Peanut Butter & Jelly

Some releases just seem to get better with age, and the first No Warning LP is proof of that. I remember ordering it when it came out just because it was a new Bridge Nine release. I mean, I had the 7" at the time but wasn't blown away by it. It was just ok. But when this LP dropped, well, it was certainly a step up. The world really sat up and paid attention, I remember that much. And the legacy hasn't gone unnoticed either. This LP has remained highly sought after, and is one of the few releases from the 00s that consistently sells for big money.

And speaking of big money, after many years of searching, I have finally managed to get hold of one of the Peanut Butter & Jelly versions. The label ordered 'blood and shit' vinyl and this is how the pressing plant interpreted that request... so the label kept 50 copies and sent the rest back.

Clearly, one of the best hardcore LPs of the era and only 50 copies makes for one hard to find record. Plus if you can find one, finding one in the hands of someone who will let it go is not easy. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself!

The red (or 'jelly') colour does look dark, but if you hold it up to a light source it looks much prettier. In fact, I think this is a pretty good interpretation of 'blood'.

Also, after picking this up it made me dig my other copy out. I kept the note that the label sent. I thought I'd put the picture up purely for nostalgia's sake:

Worn Through The Layer Of Purple

I am a fool at times. I have so many records in piles around the edge of my room that things get mislaid at times. Things form their own piles and after a while I have several piles with no order to them. All piles start with an order, e.g. records by artist from A-M... but then eventually it goes wrong. I'll get a record by an artist with a name starting with 'S' and, in a moment of laziness, put it at the front of the 'A-M' pile. After that, it's all ruined, and the pile loses any sense of order.

So anyway, I received a few 7"s almost two months ago, and some of them got missed from this blog due to getting sucked into one of my piles. So now I'm catching up with old new stuff. Ugh.

I don't imagine too many people are still interested in Harvest records in 2013. Their day was mid to late 90s. This here 7" was, I think, their first release and came out on Ferret Records. I heard once that all Ferret releases had a very limited pressing on purple vinyl. I don't know for sure if that's true or not, although I do have a Converge 7" on the same label on a limited purple wax, so I think it's certainly likely. Well anyway, I always liked this band, and I was happy enough to grab this limited pressing of their first 7" for pretty cheap. And I'm sure that whilst not many people care about this band in 2013, someone would definitely want this enough to pay much more than I did.

I have to say, purple vinyl is a great colour. It comes in many different shades. It's nearly (but not quite) as nice as pink vinyl. Nearly.

Police & Thieves / Remission Split Test

I've had this a while but am only just getting around to posting it because, quite simply, I forgot all about it. It got put in the wrong pile on my floor. And believe me, there are a few piles. Anyway, this is a test press of the Police & Thieves / Remission split 7" on Amendment Records. It comes in a nice handmade card sleeve.

The labels are stamped and it is hand numbered out of 20 copies. I got number 17.

That's 39/52 tests done with 11 weeks to go.

Studies In Emerald

It's taken me a while to get around to posting this one as I felt that I needed to take a lot of photos to capture exactly how special this package is. This is a new 7" by Rot In Hell entitled 'Studies In Emerald'. Although these songs have previously been released, they were on two different CDs, so this represents their first appearance on the superior format of vinyl. And what a way to do it... although sadly, not many people will experience this as there are only 31 copies in existence.

It arrived sealed in a green (emerald) envelope:

For us nerds, this represents a dilemma, as straight away you have to consider whether you actually want to see or listen to the item you have paid for, or whether you want to leave it unspoiled. Well, to cut a short story short, I managed to open it without damaging the packaging. So here's what I found inside...

The envelope contains a 7" in a slip case. I don't think I have ever seen one of these before.

And of course, the record itself slides out of the slip case sideways...

The black acetate sheet above is actually an x-ray. I've seen a couple of these and it seems that all of the x-rays are different.

Underneath the x-ray is the 7", in an orange dust sleeve.

The 7" itself is a lathe cut thing which has an x-ray of a fly printed on it.

And behind the 7" is a small booklet which is part of the sleeve.

This is seriously one of the most amazing pieces of packaging I have ever seen on a 7", and believe me, that's saying something. I just wish more people could see (and appreciate) it in real life, but alas, that cannot be so. Overall I feel both lucky and honoured to be one of the 31 special few.

White Lift Off

This one is probably not overly for you, but it was for me. This white copy of Cave In's 'Lift Off / Lost In The Air' 7" is (or was) the final copy of this record I needed to have a complete collection.

Well, not quite. I don't have a regular black vinyl copy. So I can't take a collection photo. The funny thing, however, is that I used to have a black vinyl copy. I bought it from the band in 2000 when they toured 'Jupiter'. It was the only version they had for sale. Not long after I got two coloured copies from Hydrahead, so I gave away my black copy to a friend. Little did I know that twelve years later I would badly wish I still had it.

Gold TV Party

I'm pretty happy to have bagged another colour vinyl Black Flag 7". This time it's 'TV Party' on gold to go nicely with the red and orange copies I already have.

This copy is in great condition and I'm very happy to have tracked this one down. This is how I like collecting. Slowly adding one at a time every now and again. None of this buying everything in a couple of weeks malarky. Now I only have four more coloured Flag 7"s to find - two 'Nervouse Breakdown' and two colours of 'Six Pack'. They'll come. Eventually.

So I also bought a couple of other small 7"s from the same seller as they were both pretty cheap. The Guilt 'Empty' 7" on Initial Records was definitely one of the first 50 7"s I owned. I always liked this band, and I always wondered whether the cover was supposed to be a 90s take on the Minor Threat 7", complete with baggy jeans and hair. This version comes on white vinyl and in a blue sleeve. I also have white vinyl in a red sleeve.

I also grabbed this Set To Explode 7" on white. This was one of the best records of the 2006 era, and even though I have three copies I somehow missed this later pressing on white.

Casket Lottery New(ish) 7"

Anyone remember The Casket Lottery? They were one of my favourite bands of the early 00s. Not just mine either. When I first met Bane when they stayed at my house back in the year 2000, Bedard was rattling on about the The Casket Lottery's 'Moving Mountains' being the best LP of the year (and just for reference, he named the first American Nightmare as the best 7"). I'm not sure exactly when The Casket Lottery broke up, but it feels like it's been a LONG time. I think the last release I got by them was probably in about 2003. Wow.

Well all good things come to those who wait, and they seem to now be back and putting out records. This 7" came out on No Sleep Records last year. I won one of these white vinyl 'Subscription Series' copies on eBay months ago along with their new LP, but the parcel got lost in the mail. Eventually, however, another came along at a reasonable price, so I bagged it.

This white vinyl copy is limited to 200 copies and was only available as part of the label's subscription series, where you pay a load of money and get sent limited pressings of new releases that come out in the year. Kind of a good idea from the label's point of view I guess. Anyway, the best thing is not getting the most limited colour, but the obi-strip.

I wasn't sure I'd be into this band in this day and age, but I shouldn't have doubted The Casket Lottery. The new material is great and pretty much picks up where they left off years ago. I have the LP coming in the mail and I can't wait.

Rot In Hell

I picked up a couple of Rot In Hell records recently. Gaps in the collection, if you will. The band have been fairly quiet for a while which always helps with collecting records as people seem to forget and move on to whatever the latest band of the moment is. I didn't buy these from Joe Public though. These came direct from the band.

First up, the second press of the 'Pearls Before Swine' LP on no frills black vinyl. I wasn't overly into the colours chosen for the first press, so I think this second press on black looks best.

The second record is a test press of the split with Vegas. This was released by Organized Crime Records as a 6" record, but the test press comes on a 7" with about half an inch of dead wax around the edge. Pretty cool.

I think I now have a full compliment of this one. The test, the black vinyl sealed in a black envelope, and the red and yellow vinyl.

For anyone who's counting (which is me) that's now 38 tests this year. 14 more needed to hit the target with only 14 weeks of the year left. Seems increasingly unlikely.

Land Speed Record

I first heard Husker Du back in 1991 when I was 16. They had a song on the Blind Skateboards legendary film 'Video Days'. The song was 'Real World' and, like most good hardcore tunes, is a fast, rough sounding song. A year or so later some kid at school leant me a Husker Du CD and, to be frank, I thought it sucked. It was slow and kinda wussy. I wrote the band off as shit and life carried on. Well, wouldn't you know it, twenty years later and I've realised my mistake and I'm slowly picking up their records. Here's the latest. A green vinyl pressing of 'Land Speed Record' on SST Records.

This is actually a pretty poor record in my opinion. It's a live record and the sound quality isn't great. Still, it's an SST color vinyl record. I'll gladly take it.

Gimme Gimme Gimme... Gimme Some More

I figured that I didn't have enough Give records recently. I mean, as usual, I took the time to collect all of the coloured versions, but never bothered with the black. And recently I just figured that, at $5 a pop, I might as well grab the ones I was missing before they vanished and I would have to resort to eBay.

Actually, having said that I needed the black vinyl, I also realised that I never picked up the second press of the React! 7" on white because... well, because by the time that came out, React! was being distributed by Hellfish, and I didn't want to go there.

I also picked up the same React! 7" on black, along with the Deranged and Youngblood 7"s also on black.

Obviously these are not exactly exciting, but essential in order to build that complete Give collection... which I'm still a long way away from owning. I'm not in a hurry though. They will come eventually.

Casualty Of The Core

Sometimes I end up collecting bands not because they are my favourites, but because their records are cheap and plentiful. Internal Affairs is the latest example of this. Back when they were active I did enjoy them and bought one of each of their records, but recently I've picked some extra copies up on the cheap. Like ridiculously cheap. This is the latest. The 'Casualty Of The Core' 7" on Malfunction Records on blue vinyl. This cost me all of £0.99 on eBay and, as seems to have been the case a few times lately, I was the only bidder.

This is the 'common' version of the first press, being out of 700 copies. Fuck only knows how many versions there are of this thing, but this is my third. Probably in about six years time I will have added another three to my collection. Watch this space.

Nancy Loves Walter And Mike

I started last month with a Youth Of Today record, and I'm doing the same again this month. That's the beauty of Youth Of Today LPs - there are so many that even seasoned collectors can carry on collecting these things for years. This is one variant that I only realised that I didn't have a couple of months ago - the first pressing on Revelation. This one was black vinyl only, with the first pressing identifiable by the blue and yellow labels.

I've had a Revelation copy for years. In fact, my Rev copy was the first copy of this album that I ever owned. I probably bought it in 1993, taped it to listen to on my walkman, and then never played it again. Recently i took it out of it's sleeve to find that it didn't have the blue and yellow labels. Instead, it had the 'photograph' labels. I always thought I had the blue and yellow label copy, but no, it would appear not. So I made a mental note to pick one up if I saw one, and recently I spotted a copy on eBay UK which I won with one bid. Very efficiently done.

There's not much else to say, so I thought I'd fill the rest of this post with a few photos that show the difference between the first press with blue and yellow labels and the second press with photograph labels. Enjoy...

It is commonly believed that there are two pressings of this one. However, Dobek has found a third variant - a blue and yellow labelled copy with a different matrix. Check out his awesome BDTW pressing info page if you are interested.