Out Of Step Outtakes

Possibly the biggest surprise in the world of hardcore punk this year was a new Minor Threat 7". This thing was announced by Dischord Records on 14 November, and the blurb said that it would be out on the 1st of December, and there were pictures, so clearly it had been pressed and was ready to go before anyone knew a thing. The world was unaware at the start of the day and excited at the end of the day. It was a great surprise for sure.

I didn't bother pre-ordering from Dischord as I figured the record would have been pressed in large numbers, and wouldn't be tough to get hold of. From what I can tell, that's the case, as a lot of people have already posted pictures of it. I managed to pick one up from Wanna Hear It Records on my last day in the States. They had a pretty big stack of them that had just arrived that morning, so it felt like destiny.

SO the story with this 7" is that when the band were in the studio recording some new songs that would end up becoming 'Out Of Step', they ended up re-recording a coupe of older songs to fill up some black tape. These songs then sat around and were pretty much forgotten about until 2021 when the tapes were being digitised.

As you'd expect from a record being released 40 years after it was recorded, this thing is a great little time capsule. As the photos show, the cover and insert features photos from the time, and there's a nicely written piece on the insert by Ian.

Not sure if it's just me, but I kinda feel a mix of excitement and disappointment for this one. Excitement at new Minor Threat recordings being unearthed, and at the same time a little disappointed that there aren't really any 'new' songs. It's not gonna make my 'best of 2023' lists, but it's defintiely a cool record and well worth picking up. To me the songs do actually sound better then the original versions that we're all familiar with, but no doubt t others will disagree. Still, it's cool to have the choice at all, right?