RITUAL

Year of release:
1993

Tracklist:
A1: zero hour
A2: [arabic song title]
A3: shallow
A4: unheard
A5: my time
B1: break me down
B2: reflection
B3: remain
B4: cold front

Most people are not into anything prior to Life.Love.Regret and even the band doesn't like the album much. Well, if you compare it to life. love. regret. of course it sucks, but what doesn't? It's such a uniquely perfect record all around from music to lyrics, artwork and packaging. But if you compare Ritual to other long players within the same league it does come out on top, shining bright. The band members had already arrived at a different level when the first LP was released and would not have written songs like that again. They progressed so fast they outgrew their own efforts, the songs it needed to get to he point where it was possible for them to write life. love. regret.. Ritual is the gateway from You Won't Be Back towards their masterpiece and perfectly illustrates the quantum leap they took. Take it for what it is and you will fall in love.

The grey vinyl version (there's conflicting info about numbers pressed. 200 or 250) has quite a bit of a purple touch which you can very well see in the pictures I took. This is also the case with every picture of a color vinyl copy I've seen so far except for one that definitely is LIGHT AKA TRUE GREY, as some might call the dark grey copies purple. But  however you want to call it, that grey is out there and I DO STILL NEED ONE.

update March 3rd 2015:
today Rob Moran shed some light on the pressing info for this release via a comment on a grey vinyl Ritual instagram post:
"Not a first press... first/second press was only on black vinyl. This is a much later around 96/97...no idea how many were made, maybe 500?"
According to this news it seems possible that the glossy cover version might be the first press which people have claimed before. Would also make sense because it is much harder to come by but could also just point to an in-between press run of not that many copies.

update August 9th 2016:
a few days ago i compared my copies with the ones from the collection of Ferry xthreesomex which showed that the glossy cover was printed at least two times so with the light/dark grey variation and the black vinyl with matt cover there are 5 different variations of this release and therefore it's not really the easy, on the cheap to collect release i thought it would be.

update August 10th 2023:

And now with the anniversary re-issue there are even more variations to collect.

I still need a lighter (truly) grey copy!

comparison of the two different printings of the glossy cover 

comparison of the two different printings of the glossy cover

TEST PRESS
one set of test pressings is known to exist. pictures are of the copy from the collection of Ferry xthreesomex

Version 1:
Label: New Age Records
Cat.#: NA 16
A-Side Matrix: L-41451 NA16-A "HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR EGGS?" BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF EM!"
B-Side Matrix: L-41451-X NA16-B THIS CAME FROM BUNDLED DICKS. COVER THE BABY"
Vinyl color: black
flat cover

Version 2:
Label: New Age Records
Cat.#: NA 16
A-Side Matrix: L-41451 NA16-A "HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR EGGS?" BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF EM!"
B-Side Matrix: L-41451-X NA16-B THIS CAME FROM BUNDLED DICKS. COVER THE BABY"
Vinyl color: grey out of 200 or 250 according to different sources. dark grey aka purple variant
flat cover

Version 3:
Label: New Age Records
Cat.#: NA 16
A-Side Matrix: L-41451 NA16-A "HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR EGGS?" BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF EM!"
B-Side Matrix: L-41451-X NA16-B THIS CAME FROM BUNDLED DICKS. COVER THE BABY"
Vinyl color: black
more yellow glossy cover 

Version 4:
Label: New Age Records
Cat.#: NA 16
A-Side Matrix: L-41451 NA16-A "HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR EGGS?" BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF EM!"
B-Side Matrix: L-41451-X NA16-B THIS CAME FROM BUNDLED DICKS. COVER THE BABY"
Vinyl color: black
glossy cover with a red tint

Pictures coming sooner or later!

Version 5:
Label: New Age Records
Cat.#: NA 16
A-Side Matrix: ?
B-Side Matrix: ?
Vinyl color: grey out of 200 or 250 according to different sources. light aka true grey variant
flat cover? matte cover?

Pictures when I finally get a copy.

Below you see a comparison of the flat with the glossy cover