Thursday 13 January 2022

I Wish It Was Still April

A good start to the year with a record arriving that I traded from someone. It was a year or so ago that I found out that this person owned this record and wasn't overly attached to it, and we talked about a possible trade. The onus was then on me to find this guy something he wanted, which I finally managed to do at the end of last year. As with all good trades, it took some time but worked out well in the end.

The record I received is a test press of the first Shift release, 'Pathos', which was released by Equal Vision Records in 1994.

As this test came in just a white paper sleeve, I took a photo of it next to the regular version.

This came out a few months after the first Quicksand LP, and it felt that Shift were the first of a bunch of bands that were playng a similar sound, but they were by far the best. I got this record not long after it came out. I usually have a good memory for this stuff, but I can't remember how I heard of this band nor why I decided to buy this record. But I still pay this at least once a year, usually around October time.

I used to seriously love Shift. Following this 12" EP, they had two full lengths released by EVR, 'Spacesuit' in 1995 and 'Get In' in 1997. They were so tight and so catchy, with vocals you could sing along to. I could (and still can) sing along to every word of every record. I was bummed that they never came to the UK and I never saw them play. If they ever reform, I'm there.

Anyway, this record completes the trilogy of tests that started with a 'Spacesuit' test back in 2010, and I am pretty stoked about it.

It's actually very rare that I 'complete' collections, but this is the second trilogy I have finished in the last couple of months. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in 2022...

1 comment:

Mike said...

Great score! Pathos is so good.