Past Present Comp LP

When I was 18 or so and pretty new to the world of hardcore and punk rock, compilations were pretty useful things to have around. Back before the internet was switched on, the only way to hear bands was on records or tapes, but even finding places that sold such things was not easy. So finding a compilation with loads of bands I had never heard, or heard of, was a great way of trying new bands out and finding new favourites whose records I could then go and explore later. However, that was the early 90s. In 2010 I would argue that things are different. People can listen to any band they want at any time thanks to the internerd. So what point do compilations serve?

The only answer I can come up with is "fun". Compilations nowadays seem to be more about grouping together bands to play on a record linked together by some kind of common theme. A semi-recentish trend is 'the tribute record', where different bands cover an older band's songs. And Revelation Records have just added to this genre with the third in their series of dodgy compilations to mark another 50 releases. If you recall, Rev 50 was some pointless CD compilation, Rev 100 was a pointless double LP compilation, and now we have Rev 150, a compilation LP of current (at least, they were a couple of years ago) bands slaughtering some early Revelation classics.

First up, I have to say, before listening to this thing, I actually really like the cover. As you can see, the cover is a 'live' shot of a CBGB matinee show. Well, that's what it's meant to look like. It's actually a mock up (really?) using GI Joe figures. As you probably know (and if not, please go boil your head) Revelation used to trade rare records for GI Joe stuff in the late 80s. So this cover does seem a fitting tribute to the label's early days in more ways than one.

But what about the record itself? Is it worth buying? Well, yes and no. As a fun, themed record (and of course, being on Revelation), then it's a must have. But as a valid LP in it's own right, unfortunately, it seems pretty pointless. Trust me, you're not going to listen to it more than twice. Once out of curiosity to see how each song sounds, and then a second time to confirm that listening to it any further would be a waste of time.

The problem for me is that most of the covers are pretty close to the originals. I used to think that covers were only good if they sounded really close to the original. These days my opinion is the opposite. If a cover sounds like the original, then it serves no point. I mean, as an example, Down To Nothing do a pretty good cover of the Judge song 'Where It Went'. Musically it's absolutely spot on. The vocal isn't quite Mike Judge. But it's still as good a Judge cover as you're going to get. But my point is this - why would I choose to listen to Down To Nothing covering Judge when I could just as easily listen to Judge? The same goes for loads of the songs on here - they're too close to the originals to be interesting. That said though, it remains interesting once or twice to listen to these songs but have some subtle differences thrown in. But I just don't think the differences are significant enough in most cases to make the songs notable and interesting.

The most interesting songs for me are the ones that are in some way different to the original songs, which makes them individual songs in their own right. Ignite do an interesting cover of Youth Of Today's 'Disengage', and Walter Schreifels does an acoustic Sick Of It All medley. There's also some band called The Twilight Transmission who do an alright Quicksand cover.

To be fair, even though this LP isn't exactly great, it's not bad either. There's only one stand out awful song, which is a Texas Is The Reason cover by some band called Mikoto. Every other of the 23 songs is a cover of a hardcore song, and these clowns ruin the tempo and mood by cranking out some mid-paced emo jive. Bad choice and definitely should have been rejected from the final version. Shame on you, Mikoto... whoever you are/were.

You probably shouldn't listen to me though. I'm still annoyed that I got sent a black one instead of the yellow one I ordered.

React! Records Catch Up

Back in late July I was MOVING HOUSE and when Doug & Mike were posting up about their latest React! Records scores, I felt left out. It seemed that those dudes were picking up some great records whilst my React! collection was starting to feel like it was lacking. I was even thinking about giving up. But I had other things on my mind at the time. Carrying your record collection down the stairs and buying a wooden floor are serious matters!

However, once I got into my new place, I realised that my last React! order had gone a bit wrong and despite paying for three copies of the Get The Most LP, I had only been sent two. So I emailed the label and they admitted a minor mailorder mistake. They asked for my address so they could send another one out. I then found myself in a familiar situation. A single record being mailed overseas seemed like a wasted opportunity. I mean, if you're going to send me a box, you might as well fill it the fuck up, right? So I went straight to the label's CEO, Mr Arslanian, with my negotiating hat on and I bargained HARD. In the end he agreed to help my React! collection get back to an almost respectable level. Unfortunately though I forgot to negotiate delivery times. This stuff took a good couple of months to arrive... although, to be fair, I think that was something to do with problems with one of the new releases. Goddamn pressing plants.

The first thing I ordered, albeit later than the rest of the world, was the new Betrayed 7". I have to admit, I have no idea what is going on with Betrayed. Their first 7" was on Bridge 9 and was amazing, their LP was on Rivalry and was amazing, and I kinda forgot but they also got signed to Equal Vision. They were poised to take over the world. And then they broke up. But then a year or two later they seemed to start playing out again every so often. And now they have new songs out on a 7" on React! and (even more surprising) Todd Jones seems to be still in the band despite doing rather well with his other band Nails. So at this point I don't know whether Betrayed is a full time band or a part time band or if they are together or broken up or what. But what I do know is that their latest 7" is very good and I have three shiny copies of it.

The second new release I pre-ordered late was the Give 7". Something about this band has me psyched. For those who do not know, Give are basically the Swiz of 2010. No more and no less. They also seem to have some kind of fixation with flowers. I don't get it at all, but I have to admit that the flower logo looks cool and the band rocks pretty hard If you like Swiz you cannot fail to like this... unless of course you are a dickhead.

Give have other records that I still didn't get around to picking up but I badly want to after listening to these two songs. I also badly want the 7" on Deranged Records on purple vinyl, but I don't fancy paying the $200 shipping that the label seem to want to charge, so if anyone out there has one and wants to let it go then please get in touch!

And finally, the third of my late pre-orders was for the Common Cause 12". As I understand it, this is actually a repress of a 7" on some dodgy Euro label with demo tracks on the flipside. This is really good hardcore. Dudes in this band used to be in other quality hardcore bands like Damage Control and Insurance Risk, so it's no surprise that this is good. Not sure it is good enough to warrant me buying four copies, but I guess that's the game I'm in these days.

Once I had caught up with the pre-orders and was then kind of up to date, I tried to fill some holes in the back catalogue. The rest of the package was therefore stuff that had either sold out or that I didn't know about, and seems to be mainly stuff that was limited to 100 copies or so. Here' a quick run-down:

The orange vinyl of the Damages 7". This one was limited to 100 copies and comes with a patch that you can sew on to your backpack as you read HeartattaCk zine through your thick rimmed specs and attempt to time warp back to 1995:

Next is the pink vinyl of the Praise 7". This one was also limited to 100.

And here's the blue Get The Most LP that was accidentally left out of my previous order:

I also got jealous of Doug & Mike for getting the green vinyl release show pressing, so I had to get one of those too. Limited to a strange 133 copies (is there a significance to this number that I am missing?):

Thing is, Mike & Doug are going to be jealous of the number I got sent. They were both stoked with the numbers they got, but clearly my number trumps them both. I mean, everyone knows the significance of 44, right?

I probably sound like some 18 year old fag who has never heard any bands from before 2008 at this point, but goddamn I love this LP. I wasn't overly impressed with it when it first came out, but like most great records, it's a bit of a sleeper. It takes time to appreciate, but the more you listen to it, the more it grows on you. This has slowly worked it's way into my top releases of 2010 for sure.

Next, the Gone But Not Forgotten 7" with alternate cover on red vinyl. There were 100 of these things. I think this cover looks way better than the regular cover. I also think that this may be the most under-rated React! release. Not that I have a clue what the kids rate and don't rate though you understand.

And finally, the Mindset 2nd 7" record release show version. Again, 100 of these suckas exist.

As you may have guessed, I was pretty stoked on this package. It's nice to be up to date on both the blog and React! releases for the first time in 2010. Mind you, I say that, and at this time there are three other pre-orders that have been up for a few weeks that I have ignored. So technically I suppose I am behind after all. No change there then...

Walter Schreifels 'An Open Letter To The Scene' LP

When Walter's debut solo LP came out earlier this year, I deliberately avoided it. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, the cover art looked whack. Secondly, it was released by about four labels at the same time, each doing multiple colours of vinyl. This annoyed me so I ignored it.

Fast forward a few months and I found myself listening to his solo demo CD that I picked up at a show about three years ago, and I realised that I was ignoring the most important thing - the music. It has to be said, dude writes catchy songs. So I decided to finally pick up the LP.

I had the choice of two colours to pick from - solid blue, or clear blue, both out of 200. I couldn't make my mind up so I bought both. Here's the clear blue:

And here's the solid blue:

This LP comes in a (pointless) gatefold sleeve. The inside of the gatefold sleeve is used to present a picture of the man himself sat in a room that looks like the inside of some big old stately home, or perhaps Windsor castle. I can't help but wonder whether this is where he lives, and if he actually owns any furniture or shoes:

Also, the inner sleeve is a full colour affair which, in true form, arrived with big rips down either side. Great. The featured picture is interesting though, showing Walter sat at a typewriter in a scene that looks like it would not be out of place on the inside of a Beatles LP, with Walter playing the part of Paul McCartney:

Despite this think looking a bit like something that would have been released during the summer of love, it's musically very good. I have struggled to not listen to this lately. The only downside is that 5 of the 10 songs were not exactly new. One I had from a CD from when I saw him live about three years ago, one was a Walking Concert song, one is an Agnostic Front cover, one is a Civ song, and one is an old song that was either a World's Fastest Car or Rival Schools song. On balance though, I think that my favourite is the title track of the album, which is a very touching tribute to Raybeez. Overall I'm glad I finally picked this up.

I Don't Want To Grow Up

It was about a year ago I started trying to collecting Descendents records. I managed to get a few and was fortunate enough to get most of them for pretty reasonable prices too. The latest addition to my collection is no exception. I picked up a copy of the second album, 'I Don't Want To Grow Up' on red vinyl for $53. Not bad since the two previous copies i watched close out on ebay went for about $150 and $100 respectively. Even better, this copy is in really great shape. Not sure how old this copy is, but I would guess it was made in the early 90s, since that seems to be when SST colour vinyl was pretty common in the record stores (yes, i'm old enough to remember!).

I think that on balance this is my favourite Descendents album. Mind you, I seem to say that about whichever record I'm listening to at the time.

Bane - Holding This Moment 12"

When I heard that Bane's so-called "first record" (which was not actually their first record at all) was being repressed, I was not happy. Not because I don't like the record, you understand, but more because Bane are one of two bands (the other being Integrity) for which I made a conscious decision to try to own absolutely every version of every record they ever put out. And all of a sudden, it seems that both Bane & Integrity seem to be putting out new records (or new pressings of old records) pretty much every week these days. Even worse, every record each band releases seems to have at least fifty four versions. It's starting to get ridiculous, and I HATE that I am getting sucked in. If I had less money, no doubt I would not get sucked in. But because I can afford it, I buy it all. If you're not a collector then you won't understand (although, if you're not a collector then why the hell are you reading this blog in the first place?), but all I can say is that it's not so much that I WANT these things, but more that I feel that I HAVE to have them. To any rational human being, this obviously sounds stupid. I mean, clearly nobody is making me buy these records except myself. But still, the situation is that I have somehow convinced myself that I have own every Bane record that exists or else my life will not be complete. And if I purposely do not buy one then at some point in the future the one that I don't have will irritate me and I will regret not owning it and then I'll have to go to eBay and buy it for ten times the original price. So yeah... as I have said many times before - I am an idiot.

But anyway... getting back to the start of the story... I found out a while ago that Hurry Up Records were repressing Bane's 'Holding This Moment' CD as a 12" vinyl record. For those who don't know, 'Holding This Moment' was the band's third 7", although marked their first release for Equal Vision Records. It is undoubtedly the record that raised their profile significantly, and almost overnight propelled them onto every hardcore kids' radar. In the late 90s when this was released, Equal Vision was one of the three biggest labels releasing this kind of music (the other two being Victory and Revelation), and they had good international distribution. Any band getting signed to EVR was pretty much guaranteed to sell 20,000 or more records and CDs... which, for bands who were previously shifting 500-1000 copies of a self-released 7", represented a pretty big step up. And when EVR released the Bane 7", they also put it on a CD which came with 6 extra songs... which just so happened to be all the songs from their first two 7"s that had been released on Life Records (the label owned by guitarist Aaron Dalbec). So technically this 12" vinyl pressing represents the first vinyl release of the 9 song version of 'Holding This Moment', but it is not the first time that these 9 songs have appeared on vinyl. They came out on three separate 7"s before you were born.

So now on to the vinyl. There are three versions. Two of them seem acceptable whilst one looks like tiger vomit. Let's see if you can tell which is which...

First up, and my favourite, the clear green vinyl. There are 500 of these, making it the most common version. I always think there's an irony when the most aesthetically attractive record is the most common. I like this one best because the original 7" also came on clear green vinyl.

Next is the red/white split vinyl. 250 pressed. Again, this one looks alright. It reminds me of the red/clear split vinyl of 'Give Blood'.

The third version is out of 250 copies and is fucking horrible:

And me being a total dick also picked up the special fourth version - the test press. This one came in a regular sleeve with some hand writing on the front:

Finally, and for no good reason, here is a picture of all four copies together (taken right before I put them in their sleeves and onto a shelf where I shall no doubt never look at them ever again):

Also, because I bought so many records and sent the label a million dollars, they kindly threw in two more versions of one of the recent 7"s for free! Seems kind of them since I would have obviously paid for them anyway, because (as we have already discovered) I am an idiot. But hey. Both of these second press colours of the 'Dublin' 7" are out of 250 copies each:

To wrap this post up I thought I would help those people who are wondering what has stayed the same and what has changed with this release. If you really want to know that then you came to the right place.

The front cover. This is the same as the original 7" and also the CD version. But I guess that's to be expected.

The back cover. This is largely the same as both the original 7" and the CD. However, there are two small changes. Firstly, there is a sketch of some hands now sitting behind the E.E. Cummings quote.

Secondly, the Hurry Up logo has been inserted next to the EVR logo:

Next, the lyric sheet (which is the inner dust sleeve on the new 12" version). This is more like the 7" lyric sheet on one side, as you can see:

But it then looks more like the CD insert on the other side... mainly because the 7" version only had lyrics for three songs.

And finally, the record labels. Side A is a full colour version of the label from the original 7" (and the graphic on the CD itself and picture sat behind the CD tray). This is a great photo because it features Dalbec from a time when he seemingly had a smaller head and generally looked a lot more like Ben Affleck:

The B side label is nothing like the B side label of the original 7". Instead, it features a piece of the artwork from the front cover.

Overall I would say that Hurry Up has done a pretty good job with this release. The only thing that lets it down (aside from the disgusting vinyl colour) is that the inner sleeves are the glossy printed type that have the lyrics printed on. And these almost always get ripped in transit. These are no exceptions. My three copies all have inner sleeves that have split down the side, on both sides. I just know that this is going to bug me forever more.

R87 Test Nailed

Haven't had anything in the mail for a while, but thankfully the floodgates have opened this week & I have a few new bits of wax to take photos of & put into piles on my floor. Today's entry is a pair of records that have nothing in common except for the fact that I won them from the same person on eBay...

First, a (semi)new(ish) release. I guess that anything within the last three years counts as a new release for me these days. I'm pretty sure this one came out in 2010 at some point though. Nails 'Unsilent Death' LP on Six Feet Under Records. This is the limited pink vinyl of which there are 220 copies.

This has just been reissued by Southern Lord after going out of print quite quickly. It's funny, but I wanted this really badly. I don't think I have wanted a new release this badly for a long ass time. The funny thing though is why I wanted it, which I shall now explain...

In short, it's the artwork. When I got the Floorpunch discography from the same label earlier this year, in the package was a promotional postcard with a picture of a dude hanging from a cross. I don't have anything personal on my desk at work like some people do. I mean, if I am not at work then anyone would think that my desk is a spare desk. No personal photos or little toys or anything like that. I just don't like personalising my work space. To me it just looks cluttered and untidy. However, for some reason I decided to pin the Nails promotional postcard thing up on my cubical wall thingy next to my computer screen. This meant that I was pretty much staring at this picture for 8-10 hours a day every day. Now, I don't know about you, but usually the more I see something the more bored of it I get. With this picture, however, the more I saw it, the more I wanted the record that it was seeking to promote. I guess that's the point of advertising eh? I mean, I'd never even heard the band, but a little postcard image made me want to buy the record really badly. The image I am wittering on about is shown here, at the top of the lyric sheet poster thingy:

Pretty cool image isn't it? A cross with a silhouette of a dude hanging from it. The funny thing was when some dude at work sat at my desk & asked why I had a picture of someone hanging by the neck. I guess it must look pretty funny given that this is literally the only picture I have at my desk. Haha! Anyway, if nothing else this shows why artwork is important when you release records - good artwork can be the difference between someone wanting to buy your record and not. I can't imagine how boring it would be if music was just digital files and there was no such thing as artwork accompanying music. Unfortunately though, in another 20 years or so that's probably exactly where we are likely to be - in a place where music is simply music and artwork serves no purpose. Sad but probably inevitable.

The second item from the same spending session is a test press of the first Redemption 87 LP. This thing came out circa 1995 on everyone's favourite label, New Age Records.

One little thing that made me smile on here is that the previous owners' names are written on the dust sleeve. I think one of them reads this blog.

Anyway, I like the idea of this. Imagine if everyone who ever bought a record wrote their name on the dustsleeve. Would be cool to see who had owned records before you, don't you think? Think about that next time you go to sell something.