1990

I picked up a couple of records from someone on eBay. They had some pretty cool stuff for sale. But I honed in on a couple of items, both of which were released in 1990.

The first one has been on my wants list pretty much forever. It's one of those records that isn't even that great, but I always wanted a colour copy, and it ended up taking longer to get one than I could have imagined.

The 'Generation Of Hope' comp is kind of classic by nature of who is on it. Chain Of Strength and Brotherhood are the big hitters, and then Confront, Against The Wall and Pushed Aside (who I always regarded as kind of 'tier 2' bands), and then finally a band called Full On Straight (no idea who they are/were). But when I first got a copy of this I was super excited, only to be slightly disappointed that half of the songs were on other releases anyway.

Also, it almost goes without saying that this is a serious contender for the worst cover of all time. I mean, look at it - not only is is plain and boring, but you can't even read what it says easily. The leading 'A' is in a different font to the rest of it, and the word 'Of' takes up more space than the rest of the title put together. Oh, and the 'G's look like 'C's. If only someone would have had the sense to just put the photo from the back cover on the front instead, all would have been ok.

Well, that aside, and this really is a tough find on colour vinyl. It comes on purple and also gold. I've never really known the pressing info, nor which colour is rarest, but the gold does seem to pop up less, so I'm assuming that's rarer than the purple. But right now I'm pretty stoked on the purple. It looks rad.

Oh, and inside the sleeve was this extra insert:

I'm assuming that this is the original receipt for when this was purchased in 1990 for $4.19. Looks like it was $3.99 with the $0.20 US 'mystery tax' that only appears when you get to the checkout, haha! Normally I don't keep these things, but I think I'll keep this. If it's survived 29 years to date then I don't want to be the person who bins it.

Moving on, the second record was this copy of the Billingsgate 'Reach Out' 7" with promo sleeve. Just like the Integrity 7" that was put out around the same time by the same label, there were 100 of these sleeves made. I love the simplicity of this.

The inside of the sleeve was also stamped with the Victory logo.

It's also numbered on the back. I got number 78/100.

The craziest thing about the Billingsgate 7" is that the second press was on blue vinyl, and somehow you can still buy this from the label today! Check it out. Even funnier is that I don't have one, and am now considering buying one.

Green At Last

Anyone who is a long time reader of this thing (and has a great memory) may well remember that I picked up a 'New York Hardcore The Way It Is' green vinyl test press back in February 2013. At the time, it was pretty much a fantasy record for me, i.e. one that I never thought I would ever own. But after getting hold of one, it instantly became my favourite record in my entire collection.

Well, forward 6 years and I have added another similar item to the collection, which I am equally as stoked about.

This is another green vinyl test press on Revelation Records, being for Youth Of Today's 'Break Down The Walls' LP. I'm not sure exactly when this was made, but it was somewhere in between 1988 and 1992. I don't know for sure, but I think that this was made at the same time as the other two green test pressings (the 'NYHC The Way It Is' LP, and the Bold 'Speak Out' test press). There were only 10 copies of each made, and all three are on the exact same colour of vinyl. Here's the info from the Rev discography:

It's funny, but even though I've known about this thing existing for many years, I honestly don't think that I realised until today that this particular test press was actually rejected. So now I'm curious as to why.

Just like the other two tests, this one is pressed on a pretty unique green vinyl. It's slightly transparent, and has slight whisps of white running through it. Aside from these green vinyl test pressings, there is only one other record I have ever seen on this same colour (the last repress of the Up Front 'Spirit' LP).

As you can see from the pictures, one label is hand written, whilst the one on the reverse is blank. I'm not sure which I like the most. But I can have hours of fun flipping it around trying to decide.

What seems interesting about this one is that, of the three green vinyl test pressings, the Youth Of Today one used to be the one that seemed the most elusive. I'd seen a few people with one of the other two over the years, but only a couple of people seemed to have the Youth Of Today one. Last year, between instagram and a visit to RevHQ, I managed to figure out where every single copy of the ten was. So when there seemed a slight chance that one may be available, I made a move, knowing that if I didn't then I would most likely never get a chance to own it as everyone else who owns one has no plan to ever let it go. Fortunately it worked out ok in the end, and I became the first owner of one of these who resides outside of the US.

And whilst once I could only dream of owning one of these things, I now have two.

I remember one time saying that if I ever picked up the set of three then I would give up collecting. All of a sudden that doesn't seem quite so impossible as it once did. I know it's unlikely, but IT'S MY POSITIVE OUTLOOK!.

Haven't We Seen You Somewhere Before?

So last Summer New Age Records held a show to mark 30 years as a label. When I had first heard about the show I wanted to go, but in the end it didn't happen. There were a lot of great bands from the label's history playing, but one thing that surprised me was that there were not really any special records pressed for the occasion. Kind of weird when you think that the label is still going and still pressing several different colours of vinyl for each release. The only band that did make something special for the show was Mouthpiece, who turned up with 60 copies of their discography LP (which isn't even on New Age!) housed in a limited sleeve:

I was lucky enough to be able to find someone going to the show who picked a copy up for me. And then somehow it took months for me to get it. Not that it was urgent or anything. But I did notice that despite there being 60 of these made, not many seemed to get posted on instagram in the meantime. And I just checked discogs, and the entry for this shows that 6 people have it, and 8 want it. All in all it just feels like this particular version of this record has been overlooked or forgotten about.

Maybe it's something to do with this not being the most original cover idea. It's the same limited cover made for This Is Hardcore about 8 years ago, but in a different colour. Remember?

It's funny that I made a rule a few years ago to not purchase any more discographies, yet when one is on Rev I'll happily buy copy after copy as long as it comes in a slightly different cover.

Still Walking Alone

One of the most anticipated releases of 2015 was the full length by No Tolerance, 'You Walk Alone'. Back then the band were one of the biggest bands in hardcore, and as such I was pretty keen to get the limited colour vinyl pressings. Both went up for preorder at the exact same time - a blue vinyl copy, put out by Quality Control HQ in the UK, and a red vinyl copy released by Painkiller in the US. I managed to get both, and was prety pleased with myself, handling the pre-order process with ruthless efficiency. But then disaster struck and my red vinyl copy got lost in the post. Three years later and I have finally gotten around to buying another copy, for a really good price.

I wasn't overly impressed with this one when it came out. It just felt like a disappointment after my ridiculously high expectations. After not really listening to it much since, it does seem better than I remember it. I guess expectations are everything huh? Moral of the story - make sure your expectations are always low. That way they will always be exceeded and life will seem generally better.

Trigger / Bass • 103

At some point last year I was looking for something new to listen to and I decided to check out Soulside for the second time. The first time I listened to them was back in about 1994 when I was selling some dude's record collection. Back then I wasn't into it, and my opinion ever since has been 'I'm not into Soulside'. But something made me want to give them another chance last year, so I downloaded the 'Trigger' LP and gave it a chance.

Well, I guess sometimes a change of mindset can lead to a change of heart, and I quickly found myself enjoying the record. I was finally starting to get Soulside, and I knew that eventually I would want to buy some records. The first one I picked up was this reissue of the 'Trigger' LP that also has the 'Bass / 103' 7" tagged on the end. This reissue was released in 2014 on bright yellow vinyl.

I would have preferred to have picked up the original LP and 7" pressings, rather than this compilation reissue. But truth is that I found this in a shop, and you know how it is when you find something in real life - it's far harder to resist something that you are half interested in when it is in your hands. And the fact that it was on colour vinyl kinda helped too. So here I am breaking all of my own rules, and now I'm telling you about it. I know, I know, I suck at this right?

A Triumphant Return to Keelhaul

One good thing about this blog is that it acts as a good reference to the past. For example, it tells me that I bought the last Keelhaul LP in November 2010. I know that time moves faster these days, but the fact that this was 8.5 years ago blows my mind. I would have guessed that it was 2012 or 2013, but the blog doesn't lie.

Well anyway, regardless of when I first bought this record, it was recently that I picked up a test press. I didn't exactly go out looking for it, but it fell in front of me and didn't appear to cost much, so I figured I'd offer it a good home.

As you can see, this comes in a 'standard' Hydrahead test press sleeve, and is numbered 28 of 30.

Keelhaul is one of those bands that I easily forget about for a few years at a time, and then somehow I remember the records and play them all non-stop for a couple of weeks again. Man, I wish they would reappear and make more tunes... although after ten years, it feels highly unlikely.

Departed Souls

It's always a nice surprise when a band you're into announces a new record without any notice. Such was the case when a new Magic Circle LP was put up for pre-order back in mid March. I'm don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of new releases anyway, but it was still a big surprise to find out that a new LP was about to drop.

I was really into the first LP back in 2013 and loved the 2nd LP in 2016, so I was keen to get the new one. So when the pre-order went up I made sure to order right away so I didn't miss out.

At the point I got sent the link, a friend told me that the most limited colour (white) was already sold out. But when I clicked it was still there. Whether I was lucky or maybe he didn't figure out how the store works, I'm not sure, but I was still relieved when it turned up.

There was also a green with gold vinyl copy available. At the point of order I wasn't sure whether to buy one or not, but in the end decided it would be 'safer' to pick one up. There are 440 copies of this colour, compared with only 10 of the white, but this seems a much more fitting colour as it matches the cover better.

I think this is probably the first new release of 2019 that I have picked up, and it's a pretty good one. It's only been out for just over a month, but I've played it pretty much every day so far. This is very reminiscent of the first LP, which I played a lot when it came out, and which I still return to now and again. The second LP, 'Journey Blind' grabbed me at first, but didn't quite have the staying power. So far this one reminds me more of the first than the second. The songs are a little slower and it took longer to get into, but once it started to take hold the addiction grew, and now it's all I can do to not listen to it. Ultimately time will tell where this one will rank, but right now this is all I am interested in listening to.