NWOBHC

When I first picked up the debut 7" by ARM'S RACE at the start of last year, I wasn't really into the vocals. In time, however, they grew on me, so I was excited to get the debut full length when it came out a few weeks ago. It was released by La Vida Es Un Mus Discos and arrived at my door about two days after I placed the order.

As you can see, this LP is cheekily titled 'New Wave Of British Hardcore', which is an interesting choice. I'm not sure if that phrase has now become a joke but I half expect so. Anyway, I grabbed one of the copies on limited white vinyl, which also has a screen printed inner sleeve. It looks pretty damn cool too.

At the time I thought this was the only pressing of this record, but soon after realised that there is also a US press by the mighty Painkiller Records. Some of those come on red vinyl, and I'd quite like one, but doubt that the label have any left.

At the time of me writing this, there are still some white copies available, so you should probably grab one while you still can.

Over My Dead Body

I was always a fan of OVER MY DEAD BODY back when they were going around the turn of the century. They were a straight edge hardcore band, but with a very punk edge. They covered The Sex Pistols and Reagan Youth on their records, and had an obvious interest in English football. To me, they stood out from the crowd at the time. I haven't listened to them in a long time, but a few weeks ago I got a chance to pick up test pressings of both of their full lengths, so I jumped at it.

The first LP, 'Rusty Medals And Broken Badges' was released by Indecision Records in 2001. The test press came in this plain white sleeve with a sticker on the front. Not sure if they all came like this or whether a previous owner made this sleeve themselves. Regardless, most Indecision releases only had 8 tests made, so it's a pretty major deal to score one.

Here's a pic of the test with the regular record cover, because it somehow looks more interesting.

The second LP, 'Sink Or Swim' was released by Takeover Records in 2003. This is such a great LP, and reminds me of the first Bane LP in several places. I vaguely recall some kind of controversy surrounding this when it came out, although I can't remember exactly what it was. Maybe just that some of the people who pre-ordered never actually received anything? That old chestnut. Just like the I Hate You discography and the Suicide File / R'N'R split 7" from around the same time. Anyway, I digress. The test press is typically understated in its appearance:

So yup, you guessed it, I decided to take another pic with the regular cover.

I'm not sure that this band are still remembered today to be honest. Shame if not, but the positive side of that is that their records should be pretty cheap to pick up for those of us still looking to fill some gaps.

Celebrated Summer

So as Summer draws to a close, and I'm sitting here (as every year) wondering where the fuck it went, I can at least look back and be satisfied that it's actually been a pretty good one. But now we head into the autumn and winter, with dark evenings which means there's no light for record photos. This could therefore be the last evening photo of the season.

I picked up a grey vinyl copy of 'New Day Rising' back in 2012. It was my first attempt at getting into Hüsker Dü. Well, my first attempt since my first real attempt back in 1992. Since then I've gotten into the band a lot and so I'm now on the hunt for any colour vinyl copies I can get my hands on, so when this purpley pinkish copy appeared for sale I figured I'd grab it.

I think these two copies are both represses from the same era (2011/12). The may even be part of the same pressing of 'scrap' vinyl, which seems to often range from grey to purple and everywhere in between.

This LP was first pressed on colour vinyl back in the early 90s, on both blue and also grey vinyl. I still have my eyes peeled for copies on either of those colours too. Maybe one day...

Oops, I Did It Again

Only three weeks ago I put up a post showing a purple vinyl copy of Mudhoney's 'Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge' LP and mentioned that I had been thinking about trying to build a collection of that particular album for a few years. Well, you know what they say... no time like the present! The same seller that I bought the purple copy from had several other versions that he was selling, and I managed to grab three more copies.

First is this copy which is a US pressing on a greyish colour with purple swirls. I'm guessing this is part of a 'scrap' vinyl pressing as it is not really any colour in particular.

The next copy is this bright green. This is a European pressing, denoted by the different label catalogue number. Also, it has a different sticker on the front, and the colours on the cover are slightly lighter in tone.

And third is another European pressing, this time on grey vinyl.

I've had this album in my collection in one form or another since 1992. But the funny thing is that until three weeks ago I owned one copy. Now it's five. And all this because I spotted a Seaweed 7" for sale on eBay.

Higher Power 'Year One Collection' 12"

My record room is such a mess right now. I have cubes full of LPs, then a shelf unit with LPs I bought last year, then I have three piles of LPs on the floor of things I've picked up this year. The three piles on the floor are in no order whatsoever, and it seems that whenever a new record comes in it just goes into one of the three piles. It's random, and as a consequence I forgot about this Higher Power 'Year One Collection' 12".

Higher Power are a UK band from Leeds, which is a city approximately 200 miles north of London. I used to live there but moved away about ten years ago. It always had a good hardcore scene, but the last few years it kinda went next level. Higher Power are one of the newer bands who are earning a real name for themselves, having toured the States and Europe.

This 12", released by Control Records, compiles the demo and the 'Space To Breathe' 7" that were both released in 2015. There were only 135 copies made in total. I bought this when it was released and it arrived when I was away on holiday. So I've had it since the beginning of July, but misplaced it for two months.

I love these really minimal, basic looking 12"s, probably partly because they remind me of the Straight Ahead 12", although I acknowledge that if you come here to see pictures of records then this one is probably slightly disappointing.

The Smoke Of Hell

A few weeks ago I went to see the Dwarves play in London. I've been a fan of their unique brand of rock n roll since I was 17... which is quite a long time ago now. But I had never seen them live and I'd never listened to anything they put out since thir 1997 album 'The Dwarves Are Young And Good Looking'. But seeing them live made me fall in love with them all over again and I've been listening to them quite a bit lately. So when I bought the Mudhoney LP a couple of weeks ago, and I saw checked what else the seller had listed, I was pleasantly reminded of The Supersuckers. They sound very similar to later Dwarves, and I used to own their first LP, 'The Smoke Of Hell', many years ago before I decided to sell it when I decided that only straight edge hardcore should occupy my record shelves. Dipshittery of the highest order. So anyway, I decided to re-buy the thing probably 20 years after I sold my clear pink vinyl copy.

This copy right here is definitely not the clear pink that I used to own. Instead, it is some weird colour that looks whitish clear when held to the light, and a dirty yellowish when there is no light behind it. I'm guessing it is some kind of transition colour as there are a lot of pink streaks.

As you can see, it looks pretty unique.

The best thing about this band that I had completely forgotten is the singer's name. Eddie Spaghetti. I mean, seriously... can you imagine introducing yourself to people with a name like that?