Surprise Trade

Getting a parcel of records is always a nice way to start the day, especially when it's a Monday. But today I received a parcel with an added degree of excitement attached because, unlike most things I receive, I had no idea what was inside. This was because I had done a "surprise" trade with Jeff of Start Today fanzine / Bottled Up Records. I sent him a record and said "send me whatever you think is fair". Obviously there was a risk that I might be disappointed with the result, but I figured this was minimal since I know Jeff is a reliable guy and I was able to highlight a few bits on his trade list that I had an interest in. It turns out that I was not disappointed...

The following record almost deserves a thread of it's own. By far the most exciting record in the batch - The Refuse To Fall 'Stalement Sessions' 7" on green vinyl:

This band did a 7" on Equal Vision many moons ago. In fact, they were the first band that EVR ever released. They then did this 2nd 7" on a little-known label called Drive Records, which was based in Austin, Texas. I've had this 7" since probably about 1995. Unlike a lot of early 90s releases, this is actually a really good record, and still sounds pretty good today. But that's irrelevent. The point is that this has been on my want list for a LONG time. I think it was probably in the days of the Revelation Trade Board, circa 1998 that I somehow discovered that this existed on green vinyl, and I put it on my want list. And since that day, I have never had a chance to pick one up. I have never seen it on eBay or known anyone (other than 90s collector-extraodinaire Dietrich Schellenberg) who has one. And I never knew of anyone else that even wanted it. But today I finally got one. After having this on my want list for ten years, I can finally cross it off. Which proves again what I have said many times before - that if you're prepared to wait long enough, you will eventually get everything you want at a price you're prepared to pay. There can't be many people who have waited ten years for a record. I think the fact that I didn't have to pay hundreds on eBay, or hound someone by email for months, makes this even more special. It almost feels like I just sat and waited ten years for it to fall into my hands, which it eventually did. So yeah, I'm stoked.

Next up, some items Jeff released on his own label, Bottled Up Records. I don't have many Bottled Up releases, but I plan to get more. This is a cool label and these are cool bands and records.

A couple of Learn 7"s (no idea on the pressing info):

Efforts Made 7" (not sure on the pressing detail of this one) and In Stride 7" on gold (which I think is out of 75):

Three versions of the Have Heart demo 7" - clear vinyl with original sleeve (which I think is the Posi Numbers '05 press of 200), white vinyl with the repress sleeve (98 copies) and the clear blue with repress sleeve (121 copies):

Finally, the marble blue vinyl (i.e. rarest) version of the 1st Paint It Black LP:

In short - a good start to the week.