Sunday 31 May 2015

Glow Me A River

So just like everyone else out there, I was suckered by Revelation's repress of 'Start Today' on glow in the dark vinyl. But unlike everyone else, I've only just received mine. Not much to say about this one really, other than how awesome it is. But you already know that. So here are a couple of pictures, which no doubt everyone has seen before many times elsewhere.

Of course, as Rev reissued the record on this new colour, Super 7 decided to make another GB toy using the same glow in the dark technology. And even though I thought I wouldn't get sucked in, on the day it launched I couldn't help checking out what the fuss was about, which inevitably led to me buying one.

So the only thing left to do at this point was to put the two things together and take a couple more photos. One with the lights on:

And one with the lights off:

It sounds stupid, but I am seriously impressed with how brightly these things glow in the dark. I mean, shit glowing in the dark has been something that has existed since I was young, but it always used to be a pretty poor glow. These two things glow seriously brightly. The photo doesnt do it justice really, but in real life these things glow super bright. Love it.

Thursday 28 May 2015

Impatience

I bought a bunch of stuff from Dan at Second Nature Records. It was quite funny because the transaction started about 3 years ago. He posted a list of stuff for sale, I replied, we agreed prices, and then I didn't reply back. I'm not sure what happened, but I recall it was a pretty busy time, and my email builds up pretty quickly, so I guess within a few days the email chain was way down my inbox and then I forgot. And then three years went by. Tidying my email a couple of months ago I emailed Dan to see if he still had the records, expecting them to be sold, but most of them were still available. A few days later they were in the mail.

I'm gonna deal with the things over a few posts. I'm starting with a couple more versions of the classic Coalesce 'Functioning On Impatience' 12". The fourth press was only 100 copies on purple vinyl:

And the sixth press was an even fewer 48 copies on orange vinyl:

I thought that these two copies had completed my colour vinyl collection for this record, but then I realised I was missing one. I still need a third press orange/black marble copy. Don't think I have ever even seen one. So whilst I have crossed these off of my want list, I now need to put another one on there. Damnit.

Tuesday 26 May 2015

Lost My Elephant

So you may or may not know that Supertouch released a limited cover version of their 'Lost My Way' 7" for Record Store Day 2012. There were 70 copies on black vinyl that came in a numbered sleeve which featured an elephant on the front. It was sold exclusively at Generation Records in NYC, where the band played a special in store show on the day. Well, it's taken three years, but I finally managed to snag one for a reasonable price.

I actually managed to get this from the store who were selling on eBay. Makes me wonder how many copies remained unsold, or they held back.

This is the fifth copy of this 7" that I own. The one I am missing is the one with the limited Vinyl Noize cover. Pretty funny that I used to write for Vinyl Noize and this is now the only one I need... all because I didn't want to have to pay for a t-shirt that it came bundled with back when it came out. In the unlikely event that anyone has one with the Vinyl Noize cover and could live without it, you know where to find me...

Saturday 23 May 2015

Hyperview

I picked up the new Title Fight LP 'Hyperview'. There were a few different pressings of this one (and Nico has just about all of them!), but I didn't want to try to collect them all. I decided that I would be happy with one copy. The only question was which one to try to get. As I am generally a fan of vinyl colours matching artwork, I decided to go after a white copy.

This LP is quite different to their previous releases. Their sound has mellowed a lot and they now sound like an early 90s British shoegaze band. I've actually been really enjoying this record the last couple of weeks. Shame I missed the band on tour, but the only show near me was sold out. I saw some footage of them playing live last week and I was surprised to see a non-stop line of kids stage diving. I mean, seriously, how is this music to dive to?

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Don't Stop

As I am sure you know, most test pressings are made in pretty small runs. Typically, there are 3-15 copies of most tests made. But sometimes labels make much larger quantities, and here's an example. This Fastbreak 'Don't Stop Trying' 7" test press is numbered out of 55 copies (with this one being #3).

The sleeve that this copy comes in is a very DIY affair. It's basically just a folded piece of red card, with a print of the regular cover art glued on the front.

I'm not sure whether this is the real cover or one that the previous owner made. The reason I say that is because Kyle also owns (or rather owned) a copy of this test which came in a regular record cover (check it HERE). Given that his was number 5, which was only two after this one, it would seem odd that they would have different sleeves.

Still looking for a first press blue vinyl copy of this one, and I think there may be a solid yellow vinyl later press too which I also don't have. Anyone?

Sunday 17 May 2015

Pushed Too Far

Back in the last 90s I picked up a 7" by a band called Pushed Too Far. I liked how they appeared to be named after a SOIA song, I liked the tunes they banged out, and I liked the aesthetics of their record - it came in a blue sleeve and pretty much all copies were on a matching blue vinyl. It felt like a nice, clean design. Back then I heard rumours that there was a second, more limited 'dark' blue colour vinyl, but I never saw one. Fast forward to early 2015 and one popped up on ebay. In the 16 or so years before this, I don't think I had ever actually seen one. So I figured I would throw down a cheeky bid, and wouldn't you know it, I bagged it. So here it is:

The dust sleeve is stamped with a number 32, although I have no idea how many copies this is number thirty two of.

I always loved the band photo on the back of the sleeve. I used to love dude's Chain t-shirt and I liked the idea that if you lived wherever these dudes lived, you might just bump into them hanging out around town.

Finally, I fished out my other copy - the one I've had since the late 90s - to compare the two. It's the one on the right here. As you can see, the its colour is a much closer match to the sleeve than my newest copy.

I haven't listened to this in a while, and it doesn't seem to have aged too well compared to other records of the same era. Regardless, however, there's another variant out there on black vinyl in a limited sleeve and I quite want it now. Kinda silly huh?

Thursday 14 May 2015

Fuck Off!

Here's another variant of an early 00's era 7". The Right Brigade / A Poor Excuse split 7" was Bridge Nine's sixth release, which is now 15 years old! How the hell did that happen? I picked up one copy back when this came out, and then about nine years later picked up a second copy. Then a couple of years later a couple more. It seems that I manage to pick up another one on average once every 2.5 years. Since I haven't managed to add one since March 2013, I figured it was about time to seek out another one. So here's my sixth copy... the one with the infamous 'Fuck Off' cover.

The story on this one is basically that the printers took a long-ass time to print the covers. So B9 were sitting on the records for ages without covers, meaning they couldn't sell them... so to get around the probem they made up some covers of their own.

The label's account of what happened is detailed on the back of the sleeve:

According to the B9 discography, there were 100 of these covers made. Mine is stamped with a number 97, leading me to believe that I own number ninety seven of the hundred.

Despite having 6 versions of this one now, I still need 4 more to complete the set. At my current rate this means that I am set to have achieved that goal by 2025. Please stick around and watch the story unfold... very slowly...

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Fire!

So I finally got the second Boston Strangler LP, and boy, what a let down. As is often the case with these things, this second LP seemed to draw far less attention than the first. I guess it's difficult to keep that level of hype going for too long. Or perhaps the world was expecting the attention and excitement this time around, so the label pressed a lot more copies, meaning that (shock, horror) the record was freely available for anyone who wants one.

Whatever the reason, it seems that this thing didn't manage to send the world, eBay and Discogs crazy. It seems easy to get, but I'm not sure if that's because there are lots of copies out there, or just because it's not overly exciting. At least the first one kinda sounded new and exciting. This just sounds like the same record again. Sorry to say I feel no interest for this at all. Perhaps the title is a suggestion of where I should chuck it?

Sunday 10 May 2015

Electric Flower Circus II

Right at the end of last year I posted up the debut full length from Give, 'Electric Flower Circus', pressed on a European label called Adagio 830 Records. The US pressing had completely sold out at pre-order stage, leaving me the option of either eBay or Discogs to pick up the US colour vinyl that I so badly wanted. Or so I thought... but then once again, a kind soul reached out and helped me. Some guy commented on here to let me know that the US green vinyl copies were for sale in the Deathwish Inc. online store, so I quickly grabbed a couple of copies before other fools could block me.

Green vinyl was the mailorder colour out of 300 copies. Initially this was supposed to be the record release colour, with pink vinyl being the mailorder colour, but the colours got pressed the wrong way round, with pink then being used as the record release version.

Black vinyl was out of 600 copies.

I love the artwork for this thing. It shows the band members all painted head to toe in green with flowers on top. Talk about dedication to your art...

I struggled to get into this record at first. Not sure if it just takes more time to get into than their previous releases, or whether I was just getting bored of listening to Give, but I wasn't digging it. Then a couple of week ago I was playing it whilst painting the walls, and it suddenly clicked. Right now I'm loving it. I don't think I have even seen a picture of a pink copy, but damnit, I badly need to find one. If anyone can give me a lead on one it would be greatly appreciated.

Saturday 9 May 2015

A Clear Measure

When I sent some Seaweed records to Mike recently, I realised that I only had an orange vinyl copy of the 'Measure' 7". In my head I thought I also had a clear one, but it would seem not. So I decided to rectify that situation.

Quite a lot of the earlier Sub Pop releases were pressed on multiple colours of vinyl. Others just came on one. I'm not sure exactly how they decided these things. But over the years some colours of some releases have proven to be super rare and become extremely sought after.

The other, more common colour of this one is orange vinyl. And, just like the Bold 7" on Rev, the majority were on a bright orange, but there were some copies on a kind of pink/orange mix and also some that are regarded as pink. If you are remotely interested in seeing any of these variants then go check out John Pette's Seaweed discography.

Thursday 7 May 2015

Kill For Christ

Back in 2009 I started out on a quest to collect the XClaim! releases. I actually did really well in a very short space of time. In August 2009 I picked up XClaim! numbers 1 and 4, then in November I managed to pick up XClaim! 5 & XClaim!6, and in December I found a copy of XClaim!3. So that was five of the six done within four months of each other. I think that by anyone's standards, this was pretty good going. That left me only one record left to get to complete the set.

Well, things slowed down a little after that. It's actually taken me five and a half years later to acquire a copy of XClaim! 2, although it was worth waiting for as it is in such great condition. So here we are - the F.U.s 'Kill For Christ' LP.

Like all of my other XClaim! records, this one comes with an insert. Thank fuck.

And of course, you know full well that I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to post up this great photo of my now complete XClaim! set.

That's another one off the wants list. The year is going ok so far.

Wednesday 6 May 2015

All The Things You Said You'd Never Tell

Tonight Cold World are playing in London. I had wanted to go, but it sold out and I couldn't get a ticket. So I bought myself this clear vinyl copy of 'Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First' instead.

I missed this colour when it came out in 2008. I did pick upo the grey vinyl and orange vinyl copies, but the clear had sold out. It's a nice crystal clear colour, and it's cool to have finally picked one up, but it seems crazy that it's been almost 7 years since it came out. My brain seriously cannot comprehend this fact. At the rate time seems to be ticking, I'll be sixty next week.

Personally, I don't think this is anywhere near as good as the second LP that came out last year. It doesn't flow as well. But there are definitely some bangers on here for sure.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

The Day The Music Died

When Bane played on their first European tour in 2000, they stayed at my house, and Bedard was telling me about the best new band in the States, American Nightmare. I still remember it like it were yesterday, although it were nearly fifteen years ago now. Wow. Anyhow, it turned out that he was right, and American Nightmare were the best band back then after all. But then they went shit and then they broke up. But people never stopped liking them and the prices of their records never really came down much. So I left it a few years before picking up some of the ones I didn't have. I'm not really trying to collect them. More, if I see one I might pick it up.

This white vinyl copy of the first 7" is the fourth copy of this record that I own. I got the red vinyl one when it came out, and then added two different blue ones in the last few years. And now this white one. So that only leaves me about 20 others to go. Expect me to complete this collection somewhere around 2045.

The band played two shows in London last week, and at no point did I even consider buying a ticket. Spending the money on this record was probably a far better choice, don't you think?

Monday 4 May 2015

Swiz 'Down' Test

Some things pop up on eBay and you think you don't stand a chance. You just figure that every man and his dog will be ready to fight for it. But sometimes you're wrong and the fight is quite short, the other dude ducks out and you stand victorious, wondering why it was so easy.

So yeah, I won this Swiz test press for what I think was a fair price. It comes in a proper sleeve, although the comic book insert is not included. Fair enough.

I had actually seen a picture of this test press before. Someone posted a picture of a complete collection on the Vinyl Collective board a few years ago. The dude got it from someone who got it from Jason Farrell, and said that he was told that it was one of three copies. Since it isn't numbered, we will never know, but it's nice to think that there may only be three of these things out there.

Of course, now that I have this one and the three coloured vinyl copies I also want a black vinyl copy to complete the set. I didn't want one before, but now I feel I need one in my life. Man, why does this always happen?

Saturday 2 May 2015

Battle Ruins

I'm still catching up on 2014 releases that I have recently received, and here's one that made most peoples' 'best of' lists last year - the Battle Ruins self titled 12". The first press sold out before I even knew it was available, but I was more than ready when the second press red vinyl went up for sale.

You know the drill - this is another band from the DFJ and co. This time the band plays a mix of metal and oi, themed around the middle ages. You can probably work that out from the cover though, right?

When I first heard this I didn't understand the hype. I just couldn't get into it. But after Mike's post I pushed myself to listen to it more. And I'm glad I did. After a few more plays it really clicked with me, and before I knew it I was playing it every day. I then realised that this did deserve the hype it received, and kicked myself for being too late for the first press, just like I have been for every new DFJ band over the past few years.

Check out this photo of the band from the back cover. Dude second from the right must have the tallest head I have ever seen. Reminds me of The Mekon from Dan Dare.