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A Guide to the Differences Between the Independent and Epic Release of Australia by Howie Day

The independent version of Australia was released in November 2000 under Howie's own label - Daze Records. On June 11th, 2002, Australia was released to stores under Epic Records. At first glance, the two versions of Australia look identical. In fact, the content of the CD was not changed at all. But these two releases of Australia are most definitely NOT identical. To begin with, the Epic release of Australia does not have the special hidden track at the end of the CD. Though the track is short, it's kinda cool to try to decipher what Howie is saying. Below is a guide to spotting the differences between the two versions. It was written by someone who was rather bored - me.

So you hear that Australia has been released to major record stores, and and even though you've got 3 copies at home already (one for the car, one for the home stereo, and a back up just in case, of course) the die hard Howie fan in you says "I HAVE to get to ::insert store name here:: and buy this new version of Australia TODAY!!!" You meander into the store, but when no one's looking, you make a mad dash toward the D's. Riffling though the CDs, you finally find Australia, but as you take it out, you become rather disheartened when you notice that it looks exactly the same as your three other copies at home. Again, being the die hard Howie fan that you are, you fork over the cash and buy it anyway. So now you're back at home, staring at your new treasure, when you begin to notice, wait a minute... there's something different about this CD. It appears the same at a glance, but somehow you just know it's not the same. So you do some investigating.

You grab your third back up copy of Australia, which you haven't opened yet, and compare the two. Right away you notice several things:

1. The "Best Debut Album" sticker on the Epic CD is on the top left, while the same sticker is on the top right on the original CD.

2. The plastic wrapping on the original CD is a lot looser than that on the Epic CD

3. The cover was obviously reprinted because the resolution of the image is much finer on the Epic version than on the original.

So you then turn the cd on its side:

The Epic release comes with the obligatory plastic protective sticker with the hologram on the side. The original does not.

So now you're satisfied that you noticed the differences on the outside of the CD, but are kind of curious about any changes that may have been made to the inside of the CD.

As you open up your brand new Epic version, you also notice that instead of putting the "Best Debut Album" sticker on the plastic wrapping like the original did, the sticker is actually stuck to the plastic jewel case.

Next you compare the actual CDs. The finish on the Epic version is slightly different, and as you look closely at the inner ring, you notice that the original version has the red printed across the entire top of the disc, the Epic version has the red printed on the disc, followed by a break, and then printed again on the inner plastic circle. At first glance it looks like the "HOWIE DAY" and the numbers of the tracks on each disc are just in a different finish, but then a voice from above (well maybe not above, but definitely from the north, as in South Carolina) comes into your head and says "look closer... look much closer" and it is then revealed to you that on the original version, the "HOWIE DAY" and numbers are printed in white, but on the Epic version, they're not printed at all, they're the color of the actual disc.

Closer examination reveals to you the following:

The Epic and Compact Disc logos are present on the Epic version and not on the original.

Now you decide to take the CD out and check out the back liner, and wow do you find a lot of differences there.

1. Again, the resolution of the Epic version is a lot finer than the original.

2. The Epic version has as very small "Daze Records" logo and a very small "Epic" logo while the original has a significantly larger "Daze Records" logo and also an "e" something logo that is hard to read. "Produced by Mike Denneen" is also printed in a larger font on the original than it is on the Epic version.

(These images are proportional to one another)

3. The bar codes on the two versions are very different. The bar code on the Epic version is larger, and includes "www.epicrecords.com" above it. The bar code of the original is much smaller and has no text above it.

(these images are proportional to one another)

4. The original version had "For More Info, Visit www.HowieDay.com" in red text at the bottom right corner of the back. The Epic version has the same information, yet now it is on the left, it is white, and it is under the "Produced By Mike Denneen".

5. The bottom left hand corner of the two CDs contain different information on copyrights and who to contact. The original simply gives Shawn Radley's information, while the Epic version contains the Epic copyright notice and Epic address.

Then you notice something really interesting:

On the original version of Australia, the "HOWIE DAY AUSTRALIA" on the spine is left justified, while on the Epic version, it is centered. Also, the text on the original is positioned in such a way so that if you were to look at the sides while having the front face up, the text on both sides would be right side up. But on the Epic version, if you were to look at the side of the case the same way, one side of the text would be right side up and the other would be upside down. The epic version also has an "Epic" in the right hand corner. Of course the serials on each CD spine are different too, because they were, after all, released by different companies.

You take the back liners out of their trays, and everything looks the same except for one thing:

in the bottom right hand corner of the Epic version, there is a number. The original version lacks this feature.

Satisfied that you've found most of the differences on the outside and back of the CD, you proceed to compare the front liner notes. The two versions are basically identical except that, again, the Epic version is a finer resolution.

But upon closer inspection, you notice this...

(images are proportional to one another)

The HOWIE DAY AUSTRALIA on the Epic version is a slightly larger font size than that of the original. What a discovery!! You actually stand up and do a little dance. Then you realize you can't dance and sheepishly sit back down.

As you continue to inspect the front liner notes, you notice nothing particularly different about the first few pages. Then your friend Jamie walks in and looks over your shoulder and asks what the hell are you doing. You tell her what you're doing and of course she thinks your crazy, but she already knew that anyway. So she's about to walk out when she turns to you and says... hmm.. that one has the songs numbered (referring to the Epic version) and that one doesn't (pointing to the original). And sure enough, she was right.

Then you hit the page below:

The Epic version has a lovely copyright notice on it:

On the last inner page, you also notice a few differences:

1. On the thank you's ("This is Crazy...") the font spacing is slightly different on the two versions. Each is 16 lines, but the original version appears to be stretched out more, as the text does not match line for line.

2. The contact information on the two CDs is slightly different. The Epic version has "Management Contact" followed by Shawn's name and the howiedaymailing@aol.com email address, while the original version has "Contact" followed by Shawn's name and "SFX Boston", a phone number, and the dlagency@aol.com email address. Also, the Epic version has a note about the actual CD pressing, while the original has a copyright notice.

3. A mysterious figure now appears before you. It asks, "well is the dude's name Josh Latanzi or Josh Lattanni?" as both versions of the cd seem to have different spellings of the man's name.

You are almost to the end of your journey into discovering the differences between the two versions of Australia. Though slightly saddened, you are also overjoyed, because you found lots of differences between the two CDs (however minute and inconsequential they may be)

You turn to the back of the inside front liner notes:

Everything is the same, except for the record company logos and the copyright notice at the bottom of the Epic version:

Your journey is finally complete. You've noticed every difference between the two CDs. As you place the Epic version of Australia into your CD clock/radio, you think to yourself, "What else could I have spent the past 20 minutes of my life doing?"

For questions/comments or if you think you found a difference that I missed, please email me at australia@smanky.cjb.net