Blew - Nirvana

Released in December 1989, 6 Months after the release of the bands debut album Bleach, Blew was intended to be used as a promotion for the upcoming European tour. However, this plan was scrapped and the EP was released exclusively in the United Kingdom by Tupelo Records.

It was originally released on both 12" vinyl and CD although only 3,000 copies were ever pressed. This limited number and the land-locked release makes finding an original copy very difficult indeed. Modern reissues were pressed on both coloured vinyl and picture discs (of the cover) although the original 12" release was only pressed on black vinyl.

Blew is made up of 4 tracks which are alternate versions of tracks that appear on other albums. 'Blew' and 'Love Buzz' both appeared on Bleach whilst 'Been a Son' and 'Stain' later appeared on Incesticide.

Got Wood?

From the mind that brought you 3D printed records, comes the next craziest thing. Laser cut wooden records!

It seems Amanda Ghassaei (our scientist from the Stated) is building a bit of a reputation for finding crazy new materials to create records out of.

So what was her choice of song for her latest creation? 'Idioteque', another Radiohead track from their album 'Kid A' (2000). Yes, it seems that she is also a Radiohead fan and again, it wouldn't have been my first choice but hey, it's still pretty cool.

The quality is pretty rubbish, as you could probably expect from a piece of wood still worth checking out!

3D Printed Vinyl

I'm sure that everyone has now heard of the genius that is the 3D printer and it has been developed at the perfect time. The rebirth of vinyl. When Amanda Ghassaei (a scientist from the USA) realised this, she knew only one thing needed to be done. To develop the Worlds first playable, 3D printed record. The next logical step was to decide which song should grace the plastic; her choice? 'Everything In It's Right Place - Radiohead', The opening track to the album 'Kid A' (2000). Not my first choice but hey, if i ever win the lottery i'll buy a 3D printer and create my own mixtape!

Check out a short clip of the track below!

Blue Ice - Shout Out Loud

Swedish band Shout Out Loud really know how to invent a novelty and from the start this record is just dripping with excitement.

Rather than buying a record you bought a DIY kit consisting of a silicon mold, a bottle of distilled water and a set of instructions. But if successful, you could create the bands single, Blue Ice, on a thick block of playable ice!

Due to ice's tendency to melt you could only get one, very crude, play out of the record and only 10 kits were ever created in the first place making the single extremely rare. But due to peoples overwhelming curiosity to create the record, it is likely that there are in fact no complete kits left.

The other downside to this novelty was the risk that playing the record could potentially damage your record player. Chances are that the needle would be destroyed from the coarse ice and, as the ice melted, water could find it's way inside the player blowing the electrics.

Worth the risk? What do you think?

Check out the process below!

Playable & Edible! Chocolate Vinyl

By Your Side - BreakBot

Cover for the limited 'chocolate edition'. Unfortunately only the record itself is edible.

French DJ BreakBot might not have the following that The Beatles or The Rolling Stones have got but he has certainly matched, if not surpassed, them with marketing skill. Releasing his 2012 album  'By Your Side' on a limited edition chocolate record. Yes, 100% edible and 100% playable! Only 120 were ever produced and I would think that the nature of the record (being made of chocolate) would mean that you would only get limited plays out of it so there may only be a handful left but, lets be honest, you're not buying it to play!

See the record in action here!

Working Together - Chilly Gonzales

BreakBot wasn't only, and certainly not the first, artist to release a record on chocolate. In 2008 Chilly Gonzales released 100 copies of his single 'Working Together' on a 7" piece of deliciousness. However, fans soon realised that they could only get 4 or 5 plays before it turned to a crumbley mess and inevitably ruined the record player.

Not such an exciting cover by Gonzales.

No Remorse - Motorhead

General card sleeve

No Remorse is a compilation album, released in 1984, consisting of Motorhead's back catalogue while signed to Bronze Records. Lemmy believed that a compilation was a sign of the death of the band so insisted that they record new tracks for it ("Killed By Death", "Snaggletooth", "Steal Your Face" and "Locomotive").

There aren't any secrets as such associated with this one but there are some cool packaging variations out there.

As well as the usual and pretty dull card sleeve, the original album was also available with a leather sleeve with silver artwork that had been reworked in higher detail and with several slight differences, most notably the iron cross. Later cassette versions were also released in a leather pouch with wording designed to mimic the warnings found on cigarette packets about the contents being potentially damaging to health. Not necessarily untrue when listening to Motorhead!

                           

                 Leather 'cigarette' pouch

Silver on leather cover                                               

Their Satanic Majesties Request - The Rolling Stones

Released on the 8th December 1967 by Decca Records, Their Satanic Majesties Request is the 6th British release and the 8th American release by the Rolling Stones. As far as secrets go, this album's gatefold sleeve is full of 'em!

The title itself is said to be a play on the text found inside a British passport; "Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires..." God knows why but someone though it sounded good.

It was originally released with a holographic 3D cover but it was so costly to create that the label actually lost money for every copy sold so later pressings were released with a standard card sleeve.

Open the gatefold and on the inner-left side you'll find a maze, pretty cool except no mater how many times you try you'll never get to the centre. Evil.

Perhaps the biggest known fact is the faces of all 4 Beatles hidden in the cover. The 2 bands were spending a fair amount of time together in those days so it's considered a response to the use of the Stones's name on the The Beatles Sgt Peppers cover.