AFI – Black Sails In The Sunset

Review I wrote back in 1999 on my website punkupdates.com:

I really am not sure about this one, so it's possible that I'll rewrite this review in a couple of weeks. It's one of those albums I guess you can't judge after just a few listenings. Although I must it their previous release Very Proud Of Ya (1996) didn't come back in my CD player after a few listenings either. My first impression was that the band produces some good music but the vocals aren't what I prefer. I guess you could describe Davey Havok's vocals as coming from a guy with his balls between the door. Luckily Dexter Holland (Offspring) does some backing vocals on this one, and I some of my friends telling me just the same about his vocals a lot of years ago with their Smash-album before they got famous. Look where that has brought them, so who knows? A few songs I thought really have some potential as fast melodic punk songs (Narrative of Soul against Soul, No Poetic Device, The Last Kiss) , while others made me think this was an emo-metal band (Malleus Maleficarum) or something like Manic Street Preachers (Clove Smoke Catharsis).

We're about 24 years later now... it was one of their best albums for sure and I came to love it. The song "No Poetic Device" is a classic now.

Does anyone have this album pressed on gold vinyl? I just got a copy from Aomeba like that, I'm assuming it's the 2014 reissue since I bought it new, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of any other date than 1999.

Does anyone have info about a translucent blue pressing of this record? I can't seem to find anything about this color pressing anywhere, yet the copy that I have is a see-through marbled blue. Any help would be appreciated!

I really do need the help of the community here (since the people at NITRO are unable to answer my fairly easy question): Does anyone know, if the 2014 rereleases of the first five AFI records come on colored vinyl? I specifically mean the releases that are currently available for sale on the NITRO website as a bundle: http://www.myplaydirect.com/nitro-records/afi-vinyl-bundle/details/29929326?feature-name=featured&feature=29704948
To put it differently, are those 2014 releases that are listed on discogs the same you can now buy via the NITRO website?
Like I've said, the customer service couldn't help me out, so I'm looking for someone who has the right piece of information.
Since I really want the colored records and I'm living in Europe I don't want to take the chance of paying high shipping fees for the wrong items.
So I hope somebody can help me out here.

Cheers,
Josef

I have been a big fan of AFI's earlier work for quite some time now, and this disk is by far the best effort by this band to date. In fact, I would have to say that this was probably their last great release. While "Shut Your Mouth And Open Your Eyes" was a clear hint that the group's early skate-punk days had come to a close, this album sealed the deal and forever let the world know that AFI was a force to be reckoned with in the realm of dark, gothic-influenced punk.

I the very first time that I heard this album. My best friend at the time had just bought it and popped it into his car's CD player. We were both heavily into the punk scene at the time, and when we first heard the opening track, we both kind of looked at each other with disappointing looks on our faces. Where had the AFI that we knew and loved so well gone? As soon as those cymbal hits at the beginning of 'Porphyria' ended, however, we both pounded our fists into the air and knew right then that the money spent had not gone to waste. Not that it mattered too much to me, seeing as how I wasn't the one who bought it.

All in all, this is probably the only album that old fans and new fans alike can both enjoy. I will not say that AFI has 'sold-out' in recent years, because the pursuit of wealth is what drives innovation, but their sound has definitely changed, for better or worse.

OK, enough economics, just go and buy the damn album.