A couple of months later and we're back again. The Biffy represses have continued and this time we have the band's second album, The Vertigo Of Bliss. Another record for which the first pressing fetches a rather high price on ebay, another instant-buy for me. I got this from Banquet Records again, and I have absolutely no complaints with their service. Packing was top-notch as always.
Right. So we have Milo Manara's somewhat controversial cover. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of it. It's well drawn and that but I dunno, I just don't like it that much. Glad that Beggars didn't wuss out and censor the nipple though (there was a bit of a palava when it was covered up as the artwork was being shown on big screens on their last tour). It also came in a nice thick plastic sleeve, just like Blackened Sky.
The inside of the gatefold is, again, the same as the two sides of the inner sleeve of the first pressing. Lovely touch. Old photos of Biffy always amuse me loads as well, look at James all ridiculous on the far left. Aw. The other side contains various lyrics, I think one from each song on the album. It includes some of my absolute favourite Biffy lines ("kill your bizarre mindset fuckhead", "infinity lies, save yourself" and "you can't help being warm" are all great), so that's awesome.
Pretty plain back cover, really. Still, as you can see we've again got the album plus B-sides spread over 4 sides. I'm happy about that.
Oh yes. Orange. The shade roughly matches the colour of the band's name on the cover of the album and it's lovely. The colour is, as with the Blackened Sky repress, also slightly marbled. Yet again, it was pretty hard to take a picture of it, but in holding it up to the light I think you can sort of get an idea of what it's like:
Cool, huh?
I can't properly describe The Vertigo Of Bliss as an album to you. I just can't. It's the most experimental of the Biffy albums, constantly feeling as though it's on the verge of a total breakdown. It starts with Bodies In Flight crashing into your ears, finishes with the chaotic noise of Now The Action Is On Fire! (complete with maybe the best angry string section ever recorded) and has a million different tempos in between. If I go into any more detail, this post will go on forever so just hear this: I fucking love this album. The B-sides are also excellent. The side featuring them is bookended by my personal two favourites, the first being ...And With The Scissorkick Is Victorious and the last being I Hope You're Done. Both outstanding loud Biffy songs.
I'm pretty stoked with the way these Beggars represses are going. There seems to be a lot of effort getting put into them, and I think they're probably worthwhile purchases even for those who own the originals. Good work, chaps.
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