'New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is' GREEN TEST

I've not been able to post much lately. I did this grown up thing and bought a new kitchen, and over the past week I've been living in a building site, with half of my posessions crammed into one room. Taking photos of records was just not possible.

So, now the kitchen is done, I'm back on the scene, and to start February off with a bang, here's one of my most recent pick ups, which instantly becomes THE most important record in my collection. This is a green vinyl test press of Revelation's classic 'New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is' compilation LP.

For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a test press for the second pressing of this LP. Here's the pressing info as listed on the Revelation discography:

Test press : 8 black vinyl

1st press+: black vinyl, Blue/green split labels, large lyric booklet, and trade list flyer.

Test press : 10 green vinyl. Most of these had real labels put on them and slipped into mail-order for a few lucky kids.

I've had two brushes with this thing in the past. The first time was back in 2002. A friend from the States was on tour with Bane in the UK and he told me he was looking to sell his copy of this. He wanted $400 back then. I remember really badly wanting the record, but $400 back then was like fifty grand today, or so it seemed. Bear in mind, I had bought a Supertouch LP test press back then for $50, which seemed like a lot of money, so stepping up to $400 was a whole new level, and one that I was not ready for. So I passed.

The second time was about two and a half years ago. Dave Mandel was selling his copy. I emailed an offer but was told that someone else had offered more. So I upped my offer, only to be told that the other person upped theirs too. So I threw in the towel. I was beaten. However, all good things come to those who wait, and it turns out that this copy I've just picked up is the same one that Dave Mandel sold.

To say that this is my holy grail would be a slight under statement. I figured I would never own this, but after recently arranging to buy a new kitchen, I was already prepared to see my savings drain from my bank account. So when I saw someone offering one of these for sale on the message boards, I figured that waving goodbye to even more of my savings wouldn't really matter too much. Plus I decided that I was sick of seeing someone else buy these whenever they (rarely) came up for sale, with me left thinking that I couldn't afford one and would never own one. So I paid up. More money than I have ever paid for a record by a long, long way. But I still think that I got a pretty good deal when a few days later I saw a Floorpunch on gold go for over $1,500 on eBay.

Anyway, enough talk. Here are some more pics. the green vinyl looks kinda solid in the above pics, but it's kinda see through, especially when held up to the light. See for yourself...

So there we are. The most important and most expensive record I own. Yet, funnily enough, I have to admit that I'm actually more stoked on my new kitchen. Who'd have thought eh?