as usual, i love the new hold steady album – BUT!… though i understand the concept behind smudging the lyric booklet, the end result ends up just being annoying. what’s more annoying was how well it was executed because i wasted a trip back to the record store to exchange it. the clerk was equally baffled when he opened two more copies to find the same “water smudges”. this might be amusing to the album art designers, but it was and is a real drag for the fan. but i’ll forgive ya if you can make it back to louisville sometime soon. regards,

shayne hull
http://www.shaynehull.com