Ten Spot At Denko's

I'm trying to avoid buying represses and reissues as far as possible these days, but some I still can't seem to ignore. A few months ago Dischord repressed a couple of classics and I couldn't resist adding them to the collection.

'Wig Out At Denko's' is Dag Nasty's second album and one which will always split opinion. Some people think this is their best record, others will say it's the first album 'Can I Say'. It doesn't really matter. Both are great. The thing that both have in common is that they were both pressed on black vinyl only until about 2008 or so, when both were repressed on colour vinyl. I'm not sure how many of each colour were made, but they seem relatively hard to come by these days. The thing I didn't like, however, is that those represses were on euro vinyl and the sleeves were made of super flimsy card. So a decade later it doesn't seem unreasonable that this record has been repressed again, on a better quality vinyl and with a proper sleeve.

Again, I have no idea how many were made, but it feels that not many people have picked it up as it is still available from Dischord and has been up for sale for at least 7 months.

The second record I added to my cart was the reissue of the first Shudder To Think LP, 'Ten Spot'. This one has been remastered and comes in a completely redesigned sleeve with different artwork, and is also on blue vinyl.

I seriously love Shudder To Think and have done for many years, but this reissue is a little disappointing. I'm not a huge fan of the new artwork, as it just feels a little boring, and there's not really much else of interest going on either. I can't really imagine that anyone who isn't overly familiar with the band would look at this record and have their curiosity peaked. Definitely one that would be flipped past in the racks. I guess it just feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity, which is a shame as this record SOUNDS great.

Crucial Times

Another day, another big item scratched from the wants list.

Youth Of Today 'Can't Close My Eyes E.P.' on orange vinyl. 100 were made, and I've had this on my want list for quite a few years.

Until I picked this up, I've only ever owned one copy of the 'Can't Close My Eyes' in 7" format. You can see it in the background photo of this blog. A plain old black vinyl second press copy. I've never been overly excited about trying to grab a first press copy, or a Some Records copy. Mainly because they are pretty expensive and are, ultimately, black vinyl records... which I have always found pretty boring, and for which I have always been less motivated to pay big money (excluding test pressings, of course). But I did always want this orange vinyl pressing of the record, for obvious reasons, and it's especially cool to pick one up that is in mint condition.

Here's what the Rev discography says about this, in case you're unfamiliar with it:

4th press: 100 orange vinyl
The final press of the 7" originally done by Positive Force records. These were made by Jordan and Ray to trade for toys. The only press of the 7" on colored vinyl and contains a small Batman insignia on front sleeve, B-side label, and inner record sleeve.

Aside from the four (count 'em!) batman stamps on this thing, I also love how the label on this one got changed to blue ink, rather than black. Somehow the blue label really compliments the orange vinyl.

And of course, now that I have this, I have even more of a yearning to go after a first press and Some Records versions, although I can't see that these will ever really be a priority. But hey, we shall see...

The Aborted

Almost five years ago I paid more than I had ever paid for an aborted press copy of the Warzone 7".. I featured it on here, but that was kinda cheating as I never really intended to own it. I had bought it to trade to someone else, so it was in my possession for only a few days. It was (is) stupidly rare, and I genuinely never thought I would ever own a copy for myself. Heck, I wasn't even too bothered about not owning one as it was too rare (and too expensive) for my blood.

Well, time flies and things change, and by some miracle I somehow now have one of my own.

For those of you unfamiliar with this one, this is what the Rev discography has to say about it:

There was 41 copies of the initial pressing that come with white paper labels rather than blue and have the 'Warzone' logo on the sleeve colored in with orange magic marker. Besides the normal lyric sheet, a number of the first press come with one of two fold out inserts that have a photo of a band member on either side.

This copy does indeed come with a big fold out insert that has pics of the band members, as well as a 'standard' insert. Just like the last copy I picked up, there is a lot of folded paper going on here:

The other copy I picked up contained a Warzone sticker, but alas this copy does not have one. But hey, you can't have it all I guess.

So that's the 7th copy of this 7" that I now own, yet still there are a few versions I don't have. I doubt I'll add any more copies of this one as the ones I don't have are rare and expensive and I am not that fussed about owning them. But then again, that's what I used to think about this one, so who knows?

Who We Are II

I vaguely remember when I started collecting Descendents records a few years ago. Finding one of their records felt like a rarity, and as such it was kinda exciting. I remember how stoked I was to grab 'I Don't Want To Grow Up' on red, and 'All'on blue. Those were exciting records to buy. These days, however, any excitement has been well and truly beaten out of me by endless pressings of new releases. Yet still I consume. I was hugely underwhelmed with the clear vinyl euro pressing of the 'Who We Are' 7" on clear, but still decided to add a red copy to my collection.

This one was for the States, and is on a better quality vinyl (or so it feels), plus it actually came in a poly bag. But yeah, it doesn't really interest me in the slightest I'm afraid.

Dew It!

A couple of months ago I went to see Into Another play, and I had pretty much ignored (or not cared) about the fact that Beyond were supporting. I've never been a big Beyond fan. I Picked up their LP about 25 years ago and thought it was ok, but over the years it never really found itself coming back onto my playlist. So I wasn't too fussed about seeing them play.

The first night we only saw a couple of songs, but the second night I watched the whole set and actually really enjoyed it. Even though the band looked kinda old and there wasn't much energy in the room, the songs kinda clicked with me more than ever before. I found myself wanting to buy some records, although obviously there's only really one. Still, I managed to find something to waste my money on...

A couple of years ago Rev repressed the band's only official release, the 'No Longer At Ease' LP. I didn't pick it up at the time due mainly to not being bothered, so decided to grab a copy of the rarer colour, which is 'opaque red':

Around the same time, Rev also put the band's 'Dew It!' demo onto wax, along with a live set. Again, I picked up the rarer colour which also happens to be 'opaque red', although the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that both of these 'opaque reds' look pretty different to each other.

Kinda funny that seeing a band live can re-ignite my interest in songs that I have owned for 25 years, but sometimes that's exactly how the game plays out.

To end, here's a couple of songs I filmed from the show I went to. Enjoy...