Wednesday 28 February 2018

TEN YEARS STRONG

Precisely ten years ago, I was sat around indoors wondering what to do with my evening, when I had the idea of starting a blog about records. The rest is history.

I'm actually surprised that I have managed to keep this thing going for this long. But given that I have, I figured I should mark the occasion in some way. So here for you amusement is a re-post, in picture form, of my first ever post from way back on 28 February 2008.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

As I have said before, the passing of time never ceases to amaze me. It's kinda funny that I mentioned in my first post that 'It's hard to believe it's been over ten years since I first heard this band'... and now here we are in 2018 and it's over TWENTY years of Rain On The Parade, and ten years of this blog.

Crazy.

Tuesday 27 February 2018

A Bunch Of 7"s

I got a list from someone recently of stuff they were selling. There were literally hundreds of records on the list, and a few very rare or expensive items. But I mainly went after stuff that I was missing that was pretty cheap. In some ways, it was a good way to save some postage by picking up a bunch of things at the same time. So in the spirit of the older days of this blog, I figured I would present the entire haul in one go, rather than break it into separate posts. So here we go, in alphabetical order...

It's always good to start with an 'A' band. So here's an Amendment 18 (or A18) 7". 'Every Knife Has A Home' was their third 7", and this is a tour version that comes in a cool Antidote rip off sleeve:

Next, the Damage Control 'Can't keep us Down 7" on Crucial Response Records. This came out in 2002. I have about 4 copies of their full length, but literally never got around to picking up the 7" until now. This is the limited white vinyl pressing, out of 200 copies.

I also picked up this 'Raw Data Series' cover version of the same Damage Control 7". This one was out of 96 copies.

And the Damage Control 7" again, this time in a limited Camo cover. This one I like a lot. There were only 35 copies of this one made.

Next is a much more recent release. The Fall Silent 'Cart Return' 7" came out on Revelation last year. I used to like this band back in the day, so I was interested to see how this latest release sounds. Pretty similar to how they used to sound it would seem. Anyway, I picked this up on both colours - gold and red with black.

Next is the Insist 'Demo' 7". I saw this band last year and was really impressed. Their 7" on React! was a pretty good slab of straight edge hardcore, so it was good to grab this white copy of their debut recording.

And another recent(ish) release. Primal Rite have been making waves of late, and it seems that a lot of people are into what they are doing. 'Complex Life of Passion' is their first 7" which was put out by Grave Mistake records. This is the limited purple vinyl pressing, although you probably can't tell from these photos.

The second Primal Rite 7" came out on Revelation last year. Entitled 'Sensory Link To Pain', this one turns things up a notch from the previous 7".If you don't know what this band sounds like... well, you can probably figure that out from the cover art.

Next up is an older release. Remission 'Winds Of Promise' came out on React! around the time that I stopped buying everything the label put out due to a couple of questionable releases. I remember downloading this one on someone's recommendation and enjoying it, but the limited color pressings sold out pretty quick. So only about 8 years after it came out, I finally picked on up.

And finally, two copies of the Sportswear 'It Runs Deep' 7". The limited yellow vinyl copy, out of 220 copies.

And also this copy with the limited Nike cover:

Wednesday 21 February 2018

Low In High School

I have been a Morrissey fan for a few years now. But never before had the urge to buy any of it on vinyl. I guess partly because there weren't really any limited edition records. They're all just major label black vinyl options. That kind of stuff never really interested me, so I was happy enough with CDs (or, these days, mp3s). But recently I was in town and wandered into a record shop and found the new Morrissey LP on clear vinyl. So I couldn't resist buying it because, you know, clear vinyl is everyone's favourite.

'Low In High School' is his 400th album, and I have to say, at first it seemed disappointing. But the last two weeks it is literally all I have listened to. I think that it just needs a little more time than previous efforts. At least, it did with me.

The inner sleeve is really cool. A full colour photo on one side, then this disco sleeve effect on the other. I haven't seen many like this before.

I kinda wish I hadn't bought this in a way, as all I can now think about is whether I should chase the other 399 albums on vinyl. You know how it is - owning one just somehow doesn't seem quite right.