That purchase was predicated on the excellent job the band did with the In Rainbows deluxe version in 2007, and spelling out exactly what you were getting with your purchase: exclusive artwork, an awesome book-type encasing, a CD version with a bonus disc, and even a snippet of studio tape. I paid around twice that for Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool deluxe without even hearing the record in full. A new vinyl album would have to have something pretty convincing going on for me to spend $35 on it, let alone another $8 in shipping costs. You could tell, however, that the artwork was different from the original release, with the use of white and black being inverted on the cover for Black Friday.įor as much as I love Frank's work, I couldn't pull the trigger. On his website, there weren't a lot of additional details about the vinyl package, such as the quality of the pressing or exclusive artwork, except that it was a double album from XL Recordings and would begin shipping in early December. So for Ocean fans, this was the first opportunity to own a piece of the singer's work on true vinyl.įor me, the catch was Blonde was marked at $35 with another $7.99 due in shipping costs. Criminally, that record has still yet to get an official vinyl release, though there are bootlegs out there. I consider Ocean's debut, Channel Orange, to be one of the best albums of the last decade. Given Ocean's erratic nature though, there was a real possibility to take him at his word. With most artists, I'd scoff at the claim of a 24-hour sales window for vinyl without a more general release already lined up down the road. Not only that, but there was no word on whether or not you'd ever see a wider release of Blonde on vinyl after Nov. As usual with most things Frank, there was a catch, and in this case the physical records and merch were available only through his website and just for 24 hours. 25, aka Black Friday, Ocean gave us another surprise release, this time with Blonde on vinyl and CD, along with some separate exclusive merch. So maybe it shouldn't have been too shocking when, on Nov. Ocean loves ramping up the mystery whenever possible, always keeping you guessing. The record was surprise-released in August after years of secrecy and anticipation, preceded a couple days prior by a companion "visual album," Endless. Both Blonde and Endless were only released digitally, with no word of a physical release. Earlier this year, R&B phenom Frank Ocean finally dropped his excellent second album, Blonde.
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