My Morning Jacket: Circuital

My favorite album so far this year, of the past year, maybe even the past few years. Not too crazy about the album cover, but they do have much worse- most of their album covers suck (see all covers below). There, I said it.  I suppose these guys want the music to sell on its own without having you drawn to an aesthetically pleasing cover? 

No matter though, the album itself is an amazing set of songs, and despite the 1930's magic tuning eye (I had no idea what the hell it was until I read it in a review), it is a very nice vinyl package.



Included with the two beautiful 180 gram  records is a folded mini-poster with lyrics/scribbles covering one side, photos of the band in the studio on the other. The sleeves are non-glossy printed heavy stock, the cover is also a very thick non-gloss gatefold.  Download card is included.  Oh yeah- this set is 45 RPM- very nice!

I love the matt feel of the cover (no fingerprints!) but with such a dark graphic it lacks any dramatic effect.  The records/sleeves are very tight in the jacket pockets, so when you re-sleeve with a higher grade, the original sleeves are best stored in the gatefold.



Some stores are also giving out the leftover CD single stock of Holdin' On To Black Metal which contains exclusive b-side Butch Cassidy (Live at T5) with the purchase of the album since the included $2 off coupon has expired. 

My store also gave me a circular promo sticker of the eye. Hey, crap like that makes me happy! :)


Also available, is the DELUXE VINYL BOX.  For $80+shipping you get a whole bunch more packaging inside a LENTICULAR box cover that's MUCH more dramatic than the regular cover- the lenticular print causes the magic eye to glow when turned from side to side. Pretty sweet!!  There's also a 24 page 12"x12" lyric/photo book, DVD, and some other printed stuff- but the prize here, hidden inside the standard gatefold, are the green gem colored records.  Very nice!

It's NOT glow-in-the-dark green like pictured on their website.  Here is a youtube video of the actual record color, with the lenticular cover in the background.  There was a problem with a high percentage of the green vinyl arriving on doorsteps warped- so the band had the entire run re-pressed and mailed to all customers to replace the records in their original box, whether their set was warped or not.  Bravo to the band for that!  I'm really itchin' for this set, but won't be able to swing the $80 for a while. 

Circuital @ metacritic
My Morning Jacket online.