The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding

I received this box today, sealed copy, it came with two copies of side 1 and 2, so 3 lps in total plus 12inch single and 7inch. Did anyone else had 3lps in their box ? Even after ultrasonic clean a little bit noise with click and pops. btw best album i heard in past 10 years. masterpiece.

Stunning quality, and the Coke Bottle Green is a fun collector's edition! Beautiful set and the sound is top-notch. The 7" "Nothing to Find" seems to be a slightly different mix; the lead guitar feels lighter and pops a bit more. Does anyone know if it is a separate mix?

Worth every penny to any fan of the band or any collector.

No.1 on my top 10 albums of 2017

Disclaimer: Lost in the dream was no.1 in 2014

Meant to post this a while back and forgot, but there was definitely some variation between early copies of this box and later ones. My first copy arrived with no CD, and instead of just sending me a CD they sent me a whole other box. In my initial copy, the LPs came in paper "inners", without the retail jacket, and everything except the jacket for the RSD 12" was printed on a soft, matte paper. The second copy had the LPs inside the standard retail jacket, with everything (posters, jackets, inners, all of it) printed on a more standard glossy paper. Comparing everything between the two boxes for quality variations, I found that the two LPs in the second box were both noisier and had small edge warps.My initial copy was ordered the day the preorders went live, while my replacement came after the restock online. My guess is the restock was a separate pressing. Wish I had checked the runout grooves to see if everything was pressed at the same place, but I didn't. All just my observations.

Now in stock again at Warner EU Store too.
Got mine today, ordered 3 days ago. 59,99€ plus 5,49€ Shipping.
A very beautiful box, a real collectors edition!

REMARK :
This box is for the moment still available via Warner Music Webstore (limited) but shipping to Europe is more expensive than
10 dollars. A friend of mine (living here in Belgium) has ordered the box and he has paid 49,99 USD + 30,91 euros
Custom Taxes + A Custom istration Fee for handling the transaction. This is US import.
And these Custom Taxes are for each EU country I assume.
So forget about the 40 bucks and 10 dollars !!!

Wim

Just a wonderful record from start to finish! Moody and expansive, yet intimate. TWoD have produced something truly special here, building on their excellent early work with a major label debut album that will rightly introduce them to the music world at large. This record will transport them from being idie-famous, to the mainstream and not before time!
The quality of this boxset is reflective of the subject matter. The records sound as good as they look and it appears time has been taken to ensure a memorable listening experience with near perfect SQ and dynamics.

It is available again (ordering) via Warner Music Webstore but the quantity is limited. Not available in regular Record
Stores (little or big).

Tomorrow's Classic Rock Today ...

With summer winding down there’s nothing like something exceptional to move you into the fall, and carry a bit of that August warmth through the winter … hence the fourth album from War On Drugs A Deeper Understanding, which is a forward looking intoxicating step into the future with just enough of those elegant sonically laden guitar chords you’ve come to know and love to hold your attention as you once again get lost in the dreams of Adam Granduciel and his merry band of top notch pranksters.

Adam has managed to do something that few others have been able to master, and that’s to patiently draw you in, in much the same manner as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, where he unwinds with enchanting honest lyrics laced with arrangements washed with heavy reverb, electric piano, and a sense of drumming that far too many have overlooked to this point, though Charlie Hall seems destined to go down as one of the greats. What’s made this album and the last so precious, is that the band has spent nearly ten years perfecting their sound, moving players and sounds in and out until the formula was perfectly polished, destined to make you weak in the knees and stumble as these songs reach out to wrap themselves around your heart again, while touching your soul with a wasted effortless blanket of melancholy designed to cradle and nurture the essence of your very being.

Adam and his music have always been rather personal, rather hazy and self reflective … though for fans, each delivery seems to bring the man more into focus, yet I’m more than sure that he will never completely step out of the shadows, as his introspection encomes the nature of his being, and it’s that longing to understand the keeps listeners coming back, not so much for defined definition, but for another look at his captivating grainy black & white photographs pined to a gallery wall, without the need for framed presentation, because the pictures his songs present are purposeful enough to stand on their own without the need for enhancement or even explanation.

Yes, many of the songs are extensively long, yet sound crisp and streamlined in their complexity with meditative vocals that bounce against a relentless bass-line along with slide guitar work that weave their way into stoner heaven, where the band soars spirals and bursts like the silent ecstasy and momentary afterglow of a shooting star streaking across the velvet sky, causing you actually wonder if you’ve seen it, or if it’s all some sort of hazy memory echoing in your mind.

There’s a foggy magic found here on A Deeper Understanding, one that comes into our musical lives far too seldom, one that’s nearly liberating and transformative, existing nearly as a memory, where the intricacy of the music allows it to sound like classic rock that’s been recently discovered, where the band manages to be nearly singularly holding the touch, defining what great music with strength is all about. As with Lost In The Dream, A Deeper Understanding is a moment in time where a new fingerprint on the musical landscape has been placed, so you can either get on board now, or discover it all later, wishing that you’d been there then.

I suppose if I had one thing to say about the band War On Drugs, it’s that they forever seem to be starting over, where all that exists for them is this perfect moment in time.

*** The Fun Facts: Regarding the band's name, Granduciel noted, “My friend Julian and I came up with the name a few years ago over a couple bottles of red wine and a few typewriters when we were living in Oakland. We were writing a lot back then, working on a dictionary, and it just came out and we were like Hey, good band name so eventually when I moved to Philadelphia and got a band together I used it. It was either that or The Rigatoni Danzas. I think we made the right choice. I always felt though that it was the kind of name I could record all sorts of different music under without any sort of predictability inherent in the name.”

Again the album is available on heavy coke bottle green vinyl, and I assure you, the attention to detail is evident in the sound quality.

Review by Jenell Kesler

Best album of the year so far, amazing from beginning to end!!