Black Flag Colour 7" Collection

So the first thing to say is that I've been anticipating and looking forward to making this post for the past 8 years. Ever since December 2012 when I 'completed' my Black Flag colour vinyl LP collection, I have been trying to also complete the colour vinyl 7" collection. Back in 2012 I probably thought it would take a couple of years, yet somehow it has taken 8. But with the addition of the clear blue vinyl 'Six Pack' 7" in my last post, the time has finally come.

Anyway, I always planned to do what I did with the LPs, and put them all into one post, for no other reason than for this to be used as a reference guide for anyone else interested in this stuff. So I'm going to go through each of the 7"s in order.

First up is SST Records Number 1, the 'Nervous Breakdown' 7". This one comes on four colours. I'm pretty sure that the earliest colour pressing is the one in the red sleeve on gold vinyl. Then there are two different clear red vinyl pressings - one with a large hole, one with small hole. I have no idea if these were pressed at the same time or separately. I would guess that the gold vinyl and red vinyl copies were made in the early 90s, although this is pure speculation, based on the fact that this is when most colour vinyl SST records were pressed. And then the clear blue vinyl copy was the most recent and dates back to 2011.

Second is the 'Six Pack' 7" (SST Records number 5). Again, there are 4 different versions of this one. The three copies in the red sleeves probably date back to the early 90s, but again, I'm guessing. They may have been pressed at the same time, or they may be different pressings that were made in a relatively short period of time. The whiteish copy was pressed in 2011.

Third is the 'TV Party' 7" (SST Records number 12). There are only 3 colour versions of this one, but it follows the same pattern. The clear yellow and clear red probably date from the early 90s, whereas the solid orange copy is from 2011.

And finally, the 'Louie Louie' 7" (SST Records number 175). This one slightly bucks the previous trend, in that there are 5 versions of this one. The 'original' colour pressings are the white, turquoise and red vinyl copies, and just like the 'Nervous Breakdown' 7", there are two different red vinyl copies - one with large hole and one with a small hole. There is then a grey vinyl repress from 2011.

What is perfect about this collection is that there are 16 records. So once I had taken records out to take the photos above, all I had to do was slide all 16 together to make a nice 4x4 square.

Of course, the down side to 'finishing' a collection is that it means that there are no more records to chase, which is half the fun. But now that I have acquired all of the colour 7"s, I think I now may move on to collecting the first pressings of each of these as they are on different labels. That said, I'm probably not going to chase an first press 'Nervous Breakdown' as that one goes for a lot more than I'd like to pay. But at least I have an excuse to buy more 7"s and carry on completely ignoring the 10"s.