This is potentially going to be quite a short review (but I do tend to ramble for however long the record is, so we'll see). This is the reissue of Texas is the Reason's only album Do You Know Who You Are?, which doubles as a "complete collection" as they've included a second disc including all the other songs the band had recorded. I wrote about the album itself seven years ago here. The self-titled 7" (which I wrote about five years ago) forms the final three songs, so there's just four songs left to write about. Breezy, right.
But before we get into that, we should dwell on the terrifying fact that I wrote those blog posts so many years ago. I'd been listening to Texas is the Reason for four years when I first wrote about them here and it's now been nearly double that amount of time. The truth is, as much as I really like these songs, I always thought I'd have got more into them by now. If you played me a random album track and asked me to tell you the title, I'd struggle. For an album I've had for 11 years and played countless times, I always felt I'd know it better than I do. I think certain albums (and even whole genres to an extent) are just harder to break down sometimes. I think it's safe to say that I'll never know these songs well enough to put a name to them (luckily, I rarely get challenged to do such things, so it's ok).
As another side note, when I wrote about the album I tagged the band in the tweet I sent, and they retweeted it - this was the first time any of my posts had gained any real traction on Twitter. Even now, it's my fifth most-read post. I learnt the word "vignette" from the tweet they sent about it. In that post I wrote about hopefully seeing Texas is the Reason, something I did finally do on their 2013 tour in London (and I have a great poster from the show too). I didn't say it in that post, but Something to Forget (Version II) is a great song.
So, on to those four songs I mentioned. Every Little Girl's Dream is a new song and feels very different - the production is clearly very far from the sound of the album, the vocals are less smooth, there's a whole bunch of echo and it just feels heavier. I like it. It's also wordier than any of the album songs, as is very clear in the huge block of printed lyrics. When Rock 'n' Roll Was Just a Baby is another new song and perfectly fine. The same can be said for Blue Boy, from the split with The Promise Ring - perfectly nice but not very memorable. Something to Forget (Version I) is from the split with Samian and a much rougher recording than the album one - it adds a bit of charm, but misses the excellent "This is only fun for me" bit in the outro. Strangely, The Promise Ring and Samian are two bands I almost certainly should have got into, but simply never did. There's still time mind you, but I think I may have missed the boat on those ones.
The package is very nice and makes it a worthwhile purchase even if you have the original LP and 7" - double orange vinyl and a complete list of all the gigs they played (up to 2012). The LP is clearly a new pressing too as the last album track, Jack With One Eye, is on the third side of vinyl rather than squeezed onto one record (although at 38 minutes it should fit comfortably). It includes a download code for the whole lot too, which is nice - when I play the album on my iPod or at work, I listen to these mp3s because 38 minutes of Texas is the Reason is often not quite enough.
Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve, insert
Tracks: 16
Cost: £0 new
Bought: Gift
When: 25/12/13
Colour: Transparent orange
Etching: Side A: "Fellas, coincidence and fate figure largely in our lives"
mp3s: Download code
