Friday, June 2, 2017

0019: Suitable Ending

In 2006 the Action suits reconvened and recorded enough tracks to fill an album. The seven songs recorded in March 1996 (and released on the first four singles) were shuffled into the play order with the new songs. The cardboard sleeve (with new Peter Bagge art) lists all the songs in the CD's program order:



The fifth single, which didn't have Bagge and was illustrated by Al Columbia, isn't included on the compilation. At about forty minutes, it wasn't a matter of time constraints. The liner notes mention a fire in 1998, but not what, if anything besides the house, was lost. I don't know who would have the master tapes if they haven't been burned or melted. Of course, when everything you release comes out on different labels there are always licensing issues, too. I do know that Steve Fisk produced both the 1996 and 2006 sessions, but not the fifth single, so it could just be a matter of using what he could immediately access.

I should mention that the logo on the CD surface is not gold-colored. It's really reflective silver, but appears gold in the scan as a side effect of the equipment I used. Oh, and please pardon the shrink-wrap glare on the front and back cover scans. I found that by opening only the seam on the shrink-wrap that I could easily slide the CD in and out of the jacket while keeping the easier-to-clean plastic sheath. The white background on the front could otherwise get really dingy really quickly.

Unlike the singles, the CD booklet contains full, typeset credits. Rather than the trail-off grooves found on vinyl, the CD has an inner groove around the non-encoded plastic center ring that reads, "THE ACTION SUITS CD W181 IFPI LL61". The plastic center ring itself is embossed with "IFPI J763". The catalog number was PressPop Music PPM-004. There's no indication of where either the disc or booklet were manufactured, but PressPop is a Japanese company and this CD is still available on their website for ¥2,000. They also have a Buddy Bradley doll for ¥3,200. The vitals are here:


Also in the booklet are three pages of photos and this comic format advertisement by Jaime Hernandez that ran int Bagge's comic book Hate #24 (08/96). It not only has far-fetched future versions of the band and Fisk but also representatives of the four labels that released the first four singles.


And that's it for the band, as far as I know. I think my next 'other media' post might be a DVD. I have several examples of 12" records that tie into comics, but no way to scan them. I'm going to have to somehow invest in a digital camera. In the meantime, there's still plenty of comics to organize and tons of related paraphernalia I keep tripping over. I hope you find them pause-worthy.

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Previously on "Sieve Eye Care"...