The ten-year anniversary of the first time I heard Far was few months ago; on the 3rd of November 2003 I bought a copy of Tin Cans With Strings to You on cd having pretty much no knowledge of the band at all. I'd been in Preston a few days beforehand to see if the record shops were any better than the ones in Lancaster and noticed a couple of albums by Far in the local HMV (it was also on that trip I got a Fu Manchu record and the best of Bad Brains). I'd heard the name and read about Water & Solutions in a Kerrang! magazine list but that was the extent of my knowledge. I went home and re-read the piece on them and figured I should give them a chance. The next time I went into HMV in Lancaster I saw the cds and decided to pick up Tin Cans. I don't know why I chose that album, but I've always found it to be my favourite of the two major-label Far albums, so I'm glad I did. The first time I saw Jonah I had him sign the booklet of Tin Cans since it was my favourite if his various band's releases at the time (Hugh was getting his copy of Thriller signed and I, unusually, felt like getting something signed too).
The Kerrang! article I mentioned was a list of the Top Ten Post-Hardcore/Emo Albums and had Water & Solutions at number 3. The description didn't really give me much warning that Far would be as heavy as they were (although Tin Cans is a much heavier album in my opinion, take the outro to In the Aisle, Yelling for example), but I was very happy with the music that came out of my speakers on that day ten and a bit years ago. It was 2003 and "emo" was already becoming a dirty word, but there was nothing about Far that made me think they were an emo band. I swear Job's Eyes was one of the darkest songs I'd heard in years and Love, American Style was huge too. A couple of years ago I saw Jonah play an acoustic version of Joining the Circus and it made me love that song even more - the vocals were even more haunting live. (Incidently, Far wasn't the first time I'd heard any of the bands Jonah had been involved with. About 18 months beforehand I'd bought the Rival Schools and Onelinedrawing split, but it would actually be a while after that I finally made the connection between the two bands.)
I heard that SRC was re-pressing Tin Cans and Water & Solutions and figured I pick up copies. I had hopes of finding them when I was in America for Fest, but to my luck (and my bank account's bad luck) SRC had a stall at registration for me to drawl over. The records weren't the cheapest I'd get that weekend, but they were all ones I really wanted in my collection and still cheaper than getting posted over, so I bought a bunch. I didn't buy Water & Solutions because it was still a few days until payday and I needed to save some money for food. I may live to regret that; as much as I've always loved Tin Cans more, Water & Solutions is still an excellent record and one I'd love to have in my collection. I had a nice chat with the guy from SRC running the stall about Hum and the fact that he was slowly re-issuing all my most prized possessions (see this, this, this and this) and came away with an armful of vinyl. The reissue is lovely - it sounds great and there's a great attention to detail, with the cd booklet pictures spread across an insert. The colour on the cover looks a little too dark to me, but I'm far from an expert when it comes to colour, so it's probably fine.
I was pretty excited when I heard that this record was being re-pressed and now I have it in my hands, I'm even more excited. There have been a few times when I've seen Jonah comment on the fact that "not many people knew about Far". I was always surprised by that statement, even more-so knowing how many other people were excited about this LP.
Format: double 12", gatefold sleeve, insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £15.75 new
Bought: Fest registration, Tampa
When: 29/10/13
Colour: Yellow
Etching: none
mp3s: no
