Saturday 14 January 2023

Wanna Hear Some Straight Edge Hardcore

The next few posts I am going to devote to some records I picked up in a store called Wanna Hear It Records, which is just outside of Boston, MA. On a cold afternoon in early December last year I met up with fellow blog nerd Mike and, with a little time to kill, we decided to go and look for records. After driving to the wrong place and then walking ten minutes or so to the new one, it ended up being one of the best record shops I have ever been in.

I decided not to put up everything I bought here in one post because it would be too long. So instead I figured I would break it into a few seperate posts over the next few days.

What I liked about the shop was that it had a good selection of records from different eras, it had new releases and used stuff, and the prices were sensible. I started off (as ever) looking through the 12"s which didn't yield too much, and then I started to flick through the substantial 7" section. And, as is often the case, there were lots of cool finds in the used 7" section. A lot of the US record stores seem to have similar used 7" sections, with lots of cool stuff that I probably wouldn't go too crazy over online with postage costs being added, but when these things are in front of you and the prices are low then it is tough to NOT buy stuff. So I thought I'd kick off this series of posts with a 7" that kinda sums up what I'm talking about...

The Proclamation 'Straight Edge Hardcore' 7" was released by Bridge Nine Records back in 1998. I have had a 2nd press clear vinyl copy since around 2001 or thereabouts, so when I saw a 1st press red vinyl copy for a low price, I figured it was worth picking up.

The funny thing is, after owning this for twenty years or so, when I saw the red vinyl copy I had absolutely no memory of what this sounded like at all. It wasn't ever a record that really stood out or grabbed me and it's possible that I bought it and only played it a couple of times. But still, this is Bridge Nine number 3, it's called 'Straight Edge Hardcore', is on colour vinyl, has some dude wearing a Bold shirt on the cover, has Dirty Harry on one of the labes and is stamped / numbered. Who on earth would NOT buy this thing?

After getting home and playing this I can say it is alright, but not great. None of the songs seemed familiar, so I must have only ever played it a couple of times when I buoght it and then filed it away. Still, I'm a sucker for straight edge 7"s and I have a soft spot for this era, so I do think this is a cool one to have.

To be continued...

2 comments:

Jeff said...

“You should not drink”

Mike said...

Such a great store. I'm still thinking about that Endeavor album that I didn't buy while we were there.