Isis LP Trade

A few weeks ago I got an email out of the blue from someone who had read this blog, asking if I still had a spare copy of the first Quicksand LP (as shown on THIS POST from nearly a year ago), because if so he wanted to buy it. As it happened, I did still have it, so I asked the guy to make me an offer, which he did. I was all due to accept, but then I noticed the signature on his email and realised this guy was in a band that I have been listening to for about ten years. The band is called ISIS. You may have heard of them.

At this point, even though I had been offered a decent amount of money for the Quicksand LP, I asked whether the guy might be into trading instead of buying, and asked if he had any spare Isis records laying about. A few emails then flew back and forth as a deal was worked out. I ended up sending the Quicksand LP, a Cro-Mags LP (and also a third mystery LP which was not actually part of this trade, which I will refer to at some point in a future post) over to Los Angeles. And a few days ago, I received a couple of Isis records in return.

First up, a clear green vinyl copy of the 'Oceanic' LP:

This LP (like most Isis records) has been pressed on several different colours since it was released, but this version is part of the first pressing of this LP on Escape Artist records, released in 2002. Deep in my collection I also have this on a solid dark green marble colour. I always knew there was a clear green as well, but I don't know which is rarest. But since this is one of my favourite LPs of the past decade, I'm not overly fussed about knowing. I'm happy just to have them.

The second LP is a clear vinyl copy of the latest album 'Wavering Radient', which got released in 2009 and which I hadn't got around to picking up previously. When this came out, it sold out in about ten minutes and there were numerous different vinyl colours on different record labels. There were also then re-pressings on different colours not long after in order to satisfy the demand. I missed getting an order in for the first pressing, and because there were so many versions floating about in a short space of time, I had no clue about the pressing info. So I decided to wait until the dust had settled and then pick one up on eBay at some point. Fortunately, now I don't have to! I was given the chance to pick any one of the many colours of this thing that exist. I didn't know which one to choose, so I asked my buddy Juan, who advised me to pick the clear vinyl. Apparently this version was limited to 100 copies and could only be obtained from some record store in LA, or from the band direct. As we all know, most exclusive = best, so that was the one I plumped for and got sent.

I was also lucky enough to get my copy personalised, which is a really nice touch and makes it more special:

In case you can't read what it says from the photo above, here are a couple of close-ups:

All in all, a great parcel containing two fantastic records. This totally made my day/week/month/year. The only thing left to say now is

THANKS MIKE!