Violent Reaction US 7"

So I finally got my order for the US pressing of the Violent Reaction 7". In theory I should have been one of the first to blog about this one, as I got my order in on the first day and they were sent out only a day or two later. However, due to a postal system mystery, the parcel took two and a half months to reach me. Still, can't complain. Better than two and a half months than never showing up at all.

You've seen these on other blogs by now and you probably have your own copies, so I'm just going to cut straight to the photos. The colour breakdown was White (100), Red (300) and Black (600).

Great to see this 7" on colour vinyl, but kinda funny that it took a US label to put it together, as neither of the three pressings made in the UK bothered with anything other than black.

If anyone still needs one of these, the red and black vinyl copies are still available in the Mind Rot Store. Go get 'em!

i ♥ instagram

So, just checking - everyone's got instagram now, right? I have to admit, I had it on my phone for months before I actually used it. I opened it but didn't really understand what was going on. Then, months later I was bored so I opened it & started playing about, and then over a few days I started to understand how it worked. Well, that was over a year ago. Now it has become one of my daily passtimes, and over the last few months I have really enjoyed it. And it seems that the more time passes, the more people jump on it, and the more people there out are posting pictures of cool records. Some of the stuff on there is really great and no matter what your interests (records or otherwise), there's a lot of stuff to check out. In short, it's good fun, and if you don't have it then you need to step up to the plate.

A couple of months back I picked up a No Tolerance 7" test press that someone listed for sale on there. That was a breakthrough moment. And now I've just succesfully completed my first trade through it, for an item that just so happened to be a test press by one of my all time favourite bands.

This test press is just a regular Rainbo Records test in a no frills plain white paper sleeve. As with most tests like this, it's not much to look at:

So of course I pulled out the regular copy of the 7" to make for a more interesting photo:

So this turns out to be for the Farside 'Keep My Soul Awake' 7". Not only Farside's first release, but also the first release for Revelation's sister label Crisis Records. Ok, so technically it's not a Revelation test... but in my mind it sure as hell is. Besides, it's a Farside test. Who the hell cares what label it's on?

The funny thing is that when I arranged this trade I was told that the test was for the Farside 'S/T' 7" on Rev. But the day the previous owner was about to pack it up & mail it out to me, she decided to play it, and then discovered it wasn't the record she had told me. Overall though, it made no difference. I still wanted it. As I've said, it's a farside test. Anything else is just a minor detail.

Just for the sake of posting another picture, here's the test with the other copy of this 7" that I own:

This now brings the test press count to 37 so far in 2013. That means I still need 15 to hit the target of 52 for the year, and it's almost September. Pressure.

White Flag

I'm still trying to collect the color vinyl Black Flag 7"s. Somehow they seem harder to get than the LPs. But every once in a while one of them will pop up. Here's the latest - a white vinyl copy of 'Louie Louie' with large centre hole:

This is the first 7" where I have acquired all the color variants - white, greenish grey, red and grey. But rather than take a picture of them all, I figured I'd save the collection shot until I have all of the Black Flag color 7"s. So probably sometime circa 2016...

Where They Talk

There's nothing quite so satisfying as crossing an item off your wants list. And as anyone who keeps a want list knows, the satisfaction is higher the longer the item has been on your list. Here's an item that was on my wants list for quite a few years. The first Ignite 7" on purple vinyl. I don't know how many years this was on my wants list exactly, but I would guess that it has been at least seven years. Possibly as many as ten. I guess it doesn't really matter. The point is, it's been a long time want.

'Where They Talk' came out on Ringside Records in 1994. That was about two years before I heard of, or heard, Ignite. I picked this record up originally a couple of years after the 'Call On My Brothers' LP came out. It was then a few years later that I found out it existed on purple vinyl. So I added it to my wants list and eventually one appeared on eBay. As soon as I saw it listed I knew I was going to win it and... voila!

This 7" features original vocalist Randy Johnson, and as a result sounds different to the rest of the Ignite catalog. It's not as good as the stuff with Zoli, but the rarity of this one makes it a must have as far as I'm concerned.

We're Back!

I've not posted much on here lately. This has not been intentional. More just that I haven't actually received any new records for some time. Today, however, the floodgates opened and I received enough records to blog about for the next couple of weeks. Cool.

So where better to start that with the weirdest / most interesting Youth Of Today LP. This is the German Funhouse Records pressing of 'We're Not In This Alone', on yellow vinyl.

This is weird because it was the only YOT record released by Funhouse, which was a German label. Weird because all other YOT records were released in Germany by We Bite Records. In fact, this album was also released by We Bite Records. Two different German pressings? Really? And weird because of the layout. I mean, look at it...

The worst thing about this layout / package is the reverse of the lyric sheet. This is one of those printed dust sleeves. One side has the lyrics over a great live shot, whereas the reverse is this dumbass 'advert' for other records that Funhouse were selling at the time. Kinda whack... although, in some ways, a document of a time and place. So semi acceptable. Just would have been better as a separate insert rather than printed on the back of the lyric sheet.

Regan has some pretty good records, and a pretty good YOT collection, but he said recently that he had no interest in the European pressings of the LPs as he regards them as bootlegs. I can see his point as I used to feel the same. I thought that all of the Euro YOT LPs just looked like cheap copies of the US pressings. But at some point things changed and I began to kinda like them. I now have three YOT Euro LPs on yellow vinyl. I'm not sure I like them enough to want to also collect them on black, but then again, the one thing I have realised over the years is that, in record collecting, you never say never!

Internal Affairs Red LP

A few weeks ago I picked up an orange vinyl copy of the Internal Affairs LP and thought I had a complete collection. but then, a few days ago, I spotted a red vinyl copy on ebay uk that I had never seen before. So I watched, bid and won. It was cheap pretty cheap. I guess nobody really cares about Internal Affairs these days.

I'm now pretty sure that I pretty much have a complete collection of this one. I'm not sure if there is a black vinyl in regular sleeve or not, but I'm not fussed about it anyway, so I took the time to take a group shot.

Pictured is the test press, the silk screened version (made for Posi Numbers), green vinyl, orange vinyl and red vinyl. No idea on the pressing info on any of these.

Roses Never Fade Test

Somehow I had forgotten about this one. I picked it up a couple of weeks back along with the last batch of Integrity records. It's a test press of the first Roses Never Fade 7", 'The Man They Want To Hang'.

When this 7" went up for preorder a few years ago, I paid up and then weeks later received a refund without explanation. Fortunately I was able to get a copy of the 7" from Dwid. I was happy with that as it's rare enough in itself - there were only 100 copies made total. So having a test press is pretty lucky.

I don't know, but I'm guessing that these didn't originally come with a cover and they were made recently. This is because it says 'File Under Non Fiction' at the top. I would guess that this is because Nick Fiction was not in the band on this release and this is some kind of joke at his expense.

2013 Test press count is now 36.

Times Together Test

I was offered this one through a private message on a message board. It's a test press of the first Times Together 7" on Just Another Day Records. Some dude just wrote me and told me he was looking to sell it and asked if I was interested. The price seemed pretty reasonable, so I said yes and about 4 days later it had arrived, all the way from Italy. Impressive stuff.

Visually this isn't too exciting, but it's still cool. The dust sleeve and labels are stamped. Very Bridge Nine-ish.

I think I may have a complete Times Together 7" collection, although that probably isn't the case as I don't think I have a compete collection of anything. I'm sure there's some obscure variant of one of the 7"s that I don't even know about. Always seems to be the case.

Test press count for 2013 is now 35.

Carry On

Crossed another item off my want list recently that has been languishing on there for way too long. This is the white vinyl press of the first Carry On 7", 'Stabbed In The Face' on Jitsu records. I have had a blue vinyl copy for many years. In fact, probably since 1999 or something. But I never had a white one before. It was never a big deal. I mean, it's not a good record really. But just one of those that I felt I needed to cross off the list. Anyway, just like the blue vinyl, this is hand numbered using the biggest, ugliest penmanship I have ever seen on a record.

I don't have a huge Carry On collection or anything, but I would like a copy of the Teamwork 7" with the weed cover. I always thought that was quite a novelty. At this rate I figure I'll probably be picking one up somewhere around 2025.

Perfect Pitch Black Test

Anyone who reads this blog with any degree of regularity may realise by now that I'm a fan of Cave In. Always have been, and ever since Hydrahead brought out their first 7" release I've bought (it seems) two copies of each release. No reason why. But even in the earlier days of collecting, when owning one copy of each record seemed acceptable, I seemed to pick up two copies of each Cave In release. Recently I've picked up more than my fair share of test pressings. And here's another. A test press of their 2005 album 'Perfect Pitch Black'. Unlike a lot of tests, this one comes in a regular sleeve.

This one came out at a weird time for record collecting. This was 2005, when it seemed that some bigger labels who had always supported vinyl seemed to stop supporting vinyl. This album came out on Hydrahead, but for some reason they released this on CD only and licensed the vinyl to a dutch label called Garden Of Exile Records. There were 900 copies pressed on vinyl in total, across two pressings of 500 and 400 respectively. I have no idea how many tests were made, but given the general scarcity of this LP on vinyl at all I'm just happy to have one.

2013 Test press count is now 34.

Quicksand Blues

Back on Record Store Day 2011, I picked up two blue vinyl Quicksand 7"s. One was noticeably much lighter than the other. That was over two years ago and I was happy with having picked up two very different variants with ease. Then, as time went on, I became aware that there was at least one other distinctly different, and much darker, shade of blue out there. I wasn't stressed or particularly bothered about it, and I certainly wasn't going to chase one, but I always knew that if I came across one then I would pick it up. Well, last week I saw one for sale so I grabbed it. Just like two years ago, it was easy and hassle free. So here it is, the dark blue Quicksand 7":

This picture does do it justice. It looks VERY dark blue. But like a lot of records, when held to the light it looks much lighter and much more interesting:

See what I mean? I guess it's the black streaks that make this blue so dark. Anyway, I had to dig my other two copies out and take a photo of the three to show the range of variation:

I don't think there are any significantly different variants, so three is probably where this one ends for me. Probably.

Integrity Catch Up Volume 20

After missing a few variants of a few releases in the past couple of years, I'm constantly playing Integrity catch up. Just when I manage to grab a few and catch up, another release or two will appear with at least 4 versions of each, three of which I will miss. It's pretty much a constant cycle.

Well, 2013 brings us a new Integrity album and this one is called 'Suicide Black Snake'. There are about 9 versions of this one (unfortunately I'm not exxaggerating). I managed to pick up two. The silver one was an A389 pre-order. The white one came from the Holy Terror webstore. I have no idea how many there are of each. But there are at least 7 more versions I need.

It also comes with a massive poster of the cover art. Did I mention that it's massive?

Next, I picked up a grey vinyl copy of the 'Black Heksen Rise' 7". This record is basically the split with Rot In Hell, but without the Rot In Hell songs. This came on three colours, but this is the only version I have, meaning I still need two.

Next, yet another copy of the VValpurgisnacht 7", this time on glow in the dark vinyl with a green Charlie sleeve:

I also picked up a clear green copy. I think in the store it said clear, but I got sent a clear green one, which I already had, so I now have a spare. Bummer. I still need a clear one, and probably some other versions of this given thet there are hundreds of variants out there. It's a sad day when you have about 18 different versions of a 7" and there are still more that you need.

Next up, a test of the Integrity / Gehenna split 7". The test is probably the rarest, so I'm glad to have picked it up, but I still need three more versions of this one.

And finally, a test press of this year's Integrity release made for Record Store Day - the 'Systems Overload' A2 / Orr Remix LP. I have this test and the red vinyl, but I don't have the black vinyl.

Anyway, as this post shows, no matter how many Integrity records I pick up, there are at least the same number that I missed. I wonder if I'll ever be able to catch up... let alone make a dent in the older releases I'm missing.

Two more tests brings the total for the year to 33.

Pink Faith

Sometimes I get steered towards certain records by fellow bloggers. I'm not sure if I would say that this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it's undeniable that now and again I get drawn to things that other people have blogged about. Well, when Nico recently posted up a red vinyl copy of the Faith 'Subject To Change' 12", it just made me want to obtain one for myself. I already have a blue one that I've had for years, but suddenly that wasn't enough. So I started looking out for extras, and it didn't take long to find this pink copy. And hey, everyone knows that pink is the best colour vinyl...

Obviously now that I have a pink and a blue copy, I'll be needing a red one. There's also a clear vinyl version, although they are so rare that I will never own one as I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars. So for now, just a red one would be great, thanks.

Blue City Streets

Today I watched Andy Murray win Wimbledon. I'm not really a tennis fan, but regardless, it was one of the best things I have ever seen. There hasn't been a British winner at Wimbledon for 77 years, but today history changed and it was awesome to watch.

So as well as tennis, it seems Britain is also ahead of the world when it comes to hardcore right now. Violent Reaction, the one man straight edge army from Liverpool, has pretty much taken the world by storm in the past twelve months, and with this album, 'City Streets', it's easy to understand why. It's the perfect mix of punk, hardcore and attitude and there is no doubt that this will be on everyone's best of 2013 lists.

I was lucky enough to get the US pressing on Painkiller on red a few weeks ago, and this week my blue vinyl UK copy turned up too. This was released by Quality Control HQ (who released the Violent Reaction 7", and also the No Tolerance 12" last year) and this blue vinyl version is limited to 100 copies. Just like the No Tolerance 12", this comes in a super glossy sleeve that you could put on your wall and use as a mirror.

This is undoubtedly one of the best UK hardcore records in years. The more I listen to it, the more I want to listen to it. That's pretty much all I can say. Record of the year? Probably, yes. The only problem is that there's a red vinyl UK tour press and I don't have one. If anyone has one, or can get one, and would be into trading, please get in touch.

A Godlike Test Press

This is definitely one of my favourite pick ups of the year so far. One of my favourite records of last year (even though I was late to the party and it came out the year before) was the debut album from Ancient VVisdom, 'A Godlike Inferno'. I listened to it non-stop for weeks and was also fortunate enough to see the band play live. And recently I had an opportunity to pick up this, which is a test press and tour press combined in one handy record.

It's definitely a test press. I can tell that because it has the standard United labels which contains the words 'Test Pressing'.

But it's also a tour press, because it comes in a special, hand numbered dust sleeve. I guess the band must have obtained the test pressings and sold them on tour. Kind of a weird thing to do if you ask me, but hey, what do I know?

Test press count for 2013 is now 31.