The Uns (broken & dertow)

Unless you live under a rock (or unless you have stumbled across this blog accidentally & have no idea what hardcore or records even are) then you will know that Unbroken reunited to play a couple of shows recently. Indecision Records made a special triple LP for these shows. The triple LP includes everything that the band ever recorded, which has been released in the past as three LPs (one of which compiles all the 7"s on to a handy single LP). The triple LP packages all three LPs together and adds new artwork and a previously unreleased song. Since I didn't actually attend any of the shows, I count myself extremely lucky that I was able to get one of these things without paying eBay prices. I paid $30, and I have seen the eBay price fluctuate between $80 and $120. Visually, its an interesting record. The band are big fans of Morrissey & The Smiths, and there's a definite British 80s vibe to the visuals here. And, even though I don't generally like vinyl that has been pressed at that plant in Europe, this one just about scrapes in as acceptable. One record is grey, one creamy white, and one half of each. The whole thing seems to have been carefully thought out, which is cool in my book.

When I first unfolded the gatefold sleeve, I couldn't make out what the inside was supposed to be. It just looked like a load of dots. But then I got the camera out and took this photo, and then, as if by magic, I could see it!

Text inside one of the fold out sections from (debatably) their best song:

A cool record which I am very stoked to own. I especially like the super fat spine and how it stands out in my LP rack:

Now, by some strange coincidence, one of my other favourite bands from the early 90s with a name starting with the letters "U" and "N" also reformed for the same shows. And coincidentally, this band's entire recorded output got reissued on vinyl by the same record label, Indecision Records. Man, that's a lot of coincidences. This discography was previously released as a CD a few short years ago, so technically this release represents the label "catching up" and putting it out on vinyl, rather than a special project for the reunion. What's funny about this is that I took one of the LPs out of the sleeve and was disappointed it was black vinyl. I was hoping for some nice colour to coincide with the artwork. Then I took the second record out and found it was blue... and then it occurred to me that black & blue matches the cover perfectly. Cool. The layouts are good on this. Big photos that work in LP size, especially the inside of the gatefold sleeve. I'm also really stoked that the vinyl was pressed at a US plant rather than that crappy Euro one.

The vinyl colour choice is also cool because the limited version of the original pressing the Undertow LP on Excursion Records was blue. Here's the old & new side by side:

Here's to hoping that Indecision decide to catch up and put more of their discography CDs out on the gatefold multi LP format. Outspoken, Insted, Mean Season... they'd all look nice I am sure.

Oh yeah, and finally... Big thanks to Dave for these two. Appreciated, man.