Hand It Over

Despite me being a fan of Dinosaur Jr since I first heard them back in 1990, there are still records of theirs that I have never heard. Not many, mind. But one that I completely missed out on back in the day was 'Hand It Over' which is their 7th album, released in 1997 via some nonsense major label that had also released their previous three full lengths. Until the last couple of years, this record had completely passed me by. But when it came to my attention, I got lucky and bagged an original vinyl copy cheap on eBay.

I'm not sure how I had no idea about this for so many years, although I suspect that back when this came out in 1997 I had moved on to new things. Twenty two year old me had entered the grown up world of work and was listening to Earth Crisis 'Gomorrah's Season Ends', Integrity 'Seasons In The Size Of Days' and Kiss It Goodbye. At this point in my life, Dinosaur Jr seemed like old hat. The past. Even if I knew that this had been released (which I may have done), I would have ignored it.

Whilst I'm not sure whether I did know about this at the time, ignored it, and then forgot about it, or whether I had no idea it ever came out, I also can't be sure exactly how I became aware in the last year or so that it did actually exist. But I'm glad I did. Whilst not their best work, this is still undoubtedly Dinosaur Jr, and twenty eight years after it appeared it sounds good to me. Shame about the front cover though.

Martin & An Elastic Star

I posted recently about this year's new LP from J Mascis, 'What Do We Do Now?'. And, as is often the case, buying that record then started a chain of buying more records.

The first thing I realised was that I had completely missed the last J Mascis LP, 'Elastic Days'. I vaguely remember that this came out just before I went on my first trip to the States, and I was holding a copy in Rough Trade in Brooklyn trying to decide whether to buy it or not. Something put me off at the time. It may have been the price or it may have been that I wasn't sure it was a colour vinyl copy. Whatever the reason, I didn't buy it, and then after that I never actually got around to buying it or listening to it at all.

This is the US pressing on clear with purple swirl vinyl. I think it looks great.

Next I went back to the 'Tied To A Star' LP from 2014. I bought one of these when it came out, but the copy I bought was the UK pressing. For the past few years, Sub Pop press records in the US and also at a separate plant in Europe. So I decided to pick up a copy of the US pressing. I figure I'll sell my Euro pressing at some point.

I then also picked up a copy of the 'Martin + Me' LP from 1996. This was J's first solo record, and contains mainly acouctic versions of Dinosaur Jr songs, as well as a few cover songs (Carly Simon, Greg Sage, Lynyrd Skynyrd). I was curious as to who Martin is/was, but apparently that was a refernce to the guitar he was using at the time. Apparently this album wasn't particularly well received when it came out, but I really like it, as it contains a bunch of Dinosaur Jr songs from various records and they are all great songs.

This is an original pressing from 1996 on Reprise Records, which is a subsidiary of a major label.

As much as I love Dinosaur Jr, I don't feel the need to own more than one copy of each J Mascis LP. So now I've nearly got to where I want to be, with a US pressing of each LP. I say 'nearly' as there is one more record I need to complete this objective. Hopefully I'll get there soon...

Blue Room Sessions

Getting a bargain is always satisfying, and once again eBay delivered. I grabbed this blue vinyl copy of Dinosaur Jr's 'Blue Room Sessions' 7" for a really good price. Once again, this record was listed as an auction, and I got it for less than the lowest price that it has ever sold for on discogs, which was pretty satisfying as this had been on my want list since it came out back in 2018.

The name of the record ('Blue Room Sessions') is because these songs were recorded at the Blue Room, which is a live venue within Third Man Records HQ in Nashville, TN. The blue vinyl is the limited version, although I have no idea how many were pressed on blue. But the majority are black.

This is one of those records that is collectible but kinda pointless, as it contains two songs which are the first two songs on the 'Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not' LP, which came out two years before this 7". OK, you're getting two slightly different recordings of these songs, but still... it's not exactly an essential purchase unless you are a diehard Dinosaur Jr fan. Or if you can score it for cheap on eBay.

Sweep It Into Space

A new Dinosaur Jr album is always something I get excited by. I've been listening to the band since I first heard them on an old skate video in 1990. Sure, they broke up at some point towards the end of the 90s for ten years or so, but then they got back together in 2007 and every record since has been great. This latest one is called 'Sweep It Into Space'. It came out last month and it's pretty much all that I have played for the last 3 weeks.

Because I am generally out of touch, I didn't even know that this was coming out. I actually saw a post of the record that someone made, thought to myself 'what the hell is this? and then did some research. Turns out it had been up for preorder for some time (no idea how long) and pretty much all of the colour vinyl versions had sold out before it had even hit the streets. So I did nothing. But when pictures of the records started to surface on the many colours of vinyl, there was one in particular that caught my eye. So I went straight to discogs and bought one.

I have no idea how many colours exist of this record, but as far as I can tell this one is the most limited. This colour is exclusive to some 'record club' type thing called Secretly Society. I think you pay a subscription and get sent a record every month. I'm not really sure how these types of things manage to get exclusive colours made just for them, but whatever. It's a cool colour.

This is definitely a great record. I was a really big fan of the last album that came out in 2016, and this one is in a very similar vein. I feel half tempted to pick up a couple of other colours, but it feels there are too many and getting sucked in could be too much of a risk. So right now I'm happy to stick with just the one copy of this one

Test Scene

I've picked up a lot of good stuff this year, but barely posted any of it due mainly to not being able to take photos, due to bad light and lack of opportunity to take photos due to living in a building site. I am so far behind that I was on the verge of giving this thing up. But after taking a few photos at the weekend, I figure I'll try to post as much of this year's shit that I can in the last three months that remain.

I'm gonna try to post up some test presses this week. So starting the week with this 7" from the SST Records catalogue:

For anyone who doesn't know the SST catalogue numbers off by heart, there's also a basic insert that reveals what this is:

And for anyone who can't read, this is the Dinosaur Jr 'Freak Scene' test press. There were probably a lot of these made as, back then, the tests were sent out as advance promotional copies. So I'm super stoked to own this, but I don't think it's particularly rare.

I would take a photo of all my copies of this 7" together, but I can't as they're not in my house right now.

Oh, and having just counted, this is the 14th test press on this blog this year. Let's see if I can get that number up a bit this week to a more respectable level...

Blue Scene

Yet another Dinosaur Jr 'Freak Scene' 7" for the collection. This one is on clear blue vinyl, and has a small hole.

There isn't much more I can say about this record. Every time I post one, it gets harder and harder to find some words to talk about it.

This here is the 5th version of this 7" that I own. Red, purple, grey, clear and now blue. And if you're the kind of person who reads this blog but doesn't like Dinosaur Jr, then you can relax, because there are only two more versions of this thing that I don't have. One is the test press, and the second is a mythical yellow vinyl copy that nobody has ever seen. So there probably won't be too many more of these posts in future.

A Second (And Third) Glimpse

When the latest Dinosaur Jr LP came out last year, it felt that there were too many colours of vinyl, and as is often the case with new releases, I was determined not to get sucked in. So I went to my local shop and purchased a purple vinyl copy. And I thought I was happy. Well, that was until I realised that purple vinyl was out of like three million copies, and there was a rare clear vinyl version. Then I wasn't quite so happy after all. But by good luck, and via a reader of this blog, I was able to get a copy of the clear vinyl from Newbury comics direct for much less than copies were trading hands for on eBay and discogs.

And of course, once I had the purple and clear, I couldn't help then going to the Amoeba Records online store to order a copy of their exclusive blue vinyl version too, in order that I may 'complete the set'.

So there it is. Proof once again that if there are multiple versions available, I will make it difficult for myself by ignoring them when they first launch, only to then decide I want them once they are sold out. Fortunately, however, this time my own dumbass plan backfired and I ended up with all three copies for new release prices.

Blue Heaven

Finally picked up some new records. This one is another to add to the Dinosaur Jr 7" collection, the 'Just Like Heaven' 7" on baby blue vinyl. The sleeve has seen better days, but I don't mind that so much. I can't afford the time to sit around and wait for another one to come along with a perfect sleeve. I'm too old.

This is now my 4th version of this record. I have no idea how many there are. Discogs suggests that there's only one other colour I don't have, being purple, although I wouldn't be surprised if there are more colours that Discogs doesn't know about. Time will tell...

Clear Scene

I didn't even know that the Dinosaur Jr 'Freak Scene' 7" came on clear vinyl until a few months ago. But when I saw a picture I instantly wanted it. Having not seen one before in 20+ years, I figured it must be rare and would take an eternity to find. But it actually wasn't too bad.

Just like the colour Black Flag 7"s I'm trying to collect, which are also on SST Records, it feels like I'm picking up one of these every year or so. Which means I should have a pretty good collection sometime around 2025...

A New Scene

The good thing about keeping this online diary of my record collecting habits is that I can look back into what I was doing and thinking in the past. I distinctly remember not being bothered about collecting Dinosaur Jr 7"s in the past, but then at some point changing my mind. So I checked the blog and found that in December 2011 I said:

...maybe I'll start thinking about collecting the SST 7"s on colour, although I'm not sure I have the energy for that

It's funny how things change I guess, but this here grey vinyl copy of 'Freak Scene' marks my third copy of this 7".

Since there is no official pressing info for SST releases, the only way to figure out what exists is to search the internet. Discogs is a pretty good source these days, although is far from complete. But despite having three copies of this one (grey, red and purple) there are at least two other colours of this 7" (blue and clear) that I don't have, plus variants of the blue and purple as well as a rumoured yellow copy. And of course, the test press. This one will no doubt keep me busy for a while longer yet...

Better Than Gone

Last week I was in the process of going to bed when I realised that I hadn't checked eBay for a few days, so figured I would have a quick look. Perhaps it was fate, but only a couple of minutes previous someone had listed a couple of test pressings for some old Sub Pop Records releases. My eyes nearly popped out of me head and, even better, these things were being sold by someone in the UK, meaning a less risky shipping process. I couldn't hit the BIN button fast enough.

Although this isn't much to look at, there are some records that I thought I would never own, and this is one. Great band, great record and a great version that I'm sure lots of people would be willing to fight over. Fortunately it didn't come to that. Anyway, you know how it is - the best way to celebrate is of course to take an updated collection photo:

It's funny, but it was almost five years ago to the day that I picked up the purple vinyl copy. There were apparently 10,000 copies on white vinyl but only 200 on purple. Well, that's the official story, although there are also some clear pink copies too. And whilst there are no official numbers on the test press, it doesn't really matter.

More Sub Pop records to come soon...

Get A Glimpse

So there was a new Dinosaur Jr. LP come out a couple of months ago. 'Get A Glimpse Of What Yer Not' came out on 5 August to be precise. I was so excited that I bought it on the day it came out. It's very rare for me to go to an actual record store these days, but I caught a train to Kingston on my lunchbreak just to pick up a copy from Banquet Records. It's taken me two months to get around to putting it up on here due to problems with getting any acceptable photos. Getting photos of this one was tough for some reason. This is the best I could do.

At first I thought that this purple vinyl copy was limited in some way, but it seems if it is then it's probably limited to about 10,000 copies. It's not tough to get at all.

I appreciate that the photos above make the record look black, so here's an obligatory shot of it with the light behind.

This is probably the best Dinosaur Jr. record since before they got back together in 2007. I spent about a month listening to only this and the Descendents LP. If only I'd have been more prepared for its release and ordered the clear vinyl version from Newbusy Comics. That one is going to take a while to find for a good price I'm sure.

Two From J

Here are two 7"s I picked up a couple of months ago, which are kinda related. The first is a single from J Mascis which came out a year ago as a Black Friday release. I'm not really sure when the whole 'Black Friday as RSD part 2' started exactly, but never mind. Anyway, this comes in a retro looking sleeve, which I'm not a big fan of.

There were 4,000 copies of this thing made, all on orange vinyl.

The other one that I picked up for cheap was this red vinyl pressing of the Dinosaur Jr 'Freak Scene' 7" on SST.

I used to own this on red years ago. It was probably one of the first 20 records that I bought. For some reason I sold it, so this represents me correcting a mistake I made something like 20 years ago.

They Always Come

Man, this one has been a long time coming. Back in 2010 I picked up a Dinosaur Jr 'Bug' test press. It was originally marketed as an SST test press, but when ti arrived it turned out to be a UK pressing on Blast First. I was disappointed at the time, although given that I paid hardly anything for it I couldn't be bothered to make a fuss. But I did say this - I wanted a genuine, original US version of this, not some licensed UK crap. Well, it's taken me five years, but I eventually found an SST test press, which turned out to be in mint condition.

I was super happy to get this as this record is one of my all time favourite albums. I first heard this in 1990 and I have seriously never tired of it since.

My Dinosaur Jr collection is now pretty good. I used to have a small list of their records which I regarded as 'fantasy wants' that I thought I would never get, and now I have all of them and more. The only one left for me to wish for is a test of the second album, 'You're Living All Over Me'. I'm sure it'll come eventually. As the song says - they always come.

Bug Live III

I picked up this purple vinyl copy of Dinosaur Jr.'s 'Bug Live' LP a while back. I already picked up the most common green version and also the most limited green in limited sleeve versions previously, so needed this one to 'complete' the set.

Well, wouldn't you know it, as soon as I received this the label repressed it on two more colours - a red vinyl and a white with purple splatter vinyl. I'm tapping out here though. Having three copies from the first press is enough for me, I dont really need two more. At least, that's the plan at the moment.

You're Still Living All Over Me

Dinosaur Jr week, day 5. Today marks the final day in my week of Dinosaur Jr posts and in my opinion I've saved the best until last.

'You're Living All Over Me' was the band's second album. It was released by SST Records in 1987 back when the band were still called 'Dinosaur' and didn't have the 'Jr' addition to their name (the first press copies are easy to identify as the front cover has the original band name). At some point in the years that followed, and once the band had changed their name and added the 'Jr' bit on to the end, the album got repressed by SST. And some copies were pressed on colour vinyl. I picked up both pink vinyl and purple vinyl copies in the past, and thought that was all there was. But then at some point circa 2009 or so, Chuck Dukowski sold some records on eBay, and one happened to be the second Dinosaur Jr LP on GREEN vinyl. I'd never heard of or seen a green one before. And to make it worse, the record was sealed, so I didn't even get to see it. It ended up selling for a lot of money. I don't remember the exact amount it sold for, and for some reason it doesn't appear on popsike, but it went over $200. It immediately became one of my most wanted records.

Well, as time went on it moved further and further up my want list, until recently I decided it was probably my most wanted record. So imagine how happy I was when one appeared for sale on discogs recently. I knew I had to have it. It was just a case of negotiating the price down, which took a few weeks. But finally I sealed a deal, and this week it showed up.

Rather confusingly, this album was reissued earlier this year on a different label on green vinyl, although the reissue is on a darker, more common green marble vinyl. This original SST green vinyl pressing is on a very light green and is very tough to photograph accurately. Greens always are for some reason.

So of course, after picking up this fourth copy I had to take the important group photo:

What is interesting is that the green vinyl and purple vinyl copies have red labels, whereas the clear pink vinyl has black labels. The first press black vinyl also has black labels, so I'm assuming that the pink was pressed before purple and pink. The copy in the bottom left is the first press black vinyl, as denoted by the sleeve with the original, shorter band name.

I'm very happy to have been able to take the above photo, and also to have had enough ammunition to do these posts this week. One of my favourite bands of all time, yet somehow I've never seen them live. Crazy.

Bug Live II

Dinosaur Jr week, day 4.

Back in April this year, I picked up a copy of the 'Bug Live At The 9:30 Club' record. The one I bought up was the most common version, being the green vinyl copy out of 800 copies. When I posted it on here, I wrote this:

There are at least two other versions of this one out there that I would like to own. It comes on purple out of 200, and a green vinyl in a sleeve numbered out of 50. I probably have a chance at getting the purple, but not the limited sleeve version.

Well, for once it makes me happy that I was wrong. One limited sleeve version is now firmly in my posession.

The sleeve of this version features the same artwork as the regular version, but it is printed on a green card rather than brown, giving it a very different look to the regular sleeve.

The cover art was made by the artist Marq Spusta, and the 50 green sleeves were hand numbered by him and also signed on the back. The only place you could buy one was direct from his own website when this came out. Alternatively, you could just wait for two years and buy one on eBay.

As you can see, I got number 15/50. The only slight disappointment is that these originally came with a signed 7"x7" Buggin' screen print, but this one didn't have one included. On the positive side, however, I think I paid less for this one than anyone else has paid for one on eBay. According to popsike, these have sold for $246, $150, $149 and $100, which are all amounts higher than the one I paid. So I can't really complain.

Purple Bug

Dinosaur Jr week, day 3, and today I'm moving on to a different record.

I'm pretty sure that 'Bug' is widely regarded as the band's finest moment and best record. It originally came out in 1988, and was released by SST Records, although it has subsequently been reissued on no less than eleven different labels! The first time I heard the band at all was back in 1989, when they featured on the soundtrack to the Santa Cruz Speed Wheels video 'Speed Freaks'. At that age I was a young skateboarder, falling in love with all the weird music that featured so heavily on skate videos of the day. As a result, Dinosaur Jr, and especially their third album 'Bug', will always have a special place in my heart.

A few weeks ago I was looking at something on eBay. I don't even remember what it was. But at the bottom of the screen I noticed another item under the banner of 'People who viewed this item also viewed' which caught my eye. It was a purple vinyl copy of 'Bug'. Now, I already owned 'bug' on purple vinyl and I've seen many other copies over the years. But this copy on eBay was a solid purple vinyl. I'd never seen such a colour before. The only copies I had ever seen were on clear purple vinyl. So I clicked on it and ... BANG!... the countdown timer jumped out of the screen and hit me in the face. There was just over one minute left on the auction! I had sixty seconds to decide how much I wanted this thing and how much to bid. Usually I like to watch an auction, try to guage the rarity and the interest, and decide how much I would be happy to pay. With this thing I had literally one minute. So I did what anyone would do. I panicked and entered some stupidly high number. Fortunately, I won it for a lot less, which was probably something to do with it being based in France.

It's crazy that I have been collecting records for twenty years or so and never seen this thing. Not sure whether it is simply rare or uber rare. I'm not even sure whether it is a pressing in it's own right or perhaps some kind of transition press where only a few were made accidentally. Who knows? Anyway, I dug out my other copy so that you could see the difference between this version and the 'normal' aka 'more common' clear purple vinyl.

The clear purple was one of the first records I ever bought. I bought it in 1992 in a shop in Wickford, Essex called Adrian's. What I remember quite distinctly was that they had two copies out in the rack - one on black vinyl, and one on purple. It was one of those life defining moments, and in my opinion pretty much sums up record collecting. So, as I said, there were two copies for sale. The interesting thing was the price. The black vinyl copy was £8.00, whereas the purple vinyl was £8.50. Now, a lot of people I knew then and have met over the years who are not collectors said (or would say) that there was no way that they would pay an extra £0.50 just to get a colour vinyl version. They thought it was a pointless waste of money. Me, on the other hand, couldn't wait to hand over the extra money, and wondered how anyone could possibly not choose the purple copy. And so began my whole coloured plastic adventure...

Dinosaur Test

Dinosaur Jr week, day two. Yesterday I featured the first pressing red vinyl copy of the first LP, today I'm sticking with the same record but upping the ante to the test press.

This one appeared on eBay with a very optimistic price attached to it. I shot the seller an email offering a much lower price. He politely declined. I thought that he would, but at the same time I knew my offer was fair and that his expectation was too high. So then I played the waiting game. A couple of months later I sent another email saying that I was still interested and my offer still stood. He tried to get me to increase a little, but I played hard ball and declined. Then a few days later he agreed to sell it to me for the price I wanted to pay. That's how you neogitate, kids.

I've seen a couple of copies of this test press previously, and both had a press sheet glued to the front. Sadly, mine doesn't have that, but I'm fine with it just the way it is. It comes in a white disco sleeve with the record name and catalogue number written in the top corner in pencil.

The labels of the record are hand written. Both of them. I love the Side 1 label as it has the date written on too - 17 June 1985. For some reason, an exact date seems more shocking and difficult to comprehend than just a year. I wonder what I was doing in the Summer of 85? Given that I was ten, probably riding my bike and playing on my Atari 2600 I imagine.

So of course, now that I have completed this collection (black vinyl doesn't matter to me), I thought I'd crack out all three copies and take a group photo:

I'm proud of this collection. These things are hard as hell to find. There can't be too many people out there with all three. Times like this make me feel lucky.

Dinosaur

I've picked up a few 'top end' Dinosaur Jr records lately. It feels like a waste to bundle them all together into one post, especially as I bought them all separately. So I'm declaring this week to be Dinosaur Jr week on The Endless Quest...

To start the week, here's a red vinyl copy of the first, self titled album. This album was released back when the band were called Dinosaur rather than Dinosaur Jr. This album came out on Homestead records in (gasp!) 1985. Homestead Records pressed a limited number on gold vinyl and also red vinyl. I have no idea which came first, or which is rarest. But both are incredibly hard to find. I was lucky enough to find a gold copy in 2009, and it has taken me a further five years to find a red one. But finally, after a long and patient wait, my day came.

One interesting observation I can make is that the red and gold copies have different 'color vinyl' stickers on the shrink wrap, which suggests that they were pressed at different times. One must have been pressed and released before the other, although we may never know which.

This LP has been repressed a few times over the years. All of the later reissues have the band name updated to include the 'Jr' bit on the end. There have been six different labels that have repressed this thing, mainly after 2005. Most of the 2005 vinyl reissues come pressed on a variety of disgusting splatter-effect vinyl. I have no interest whatsoever in owning any of them. But the fact that they exist makes owning the original coloured vinyl copies much more satisfying.