and plastic like a giant tablet. Oh how I laughed…
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Yes, I’ve got one. The annoyance there is the outer cardboard box is just so flimsy and inevitably gets squished.

PS There was a really cool 12xCD limited edition with each track on a separate 3” CD (Discogs). Wish I’d bought one and kept it sealed!
 
Tony L said:
a really cool 12xCD limited edition with each track on a separate 3” CD
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Yes, I asked the shop when I got mine if they had it, after I’d read about it somewhere, and they just laughed like I’d made it up. Saw one years later, and I think it might have been available again for an anniversary reissue.

In hindsight, one track per CD before you could rip them would have been such a faff!
 
Alex N said:
Nasty. I‘m tempted to order it to see if I can open it (kind of) neatly now.

I expect a few here have the original release of Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, sealed in foil and plastic like a giant tablet. Oh how I laughed…
Click to expand...

Yes I have that one - I ran an Xacto knife around half the foil and extracted the CD...

...the whole package is still Mint apart from that cut to this day (but only due to extreme care in storage).

Another CD that proved difficult to open was this:-

https://www.discogs.com/release/3544867-Molly-Drake-Molly-Drake

...I again wielded the Xacto knife to open it - but with disastrous results!

I emailed Cally Calloman (the curator of the Nick Drake catalogue)...

...and he kindly sent me all the component parts of the release (so I could reconstruct probably the only perfect opened version of the release in the world!).

Some time later I flogged that perfect Molly Drake CD for £50 and bought this far superior edition (with much better hardback book packaging):-

https://www.discogs.com/release/112...s-Magnificence-Songs-And-Poems-Of-Molly-Drake
 
UF Orb (Discogs) is another one that needed cutting out of its packaging, it came sealed on all four sides in the blue PVC outer (I don’t understand how they achieved that). I remember getting a metal ruler and a Stanley Knife and very carefully cutting the edge off. Sadly it is one of the most eccentric pressings I’ve seen despite being worth quite a lot now! At least one side has a good few mm swing.
 
theadmans said:
My Public Image Limited - Metal Box CD...

...in a tin film cannister is tarnished (despite being kept in a damp free, non-smoking, pet free home)!
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My vinyl copy has moved everywhere I have (I’ve owned it since new) and has a certain patina! As a geeky record collector it should trigger me, but it has aged in a really cool way IMO! Very, very rare to find a mint one of these, mines at the far end as its been through some shitty damp flats in the ‘80s, but the contents are still NM and the tarnishing is pretty even. Still got the ‘Metal 1’ sticker on the back.
 
I’d love an original of that one! Mine is the black cover reissue. I’ve never even seen one in person, I imagine they are all trashed as I bet a grain of sand or two inevitably gets in the inner.
 
Tony L said:
My vinyl copy has moved everywhere I have (I’ve owned it since new) and has a certain patina! As a geeky record collector it should trigger me, but it has aged in a really cool way IMO!
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Couldn't agree more, it looks fantastic. Think I would matte lacquer it so it stays exactly like that.
 
Tony L said:
53388410830_27a87bde6c_b.jpg


My vinyl copy has moved everywhere I have (I’ve owned it since new) and has a certain patina! As a geeky record collector it should trigger me, but it has aged in a really cool way IMO! Very, very rare to find a mint one of these, mines at the far end as its been through some shitty damp flats in the ‘80s, but the contents are still NM and the tarnishing is pretty even. Still got the ‘Metal 1’ sticker on the back.
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My copy still looks pretty good. No special treatment - I just rolled it into a small gap between two LP storage boxes.
 
Wolfmancatsup said:
My copy still looks pretty good. No special treatment - I just rolled it into a small gap between two LP storage boxes.
Click to expand...

It is all the crappy 1980s rented flats that took their toll on mine, places with black mould, leaking ceilings etc. I’m amazed my album covers are as good as they are, though thankfully they were never under a direct leak and I always spaced the rack away from the wall, and never an outer wall. I was always conscious of protecting the vinyl, I’ve always been totally obsessive, but I lived in some pretty shitty places during the mass-unemployment of the 1980s. At this stage in life I’ve swapped pretty much anything with a tatty sleeve out, as one does if one is a record dealer. There are a couple I do’t understand, e.g. when loading stuff into discogs I noticed my copy of Felt’s Crumbling The Antiseptic Beauty had water damage on the opening. I can’t explain that as nothing around it has, and I certainly don’t recall spilling anything on it! Annoying as it is a rare and very good album. Some stuff that got grubby due to fragile matt white covers has been swapped out, e.g. I’m on my second copy of Closer and Durutti Column’s LC. That’s just down to not using outer sleeves though, not damp. Strange, I can’t explain it. That Metal Box is certainly one of the records I’ve owned the longest without swapping anything out, I was a little late buying it as it was expensive, but I’ve certainly had it since 1980 (bought new, Virgin, Liverpool).

PS I sold a Metal Box in the shop a couple of years back, the can was in technically better condition than mine, certainly more paint, but I just preferred mine. I’d almost argue it is what a Metal Box should look like.

PPS Metal Box top tip: stack the white paper separators at the bottom of the can and just use Nagaoka inners on the three records. Yes, they scrunch up and crease, but they protect the vinyl and provide an easy corner to grab to get the records out of the can.
 
Tony L said:
PPS Metal Box top tip: stack the white paper separators at the bottom of the can and just use Nagaoka inners on the three records. Yes, they scrunch up and crease, but they protect the vinyl and provide an easy corner to grab to get the records out of the can.
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That's a great tip! I usually just gently up end the tin over my lap so the records fall out...
 
Tony L said:
UF Orb (Discogs) is another one that needed cutting out of its packaging, it came sealed on all four sides in the blue PVC outer (I don’t understand how they achieved that). I remember getting a metal ruler and a Stanley Knife and very carefully cutting the edge off. Sadly it is one of the most eccentric pressings I’ve seen despite being worth quite a lot now! At least one side has a good few mm swing.
Click to expand...
You sure it’s blue, I thought it was black pvc… I recall cutting mine with a Stanley knife too

I better check mine.
 
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