Coalesce Motherlode II

Back in 2010 I purchased a lot of Coalesce records. I referred to this as 'Coalesce - the motherlode'. I was pretty stoked on that package back then, and figured it would never be beat. But here I am, five years later with a delivery may just have trumped it...

I was alerted to some dude selling his collection via an email from lordxhumungus. He'd posted a picture on instagram of a Coalesce record and attracted a comment from some dude who was looking to sell his Coalesce collection. So of course, I decided to get in on the action and asked for a list, on which I found a few items I didn't own. So I made some offers, which were accepted, and then eventually the records showed up at my house. The funny thing is that a couple of them I had never heard of before, let alone seen, yet I didn't even bother to ask for photos. Usually I ask for photos, especially of records I have never seen before, or from people I don't know. But this dude's list was so good that I just assumed he must be a serious collector who could only have obtained such items by being honest and reliable. Kind of naive I guess, but basically I just picked some stuff from a list and paid a dude, and it worked out pretty well in the end.

The first and most obvious choice was this test press of the '012 Revolution In Just Listening' LP. This came out on Hydrahead in the early 00s. I remember buying this on CD when it first came out as there was no vinyl for a while, and back then the internet had no music on it.

Interestingly, the 'cover' on this test shows the title of the record as 'Revolution IS just Listening'. The actual title of the record is 'Revolution IN Just Listening'. To me, the 'Is' version of the title makes more sense than the 'In' title, although it seems more likely that the test press got it wrong.

Next up I grabed this '012 Revolution In Just Listening' tour press. I already have one of these, in the same limited cover but on black vinyl. This copy, however, is onorange vinyl, which it turns out is ridiculously limited.

The tour LP is numbered out of 125 copies. This particular copy has 'XXX' instead of a number to indicate that it's something a little different...

The dust sleeve is stamped and numbered.

The answer to what is going on here is written on the poly sleeve. It's written by Hydrahead head honcho Aaron Turner to Sean Ingram, vocalist of Coalesce, and quite succinctly explains what the hell is going on here.

Next up I grabbed two versions of the first LP, 'Give Them Rope' which I didn't have. The first is one that I have wanted for a while. It's a black vinyl copy of the LP in a limited, hand made burlap cover. I got a pretty apt number:

This pressing was some left over press. It turns out that there were 300 copies of the LP with damaged covers, so Sean made these in order that he could sell them. The insert tells the story:

The next version is a bit fo a mystery. I bought it because it sounded intriguing, but I have never heard of it or seen another. This is another black vinyl copy of the Edison Recordings pressing of the LP, but this one comes in a plain black disco sleeve, and has a Coalesce slipmat packaged with it.

Given that the slipmat has a '75' on it, I am assuming there were 75 copies of this. But I have no idea whether this was a special edition made by the label or another way of selling leftover stock with damaged covers. Anyone know anything?

Next up, some 7"s. I'll start with another test press - the split 7" with The Get Up Kids, on Second Nature Records. The sleeve for this one is a photocopied piece of paper.

And finally, a few versions of the split 7" with Boy Sets Fire. I remember buying a couple of these from the label when it came out. But I never had the limited sleeve versions, of which there are a couple. The first is the pre-release version. It comes in a PVC sleeve with a numbered sticker on the front, and includes a piece of paper to explain why it exists.

The second limited sleeve was made for Krazy Fest in 1998. It looks much more like a sleeve than a sticker as per the previous version.

I can only assume that whoever owned this copy originally did actually bother to send off for the proper cover, as this one comes with one.

I'm pretty sure I used to own these next to half a lifetime ago, but sold... and now re-bought once again. This is the second press on purple.

And the third press on solid pinky orange. This brings to mind the Bold 7". Is it pink, orange or some kind of mix?

So that's that. My Coalesce collection is getting pretty good now. OK, so I don't have any of the reissues of their LPs on different labels, and I don't have any of those weird shaped records that No Idea made, but other than that I've got a pretty good pile. The only things I really need or want now are tests of the first LP, the 'Functioning On Impatience' 12" and the early 7"s. Just in case anyone feels like helping me out that is.

COALESCE - the mother lode

Ok, so I get a few records in the mail from time to time. We know that much already. But this package had me more excited than I have been for a long time...

It all started on eBay. I found one of my long-time wants - the "final" pressing of the 'Functioning On Impatience' 12" from 2003. I say "final" because it was supposed to be the final pressing at the time, but it actually got repressed a couple of years ago to celebrate its ten year anniversary. But anyway, I always wanted one of the 2003 final pressing copies because the record rules and it comes in a different sleeve. I've seen this on eBay (and been outbid) many, many times. There are 300 copies in total, so it's not really THAT hard to get. It usually goes for somewhere in the region of $35-40 or so. Well anyway, I spotted one on eBay a few weeks ago which got me more interested than any other copies, because the description claimed this one was number one of three hundred... although there was no picture in the listing. But I decided that the time had come to pick this one up. So I bid, expecting the price to go high... yet I won it for $16! To say I was stoked out be an under-statement. Here are some pics:

The back of the sleeve has the pressing info for all colour vinyl pressings prior to (and including) this version. Nice touch.

Also, this copy is signed. I'm not sure if all of them are signed, or just this one. And I'm not sure who has signed it. I would guess at Sean Ingram, singer for Coalesce and (I think) owner of Blue Collar Distro, who released (or half released) this version of this record. Not how he has signed it & also written '001' too, which I assume is a reference to this copy being number one:

And here's the money shot - the number on the back of the sleeve. If only the seller had put up a picture like this in his listing, he probably could have got a bit more than $16 I would guess:

Well anyway, as usual, I checked out some other items the dude was selling and found another Coalesce record that I wanted. This is a test press of the 'Salt And Passage' 7" that was released in 2007, which was the band's first release since their last one, which had been about eight years earlier. I remember three years ago when this was announced, there were about two thousand colour variations for sale, and the rare ones sold out in two seconds. So I just never got around to picking it up. Until now. This marks my only copy of this record. And I don't think I am too fussed about trying to get more to be honest. This will do.

The paper dust sleeve has the Second Nature Records logo embossed on it, which is a nice touch if you ask me:

So that was my eBay winnings. I was more than happy with this. But somehow the story didn't end there. The next day I got a message from the seller asking if I would be interested in any more Coalesce rarities. My answer was simple - "yes, but it depends what you have and how much you want". I was then offered three records. I was told they were $40 each, or I could have all three for $100. I decided to pay the dude $100 before he could change his mind. I think this was a smart move. I am convinced that this was a really good deal. Here's what I got...

First, a clear vinyl pressing of the 'OX' LP. As you may or may not know, Relapse Records press 100 copies of every record they release on clear vinyl, but these records are not for sale - they are given to the band and friends of the band and label only. So anything on Relapse on clear vinyl usually sells for top dollar - especially if it's by Mastodon! Seeing as the only version of this I had previously was the regular, black version, I was happy with this.

Second, a clear vinyl copy of the 'OX EP'. This is a 12" ep that was released a couple of months after the 'OX' LP. I somehow never got around to picking it up, even though I loved the 'OX' LP last year. But yeah, once again, clear vinyl was not available for Joe Public, so I'm stoked to have one of these. Even cooler, this record also has the logo / cover art screened on the b-side of the vinyl. This thing looks very, very nice:

And finally, I am super stoked on this one... a test press of the 'OX' LP. This one comes in a specially made sleeve, made by Ohio Pride from the Vinyl Collective message board. I feel very lucky to have one of these things.

Total cost of this haul was about $150. A lot to spend at one go, but I'm pretty sure I could sell all this stuff tomorrow for double what I paid. Not that it's about the money, of course. But it's always satisfying to get nice items for a good price.