[NMA]

Ladies and gentlemen... Here's "The Ultra LP"

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-8B-_Jq2ro[/video]

ULTRA LP FEATURES:

- 180 gram vinyl
- 2 vinyl-only hidden tracks hidden beneath the center labels
- 1 hidden track plays at 78 RPM, one plays at 45 RPM, making this a 3-speed record
- Side A plays from the outside in
- Dual-groove technology: plays an electric or acoustic intro for “Just One Drink” depending on where needle is dropped. The grooves meet for the body of the song.
- Matte finish on Side B, giving the appearance of an un-played 78 RPM record
- Both sides end with locked grooves
- Vinyl pressed in seldom-used flat-edged format
- Dead wax area on Side A contains a hand-etched hologram by Tristan Duke of Infinity Light Science, the first of its kind on a vinyl record
- Absolutely zero compression used during recording, mixing and mastering
- Different running order from the CD/digital version
- LP utilizes some mixes different from those used on CD and digital version

Available to pre-order @ http://thirdmanstore.com/jack-white-lazaretto-12-vinyl

[lazyben]

I have a vault membership at third man and the vault version apparently has all these features too. I'm a bit confused how you play something that's under the labels though (and neither of my turntables does 78 anyway).

[antimax]

It's um… interesting? I mean, it's cool, but… ridiculous? This almost seems like a parody video, like an SNL skit or something. That floating hologram is really awesome, though. And at $20, I guess it really isn't so bad at all! I thought this would cost like $400 or something, just to make it seem even more special.

[ninjaqutie]

I almost joined the vault to get the package for this record. In the end, I decided not to; however, I think I would be content with this LP. Has a few neat party tricks, but is more or less an average record. I think I might snatch this one up sometime this month.

[kingmob]

nonsense

[cookythecook]

so incredible. im a vault member too, cant wait to get my hands on this.

[icyjones]

Looks like the Vault version is just a color variant. I'm stoked on this, mainly for the hologram, and neat to pull out and show friends all the little tricks.

[hncreature]

I'm impressed it will be available to all - Truth there icyjones...a good show off Lp

[bansel]

Lol didn't Third Man put out a 7 inch that was sandwiched inside a 12 inch and the only way you could hear it was to break the 12inch to retrieve the 7 inch, thus nixing any collector value? Gotta love it. Shenanigans!

[chandler75]

[quote=17857]I’m a bit confused how you play something that’s under the labels though (and neither of my turntables does 78 anyway).[/quote]

According to the video, you can play it by placing the needle on the label. Can't imagine that it's very good for the needle, though...

[NMA]

I guess there'll be a speacial coating on the label (like flexi disc surface or smth.)

[lazyben]

My vault copy of this arrived today. I haven't really decided on the music yet but the actual record is the most annoying piece of crap wax I have the misfortune to own (other than that Halloween 7").

It's pretty noisy in places, the split intro thing is a total disaster as neither of them actually synch with the rest of the song properly and trying to figure out where to put the stylus down to start side 1 should not be this fucking difficult.

I'm not going to bother investigating the tracks under the labels because that's just stupid and I can't play at 78 anyway. And I've seen Si's picture of the hologram so I'm not going to bother with that either.

Oh, and my sleeve is mangled because their mailers are crap.

I think I'm going to ask them to send me the cd instead...

[philball1974]

What nonesense. No music is worth faffing around like that. The record really doesn't need reinventing.

[ninjaqutie]

[quote=22211]My vault copy of this arrived today. I haven’t really decided on the music yet but the actual record is the most annoying piece of crap wax I have the misfortune to own (other than that Halloween 7″).

Oh, and my sleeve is mangled because their mailers are crap.

I think I’m going to ask them to send me the cd instead…
[/quote]

Hey Ben, since you are a vault member, I take it you have the split blue/white variant? Do you think that is part of the problem? Maybe I will take a shot at getting the black version from my local shop. At least I can ensure it is in good shape when I buy!

[Peek-a-boo]

The tracks don't sync on the black vinyl either. The pressing isn't great, but I like the music and he's tried a few novel tricks with the vinyl which can probably be expanded on and used better in the future.

[lazyben]

ninjaqutie, yeah blue and white split. It looks pretty but that's really the best thing I can say about it. I doubt I'll ever actually feel like playing the stupid thing again so the music won't get a chance to grow on me.

The standard one has all the same gimmicks so the problems aren't going to just vanish on that one. I even forgot to mention the matt finish on one side which probably isn't going to help the sound much either.

I know they like their whacky variants at third man and I don't really have a problem with that if you know what you're getting but when the vault sub was up for renewal there was no mention of these "ultra" features. The odd thing is this is probably their biggest release of the year (except maybe the Neil Young lp) and has more chance of reaching people outside of their core fanbase so it seems a bit of a risk.

[ninjaqutie]

Boo. I really like Jack White and was looking forward to this album. I am glad I passed on the vault now and I am bummed that the vinyl seems so shitty. You would think that someone who has their own pressing plant would make better quality. ::sigh:: I'm going to have to ponder on this a bit.

[siforster]

"And I’ve seen Si’s picture of the hologram so I’m not going to bother with that either."


Ooh, that wounds me to the core.
I rather like the album, but once much of the novelty value fades away and "why don't people do this sort of whacky malarkey more often?" becomes "oh, that's why" (the locked grooves especially grate as it just sounds like the needle's stuck/jumping rather than a continuous thing), much of it is a bit pointless.
The thing that pisses me off the most about the whole package is the amount of personal info you are required to submit before you can access your download from the card that comes with the vinyl. I don't know why some places insist on just an email address at the best of times (do your own bloody marketing, you lazy sods), making name/postcode/date of birth mandatory is a ridiculous level of intrusion to access something that you've already paid for. Or maybe it's just me who gets mad at the current wave of "personal info for free thing" crapness

[lazyben]

Ha ha...that wasn't meant to be a diss in your direction and apologies if it seemed that way. Having seen something of the end result means I don't have to mess around with lights and optimal angles to be left wondering "is that it?".

I sent them an email telling them politelyish what I thought of it but they're probably still busy shipping the rest of these so I'm not expecting a response for a while.

[siforster]

Nah, to be honest it's only just been pointed out to me that it's upside-down as well

I think it's a great example of how this year's been going in terms of vinyl as a whole; so many releases have been delayed and pushed back ages (including a huge one as far as I'm concerned which I'm not allowed to talk about yet!) because what was a really cool renaissance of a much-loved format is being buried by novelties...


EDIT: What a grumpy scrote I'm being today.

[lazyben]

You're just grumpy because you want your (huge) boxset of lassie scores

[siforster]

It shall be mine one day.

mmmm, barky.

[Bub]

Was just thinking, maybe they can re-release a 2pac album & put his hologram on it.

[toosoonjunior]

From what I've read here, this really does sound like an awful experience, which kind of defeats one of the great aspects of records for me: the experience.

[siforster]

It's not awful so much as maybe trying to hard to appeal to vinyl fans and, in doing so, missing the point entirely. Making something look like an olde tyme 78rpm thingy is a fun thing to look at a couple of times, but ultimately in doing that it sounds like crap - sort of making it a glow-in-the-dark Ghostbusters 10" for a snobbier clientele.
It's a bit of a shame because it's a pretty good record, but that's sort of lost under the "ooh, isn't it whacky?" veneer. To be honest, it's probably best appreciated on a less distracting digital format.