Mapping The Definitive Editions - Low-life

Debaser wrote: So untitled 1 (writing session) sounds like a nascant BLT. Hooky's bass is nice here - melodic and warm. Too bad it's only 1:30

Re: Untitled 2 (writing session). The arpeggio-ish keyboard melody from 0:00 to 0:29 (and 1:27 to 1:56, and 2:53 to 3:21 etc) reminds me of something, but I cant think what. Possibly not New Order. Liking the funky synth bass line, and Hooky really gets into it as the track goes on. It doesn't seem to be an obvous precursor to a better known NO track. That's a shame because it feels like it could have gone to be something worthwhile. But great that it has been unearthed. Perhaps not for the first time?

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The first one has the same synth rhythm as BLT I guess, but is different chords, so I doubt it evolved directly into BLT - more likely it was just a favourite keyboard rhythm pattern of whoever came up with it

The second one - in terms of familiarity it sounds somewhere between the theme from Knight Rider and Radiohead's Street Spirit (Fade-Out)

The Eagle has Landed!

Also just noticed (and apologies if it's been mentioned elsewhere) but why the case change from "Low-life" to "Low-Life"? Seems odd

...and then there were 3:-

BTW for anyone tracking their Amazon delivery - mine didn't even reach the Out For Delivery status by the time it arrived.

Anyway it's all the good times - my work finishes early on a Friday afternoon - it's going to be a hell of a Friday night...

...almost as good as that spring morning (circa 25th May 1985) when I bought the original LP and TPK 12' !!!

Well, mine's arrived. Ripping discs for later consumption. More later... once I've enjoyed this.

I'm pleased that most people's copies appear to be with them. Hoping everybody else's come soon. Enjoy guys!

Fotz wrote: Currently it's arriving Saturday but it may arrive today, who knows. I've had that happen before with Amazon

Direct hit! Got home from work and the box had been delivered.They left it just inside my front gate behind the wall just , according to the email, 10 minutes before i got home from work at 2pm.Glad it wasn't sitting outside all afternoon.It has the Obi band, though i wasn't fussed either way if it had it or not really.

Annoyingly, i missed the attempted delivery this morning by Royal Mail of the TPK Mirrored 12".I'll have to wait til tomorrow morning to go pick that up from the sorting office.

Anyways, box is here, i'm off for the weekend now and i'm going in

Untitled 1 is interesting.Or interesting in the fact i can't hear anything at all in it that eventually made it into a released song.Can't even hear any nascent BLT in there as some have suggested.

Some notes from my initial comparisons of the "previously released" unreleased CD

The full-length Elegia is the same recording but a different mix to the previously released version on Retro. A much warmer mix plus noticeably right at the end (the 40 second fade out) both stereo channels remain with full instrumentation, whereas on the previous version, the Left channel drops out to just a very quiet string part

The Sunrise Rough Instrumental Mix is also a slightly different mix to the one released on the Discreet Campaigns Cassette. The guitar string scrape just before evrything comes in (around the 40 second mark) is noticeably different. Plus this mix fades out slightly later and has more guitar scratching at the end

The Sooner Than You Think unedited version, is as we'd hoped just a longer more intense end section from which passages were cut for the album edit. It's identical up until the break-down around the 3:40 mark

Let's Go instrumental - not the same as the Salvation soundtrack or the 1963 b-side version, but is the same as the commonly circulating bootleg Low-life out-take - just without the vocals. Weird that a vocal take definitely exists as it's been shared so widely. Maybe there was just no master for it?

Everything else is new to me (ie not on the Low-life rehearsal tapes boot)

Now remember an extra reason why I binned my PCL Obi...

...the wife comes home and picks up the Low-Life Obi:-

"What's this dear?"

She turns the Obi over and pulls a face like she has just swallowed a raw lemon:-

"Strong sex references!"

Thanks New Order...

...my wife now thinks I have ordered a box of blue movies.

It's here! Oh boy!! ❤

Thanks to all involved in bringing this about (again.)

All 3 are now sandwiched between my Palatine and The Catalogue boxes on the shelf to beat them all. (And I might just copy Adam T and add Dec's book.)

Just finished listening to the extras CD.That part of the box was my first priority to check out.

Thoughts on some of the tracks:

Untitled No.1 writing session recording As i said earlier, interesting to hear.Some lovely sounds on this but i can't place anything that eventually made it to a released song, not even BLT.

Sunrise instrumental rough mix This is the version that was released on that magazine cassette thing circa 1986, yes?

Sooner Than You Think album session unedited version Interesting to hear the parts that were cut out for the eventual album version.Great to hear but you can kind of understand why they were cut out of the final edit, they would have made the song a little meandering and unnecessarily overlong.Still, really nice to hear some of the extra guitar and synth passages.

Sub Culture album session early instrumental version Pretty cool mix, this.And no Hooky i think? Just purely synths and beats.

Face Up writing session recording This reminds me a lot of the live version at Royal Festival Hall, 14.05.84 , that early outing.Liking the synths and sounds on this.

Untitled No.2 writing session recording Right, this is one that i was very curious to hear.

Debaser wrote:

Re: Untitled 2 (writing session). The arpeggio-ish keyboard melody from 0:00 to 0:29 (and 1:27 to 1:56, and 2:53 to 3:21 etc) reminds me of something, but I cant think what. Possibly not New Order. Liking the funky synth bass line, and Hooky really gets into it as the track goes on. It doesn't seem to be an obvous precursor to a better known NO track. That's a shame because it feels like it could have gone to be something worthwhile. But great that it has been unearthed. Perhaps not for the first time?

3 months ago when the tracklist was released i posted:

Fotz wrote: All very intriguing. Wondering if one of the untitled ones is that 9 minute instrumental that was or still is available on YouTube. Think there was a Sept 1984 recording date associated with it. It had some qiite melodic passages and also the car skidding noise that they use on live versions of TPK.Hope so.

This is it.Well, it is and it isn't .It has many of the same elements and melodies as that Sept 84 thing but it's a different , clearer, recording and with some things added and some taken away.Sadly the car skidding noises are not present in this version.But it's essentially the same track.There are some fantastic ideas and melodies in both the version on this extras CD and the other, Sept 84, version that i shared through MediaFire with you i think, Debaser? This in another life could have developed into a New Order classic.It's possibly my favourite on the extras CD.

Sunrise writing session recording Starts with some fierce Hooky bass.Bernard's first guitar parts on this sound even more like his raw and angular Joy Division guitar than the eventual album version.The synths have a more primitive sound than the finished album version.

Let's Go album session instrumental I have to admit, i've got a bit lost on the various different versions of Let's Go over the years.Has this version already been out there for many years? Still, sounds great.

Love Vigilantes writing session recording It's ok and is that a drum machine on this version?

Sooner Than You Think writing session recording Now this version reminds me a lot of the 'Aleph' live version they were playing in 1984 and in particular the version they did at Volkshaus, Zurich 02.04.84, the drum beat is identical.Listen to the bootleg, it's almost the same except the live version had early attempts by Barney at lyrics, this doesn't have any.

So, through these early and writing session recordings for Low Life it becomes clear yet again with that unique special chemistry, creativity, originality and single mindedness why New Order became one of the biggest, loved around the world bands of the 80s and beyond

AdamTate wrote:

Four of the finest things to bear the New Order name.

Fotz wrote: Just finished listening to the extras CD.That part of the box was my first priority to check out.

Thoughts on some of the tracks:

Untitled No.1 writing session recording As i said earlier, interesting to hear.Some lovely sounds on this but i can't place anything that eventually made it to a released song, not even BLT.

Sunrise instrumental rough mix This is the version that was released on that magazine cassette thing circa 1986, yes?

Sooner Than You Think album session unedited version Interesting to hear the parts that were cut out for the eventual album version.Great to hear but you can kind of understand why they were cut out of the final edit, they would have made the song a little meandering and unnecessarily overlong.Still, really nice to hear some of the extra guitar and synth passages.

Sub Culture album session early instrumental version Pretty cool mix, this.And no Hooky i think? Just purely synths and beats.

Face Up writing session recording This reminds me a lot of the live version at Royal Festival Hall, 14.05.84 , that early outing.Liking the synths and sounds on this.

Untitled No.2 writing session recording Right, this is one that i was very curious to hear.

Debaser wrote:

Re: Untitled 2 (writing session). The arpeggio-ish keyboard melody from 0:00 to 0:29 (and 1:27 to 1:56, and 2:53 to 3:21 etc) reminds me of something, but I cant think what. Possibly not New Order. Liking the funky synth bass line, and Hooky really gets into it as the track goes on. It doesn't seem to be an obvous precursor to a better known NO track. That's a shame because it feels like it could have gone to be something worthwhile. But great that it has been unearthed. Perhaps not for the first time?

3 months ago when the tracklist was released i posted:

Fotz wrote: All very intriguing. Wondering if one of the untitled ones is that 9 minute instrumental that was or still is available on YouTube. Think there was a Sept 1984 recording date associated with it. It had some qiite melodic passages and also the car skidding noise that they use on live versions of TPK.Hope so.

This is it.Well, it is and it isn't .It has many of the same elements and melodies as that Sept 84 thing but it's a different , clearer, recording and with some things added and some taken away.Sadly the car skidding noises are not present in this version.But it's essentially the same track.There are some fantastic ideas and melodies in both the version on this extras CD and the other, Sept 84, version that i shared through MediaFire with you i think, Debaser? This in another life could have developed into a New Order classic.It's possibly my favourite on the extras CD.

Sunrise writing session recording Starts with some fierce Hooky bass.Bernard's first guitar parts on this sound even more like his raw and angular Joy Division guitar than the eventual album version.The synths have a more primitive sound than the finished album version.

Let's Go album session instrumental I have to admit, i've got a bit lost on the various different versions of Let's Go over the years.Has this version already been out there for many years? Still, sounds great.

Love Vigilantes writing session recording It's ok and is that a drum machine on this version?

Sooner Than You Think writing session recording Now this version reminds me a lot of the 'Aleph' live version they were playing in 1984 and in particular the version they did at Volkshaus, Zurich 02.04.84, the drum beat is identical.Listen to the bootleg, it's almost the same except the live version had early attempts by Barney at lyrics, this doesn't have any.

So, through these early and writing session recordings for Low Life it becomes clear yet again with that unique special chemistry, creativity, originality and single mindedness why New Order became one of the biggest, loved around the world bands of the 80s and beyond

I answered a couple of your questions in my previous post, but thanks for IDing the Untitled #2 I hadn't clocked it as partially the same as the bootlegged track of old

Just want to make sure the negative one knows my box has arrived! Watching the Rotterdam gig. New order sounding just amazing.

Had a flick through the book and I love Michael Johnson comments about the band on the London section. Summed up : Hooky supportive, Stephen interested in the tech, Gillian also into tech and kept records of all the synth sounds and programming, Bernard full of ideas in fact a genius. Loved it how they all got on so well then. What a great period if time for new order.

Also in the book i like it the band comments on each song, nice addition to the book. Really well put together book.

Flicking through the book now whilst listening to the second CD.

The book looks fantastic. Some great photos.

Highlights:

Those opening few shots - Bernard drinking tea, Stephen close up etc. The photo of the band with Rob. They look so happy (and Gillian, smiling, looks stunning!). Great times, I imagine! The master reel boxes & scruffy lyrics. All those live photos are fantastic. The Salford one. That one of Bernard close up singing. Brilliant!

And Gillian's top! How mad is that? The fact that she still has it. (in a way, I'm kind of not surprised. That film is just the greatest and I can totally understand why you'd want to keep something that reminded you of the time you were the opening shot in a film directed by an Oscar winner).

Brief notes on the tracks a little later.

Moving on to the box presentation.I do like how with all these definitive boxes they include a see through (is it called Rice paper?) sleeve for the vinyl in addition to the original inner (though of course Movement's inner was only ever one of these anyway or at least the copy i bought in the 80s was, though a white card inner was included in that album's definitive box).

Like the previous definitive boxes, to have the CD as a mini identikit of the vinyl is pretty bloody cool.Probably even more so with Low-life as it's such a unique sleeve with the tracing paper wrap.

First flick through the book - looking forward to reading the new interview.Some cracking photos, the pics from the TPK video session and that pic of Steve in the London 1984 photos - iconic 80s Steve! There's a scan of the itinerary for Japan in April/May 85 'Around The World in 40 Days' and for April 25th it's listed they were booked to mime Confusion on a Japanese tv show? What??? I'm taking a guess this never happened in the end as i've never been aware of a clip of them miming Confusion on Japanese tv.

Oh and there was a Low-life carrier bag? Wow.

Will check out the DVDs tonight.

Tracks:

Love Vigilantes (TV Pitch) We heard this a few weeks back. Love it. Really cool. Like the extra little bits and to be able to hear the bits normally hidden in the mix under the vocals.

The Perfect Kiss (Writing Session) Again, something we heard a bit back. Interesting to hear something in such a rudimentary form.

Untitled 1 I agree with comments that it sounds like BLT. The opening and the later bass guitar bits especially. A fun piece. I just wish we had more of it.

Sunrise (Instrumental Rough Mix) Elegia (Full Length) It's interesting that GotBlueEyes mentions that these are different mixes than the ones we're used to. I will have to make some comparisons. Elegia does sound different to my ears, but it's been a while since I listened to the long version. It does sound bloody incredible. What a great piece of music. Morricone would be envious, I'd guess.

Sooner Than You Think (Full Version) Nothing too remarkable and I can kind of see why they edited it. Still, pretty nice to have.

Sub-Culture (Instrumental) Interesting and cool. Funky. Needs some Hooky bass though. Possibly he hadn't written his part at the point this was recorded, maybe? Strange ending. Sounds like they just stopped the sequencer randomly.

Face Up (Writing Session) You can definitely hear why 'Japanese One' was a working title for this. Nice to hear them letting the sequencer run without anything over the top. Hook's bass sounds great.

Let's Go Now you're bloody talking. This is fan-fucking-tastic! That extra bit of Spanish sounding guitar is just great. So nice to hear a 'release quality' version of this version of the track ('Waiting For So Long', rather than 'Nothing For Me'). The only downside - It just makes me long for a version with vocals (besides the bootleg one we have).

Untitled 2 Yep. This is that track from the 1984 Rehearsals Tape! Great! Finally, we have an official release. Hooky's bass is sublime, even in this unfinished version. He sounds like he's having so much fun!

Sunrise (Writing Session) This is interesting. Always a favourite of mine and always something to really show off Hooky's talent. Some really nice 'new' bits of guitar and bass.
It's funny to hear it played a bit slower than normal.

Love Vigilantes (Writing) Nice and cheery version of this classic. Breezes along. Sharp ending, which sounds a biot strange.

Sooner Than You Think (Writing Session) Wow! This sounds really 'lounge lizard' style. Very chilled. I like it.

Skullcrusher (Demo) Something we heard a week or so ago. It's fine for what it is. I just think it goes on a bit and can see why the Salvation version was a shorter version. Like the messy guitar end. Makes for a good end of CD2 and reminiscent of the end of 'Face Up' with the record skipping.

You know, looking back on previous box set releases, I wasn't that bowled over by most of the stuff on the PC&L CD2. I found a lot of the 'writing session' stuff was a bit dull (for want of a better word). They mostly all sounded like rough mixes with no vocals. Very little significant differences from the LP versions. There were obviously some exceptions to this, of course (for instance, the excellent and thoroughly interesting early Thieves and Blue Monday versions), but I found most tracks to be 'listen to once or twice and forget about them'. Compared to those Cargo/Western Works demos on the first set, they just paled in comparison (IMHO).

So, coming into this disc, seeing all those 'writing session' tracks, I was a little worried we might get more of the same.

However, I think we got some pretty damn fantastic tracks on this release and I will definitely be listening to them multiple times.

Of course, it would've been nice to have a few more 'songs' than we got, but I'm not complaining. There's lots to love here.

Onto the DVDs...

Fotz wrote: There's a scan of the itinerary for Japan in April/May 85 'Around The World in 40 Days' and for April 25th it's listed they were booked to mime Confusion on a Japanese tv show? What??? I'm taking a guess this never happened in the end as i've never been aware of a clip of them miming Confusion on Japanese tv.

This! Wow! I would love to see this. Johnny James - did this happen? Is it in the archive?

perspexorange wrote:

You know, looking back on previous box set releases, I wasn't that bowled over by most of the stuff on the PC&L CD2. I found a lot of the 'writing session' stuff was a bit dull (for want of a better word). They mostly all sounded like rough mixes with no vocals. Very little significant differences from the LP versions. There were obviously some exceptions to this, of course (for instance, the excellent and thoroughly interesting early Thieves and Blue Monday versions), but I found most tracks to be 'listen to once or twice and forget about them'. Compared to those Cargo/Western Works demos on the first set, they just paled in comparison (IMHO).

So, coming into this disc, seeing all those 'writing session' tracks, I was a little worried we might get more of the same.

However, I think we got some pretty damn fantastic tracks on this release and I will definitely be listening to them multiple times.

Of course, it would've been nice to have a few more 'songs' than we got, but I'm not complaining. There's lots to love here.

Yep, agree about the Movement extras, particularly the Cargo stuff.That version of Doubts Even Here is fantastic.Only real highlights for me on the PCL extras were the couple of Thieves versions.Low-life's extras are pretty good but i'd still go with the Movement ones as the best by far.

perspexorange wrote:

Untitled 1 I agree with comments that it sounds like BLT. The opening and the later bass guitar bits especially. A fun piece. I just wish we had more of it.

Bingo!

perspexorange wrote:

Untitled 2 Yep. This is that track from the 1984 Rehearsals Tape! Great! Finally, we have an official release. Hooky's bass is sublime, even in this unfinished version. He sounds like he's having so much fun!

Thanks to Fotz for claryfying this earlier and pointing out the differences. I've gone back and had a listen to the 11 minute version that Fotz sent me, and I think that's an earlier mix than this. Perhaps this was the most refined one? Could there have been other versions too? Maybe Johnny James will tell us one day.

perspexorange wrote:

Love Vigilantes (Writing) Nice and cheery version of this classic. Breezes along. Sharp ending, which sounds a biot strange.

I had the same thought as Fotz: drum machine. Glad they went with the real drums for the 'real' version.

perspexorange wrote:

I wasn't that bowled over by most of the stuff on the PC&L CD2. ... Compared to those Cargo/Western Works demos on the first set, they just paled in comparison (IMHO).

Fotz wrote:

Yep, agree about the Movement extras, particularly the Cargo stuff.That version of Doubts Even Here is fantastic.Only real highlights for me on the PCL extras were the couple of Thieves versions.Low-life's extras are pretty good but i'd still go with the Movement ones as the best by far.

Those Movement extras set a high bar; one that probaby won't be beaten. Cries & Whipsrs (Cargo) really grabbed me. Re: PCL I did really like the writing session version of AOC. That top line synth variation and the sheer energy of the track in the closing stages. But I didn't see anyone else say that, so maybe just me...

DVD bits and bobs:

Enjoyed Rotterdam immensely. Good mix of songs. A couple of different cameras, I think

As I mentioned before, I rip the discs so that I don't have to keep delving into the box and potentially damaging it. I don't know whether it was just my rip, but the sound quality seemed to dip at or around the encore of Temptation and Face Up. Almost like a bit of feedback hum. Anyone else notice this?

Always good to see the Hacienda '85 footage (what a blistering version of Sunrise that is). The 'new to us' Face Up footage is curious, in that it appears to have been patched from footage of their July 1985 gig at the same venue six months prior. There's also some footage of the Haç bar and patrons. All kind of weird. Would be interested in the story behind this restoration (and why was the cameraman was filming the bar rather than the stage?). Presumably it means that at least some of the July 1985 Haç gig was filmed. Would be great to see this at some point.

Toronto is a great gig. Appears to be one camera, filmed by Paul Boyd who was a fan, I think. Up close and personal. Fab. (Is that Rob I spy, wearing a beret, during Sub-Culture? Maybe, maybe not).

Haven't watched either PFD or Leuven, as I'm pretty familiar with both gigs. Will be interested to see whether the former is the 'VHS' or 'DVD' version, which had some different camera work (not sure why this was the case).

The Perfect FIlm. This appears to be the clearest I've ever seen this little gem. However, I've noticed a bit of 'sparkling' (not sure what to call it). Again, I'm not sure if this is just my rip. Anyone else notice it?

A good couple of DVDs. Great to see both Rotterdam and Toronto in full. If I had to be a bit critical, I'd have liked perhaps another couple of previously unseen gigs instead of PFD and Leuven. Both gigs are great (especially the latter), but I've seen them many times. I also missed the selection of 'bits and bobs' that we got with the previous two sets. Obviously I don't know if there was suitable footage to rectify my two quibbles. A very minor complant though.

Haven't quite finished Toronto yet, and need to check out 'Confusion' from Leuven yet, so may have more thoughts laster (who am I kidding? Of course I'll have more thoughts later!).

Big thanks to JJ and crew for putting together a worthy package for this classic LP.

I watched the Whistle Test section on the DVD 1.Strange to watch Face Up kick in after after all these years of seeing the clip end after Sunrise! The merging/edit of the July 85 and December 85 footage was a strange experience! But hats off to Johnny and/or the team that managed to blend it all together, it must have been a bit tricky, yeah? Or maybe it's easy when you know how? I was expecting the footage to switch completely to the July one halfway through, which it did kind of, but then some of the images later on flick back to the December footage (repeated, i think?) .But all blended in, nicely done.Great job all involved.

Oh and 5-8-6 at Toronto is awesome.

Bernard's vein in his neck as he belts out 'heard you calling', then going over to the synth to play the keyboard refrain. Brilliant!

Oh, and Ceremony! Killer!

perspexorange wrote: DVD bits and bobs:

Always good to see the Hacienda '85 footage (what a blistering version of Sunrise that is). The 'new to us' Face Up footage is curious, in that it appears to have been patched from footage of their July 1985 gig at the same venue six months prior. There's also some footage of the Haç bar and patrons. All kind of weird..... ....(and why was the cameraman filming the bar rather than the stage?).

Yes i found it slightly strange and even amusing how the camera person fixed on the Hacienda bar for quite a while .

perspexorange wrote:

Enjoyed Rotterdam immensely. Good mix of songs. A couple of different cameras, I think

As I mentioned before, I rip the discs so that I don't have to keep delving into the box and potentially damaging it. I don't know whether it was just my rip, but the sound quality seemed to dip at or around the encore of Temptation and Face Up. Almost like a bit of feedback hum. Anyone else notice this?

Working my way through the DVDs tonight with a few beers .Yep, the Rotterdam audio definitely takes a big nosedive around the encore of Temptation and Face Up. So much so i'm not sure i'll visit that section again! Did it get really hot in that venue at that gig? By that encore Barney looks pretty drenched in sweat and Gillian appeared exhausted and often wiping her brow.Barney did shout out at one point to Andy about the heat from the lights.

As i'd seen the Leuven video many times i skipped to the one previously unseen track from that gig, Confusion.Yikes that tape was pretty damaged eh? Thanks to the team though for syncing the soundboard to what was salvaged of the vid and presenting an edit of the tape as best could be done.It's appreciated.Thankyou.

Untitled No.1 sounds like a mash up of BLT (different key) and Spandau Ballet - True. Just listen to the first 30s.

Listened to the actual album on vinyl (big vinyl lover me) sound fucking amazing!

Agree this box set extras up there with movement. PC&L favourite album but extra nowhere near the standard of movement and this Lowlife one. Great seeing a hacienda gig via whistle test, in good quality, you can actually tell it’s at the hacienda no grainy footage here!

To the Perspex one - The quality on the last 2 Trax of Rotterdam drops out significantly .

Listening to this reading Dennis Remmer book got to disagree strongly on Sooner than u think, although lyrically not the finest the instrumental passages of this song are great, a closet gem on the album.

From my original factory vinyl pressings Brotherhood is by far the worst condition wise soo for this alone can’t wait for brotherhood deluxe treatment. I’m smashed but loving the listening experience of this box set. Onto the wonderful package and sounding perfect kiss mirrored cover 12” - roll us a phat one I’m delving ever deeper

Just finished watching all the live material. Good stuff but it definitely got samey and I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the live DVDs for Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies, but maybe that's because I have a bias for NO's mega-early era (Movement supremacy). I was also disappointed that the PQ for The Perfect Film wasn't better. Perhaps the original elements have gone walkies over the years?

The sessions recording version of The Perfect Kiss is a banger and I also really like the session instrumental of Sub-culture. Those synths sound so raw and... squelchy! Always nice to see the full-length version of Elegia replicated, too. It's still one of my favourite NO tracks.

Andy wrote:

perspexorange wrote: Amazon have dispatched mine for delivery today. Phew. Hope everybody else is in a similar position.

From the beginning, Amazon (US) said to expect it on February 1st. This Thursday, they changed the expected delivery date to read "Wednesday" (which is February 1st! ). That's now been updated to "shipped" with delivery today (Friday).

Had my doubts. When checking the Amazon app today, the status never advanced from "Shipped" to "Out for delivery". Then the status changed to "Running late" and expected 28th or 29th. Oh well. But when I arrived home from work, there it was on the porch. Delivery on release day is a result! (Yes, it's technically still Friday here in California as I type this).

No Obi strip or content ratings on this copy, if you're wondering...