Thursday 25 August 2022

The Few And The Proud

So last year (or possibly even the one before), it was announced that Revelation would be reissuing the Turning Point discography. The band put out one 7", an LP and a split 7" in their lifetime, along with a couple of songs on compilations, and all of those got bundled with the demo onto a double LP back in 2005 by Think Fast Records (with the CD version being released by Jade Tree). I lost count of how many different vinyl pressings there were of the 2xLP discography, but it felt like a lot. So it was kinda weird to hear that the records were going to be reissued again but in their original form. A couple of years back Rev reissued the demo as a cassette only release, and a couple of months ago the reissued 7" version of the 7" landed.

The most limited version was the black vinyl, which was for Rev mailorder customers. There were 313 copies of this version.

This reissue is a pretty faithful reissue of the original, and I do like the attention to detail, such as how the labels and cover art are the same, with the Rev logo having been remodelled to fit where the original Hi Impact Records logo sat. The insert it also faithfully reproduced, with the ink being blue as per the first press. However, if I was being critical, I would say that the labels are those of the second press, whilst the insert is modelled on the first press. Feels like they shold have picked one and gone with it, not mixed and matched.

Also, if I were being really picky, I would complain about the size of the labels on this record. Like a few of the recent Rev 7"s which have been pressed at overseas plants somehow end up with slightly smaller labels on the records, which to me look bad. I guess a lot of people don't notice or don't care, but I notice instantly and think it looks bad. But that's me I guess.

Anyway, there were 500 or so green vinyl copies sold by independent record stores, and 2,200 or so copies on solid orange vinyl which is the common version, and which most shows the small label issue I mentioned. No doubt this will sell out and get repressed again at some point.

I bought all three to keep up the Rev collection but honestly, I am not a big fan of this 7". Yes, the cover is iconic, but musically I never really rated this as highly as other records from the same era. I used to think I was the only one, but recently a couple of other people have confessed that they feel the same, so it's nice to hear that I'm not the only one.

3 comments:

Ralf said...

I think the 7“ is pretty good, but Turning Point got better over time. One of those bands that managed to transform their sound successfully. I wasn‘t really interested in this repress, but seeing how Rev made their logo work kinda makes me want to get one.

Nico said...

I agree with Ralf, later on this band became so much better. I love later era TP.

mel hughes said...

It's one of those records that grew on me over the years, I got it when it came out - but always enjoyed others more and the lp is class. But now I do enjoy listening to it. Missed out on the black vinyl repress.