Wednesday 27 November 2019

When In Rome

So I went to Rome a couple of weeks ago. I'd never been before, and was really looking forward to it. I like walking around cities without too much planning. We had a hotel that was pretty central, and we walked everywhere. The first day we did 27,000 steps, and the rest of the days were similar. Unfortunately, however, it rained every day except for one. Good job I took my umbrella with me.

Anyway, this was one holiday where I didn't even think about records. I think that before I went I made the assumption that Rome would not have record shops, and I didn't even look at the internet to check if I was right or not. In fact, records did not even enter my head once on the trip. Yet still I ended up coming home with a pretty cool little 7"...

After the first day, I posted some pics of Rome on instagram and Paolo got in touch to ask if I wanted to meet up. I'd made a trade with him a few years ago, and I follow him on instagram as he has some pretty amazing records in his collection. I knew he was italian, but I didn't remember that he lived in Rome. He's not someone I know too well, but I'm always up for meeting new people, especially fellow record nerds. So we arranged to meet one evening, and of course it rained. I thought it would be apt to post up this pic as we are both under my umbrella. It really sums up my trip.

Well, being the nice guy he is, he also brought along a record for me as a gift! This was a record that he helped to release, and he knew that I was missing this particular version, which he had a spare copy of. I was (and still am) really touched by this amazing act of kindness from a 'stranger'.

So the record in question is a split 7", featuring the band Damage Done (from California) and Day Of The Dead (from Portugal). I won't go into much detail about this, because it has been written about in far more detail than I ever could on Kyle's Blog. But suffice to say that this is a pretty cool little version of this record - the mailorder version in a limited sleeve.

I always like when limited sleeves sit on the top of the regular sleeve. Sometimes a limited sleeve is just a photocopied thing that looks great but has no information (lyrics, credits etc). So doing it this way means that you get the benefit of both.

The regular sleeve of this one is pretty cool. It has an extra fold and flap, underneath which it is numbered.

I find it kind of interesting that I got mailorder copy #9/50, yet the regular sleeve is number 59. I wonder if the mailorder copies were numbers 51-100, or whether there was no real order to the regular sleeves that got paired with the mailorder sleeves?

My Damage Done collection is now coming along nicely. I'll post a pic of it at some point when I have more time.

When I started collecting records (many years ago) it felt like there weren't many like minded people about. It was essentially a bedroom hobby. But over the years I have met so many nice people as a result of doing this. Anyone who thinks that record collecting is not a social hobby is clearly doing it wrong. This post is another great example of the social side of the international brotherhood of record nerds. Thank you kindly, Paolo. Hopefully we will get to meet again some day...

Friday 15 November 2019

This Test This Year

I managed to pick up another Rev test recently. Like a lot of Rev releases, this one has a special place in my heart. Rev 97 - The Movielife 'This Time Next Year' LP. This one came out at the end of the year 2000. I bought it immediately as I had previously enjoyed the 7" that Initial Records (RIP) had put out. And I definitely remember being excited for this coming out as I have always enjoyed songs you can really sing along to.

This record really helped me in mid 2001 though, when I went through a tough break up with someone. Back then I was with this chick that I seriously thought that I would marry. But it didn't work out and she left me unexpectedly. There were two records that helped me through the toughest time, and this was one of them. So I have always loved it for helping me get through. Incidentally, I saw her for the first time in years in 2012 and it turned out I'd had a lucky escape as she had developed a huge arse.

Well, this marks the seventh copy of this record I own, and because I have a bit of time on my hands at the moment, I figured I would bust them all out for a snap.

The end.

Thursday 14 November 2019

Integrity / Psywarfare Reboot

The end of the year is fast approaching and I still have a few records that I have picked up this year that I haven't featured on here. Better do some work...

Today's item is a split 12" featuring Integrity and Psywarfare. A long time ago (in the late 90s) there was an Integrity / Psywarfare split 7" on Victory. Twenty something years later and we get the same artists doing another split release, this time as a 12". I think this record was pressed for a small run of shows in January, with a few leftovers being sold to lucky fools after the shows were over.

I managed to score a test press in a cover hand drawn by Dwid:

But then I also picked up a second test press, but this one comes in a Misfits '3 Hits From Hell' rip off sleeve that I think was made by Dom:

As for the regular pressing of this one, there were three colours of vinyl pressed, each being out of only 100 copies.

First up is blue with black splatter:

This colour goes pretty well with the Psywarfare side of the sleeve, which is blue.

The next version is the orange / black merge vinyl. This one goes better with the Integrity side of the sleeve:

The final copy is the flourescent green with a yellow blob version. This one doesn't really go well with anything, except maybe my collection of yellow highlighter pens.

I don't REALLY have a collection of yellow highlighter pens. Come on, what do you take me for here - some kind of nerd?