Thug Life

I've not had many records recently, and also haven't had much motivation to post for various reasons. But today seemed like a good day to try to get back on track with one of the cheap 7"s I picked up a bit earlier in the year.

Reinforce is one of those bands that I never really knew much about, given they were around before the internet really got going properly. I picked up their 'One Life Thug Free' 7" back when it came out in 1999. I had picked up on Underestimated Records as a couple of their early releases had found their way to a UK distro that I helped run for a short period, so by the time the Reinforce 7" came out I was automatically interested in this 7". And I do remember enjoying it at the time, although I haven't listened to it too many times in the 20 or so years that followed.

Well anyway, I was enjoying picking up cheap 7"s for a while, and ona whim decided to purchase the blue vinyl version. It was priced similar to a cup of coffee, so seemed worthy of some pocket change to grab it.

As you can see, the blue marble colour goes pretty well with the record cover. And its also just a nice colour generally.

Back when this came out I picked up a clear vinyl with blue stripe copy. And then many years later I finally managed to find the extremely rare Melanie C cover version, so this blue copy takes the collection to three copies. They do look pretty good together I have to say.

One other cool thing was that the band released a full length back in 1999 which was CD only and, as such, I didn't bother with. But due to the magic of modern technology, I was able to download it and finally listen to it for the first time. I'd consider buying one if it was for sale for a reasonable price (i.e. $1), but as usual the discogs crew want considerably more, the fools. So I'll stick to my download and party like it's 1999.

A Cheap Descent

A few years ago I helped my friend Mike out with a cool Reveal 7" that I found for sale. He was pretty obsessed about collecting this 7" back then, although I think that obsession died a death when we found out that there were 100 copies of each coloured cover (as opposed to 100 numbered copies total). But whenever I see a copy of this 7" I think of Mike... although recently I thought of myself for once. I haven't really bought many records lately but a couple of weeks ago found myself getting way too excited about cheap 7"s for sale in the UK (the same as I did almost exactly a year ago), so when I saw the Reveal 7" for sale with the numbered sleeve, I figured I'd grab it for myself. When it arrived the sleeve turned out to be green, which I don't think I'd seen before.

I'm not really sure what the deal is with this 7", but I will now reveal (pun intended) everything that I know. The band was from New Jersey, but the 'Descent' 7" (which is, I think, their only release except for one song on a compilation LP) came out on a label called PMA Records, which was based in Belgium. This 7" is from 1992, and the majority of the 'regular' copies seem to be on whie or green vinyl. There are then an unknown number of copies with a photocopied sleeve, which comes on a variety of colours of paper (brown, light yellow, dark yellow, orange, blue and green), and which are numbered in a variety of different ways. The majority of copies that I have seen before are numbered with either a thin pen, or thick black marker. But this copy I have just picked up has the number stamped rather than written. Also, it's interesting is that these photocopied covers have an email address on the back, which I don't think I'd ever really considered previously, but which is the biggest giveaway of all that they were made or sold much later than the original records, as the internet simply did not exist in 1992.

Anyway, what's funny about this is that I used to own the white vinyl and green vinyl copies many years ago, and ended up selling or trading both away because I thought the record was garbage. Yet here I am 20+ years later buying another copy because it's cheap. I listened to it a few times, and it's ok, but I can see why I wasn't into it back then. Compared to most straight edge records of the early 90s, it sounds kinda weak. But I do find myself kinda wanting to own those white and green vinyl copies again for some reason that I can't really explain. "I'd like to buy two more copies of a record I don't think is very good" is a weird concept to explain to someone I guess.