diff --git a/planetmint/commands/planetmint.py b/planetmint/commands/planetmint.py
index 0fc1f06..4ee43de 100644
--- a/planetmint/commands/planetmint.py
+++ b/planetmint/commands/planetmint.py
@@ -285,13 +285,13 @@ def run_start(args):
     # Configure Logging
     setup_logging()
 
-    logger.info('Planetmint Version %s', planetmint.version.__version__)
-    run_recover(planetmint.lib.Planetmint())
-
     if not args.skip_initialize_database:
         logger.info('Initializing database')
         _run_init()
 
+    logger.info('Planetmint Version %s', planetmint.version.__version__)
+    run_recover(planetmint.lib.Planetmint())
+
     logger.info('Starting Planetmint main process.')
     from planetmint.start import start
     start(args)
diff --git a/planetmint/core.py b/planetmint/core.py
index 88d3fe6..f0e118e 100644
--- a/planetmint/core.py
+++ b/planetmint/core.py
@@ -254,7 +254,12 @@ class App(BaseApplication):
 
 
 def rollback(b):
-    pre_commit = b.get_pre_commit_state()
+    pre_commit = None
+
+    try:
+        b.get_pre_commit_state()
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.exception("Unexpected error occurred while executing get_pre_commit_state()", e)
 
     if pre_commit is None or len(pre_commit) == 0:
         # the pre_commit record is first stored in the first `end_block`