Deluxe Men in Space

Deluxe Men in Space was a Man or Astro-Man? 7" EP released on Touch & Go Records (TG159) in the US, and One Louder Records (LOUD 10) in the UK. It came out in February of 1996. The 7" was released on opaque black vinyl, with a glossy gatefold picture sleeve that opened like a book. There was printing on the inside of the picture sleeve—a graphic showing four astronauts and a world map. This was the first appearance of Hayden Thais on rhythm guitar. He recorded and toured with the band under the name Dexter X, the Man from Planet Q. This was also the first single to mention the Astroman.com website (a University of Auburn website had been mentioned before, on the insert to the Saturday Night Special single). There was also an Atlanta-based phone number and an email address for Coco. The band was now officially based in Georgia, and their early domination of the internet was underway.

The scan above is the cover from the Touch & Go release. The front cover is marked as Touch & Go on the lower right corner, and the back corner features the T&G logo and address. The colors are also a little more drab on this copy than they are on the UK version, especially with the color blue. Here is a scan of the inside of the gatefold sleeve:



And here is the record, also marked with the T&G logo:



The UK version is almost identical. The picture sleeve is branded on front and back with the One Louder logo and contact information. Some of the lettering on the back cover is bit different, but all of the non-label information is exactly the same as the US version. Here is a scan:



And here is the inside cover, printed with a slightly more vibrant blue ink. I’m not sure if this color difference is consistent throughout the pressing, but the variation was significant enough on my copies for me to mention it here. Hopefully it shows up in the scan:



And the record, marked as One Louder (2000 of this variety):



Several years ago I purchased a test press copy of Deluxe Men in Space from One Louder. When I got it in the mail, I immediately noticed that the ink pen inscription on the otherwise blank white sleeve included the word “withdrawn.” Upon further inspection I realized that my test copy was a four-song version of the EP that the label had decided not to go with. They, of course, went with the six-song version pictured above. My test copy was missing the songs “March of the Androids” from side-A and “Rhombics” from side-B. From what I can tell they had the four-song version pressed, but decided to add an extra song to each side. So not only was this a test copy of an Astro-Man single, it was a test copy of a version that was never actually produced. The center labels are both blank, but the matrix etchings match the UK version of the single. Here is a scan of the record in its annotated dust sleeve: