Coalesce Clears

So as I mentioned in my last post, I absolutely loved Coalesce in the late 90s. I have a pretty good collection of their records, but haven't picked up any for years as the band went into hibernation after the release of their 2009 comeback LP, 'Ox'.

Well, last year Relapse Records reissued all of their LPs, so when I was compiling a list of clear vinyl Relapse releases to pick up, I debated whether or not I wanted to buy represses of the records that I already had. In thinking about it, I decided that I did want two of them... but then I figured that if I was going to buy two then I might as well buy the other two for the full set.

The band's first LP, 'Give Them Rope', was originally released in 1997 by Edison Records. There were two different colours pressed originally, one of which was clear... although all of those copies have since turned brown, mine included. So I figured that this was a kind of a cool tribute to the original clear pressing.

'Functioning On Impatience' was originally released by Second Nature Records in 1998. I already own five original colours of this one, but clear isn't one of them.

I was impressed to see that this latest repressing is a faithful reproduction of the first pressing, with a vellum overlay. Even the label artwork is the same. This was not one of the two records that I really wanted, but I'm glad that I picked it up as it looks really nice.

The next record is one of the two that I really wanted. Back in 1999, Hydrahead Records released 'There Is Nothing New Under The Sun', which was a 12" of Led Zeppelin cover songs. This reissue is adds a '+' to the title, and the record contains the original release plus a bunch of extra cover songs that were oroginally released across different records, like the split 7" with Boysetsfire and the 'In These Black Days' Black Sabbath covers 7". This updated version has completely different artwork which I think looks really cool, and in my mind this is a 'new' record, so I definitely wanted to get one.

I do love the trippy artwork here, which I think is probably a perfect nod to Led Zeppelin.

And finally, I picked up a clear pressing of the band's proper album from 1999, ' 0:12 Revolution In Just Listening'. Interestingly, this was originally released by Relapse on CD with the vinyl being released by Hydrahead. Relapse pressed it onto vinyl in 2008 with different artwork, but now it's back on Relapse with the original artwork.

All of these records are limited to 100 copies on clear vinyl, and I think this is a pretty cool sub colection within my collection. And I am also now hoping that these records being repressed perhaps means that the band could be gearing up for a new release in the near future. Stranger things have happened.