Amer contacted me today and asked my to plug his Ebay sale of an extremely rare copy of Aenima. His description can describe it better than I can:
"A [studio master is a] recording that, presumably, has been mastered at the same studio it has been mixed at. Most recordings are mastered at a mastering facility. For security purposes (since this was a CD made before Ænima was released for public consumption), the cardboard sleeve has been numbered."
These were released in limited numbers (no one knows how many) and distributed to radio stations almost 15 years ago. This copy is #391. An overwhelming majority have been lost or destroyed, making this the rarest Tool promo item, ever. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise 🙂 I have owned several Aenima promo vinyls, signed Cesaro Summability promo vinyls and signed Lateralus vinyls, but they do not come close to this item in rarity.
The only other copy I ever saw for sale in all my years of collecting was on this obscure Taiwanese(?) auction website more than 5 years ago. I will be surprised if you see another one of these for sale for years to come. Don’t miss out.
The disc has only been played once by the original owner, and is in mint condition. The cardboard sleeve is in excellent condition for its age, with minor edgewear.
I’ve not heard of this particular edition on Aenima, then again I’m not a huge Tool collector, so I can’t really comment on it’s rarity. Either way it sounds interesting, and I’m sure that Tool collectors out there would jump at the chance to grab the piece Tool’s history.
The price is currently at $5 (I couldn’t help myself) and there is a reserve, which I’d hazard to guess would be north of $500.