• RELEASED: 2001
• FORMAT: 12″
• LABEL: n/a
• CAT No.: DDS01
• DESIGN: Openmind
• EXTRA ZEN: steinski.com

During my association with Double Dee & Steinski over the years I was given the opportunity to design a label for a 12″ containing all three Lessons and ‘The Motorcade Sped On’. This was a big deal as these recordings were hugely influential on me and these guys were essentially heroes of mine. It was obviously going to be a bootleg so I decided to make it look like a bootleg in the style of the old disco master mixes from whence they came originally.

This meant breaking out the Letraset and hand setting the titles in the best way i could which would still be far from as accurate as a computer and would look like it was unofficial. I set about doing this, leaving cracked letters as they were when rubbing them down to preserve the handmade look. I then scanned then in and deliberately made sure they weren’t quite straight when laid up for the printer. I was pretty pleased with the result and sent it off to the pressing plant which was abroad so I wouldn’t be able to see a proof of the final thing.

A few months later I was sent a few copies for my archive and was amazed by what had been printed in place of my design. Someone at the artwork dept had gone to great lengths to find the exact font I had used in the Letraset and retyped and set the labels ‘properly’ in place of my ‘handmade’ design! I applaud whoever did this but they really missed the point and made all effort I put in redundant. See the original Letraset designs here next to the final version (when I actually find them!).