after christmas i used a bit of my annual bonus to treat myself to a record which i had my eyes on for quite some time. when the ten bands, one cause edition of mastodon's "emperor of sand" was released in mid 2017 i was torn as what to do. there was no initial colour vinyl pressing of the record plus it would come on the best vinyl colour of all - pink. the temptation was hard to resist but a hefty overall price of over fifty bucks for an u.s. import put me off. i rather wanted to play the waiting game and maybe come across a cheaper option at some later point.
this tactic seemed to pay off because a few months later the price of the record dropped to reasonable amounts on discogs. as only u.s. sellers offered the record, i still payed a considerable chunk of cash because of the high shipping rates. nevertheless i am really happy with my purchase from a nice u.s. independent record store. this pink u.s. version doesn't differ from the euro edition but in the fine print only. and in the vinyl colour of course.
i actuallly found it difficult to take pictures of the vinyl and get the colour across in the right way. when taken a closer look, one can see that the vinyl colour is a mix of white and red pvc with a slight marble effect. my shitty cam seems to emphasise the white in the mix. the last photo shows the actual colour best. musically "emperor of sand" is a masterpiece. such a strong effort that has it all. the progressivity, the hooks, the melodies, the lyrical concept - everything. glad to have one out of 3000 copies. reprise records. 2017.
