Bear vs. Shark - Right Now, You're In The Best Of Hands. And If Something Isn't Quite Right, Your Doctor Will Know In A Hurry

After that minor diversion, my love affair with Big Scary Monsters is going to continue. This is an album I bought from BSM well over a year ago that I've been meaning to post about for a long time, but just haven't got round to doing. I bought the album based solely on the strength of a free download posted on the BSM site, with some minor persuasion from Kev. I ended up getting a second copy of the album after winning a BSM competition (more on that soon) so I suppose I'm kind of hoarding it. Oops. It's sold out in the BSM store now, but there may be a few copies left with Banquet if you're interested. It's actually a repress of the album (possibly the first UK pressing?), which was first released on vinyl by Friction Records in the US way back in 2003 (1000 first press, 500 second press in a variety of colours).

Excellent cover. I'm not entirely sure who the two boys on the cover are, but they look cool. The cover is also different to the covers of both the CD version of the album and the Friction Records vinyl version, which is a nice touch.

Such a lovely colour choice. I really like records with a colour "haze", and of course red and black is a good colour combo. There are also some more really nice little touches. The penguin on the back is a drawing by Marc Paffi (the BvS lead singer) that I believe was used in the artwork for the CD version, as was the art used for the record labels here. Lovely.

As I said, two different copies of the record. The one that I bought is number 9, the one I won is 210. They're printed as being out of 250, but there are actually 254 copies in existence. Bit of needless trivia for you, there.

Okay so MUSIC CHAT. This is the first of the two albums Bear vs. Shark released before they sadly broke up, and what a loss they are. The band specialise in gloriously unhinged post-hardcore (in the vein of Meet Me In St. Louis, to offer a direct comparison to previous posts), the most striking factor of which is Marc Paffi's spectacular vocals. Ranging from the gentle croon of Second to the explosive yelps of Ma Jolie, it's his voice that drives what is an excellent album. It's a very well-paced album at that, with a few slower and more subdued songs (such as the aforementioned Second) offering a welcome respite from the sheer energy of the rest. Now if only BSM could do a repressing of the band's second album...


p.s. I have avoided saying the album's name for the entire of this post because LOOK AT IT. I think I did pretty well.