R87 Test Nailed

Haven't had anything in the mail for a while, but thankfully the floodgates have opened this week & I have a few new bits of wax to take photos of & put into piles on my floor. Today's entry is a pair of records that have nothing in common except for the fact that I won them from the same person on eBay...

First, a (semi)new(ish) release. I guess that anything within the last three years counts as a new release for me these days. I'm pretty sure this one came out in 2010 at some point though. Nails 'Unsilent Death' LP on Six Feet Under Records. This is the limited pink vinyl of which there are 220 copies.

This has just been reissued by Southern Lord after going out of print quite quickly. It's funny, but I wanted this really badly. I don't think I have wanted a new release this badly for a long ass time. The funny thing though is why I wanted it, which I shall now explain...

In short, it's the artwork. When I got the Floorpunch discography from the same label earlier this year, in the package was a promotional postcard with a picture of a dude hanging from a cross. I don't have anything personal on my desk at work like some people do. I mean, if I am not at work then anyone would think that my desk is a spare desk. No personal photos or little toys or anything like that. I just don't like personalising my work space. To me it just looks cluttered and untidy. However, for some reason I decided to pin the Nails promotional postcard thing up on my cubical wall thingy next to my computer screen. This meant that I was pretty much staring at this picture for 8-10 hours a day every day. Now, I don't know about you, but usually the more I see something the more bored of it I get. With this picture, however, the more I saw it, the more I wanted the record that it was seeking to promote. I guess that's the point of advertising eh? I mean, I'd never even heard the band, but a little postcard image made me want to buy the record really badly. The image I am wittering on about is shown here, at the top of the lyric sheet poster thingy:

Pretty cool image isn't it? A cross with a silhouette of a dude hanging from it. The funny thing was when some dude at work sat at my desk & asked why I had a picture of someone hanging by the neck. I guess it must look pretty funny given that this is literally the only picture I have at my desk. Haha! Anyway, if nothing else this shows why artwork is important when you release records - good artwork can be the difference between someone wanting to buy your record and not. I can't imagine how boring it would be if music was just digital files and there was no such thing as artwork accompanying music. Unfortunately though, in another 20 years or so that's probably exactly where we are likely to be - in a place where music is simply music and artwork serves no purpose. Sad but probably inevitable.

The second item from the same spending session is a test press of the first Redemption 87 LP. This thing came out circa 1995 on everyone's favourite label, New Age Records.

One little thing that made me smile on here is that the previous owners' names are written on the dust sleeve. I think one of them reads this blog.

Anyway, I like the idea of this. Imagine if everyone who ever bought a record wrote their name on the dustsleeve. Would be cool to see who had owned records before you, don't you think? Think about that next time you go to sell something.