Contract On A Purson

A while back, full-time good dude/part-time vinyl blogger over at Couch Slouch, Sandwell reached out to ask for a favor. Seemed that he was over from the UK, visiting New York City, and needed some help with some records that he'd ordered while he was in the States. I was happy to help out a fellow record nerd, so I told him to do what he needed to do.

I fall for this shit every time, and when a box from Revelation landed at my door a week or so later, I'd forgotten all about that conversation between Mark and I. I was scratching my head as I opened the package, wondering what I'd ordered from REV. As I started flipping through all the records in the box, I was pretty stoked, as I thought that REV sent me a bunch of cool records for free in error. Then it hit me...fuck...these aren't mine, they are for Mark.

Since I was helping him out, Sandwell offered to send me something in a way of a thank you...and promised me that it would not be a Madball record. That was a relief, as I couldn't think of a thank you gift that was much worse than a Madball record.

Turns out that he had a spare of the The Contract 7 inch from Purson, and decided to send it along to me. Considering that only 300 of these were pressed (100 on clear vinyl, and 200 on black), and were only to be available at Rise Above's 25th anniversary show. 50 of them did make their way to Rise Above's webstore, and sold out pretty quickly. I remember seeing them go up for sale at the time, but couldn't be bothered to spend Rise Above's shipping prices for this one, so I let it pass me by. Very cool to eventually receive one anyway.

While The Contract is also available on Purson's 2013 full length release, the b-side Blueprints Of The Dream is exclusive to this single. Good stuff. The band have a new full length coming out early 2016, but I wasn't a big fan of their 2014 EP, so we'll see if I dig it or if they are getting too spacey and weird for my tastes. Should be interesting to say the least.

I'm A Die Hard Purson

Any day that I'm able to get in early enough on a Rise Above Records preorder to secure a Die Hard pressing on clear vinyl, you best believe that it is a good day. This stuff sells out quick, and if you are caught napping, you'll miss out. After the 7 inch teaser for the new Purson album earlier this year, I was really looking forward to the release of the full length album. When I hopped into the Rise Above store and saw that there were still some Die Hard versions left, I snatched one up.

The Die Hard version of the LP comes in a nice slipcase with a die-cut keyhole to highlight the obvious focus of the band...Rosalie.

The back of the slipcase indicates this as special edition packaging.

There were 400 of the Die Hard pressing, but only 100 of them were on the milky clear vinyl.

The album itself is really good. Total 70's Rock worship. Nice and laid back with Rosalie's voice, but still with a bit of a hard rock edge.

The album title on the front, and the song titles on the back have a nice gold letter embossing. Rise Above really care about the product they release and these little details really show the level of quality they are committed to. Beautiful.

The Die Hard pressings also come with a big poster, and a "I'm A Purson Person" patch.

Single Purson

Another 7 inch single from Rise Above...this time for the band Purson.

I remember Sandwell writing about this band a year ago, but I'd never heard of them at the time. Much to my surprise, their first 7 inch, Rocking Horse, sold out incredibly quick, and with Sandwell making comparisons to Blood Ceremony, I was disappointed to have missed out. To this day, I've still haven't heard this record. Thankfully, Rise Above pressed plenty of copies for Purson's new 7 inch single, Leaning On A Bear, so I'm not left having to pay out the ass on eBay for this one.

If this 7 inch is any indication, Purson's new LP, Circle and the Blue Door, is going to be amazing. A few years ago, I wouldn't have expected to like this brand of female-fronted occult rock...and I can see the style getting played out pretty quickly...but right now, I'm eating this shit up.

Sure the band look like total douchebags, but damn, their singer certainly has my attention.