RevHQ Order

Feels like ages since I've had any new records. But fortunately the postman brought a package yesterday from RevHQ, which gave me something to do.

I used to order from Revelation all the time. Their service is really good. Really fast. I usually get my order in a week. But at some point about three or four years ago I seemed to stop ordering from them. The main reason is that I seemed to get this idea in my head that it wasn't cost effective to order one or two records because of the shipping rates. Maybe that was a point when the dollar wasn't so weak. But these days I still have the same stupid idea. That if there's one thing I want from Rev then I have to find a few other things to order or it's just not worth it. And half the time I want one record, but there's nothing else, so I wait until there's something else, and then the first thing I wanted has sold out. Even though I have collected Revelation's colour vinyl for about 15 years now, and have been ordering directly for at least 13 of those years, the last couple of years I have missed everything they have released, due to being slow off the mark. So I'm playing constant catch up. Oh yeah, and it doesn't help that they started putting out everything on 5 different colours these days. I mean, as if I want 5 Sinking Ships LPs....

So here's a question - what do you do if you have 70 Dagnasty LPs lying around that nobody is interested in? Well, the answer is that you make up a limited sleeve, hand number it, then sit back & watch the orders roll in as idiots like me buy another version of a record they already have (and don't even like):

That said, it does look good. Glad I pulled my finger out and ordered this one.

Next item out of the box was the "final pressing" of the second In My Eyes LP. This was disappointing though, since there is absolutely no difference between this one and the original pressing. So a pointless purchase really:

And to go with the grey vinyl version, I got the red vinyl version of the Living Hell LP:

Next, another of the recent Dischord colour vinyl reissues. I'm missing about three of them. I keep meaning to place an order with Dischord, but got this one from Rev because it was only $7.70, which is actually cheaper than Dischord sell it. Even though I don't like the vinyl colour, I like how someone has at least had the sense to try to match it to the cover:

Eleven Thirty Four 7" on gold, which was apparently "found" recently. I always liked this band and only previously had this 7" on clear:

Finally, the latest Coheed & Cambria album. Slightly embarrassing to admit that I like this band, but still, the vinyl is cool and features a cool etching on one record:

This album also featured a code so that I could go to the band's website and download the songs. Pretty good idea. However, I tried it and all I got was a stupid error message saying "Not available in your country". And there was me thinking that the whole point of the internet was that it was "international"...

The Reason I Failed History

When I bought the Cross My Heart LP a few weeks ago, I remembered how good this band was. Picked up a 12" ep called "The Reason I Failed History", which I previously only had on cd.

This marked my first use of the "best offer" feature on ebay. The thing was for sale at $12 with $12 shipping and a "best offer" option attached. So I offered $8 to make it a nice round $20 with shipping and dude accepted. Cool huh?

Nirvana / The Fluid

Another Sub Pop 7" that seems to have remained static in value for about 15 years. Back in 1992 this seemed expensive. In 2008 it doesn't. I particularly like this shade of green vinyl.

Dead By 23

When Dead By 23 Records started putting out about 10 versions of every record, I thought it was insane, and a step too far. I was happy to buy one copy of each and leave it there. A few years later DB23 releases started cropping up on ebay with increasing frequency, and the prices seemed to drop to next to nothing. So I started collecting them. Today I got a couple of particularly nice ones.

Down To Nothing 7" with alternate sleeve numbered 9 of 30 (I think this is the record release show sleeve):

Scraps & Heart Attacks 7" Test Press, number 12 of 12. The best thing about this is that it was originally stamped "112 of 112", and the first digit of each 112 was tip-ex'd over. Nice work.

Union 7"

In 1996 I bought a 7" compilation called "The Sunny Side Of Louisville". Unsurprisingly, it contained songs by bands from Louisville, none of whom were particularly well known. It featured By The Grace Of God (the "big" band of the time), Castner, Four Rose Society, and Union. At the time, I liked the comp a lot, and tried to find more music by all of the bands involved. I managed to get a Four Rose Society 7", but that was about it. Around the same time, some dude I knew somehow picked up a 7" by Union. I tried to track it down, but accidentally bought a 7" by a different band called Union, who were on Ferret Records. And that 7" was pretty good at the time. But the 7" by the Louisville band Union always eluded me. Until now.


I picked this up on ebay for $3.25. As I write this it has just occurred to me that this has been on my want list for about 12 years. That seems completely crazy to me. I've never seriously chased it, but still... how did 12 years pass since I decided I wanted this record? I guess in that sense it's nice to finally pick it up. But is it any good? Well, in 2008 it's difficult to say. It sounds a little like the final Unbroken 7" after two listens. Not really the kind of thing I'm into these days. But I wouldn't say this is a bad record by any means. Now, does anyone know if this was pressed on colour...

Jawbreaker Chesterfield King

I've had this record pretty much since it came out. Controversially, I don't even think it's very good. But I've always known that mine had a cover flaw, and should be replaced at some point. So I picked one up for a fair price on ebay last week.

The worst thing is that the new one I just got is not flawless either, and has a weird mark on the cover just under the Jawbreaker logo. However, this is by no means as bad as the mark my copy had left, which was caused by me removing the price sticker when I bought it. But to make up for it, the new copy is a little more discoloured and dirty than my copy. So now I have to decide which one to keep and which to sell/trade. And I'm not sure what to do. Should I get rid of the new one with the spot, or the one I've owned for 15 years with the sticker residue? Here are the two faults, side by side:

Hmmm. Not sure what to do. Any thoughts anyone?

Cave In Test Press

I've always loved Cave In, throughout all of their phases. As long as Caleb Scofield is in them, they will rule. I was stoked to get a Cave In test press today... even if it is their worst record.

Not sure I believe what was written on the poly sleeve though:

There must have been more than 3 tests. I've emailed Magic Bullet to find out. Hopefully they'll reply.

Rot In Hell / Hordes 7"

Yet another Rot In Hell release! That's three 7"s in only a few short weeks. I think this one is my favourite so far musically speaking, although as an all round package I'd still say that demo 7" is by far the best - it's like a piece of art [see below]. There are 2 RIH songs on here and both rip. Total Integrity worship. But I figure that if you're gonna worship any band, Integrity is a good choice. There's also some advice on the lyric sheet - "Buy a fucking Integrity record". As long as it's not "Closure" of course...

Hordes I had never heard before. First song sounded really good... right up to the point at which the vocals came in. I think it would have been better if the vocals didn't come in at all. The second song was better though. I don't remember how it goes, but I found myself thinking "actually this is pretty good". Hordes also offer some advice on the lyric sheet, which is that I should "listen to Entombed", but I'm going to ignore that.

The worst thing about this record is that it was sent in paper-thin card, and the cover got bent to fuck in the mail. The creases are going to piss me off forever.

More Rev

For some reason, I am crap at ordering new releases these days. I miss pre-orders and then end up having to pay two or three times more for the things on eBay. I really need to sort my shit out. A couple of recentish Revelation varations I missed:

(Already had the Shook Ones 7" on purple with regular labels, as below)

7" PVC Covers - Goodbye!

Today I am breaking my own rules. I am writing about something that is not a record I received in the mail. Rather, something I did today.

7" storage solutions. Everyone has their own. Mine has been the same for many years... put the 7" in a poly bag (which most come in) and then put them both into a PVC sleeve. Then put the record in a box. I used to like this method because it kept the record completely air tight.

Two years ago I found a few 7"s that had sleeve damage. All are/were sleeves that were made on photocopiers. You may have some yourself. Damage can occur where the ink on the sleeve sticks to the poly sleeve that it's in. I'm not sure what causes this damage. I think it is partly heat, and partly pressure (caused by the weight of other records leaning on the sleeve). But recently I have found more 7"s with sleeve damage, and I now hold PVC sleeves partly responsible. In short, I don't think keeping records airtight is a good thing.

Today I had a day off work. I decided to remove the PVC covers from all my 7"s. Here's the fruit of my hours of hard (pointless) work:

The PVC sleeves are arranged in piles of 25. To save you having to count, there are 34 piles. In total, that's 850 PVC covers. Hopefully I can shift them on eBay, like I did my 12" PVC covers a year ago.

Black Flag Family Man

Back in about 1992-93 I bought a few Black Flag records. I was new to collecting back then & didn't have a clue what was what, and just liked colour vinyl. I picked up a few Black Flag records on colour vinyl. Then someone told me that they were millionth press reissues, and I suddenly looked at them in a different way. They just weren't good enough anymore. I was almost embarrassed to own them because they were common as muck. So I sold them.

Fast forward to 2006. I sold an old friend's record collection for him. In the box were a couple of Black Flag LPs on colour. I was stoked to find them and kept them for myself. I also realised that it didn't matter whether these things aren't original pressings. They're still cool. So I decided to try to collect Black Flag LPs on colour vinyl. Two years later and I'm still miles away from having them all. But I'm one closer now.

"Family Man" on yellow. I never owned this record before. I disticntly remember looking at it in a shop in Camden in 1992/93. It had a sticker on the front that said "yellow vinyl". I think it was priced at about £7. For some reason I didn't want it. Probably to do with the text on the cover that says "A Spoken Word / Instrumental Record".

Picked up on eBay. Mint condition. Stoked. Distinctly unstoked about the charge from the post office though: