A Lion Riding A Horse

So back on 6 June, a limited version of the World Be Free 'The Anti Circle' went on sale via the band's webstore. Or rather, it was supposed to go on sale. What actually happened was that a lot of people got excited about the record and the store crashed under the volume of traffic. I was sat at work at the end of the working day, and found myself clicking 'refresh' constantly for about an hour, not wanting to go home in case the store came back online and I missed out. So for an hour I found myself staring at the blue gator:

Well, the band then posted a message to say that they were working on getting a new site up to sell the records. So in the meantime I took the opportunity to escape the office and get myself home. And then a couple of hours after it should have gone on sale, it went on sale on a different site. I think the site crashing actually helped me, as it meant that a lot of people in the States were at work and not in a position to place an order. So when it went on sale the second time, I was able to grab one without problem.

The previous versions of this LP were pressed on orange and green vinyl. There was also a second pressing on clear vinyl (which I don't have yet), and based on the labels on the record itself, as well as the vinyl colours chosen, it felt like a homage to the War Zone 'LESC' 7". Well, this version confirms that's the case beyond a shadow of a doubt:

This limited cover is a cartoon parody of the infamous 'Lion Attacking A Horse' sleeve of the War Zone 7", which nobody has ever seen in full.

There were only 100 of these, numbered by hand. The hand numbering has been done in a style and colour that matches the rest of the text, which is good attention to detail, right?

The slight downside to this version was that it cost a lot because it came as part of a bundle, which included a couple of other bits of gubbins - a shirt and a slipmat. The shirt matches the LP cover, but the slipmat really doesn't. It looks dirty and used.

So this is the second limited cover for this LP that has been made. The first I never got. I had one coming to me in a big box with loads of other stuff that got lost. I was really looking forward to that record. Something about the cover just made me want it bad. It was one of the records in the box that I was looking forward to the most. So I made a split second decision to buy a second copy of this limited bundle so that I could try to trade one for the first limited cover version of the LP which got lost. Only, when the second copy arrived, it was slightly different to the first one, as the back cover was printed the wrong way up. Here's a short video which shows the misprint.

As of now I haven't traded one away and still have two. And I admit, I'm slightly tempted to keep them both as they are different, in some weird unintended way. But I'm curious - what would you do? Keep both or trade one?

Hypercaffium Spazzinate Part 1

So unless you've been living under a rock, you'll be aware that there's a new Descendents album which has just dropped. I think it would have been possible to miss either of the last two albums when they came out, but in the modern era I think it's pretty much impossible to have not noticed this one. It's called 'Hypercaffium Spazzinate' and is actually the first Descendents record to have been released since I got into them. The last LP, 'Cool To Be You', came out way back in 2004 when I was not into Descendents and when record collecting was in a different place. In 2004, for example, Epitaph didn't press anything on colour vinyl (save a couple of exceptions) and Fat Wreck saw fit to press only 197 copies of 'Cool To Be You' on color vinyl in total - the rest of the press was black vinyl. In 2016, however, the world works differently and within a week of the new album's released, Epitaph had pressed 8 different colors of vinyl (plus some on black too).

When the pre-order launched I got sent an email containing a link to a special pressing on glow in the dark vinyl. I was on the way out for a walk, and figured I'd order when I got home. Unfortunately, however, by the time I got home it had sold out. I saw this as a sign that there was going to be a lot of interest in this record, so made the decision to immediately order the other versions that were available. These were as follows:

1. 'Clear with black swirl' vinyl. This was the pre-order version from Kingsroad Merch in Europe.

2. Green / black swirl vinyl. This was exclusive to two stores in Europe (Green Hell and Flight 13). I got mine from Flight 13, which is why it has the extra orange sticker on the front.

It does look almost black in the photo, so here's the photo I put on instagram just to prove that it is in fact green:

3. Clear green vinyl. This was the pre-order color available from Kingsroad Merch in the States, but I don't have this one yet.

So that was that. There were four colours made, and I had missed one. I figured I'd get one eventually. But then, when the official release date arrived, there were suddenly 'new' colours being talked about. My approach to life is generally all or nothing, and seeing as I was already down the path to 'ALL' (se what I did there?) then I was left with no choice but to pull the trigger on the additional copies. These were as follows:

Silver / black swirl vinyl. This was the UK indie stores exclusive. No idea how many were made.

Red vinyl. I think this was available in both the States and Europe, but limited to 500 copies. No idea if this is rarer than other colours.

White vinyl. This was the US indie stores exclusive (big thanks to Mike for picking one of these up for me!).

So there you go. That's 5 copies I have, on possibly the most boring looking colours of vinyl I have ever seen. I did take a group shot but it looked so dull that I just deleted it. There's also a clear blue vinyl which is a Hot Topic exclusive, and there's also now a rumour of another blue, although I havent seen a picture of this and currently think it could be just confusion caused by people referring to the Hot Topic version as either 'coke bottle clear' or 'clear blue'. I don't know. But I have all copies covered now except that glow in the dark, which I could have ordered immediately if I hadn't have been confident that it would still be there an hour after I received the email. Ugh.

We Are Love

It seems like only yesterday that Give appeared on the scene with their fancy flower imagery slapped over everything. It seemed new and interesting, as did their Swiz-like sounds. But it's been 6 years ago now since that they appeared, and in the time since they've released quite a lot of records. And especially after the last LP, it feels to me like people are losing interest.

Well, when people start to lose interest then I see it as an opportunity. One of the items I have been missing for nearly 4 years now is the 'Singles Going Confetti' 12" with limited sleeve. Back when I saw them play in 2012, they were selling their newly released 12", and I bought a yellow vinyl copy and was happy... until I discovered that I had somehow missed out on the limited cover version.

There were 110 copies with this limited cover and on yellow vinyl with black swirls. Some were sold by the band on tour, and some were sold via the label directly. The giant flower logo looks perfect blown up to this size, don't you think?

When I was a kid I used to think that 8 was my lucky number. I guess some things never change.

If anyone else is looking to offload any Give records, I'm still looking for a pink vinyl copy of the 'Electric Flower Circus' LP. Email me if you're looking to sell.

Purple Fudge

So when I spotted the Seaweed 7" for sale on eBay I couldn't help but do a quick search for 'Sub Pop' to see if there was anything else up for sale at that exact moment which seemed interesting. I guess I just prefer picking up whatever is there rather than waiting and targetting my spend at things I actually want. Haha! So anyway, I spotted a couple of copies of Mudhoney's 'Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge' LP. I've seen several colours of this record in the past and often thought about trying to build a collection, so when I saw a couple up for a good price I figured now was the time to start. I bid on two copies but got outbid on one, leaving me with this purple vinyl copy:

Back in the '92 this was one of the first records I bought. I had a picture disc copy that I buoght from the big HMV in Southend on Sea. I actually sold that copy years ago, and then a few years later re-bought a copy on some maroon type colour which I still have. So this purple copy here is the third copy of this LP that I have bought in 24 years.

Mudhoney were one of the first bands I became obsessed by. But I've never had more than one copy of any of their records. Some of them are quite expensive these days, so I guess I should have done this sooner. But since I won this I've been watching a couple more copies so there may be more Mudhoney posts to come in the near future...

Green Bills

So here's a variant of a record I've had for years that I have been meaning to pick up for years and only just got around to. Seaweed 'Bill' 7" on Sub Pop on light green vinyl.

I picked this up from a UK seller on eBay. After paying mainly international shipping charges, it's nice to 'only' pay domestic rates now and again, especially on a cheap pick up.

There are two known variants of this 7". This light green copy I have just picked up, and a darker, blueish greeny thing.

The reason it took me so long to pick this version up is that I could never remember which one of these I had. After I saw a seller list both on eBay, I decided to check which one I had, so that I could finally pick up the other. It's taken a few years, but I finally the job got done.