The Fluid made the jump to the majors in 1993, probably a year or two too late. Purplemetalflakemusic, the longtime publishing name of the band's songs, was the title of their Hollywood Records debut (and, sadly, swan song). I consider this their best album. I think it was promoted very poorly, despite four promo singles (three CDs, one 7") being released. There were three or four songs on the album that were quite commercially accessible, but they were (mostly) not the ones that were chosen as singles. I digress. Hollywood put out a vinyl version of the album on purple vinyl that is somewhat difficult to come by. A couple of copies have sold for larger amounts over the years, but it has stabilized in the $20-25 range.
To my surprise, 25 years later...a black vinyl version surfaced. It was an Italian version. The catalog number matches the U.S. purple vinyl version. In fact, everything matches the U.S. version, except that "DISTRIBUZIONE DISCHI RICORDI S.p.A." is printed on the back of the sleeve below the other credits. And, of course, it's on black vinyl. The labels have the import stamps seen on the Rocket from the Crypt Yum Kippered 7". A few more of these have surfaced since I found out about it, but it remains brutally rare. The last couple of copies that were sold went for less than what the last few U.S. ones went for, and that...is misguided.
Some (all?) of the U.S. CDs came with a limited edition purple metal flake sticker. The Japanese version of the CD had a bonus track ("Cell") that was exclusive to that disc. It did appear in demo form on the Spot the Loon EP and the Pill promo CD, but the final, polished, blistering 2 1/2-minute beast of a version on the Japanese CD hits harder than the demo and is worth tracking down.
| Version | Value ($) | Scarcity | Price Trending |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR-61445-1 Purple | 50-80 | 6 | Up / Volatile |
| HR-61445-1 Black (Italy) | 35-55 | 9 | Volatile |
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This page was last updated on March 3, 2022.