Live Agression

These last few years I have been picking up as many of the It's Alive Records represses / reissues as I can get my hands on. The label started pressing very limited colour vinyl versions of a lot of it's releases, and also pressing up some old Mystic Records releases too. WHat marks these represses out from the original pressings is that most come packed with extras, usually in the form of stickers, flyers, unused record labels, etc. Some of them have so much extra stuff that it's difficult to get it all into the sleeve. But they are all really well done, and feel like a lot of time, effort, money and thought has gone into them, which is really appreciated.

I picked up another one for the collection via a trade. This one is a live 7" by Agression, with a very long and accurate title. 'Agression – Recorded Live At The Underground Railroad' was recorded live in 1986 at a venue called The Underground Railroad (which is/was in Morgantown, West Virginia), and was originally released by Super Seven Records in the same year. It contains 6 songs, and even though I'm generally not a fan of live records, this one sounds great, and really captures the energy.

As the photos show, this comes in a printed inner sleeve, and is on dark purple vinyl.

This pressing is from 2020. There were only 100 copies, which were all hand numbered out of 100 copies. Oh, and there were also an additional 10 copies which were numbered out of 10 which contain 'left over vinyl' (not sure exactly what this means). This copy is one of the ten (number 4), but given that I have not seen one of the 100 copies, I'm not exactly sure what the difference is. Anyway, a really cool 7" and I'm happy to have another one in this ever growing collection.

Half Off Is Alive

I've picked up a few releases from It's Alive Records the past few years. Most of the records that I have bought have been recent repressings of older releases, but most are done with so much care and attention that they're much nicer than the original pressings, being packed with extras like flyers, posters and stickers. And as often happens, once I pick up a couple, I start looking around at what else there is, and it then becomes a collection. So recently I was looking around trying to figure out what I was missing, and after picking up a couple more at the end of last year I think I'm getting close to having a full set.

This Half Off 7" was originally released in 1992. Or at least, the first pressing was. This green vinyl version is a second pressing, but I'm not sure how much later it came out after the original pressing.

This record is actually It's Alive Records number 1, and it's a slightly odd one. The A side contains cover songs (with Black Flag's 'Six Pack' and Wire's '12XU'), and the B side contains a couple of Half Off songs recorded live. So all in all, a kind of pointless record, although as is the case with all the records on this label, it sure looks nice.

One thing that's really cool about this 7" is that one of the inserts contains the pressing information for all of their releases. I have 4 colours of their 'Shoot Guns..' 7" and never knew the pressing info until now.

A Beautiful Feeling

Another It's Alive Records release that I picked up recently, and this is a great example of buying a record because of the record label rather than the band. Everything that the label puts out is gold, and the quality of the packaging is second to none.

This is a reissue of the first RKL 7" 'It's A Beautiful Feeling'. This record was originally released by Superseven Records in 1984. Looking at discogs, there were lots of different versions of this thing pressed through the 1980s, several of which were on colour vinyl, and these days most sell for a reasonable amount.

Fred pressed up 500 of these on yellow vinyl in 2021, and then another 500 on purple a couple of years later. I missed the yellow, but am happy to have the purple looks great.

I actually have a spare of this if anyone is interested. Get in touch if you are.

I was never really into this band, although I did see them play once (in Leeds, UK) in about 1994. I wasn't that into them but just went along because they were touring their latest LP, which was on Epitaph, and I figured they were worth checking out. My only memory is seeing the singer projectile vomitting from the stage right at the end. Thank fuck I wasn't stood anywhere near him.

No Motiv

Earlier this year I picked up an LP No Motiv which I found languishing in a record store in California, which was cool as I had wanted the record for three years or so. The band were from Oxnard and active around the time that The Get Up Kids and Saves The Day blew up. They were also on the same record label, but didn't quite reach the same level of popularity. Well, all these years later and I'm really digging them, and as such I sought out some of their 7"s, all of which were pretty damn cheap.

First up is their debut release, a self-titled 7". There were a few pressings of this one, and this is an old pressing, on purple vinyl. It sounds pretty raw and much less polished than the later LP that I have.

This was released by It's Alive Records in 1996. Discogs lists four different versions, but it is not clear whether they were all at the same time, or spread over a number of years. But then, twenty five years after its initial release, the same label repressed 100 hand numbered copies on clear red vinyl.

As with all the semi recent represses from It's Alive Records, this one comes with a bunch of extra stuff:

I also picked up this 7" on blue. This only contains two songs, which were originally released on a split 7" with a band called The Choice. I'm not sure why the other band was left off of this repressing. This one is also numbered out of 100 copies on the inside of the sleeve, and has some extra bits and bobs.

These 7"s are really nice and collectible, although musically they do sound quite rough and primitive compared to the album I bought, which is only from three years later. But I would say that if you have never heard this band are may be slightly interested, these records are probably not the best place to start.

Roses For You

Earlier this year It's Alive Records repressed the Unity 'Blood Days' 7"... again. This was always a slightly straneg release in my nind. The band was around in the mid to late 80s, and released a 7" and an LP. And then this 7" came out in 2012. It contains the extra songs from the 'Blood Days' LP that were not on the original 7", which allows you to own all the Unity songs on 7" format. This was last repressed in 2019 or so on white vinyl, and this year it was pressed again, this time on purple vinyl.

This pressing is numbered inside the sleeve out of 300 copies.

When this went up for sale, the label advertised that there were going to be some test pressings for sale too. I checked, and they were going on sale at 1am my time. I made the decision to stay up past my bedtime to try to get one. It turned out to be a successful mission as I managed to secure a copy.

This test is particularly nice as it is pressed on blue vinyl. Gotta love a colour vinyl test press, especially one that comes in a sleeve.

I also decided to grab a white vinyl repress copy of the 'You Are One' 7". I figured I would try to collect all the colours of this one. There seem to have been a few repress colours in the last few years, so I figured I would grab them if I see them.

Localism

So I had arranged a trade for the Pillsbury Hardcore 7" (in my last post) but when I opened the mailer after the trade went down I found that the other dude had thrown in an extra record. This wasn't random though. When we were working through the trade I identified a list of records that I wanted, and this was one. So it was really cool extra surprise.

Last year I picked up two different 'Nardcore compilation LPs ('Nardcore' and 'Nardcore For Life') and I became aware that there were a couple more out there it kinda became another collection to complete. This compilation is titled 'Localism... A Compilation LP Of Bands From The Oxnard, California Area' and was released by It's Alive Records back in 1996, which was a time when compilation records served more of a purpose than they do today. Looking at discogs, this was pressed on a few different colours, although the one I have ended up with isn't actually shown.

There are 17 different bands on here, but other than the three big names (Stalag 13, Ill Repute, No Motiv) I hadn't actually heard of any of these bands before. Oh yeah, and Strife, although I'm not really sure how they ended up on here given that they are definitely not from Oxnard.

As usual for It's Alive releases, this one comes with a lot of extras in the form of flyers and stickers, which I thought was a recent thing with the It's Alive represses from the last couple of years. I guess not.

There's still one more Nardcore comp LP that I know that I don't have, so you know how it goes. I'm gonna have to go after one now.

What Happens Next?

Anyone who reads this thing regularly may have noticed that I have picked up a few classic Nardcore records this year that were repressed by It's Alive Records. And here is another one. Ill Repute are regarded as pretty much the first Nardcore band, and their first LP 'What Happens Next' has achieved classic status. Originally released back in 1984 on Mystic Records, this has been repressed a couple of times over the years, but this year's repress on It's Alive is the first time that the recorc has been pressed on colour vinyl.

As with all It's Alive releases, this one came sealed with a sticker, but I managed to get in without damaging the sticker in any way.

The record comes on clear vinyl, and there were 150 made. According to discogs, there were only 90 copies that were sold. If that is true, I'm not sure what happened to the other 60.

The numbering is on a small insert. I got a nice low number too.

And as usual with all It's Alive releases, this one is stuffed full of extras... posters, stickers, labels, flyers etc. You can see the record in the bottom right of this next photo. It looks small compared to the mass of paper stuffed inside this record.

I'd never heard this band before, and it's a lot of fun. The songs are short and fast. 11 songs done in 16 minutes. I guess it's difficult to understand how things were back in 1984, but this probably sounded revolutionary back then. I can see why another band named themselves after this record. Anyway, this is well worth checking out if you haven't heard it before.

In Vain

Even though I have been trying to minimise the number of reissues I was buying for quite a few years, there are still exceptions that crop up regularly. When It's Alive Records announced a colour vinyl repress of the Visual Discrimination 'In Vain' EP, I found myself instantly ordering a copy.

'In Vain' was originally released by Nemesis Records back in 1990. Back when I was first getting into buying hardcore records, Nemesis was a label that I latched on to fairly early on, and the Visual Discrimination 12"s were amongsth the first few releases that I bought. OK, they weren't the greateest band in the world, but they hold a place in my heart and I get nostalgic about their records when I see them. And even though Nemesis pressed lots of records on colour vinyl (and a few of their records on multiple colours), 'In Vain' was only ever pressed on black. So I figured that a colour vinyl copy on a differnt label would still be kinda cool.

As usual, this one came in a mylar sleeve sealed with stickers. I managed to open it without any damage to the stickers. SHame I didn't figure this technique a couple of years ago when I bought the first of these It's Alive releases.

The record is on a nice blue marble colour vinyl. I mean, I'd probably have chosen white, clear or grey, but it still looks good.

The paper inner sleeve is printed and hand numbered, and the b-side label is also hand written. It's a great touch to remind you at all times that this was made DIY style by a one man operation. Also, one thing that is interesting about this one is that the back cover of this pressing is completely different to the original version. I should really have taken a pic of the two side by side, but nevermind.

As with every It's Alive release of the last couple of years, this one is absolutely stuffed full of stickers, posters, inserts etc. The 'value for money' box is well and truly ticked.

If you haven't heard this record then it's worth checking out. An old (almost) forgotten CA hardcore gem, and I think it has aged pretty well.

Nardcore

A couple of months ago I posted about a compilation called 'Nardcore For Life' that INdecision Records released, and I ended the post with the words - it has totally made me want to check out more of these Nardcore comps. I'm sure there are a few of them about. Feels like this could be another new collection that I try to complete. Not long after I made that post I spotted a very cheap copy of a different Nardcore comp in a UK distro, and I couldn't pass it up.

This compilation is called 'Nardcore' and was originally released waaaaay back in 1984 by Mystic Records. This copy is a recent represss put out by It's Alive Records. As with all of the records that It's Alive has put out over the past couple of years, this one came in a plastic sleeve sealed with a sticker.

I stupidly sliced through the sticker (after which I realsed that there was a simpler way to open it) so that I could get to the record inside. This version is pressed on blue vinyl, which is out of 500 copies.

Unsurprisingly, with this having been released in 1984, the bands on it are all (in 2022) pretty old bands. Ill Repute, R.K.L.,Stalag 13, Agression, Dr. Know and more. All classic nardcore bands. And as ever, It'a Alive Records have gone way overboard with extras. Posters, stickers, flyers... so much stuff that I cannot even begin to fathom how much it must have cost.

I'm not as into this one as I was the more modern Nardcore comp, but this is still a great record and makes me want to check out more by these older Oxnard bands.

Down In The Street

It was only a couple of years ago that I listened to the first Annihilation Time LP for the first time. After listening to their other records for years, I had ignored the first one because a friend told me somewhere around 2006 that it wasn't very good. How wrong I was. The first record is fantastic. So when Fred Hammer pressed up a limited 7" with two songs from the demo, I grabbed one immediately. In a lot of ways, this probably doesn't need to exist, as it just contains demo versions of two songs from the first full length. But this is another example of Fred going crazy with the packaging, to the point where it feels like it may as well just contain a blank plastic disc. Yup, this is one of those records that is such a nice piece of art that the music is almost irrelevant.

As seems to be the case with all the recent It's Alive releases from the last couple of years, this one comes in a plastic sleeve which was sealed shut with a sticker. I tried to slice it open but did a pretty bad job this time.

As is also now the norm, this one comes in a printed paper sleeve:

The record is on blue vinyl, with one hand written label, and it's numbered out of 100 copies.

And, as usual, there are numerous other bits and bobs (stickers, flyers, inserts, etc.) included in the package, which really makes it feel special and somehow value for money.

Not much more I can really say about this one. It is what it is. Two demo versions of songs from another record, but in some incredibke packaging. I definitely now feel that I want to chase the other It's Alive releases from the past couple of years that I am missing.