Saturday 30 November 2013

Sun Return

When people collect and talk about Wishingwell Records releases, the main ones that come to mind are Uniform Choice, Youth Of Today and Insted. However, another great release on the label is an LP that was never actually released. The band Freewill recorded an LP called 'Sun Return' which got as far as test press stage, and then for some reason it never went any further. Everyone's favourite German label Lost & Found released it on CD, but if you want a vinyl copy then you're going to have to track down a test press, which is something I finally got around to recently. It comes in a plain white sleeve with a promo sheet taped on the front.

This is one of those records that I never thought that I would ever own. This doesn't pop up very often, and when it does it goes for a decent wedge. However, I don't actually think it's that rare. I would guess that this is one of those tests that doubled up as promo copies. I would guess there to be probably 50 of these out there. It's just a guess though.

So for whatever reason, after recording the LP the band changed their name to Stone Telling and re-recorded the songs and released the LP on Network Sound Records. I actually prefer the Stone Telling version, although I'm definitely in the minority. Most prefer the Freewill version. Anyway, last year I picked up a Stone Telling LP test press, which I think is probably rarer as I've never seen another, so I thought I'd photograph the two together.

If you've never heard either version of this record then you really need to fix that situation ASAP. This is a great melodic hardcore record. The promo sheet on the front says that this sounds like Dag Nasty, and it absolutely does. If you like the first two Dag Nasty LPs (and let'd be hoenst, who the hell doesn't?) then you need these songs in your life.

That's now 46 tests for anyone keeping count.

Friday 29 November 2013

Big Hole

A couple of years ago I picked up a Black Flag 'Louie Louie' 7" on red vinyl (see HERE). Recently I saw one for sale and did a double take. It looked different to mine. Then it hit me - it had a big centre hole, whereas mine had a small centre hole. So obviously I had to buy it as it qualified as a different record.

This is actually the third copy of 'Louie Louie' I've picked up this year. I'm still hoping that one day I can do a photo of all the Black Flag colour 7"s like I did last year with the colour LPs.

Thursday 28 November 2013

Shook Ships

Until the mid 00's I didn't have much trouble keeping up with Rev's limited releases. But circa 2006 or so they abandoned their 'one limited color pressing' approach and instead moved to the more common policy of 'too many pressings to possibly keep up with'. I still don't have all of the limited versions of the Shook Ones and Sinking Ships records that Rev released. But thankfully both bands have become less collectible and prices have come down a lot. Which means I can fill some holes. Here are two examples, both on the best colour vinyl.

The Shook Ones 'Slaughter Of The Insole' 7" came out in 2006 and this one comes on pink vinyl and in a limited sleeve. I seriously have no idea how many versions of this 7" exist. It just seems like loads. This one seems confusing in itself though. The sleeve says 'West Coast Tour' at the top, but it also says 'Record Release February 4 2006' in the pink bit in the centre. So I'm not sure if this is a tour press or a record release show copy.

As you can see, this one is number 92/100. What makes this even more confusing to me is that the Rev discography reads as follows:

60 of the pink vinyl came with limited tour covers that, due to various hold ups became record release show covers sold at a basement show in Ballard, Washington.

See? 60 of the pink vinyl came with limited tour covers... yet I have number 92/100. So is the rev text wrong when it says 60? Or is there another limited sleeve that I don't have? Anyone know? I don't think there is another limited cover, but there are so many of these things that I wouldn't be surprised. This is actually the sixth copy of this 7" that I own now. I kinda hope there isn't a seventh one to chase.

The Sinking Ships 'Ten' 7" came out in 2007 and, like the Shook Ones 7", there are seemingly endless versions out there. This new copy is now the seventh one of these that I own, and (also like the Shook Ones 7") I have no idea if there are more out there that I still need. This copy comes in the limited 'Sound & Fury' sleeve, numbered 72 but out of how many I have no idea. The back of the sleeve has some pretty bad ringwear and in truth I would like a better condition sleeve. I'll probably grab one if I see one for not too much.

The Rev discography makes no mention of the limited covers that exist for this one, so technically I now own two more copies than are documented by Rev. I wish they would put some work into properly maintaing their discography. It would make my job much easier.

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Descendents Bits & Bobs

Today I'm featuring a few new additions to the Descendents collection. Nothing too exciting. I'm just slowly chipping away at the block.

First up is a weird one. This was released on a label called Sessions Records back in 1997 and features two 'songs' recorded at the same time as the 'Everything Sucks' LP. The first song was a b-side song on another 7" - the 'When I Get Old' 7" (which I also picked up recently) and the flipside is an instrumental song that featured on the end of 'Everything Sucks' but as a 'secret' (un-named) song. So all in all this is a pretty pointless record.

Next up I bagged two extra copies of the 'Merican 7". I previously picked up a blue copy and a white copy, both of which were from the second press. I picked up a red vinyl copy, which is from the first press and is out of 522 copies:

I also picked up a clear blue copy. The blue vinyl was from the second press and is out of 218 copies.

The interesting thing about the blue vinyl is that there are different shades. I previously picked up a blue which was very dark clear blue. This new copy is a much lighter shade. Here are the two together which really shows the difference:

There are also some opaque baby blue copies out there. They seem rarer to me. I can tell it's going to be a tough find. I'm now looking for one of those too.

Finally, I picked up another color of the 'Bonus Fat' 12", this time on green vinyl. This is a repress from last year (or possibly the year before):

I picked up a grey vinyl copy almost a year ago. Here's the two together to show the colour difference:

I'm still in need of a blue vinyl copy of the 'Cool To Be You' LP. On the off chance that anyone reading this has one that they want to let go, get at me.

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Citizens Atest

Today's update is yet another test press. It's a test of the Citizens Arrest 'Soaked In Others Blood' 7" that Painkiller put out last year. I spotted this thing on eBay and watched, expecting the price to go up high, yet for some reason it didn't. I don't think it's too great compared to their original 7" from back in the day, and maybe everyone else thinks the same, so nobody was too fussed. Or maybe people just missed it? I don't know, but it was priced pretty low so I thought it worth grabbing.

This one comes in a red card sleeve and is stamped and numbered out of 20 copies. I think it actually looks better than the regular sleeve, but what do I know?

That makes 45 tests so far in 2013.

Monday 25 November 2013

What Goes Around Comes Around

Back when Dead By 23 records was in its prime I was a bit out of touch. I had this period of a couple of years when I was extremely busy with studying and I lost touch with everything. I was on the verge of losing touch with hardcore completely and giving up as it felt like there was just no time for it. Other stuff had become a priority. And at that point, Dead By 23 came on the scene and changed what record collecting was and would become. Gone was the traditional ‘one colour vinyl version, the rest black’ model that had previously existed. In came an approach which jacked up the collectability factor tenfold. There would be at least 5 different versions of each record as a minimum, with almost endless uber limited nerdy versions in stupidly low quantities. I have a friend who, a few years ago, had about 16 different Frostbite 7”s. Someone else commented the other day that they used to have 17 different Final Plan 7”s. And this is why it was cool – if you liked a band or record enough, there was always more to try to get. It was a collectors dream and worst nightmare at the same time, depending on your viewpoint. Initially I thought it sucked but then as time went on I got sucked in. And even though the label hasn’t really been active in a few years, rare variants that I don’t have (or have never seen) still pop up from time to time. So here’s the latest one I was keen to grab. This is a black vinyl copy of the first Down To Nothing 7”.

Interestingly, there was actually never a black vinyl pressing of this record. But, outside of the ‘regular’ colours of this record that were made for the first pressing, there were 31 copies that were swirls / transitions (not sure what the correct term is according to the discography as it’s no longer online). These 31 7”s were numbered in order of colour. The numbering started at the blackest copies, and continued to the lightest version. I once saw a photo where some dude owned literally about half of the 31 copies to himself, and when laid out in order you could clearly see the transition from black to purple. Anyway, of these 31 copies, only three were pure black, and as you can see it is one of these that I have just acquired.

I actually already owned two other different shades of the 31 numbered transition copies, so I took those out to show the progression from black to purple. I think this photo looks pretty good itself – there’s no need to see an additional 28 copies to see how the numbering and colouring works.

Given that I was pulling these copies out, I also figured I would pull out the other copies of this 7” I owned to take a family photo. I posted this on instagram yesterday.

Pictured (from left to right, starting at the top) are:
- Test press on black vinyl
- Release show sleeve on greenish vinyl 9/30
- 1st press regular sleeve on greenish vinyl
- 1st press regular sleeve on clear/purple vinyl (quite clear in colour)
- 1st press transition copy #1/31
- 1st press transition copy #9/31
- 1st press transition copy #29/31
- 1st press regular sleeve on clear/purple vinyl (almost opaque)
- 2nd press red vinyl in regular sleeve
- 2nd press transition copy on solid red vinyl #3/30 in hand coloured sleeve
- Red screen printed sleeve sold at This Is Hardcore #1/6

The seller also threw in a copy of the Frostbite 7”. This one comes in a Floorpunch rip off sleeve. I already had one of these on clear red vinyl. However, this copy is a red/black mix copy. Not sure how came out like this, but probably not many. This is Dead By 23 after all.

There are still probably lots of Frostbite variants I don’t have as (including this one) I ‘only’ have 9 different versions. There are a couple of very limited sleeves that I would like, but they are so stupidly rare that I'm not even going to bother adding them to my wants list.

Sunday 24 November 2013

Chinchilla Test

A dude on eBay sold a LOT of Revelation color vinyl a couple of months back. The seller was a guy who owns a record store called Standards Records. Turns out that the reason he had so much to sell was that he had bought someone's collection. Someone with a big collection who, in the mid 90s, used to work at Revelation. Whilst most people were fighting over the Into Another and Nerve Agents records, I had my eye on an item I figured nobody else would care about. Unsurprisingly, I won it, although it went for a little more than I expected. I think I paid $26 for it. At least one other person placed a bid on this, which surprised me. Anyway, it's a test press of an LP by a band called Chinchilla entitled '101 Italian Hits'.

It comes in a plain white sleeve, so here's the regular cover next to it just for fun.

This record was released by Revelation's 'sister label', Crisis Records, in about 1996. It's an LP that comes on a 12" and 7" format, so of course there are tests of both records included. This band has a female singer. It's quite poppy and is pretty much just indie rock. I never liked this as much as other female fronted bands (Ashes, Baby Gopal, Junction, Copper), but it's in the same ballpark so not sure why as I loved those other bands at the time.

That's 44 tests now. I'm counting this as one, not two. I'm not so desperate to hit my 52 target that I'm going to cheat.

Saturday 23 November 2013

You Can't Kill Us All

I ended up with this record and was disappointed. It's a second press copy of Coalesce 'Functioning On Impatience' on red/black marble (out of 110 copies). I love this band, I love this record and I did want this record, but winning it was still a disappointment.

The reason it wasn't quite as exciting as it should have been is because it was my second choice win. The same seller had a test press of this record up on eBay. I wanted that badly. I bid but came second. I had been watching it for days and the price wasn't that high really. I immediately wished I had bid more and was gutted to not win it. This was a nice consolation, but I imagine that every time I look at this record I will always think about that test that I didn't win.

Friday 22 November 2013

Free To Think... Again

It's been a long time since I added anything to my Bane collection. There's barely anything I don't have is the main reason for that. But this particular version of the second 7" has eluded me for long time. To be honest, it was only a couple of years back that I realised that it existed and that I didn't have one. I watched a few on eBay but was never motivated enough to bid. But eventually I saw one that looked to have been missed by the rest of the world, so I grabbed it.

This is the eleventh copy of this 7" that I own. I have no idea where this fits in terms of pressing info. I always thought that the first press was black and the second press yellow. However, there are black copies with stamped white labels numbered out of 300, and then there are black copies like this with the bane logo labels. No idea if both variants are first press, or whether one is first press and another second. Anyone? Murphy?

Thursday 21 November 2013

Yet More Rev Represses

Everyone has seen them, everyone owns them, and there's not really much to say about them at this point. I'm sick to death of them now, but still buying them, although I'm literally months behind everyone else. Doesn't matter though. It's not a race. Here are my latest additions to my now overstocked Rev collection...

I don't think that even I could have ever guessed that I would one day own three different colour copies of the Rage Against The Machine 10". Lucky me eh?

Wednesday 20 November 2013

War Hungry

Almost two years ago I bought a compilation LP on Six Feet Under Records called 'Striving Higher' (see THIS POST). It was a good way to force myself to listen to some new bands. At the end of my blog entry on that record, I wrote this:

My stand out favourite, however, is the song by War Hungry. Why did I never listen to this band before? If this song is anything to go by this could be my new favourite band.

Back then I tried to get a copy of the LP, but it was sold out and I couldn't find one anywhere. Well, finally almost two years later, I finally managed ot get a copy of the bloody thing.

Even though I only just picked up the plastic disc, I downloaded these songs nearly two years ago & it was one of my most listened to records in 2012. It didn't make my end year list because I didn't have the vinyl, but if I had have had it then it certainly would have been up there. It's a great record and every household should have one.

I have no idea on pressing info for this thing. As well as the white I've also seen a red vinyl copy and one with a release show sleeve on black. Anyone know what the deal is?

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Generations Test

So I mentioned a couple of tests languishing in my backlog, and here's one just in time for (ahem) 'Test Press Tuesday':

This is boring to look at, being a plain black record with plain white labels in a plain white paper dust sleeve. Other copies of this test that I have seen have all had a Revelation logo sticker on the dust sleeve. This one, alas, does not. I could put one on myself I suppose, but that would seem wrong. So instead I pulled out the regular record to make for a more interesting photo:

The 'Generations' compilation came out on Revelation back in 2005. I remember being stoked at the time for two reasons - firstly, the front cover and colour scheme seemed to be heavily influenced by the 'New York City Hardcore The Way It Is'. Secondly, it was pressed in the States, which was a big relief after the disgusting Judge discography pressed on shitty european vinyl (although after this record, Rev disappointed me by returning to the euro pressing plant for the next few releases). Aside from that though, this comp kinda missed the mark. Not sure why. I mean, it has some great bands of the time (Righteous Jams, Mental, Fucked Up, LOJ, Blacklisted, Mind Eraser, Cold World, etc) but for some reason it just felt unnecessary. My theory is that the 'NYCHCTWII' comp came about at the start of the era, whereas this comp came out at the end of an era. Still, regardless of how unsuccessful or pointless this record may have seemed, it does have some good songs on it.

43 tests done.

Monday 18 November 2013

More Boston Straight Edge

It's funny, because for years I was never interested in 'regular' black vinyl records. I never had need for them. Back before the internet era of collecting, I would just want one copy of each record... albeit the most limited one. These days I feel I have been sucked into buying regular black vinyl copies of records to 'complete' collections. Well, if nothing else, the 'regular' copies don't cost much I suppose, so I can't complain. Here's an example. The black vinyl version of the No Tolerance demo 7":

And here's why I needed it - because I already had the test press and the limited gold vinyl, and I badly wanted to take this photo:

Job done, as they say.

Sunday 17 November 2013

Magic Circle

Everyone's got the Magic Circle LP by now, or at least knows who's in it & what it is. I will openly admit that I was never a metal kid, but that doesn't mean I don't like anything from that range on the musical spectrum. I'm a big fan of the first six Black Sabbath LPs (never heard anything after that though), so when I read that Magic Circle was Sabbath styled doom from the current day Boston hardcore superstars, I was curious. I downloaded this back in about March this year and it was the soundtrack to painting my new kitchen... which took me about two weeks (doing section by section, rather than going insane by trying to do the whole thing in one go). The only problem was that (unsurprisingly) the record sold out stupidly fast & I missed out. Fortunately, the label decided to make some more. They announced it by saying 'Completely identical to the original pressing. There is no way to tell them apart, no colored vinyl, no limited editions. Just a killer record'. Even better. So I was finally able to grab one.

This is one of my favourite records of this year. I don't care about musical styles, but when I look back on 2013 this LP will be up there for sure. However, 'no limited editions' isn't what I wanted to hear, so when a test press appeared on eBay being sold by the singer, I figured I would make a play for it. And wouldn't you know it, I somehow won. So I did end up with a limited edition after all.

That's now 42 tests this year so far. I don't think I am going to make the 52 target to be honest, but it's going to be close as I already have a couple that are in the blog backlog.

Saturday 16 November 2013

Free Spirit

It's taken a long time, but I finally managed to get myself a Free Spirit 7". This thing sold out before I'd even heard it back in 2010, and the price stayed at a reasonably high level ever since. I bid on a few of these on eBay the past three years, and always got outbid. Or I'd watch them and then, before I even got around to bidding, they would fly out of the range of what I wanted to pay. But I learned patience a long time ago. And eventually, a couple of reasonably priced copies fell into my hands.

I really like the front cover of this record. It's a great image and I like things that are a little different, and this is about as far away from the traditional hardcore record cover as you can get. Musically its a great little record though. 300 on clear and 700 on red. Done.

Friday 15 November 2013

Going Confetti Again

It's been a while since I've seen any Give records on any record blogs. The band's output seems to have slowed. I guess they must be in between records or something. Well anyway, I'm not sure if people didn't notice or if they just aren't bothered, but this second press of the 'Singles Going Confetti' 12" appeared a couple or months back. There were 100 on clear and 400 on black. Naturally, being a fan of both Give and clear vinyl, I couldn't resist picking one up.

Not only is clear the best looking vinyl, but it also makes for the best (and most effortless) photos. But despite how rad this clear copy looks, I still can't believe that I didn't pre-order the European press with the limited cover. I think that one is going to haunt me for a while to come.