There are a couple of things that I try to avoid when collecting records these days. No box sets and no discography compilations. At one time, I had the mentality that I needed it all, but these days, I don't need that taking up space on my shelves. It just seems like a waste to me if I already have the original records. When my buddy, Chris, gave me a heads up that there was a Shotmaker box set on the way last year, I thanked him for the info but said that my original vinyl had me covered and this wasn't something that I needed.
Okay, hear me out. I've been listening to a lot of mid 90's emo this year... Current, Native Nod, Policy of 3, and obviously repeat spins of Shotmaker. Because of this obsession, I started to rationalize it in my brain. "The packaing and vinyl looks great." "For a three LP box set, the price is actually reasonable." And finally, "I really fucking love Shotmaker."
With the nice looking black box, embossed with the Shotmaker name across the front, the three LPs where each band member gets a full size photo on the back cover sleeve, this is just a really nice package.
I would have liked a bit more history from the band in the booklet that comes with the box set. It is still really nice with plenty of photos and flyers, but I would have loved to hear the details on their experience and memories in writing, recording and traveling. Also, this three record set is somehow incomplete, and does not include the two songs from the split 7 inch with Watershed or the two songs from the HeartattaCk #10 and All The Presidents Men comps. Those four songs are crucial to the history of Shotmaker and it is a shame that they were missed.
The first record contains the Mouse Ear [Forget-Me-Not] LP and looks great on this transparent purple vinyl.
The second record in the set is for The Crayon Club LP on a good looking blue vinyl.
Finally, we get the two Shotmaker 7 inches and the songs from the split with Maximillian Colby combined on a 12 inch for the third LP on green.
500 pressed. Totally useless for me to buy, but record collecting is all about stupid pointless purchases, and I'm really happy to own this... plus it got the songs onto Spotify so I can listen to it whenever the mood strikes.
2 comments:
Believe it or not, I've never heard this band. This box set looks pretty cool though for a noob like me, especially how its not pressed on some kind of splattery swirl vinyl.
I hope that someday you finally get around to checking them out.
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