Electric Flower Circus II

Right at the end of last year I posted up the debut full length from Give, 'Electric Flower Circus', pressed on a European label called Adagio 830 Records. The US pressing had completely sold out at pre-order stage, leaving me the option of either eBay or Discogs to pick up the US colour vinyl that I so badly wanted. Or so I thought... but then once again, a kind soul reached out and helped me. Some guy commented on here to let me know that the US green vinyl copies were for sale in the Deathwish Inc. online store, so I quickly grabbed a couple of copies before other fools could block me.

Green vinyl was the mailorder colour out of 300 copies. Initially this was supposed to be the record release colour, with pink vinyl being the mailorder colour, but the colours got pressed the wrong way round, with pink then being used as the record release version.

Black vinyl was out of 600 copies.

I love the artwork for this thing. It shows the band members all painted head to toe in green with flowers on top. Talk about dedication to your art...

I struggled to get into this record at first. Not sure if it just takes more time to get into than their previous releases, or whether I was just getting bored of listening to Give, but I wasn't digging it. Then a couple of week ago I was playing it whilst painting the walls, and it suddenly clicked. Right now I'm loving it. I don't think I have even seen a picture of a pink copy, but damnit, I badly need to find one. If anyone can give me a lead on one it would be greatly appreciated.

A Clear Measure

When I sent some Seaweed records to Mike recently, I realised that I only had an orange vinyl copy of the 'Measure' 7". In my head I thought I also had a clear one, but it would seem not. So I decided to rectify that situation.

Quite a lot of the earlier Sub Pop releases were pressed on multiple colours of vinyl. Others just came on one. I'm not sure exactly how they decided these things. But over the years some colours of some releases have proven to be super rare and become extremely sought after.

The other, more common colour of this one is orange vinyl. And, just like the Bold 7" on Rev, the majority were on a bright orange, but there were some copies on a kind of pink/orange mix and also some that are regarded as pink. If you are remotely interested in seeing any of these variants then go check out John Pette's Seaweed discography.

Kill For Christ

Back in 2009 I started out on a quest to collect the XClaim! releases. I actually did really well in a very short space of time. In August 2009 I picked up XClaim! numbers 1 and 4, then in November I managed to pick up XClaim! 5 & XClaim!6, and in December I found a copy of XClaim!3. So that was five of the six done within four months of each other. I think that by anyone's standards, this was pretty good going. That left me only one record left to get to complete the set.

Well, things slowed down a little after that. It's actually taken me five and a half years later to acquire a copy of XClaim! 2, although it was worth waiting for as it is in such great condition. So here we are - the F.U.s 'Kill For Christ' LP.

Like all of my other XClaim! records, this one comes with an insert. Thank fuck.

And of course, you know full well that I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to post up this great photo of my now complete XClaim! set.

That's another one off the wants list. The year is going ok so far.

All The Things You Said You'd Never Tell

Tonight Cold World are playing in London. I had wanted to go, but it sold out and I couldn't get a ticket. So I bought myself this clear vinyl copy of 'Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First' instead.

I missed this colour when it came out in 2008. I did pick upo the grey vinyl and orange vinyl copies, but the clear had sold out. It's a nice crystal clear colour, and it's cool to have finally picked one up, but it seems crazy that it's been almost 7 years since it came out. My brain seriously cannot comprehend this fact. At the rate time seems to be ticking, I'll be sixty next week.

Personally, I don't think this is anywhere near as good as the second LP that came out last year. It doesn't flow as well. But there are definitely some bangers on here for sure.

The Day The Music Died

When Bane played on their first European tour in 2000, they stayed at my house, and Bedard was telling me about the best new band in the States, American Nightmare. I still remember it like it were yesterday, although it were nearly fifteen years ago now. Wow. Anyhow, it turned out that he was right, and American Nightmare were the best band back then after all. But then they went shit and then they broke up. But people never stopped liking them and the prices of their records never really came down much. So I left it a few years before picking up some of the ones I didn't have. I'm not really trying to collect them. More, if I see one I might pick it up.

This white vinyl copy of the first 7" is the fourth copy of this record that I own. I got the red vinyl one when it came out, and then added two different blue ones in the last few years. And now this white one. So that only leaves me about 20 others to go. Expect me to complete this collection somewhere around 2045.

The band played two shows in London last week, and at no point did I even consider buying a ticket. Spending the money on this record was probably a far better choice, don't you think?

Swiz 'Down' Test

Some things pop up on eBay and you think you don't stand a chance. You just figure that every man and his dog will be ready to fight for it. But sometimes you're wrong and the fight is quite short, the other dude ducks out and you stand victorious, wondering why it was so easy.

So yeah, I won this Swiz test press for what I think was a fair price. It comes in a proper sleeve, although the comic book insert is not included. Fair enough.

I had actually seen a picture of this test press before. Someone posted a picture of a complete collection on the Vinyl Collective board a few years ago. The dude got it from someone who got it from Jason Farrell, and said that he was told that it was one of three copies. Since it isn't numbered, we will never know, but it's nice to think that there may only be three of these things out there.

Of course, now that I have this one and the three coloured vinyl copies I also want a black vinyl copy to complete the set. I didn't want one before, but now I feel I need one in my life. Man, why does this always happen?

Battle Ruins

I'm still catching up on 2014 releases that I have recently received, and here's one that made most peoples' 'best of' lists last year - the Battle Ruins self titled 12". The first press sold out before I even knew it was available, but I was more than ready when the second press red vinyl went up for sale.

You know the drill - this is another band from the DFJ and co. This time the band plays a mix of metal and oi, themed around the middle ages. You can probably work that out from the cover though, right?

When I first heard this I didn't understand the hype. I just couldn't get into it. But after Mike's post I pushed myself to listen to it more. And I'm glad I did. After a few more plays it really clicked with me, and before I knew it I was playing it every day. I then realised that this did deserve the hype it received, and kicked myself for being too late for the first press, just like I have been for every new DFJ band over the past few years.

Check out this photo of the band from the back cover. Dude second from the right must have the tallest head I have ever seen. Reminds me of The Mekon from Dan Dare.

Clear To Be You

It's funny, but around the time I started collecting Descendents records it seemed that vinyl in general started getting really popular again, and repressing older releases on new colours became a new trend. Kinda cool in a way, because if I had started collecting these things a little later I would have missed out on some represses and had to track them down on eBay or discogs. The other way of looking at it, of course, is that it's kinda shit because I got sucked into buying all these bloody represses, which I may have avoided if I had felt there were too many to chase when I first started.

This latest repress, as pictured here, is a clear vinyl repress of the final Descendents album 'Cool To Be You'. It came out on Fat Wreck Chords in 1997 and, until this colour got pressed a couple of months ago, the original colour (blue) vinyl version of this record was the rarest (and thus most expensive) Descendents record out there. Not sure if the price of that one will now go up or down as a result of this clear repress. Either could happen.

My copy initially looked like the labels hadn't been put on correctly as they weren't properly lined up. But then I realised that the labels were put on right, it's just that one side has an extra label stuck on top. Nice to have something a little quirky.

So I still badly need a purple vinyl reissue copy of 'ALL'. I'm starting to get desperate. It only came out in 2011, and there were loads of them about, yet for some reason it seems impossible to find. Help!

Sacrificial

Because I've just received my first shipment of records since December, I'm still catching up with some releases from last year. Here's an example - the third album by Ancient VVisdom, 'Sacrificial', which was released by Magic Bullet Records towards the tail end of 2014. I downloaded the songs when it came out but the vinyl didn't come in time for my December shipment. So whilst this now feels like it's been out for a while, this is the first time I've seen the actual vinyl.

There were two or three colours to choose from. I picked the clear because I like clear better than red. No idea which is rarest or anything. Sometimes you gotta just do what feels good.

I'm really into this record. Their first LP was amazing, but the second was a little meh, so it's good to see them head back towards the territory of the first with this one. I've played this more than I did the second one, especially the song 'Worm Ridden Skull' which is extremely catchy. As I said in my 2014 end of year rundown, this would have made it into my 'best releases of the year' list, save for the fact that I didn't actually receive the record in 2014. Not that it matters really.

I Am

Back at the end of 2008 I picked up a colour vinyl copy of the first Samiam 7" on Lookout! Records. Back then, I said that it had been on my want list for like 13 or 14 years. However, the colour that I picked up back then was technically not the colour that I was looking for. I had seen, and been searching for, a clear vinyl copy, but the copy I found in 2008 was on a kind of clear greenish yellow. Well, here we are just over 6 years later and I finally got aruond to finding a proper clear vinyl colour.

Of course, you know what happens next. New record is placed next to older record for a comparison shot to show the difference.

I used to listen to Samiam back in the 90s. I even saw them play a couple of times. But for some reason I never listened to anything after their major label debut 'Clumsy'. I think it was just one of those bands who seemed to have too many records, and I felt like I was tired of them. Kinda funny that they carried on making records and I have never heard any of them. Anyone still following this band and can give me a view on what their later stuff is like?

Undiscovered

This week I received a delivery of over 100 records, covering almost four months of purchases. They should keep me blogging for a while. I thought I'd start with one of the highlights, which has been a major want of mine for a few years.

Vision 'Undiscovered' 7" on New Scene Records on green vinyl. This thing is insanely rare. I have absolutely no idea how many exist, but what I do know is that this very rarely pops up for sale. If you don't believe me you should try finding one for yourself.

I came close to grabbing two copies of this in the last few years. The first was sold on eBay circa 2009 by Mark Porter of Floorpunch. I think I bid $62 and it sold for $63. Something like that. It was then five years before I got another shot. Another copy appeared on eBay towards the end of last year. In the end it sold for $108. I was in bed when it finished so had set up the sniper to bid for me, and entered a max bid of $150. But somehow the sniper malfunctioned and someone else won. I was particularly bummed as I figured my bid was high enough over the winning amount that I probably would have won... although obviously I could never know whether that was the case or not. I might still have lost even if the sniper had worked. At this point I figured it would be a few years before another appeared for sale.

Well, fortune smiled on me a couple of months later when this copy popped up on Discogs. The price was way lower than either of the two copies I just mentioned too, so I bought it right away. Technically I have owned this for almost four months, but I only just received it and had it in my possession for one day, but I'm stoked. Another major want crossed off the list...

Force Fed

It seems like I only buy green vinyl 7"s these days. This is the third green 7" in a row.

This is a self-titled 7" by a band called Force Fed. It came out on Painkiller Records back in 2009. No idea why i didn't pick one up back then.

I haven't really had many new records since back in December. All my records get sent over from the States about once every three months, and I haven't had a delivery yet in 2015, which is why the blog has been sparse. I picked up this record from ebay.co.uk, and I only really bought it because it was cheap.

The funny thing is, after I received this, I was surfing discogs and found a few copies on there, all cheaper than the one I bought. So even though I bought it because it was cheap, it ended up being relatively expensive. Ah well, can't win 'em all I guess.

Dirty Money

Dirty Money was a UK band around circa 2007-10. In their time, they became one of the most successful UK hardcore bands ever. They put out a split 7" with Trapped Under Ice on A389 Records, and toured the US in 2009. They then played their last show in London to a packed out Camden Underworld back in May 2010, which was pretty much the most insane reception that I have seen a UK band get, either before or since.

I recently grabbed this limited cover version of their debut 7" on Dead & Gone Records, numbered out of 50 copies. I once saw this one sell for a shedload of money. I guess everyone is prepared to pay good money for a bit of Kate Moss.

Unlucky for some, number 13 out of 50.

I think there are at least two other limited sleeve versions of this one, but I'm happy enough to only own this one. I mean, is there anything more British than Kate Moss? Great cover, great record.

Take Effect

You know how sometimes you don't know that you want something until you see a picture of it somewhere? Yeah, well, that. Someone I'm following on instagram posted up a green vinyl copy of the Fuel 'Take Effect' 7" on Lookout! Records. Now, I haven't listened to this band for some time, but that photo brought them right back into my world with a bang. I then needed to grab one for myself, which wasn't actually too difficult.

Fuel were a band active in the early 90s in the Bay Area. This 7" came out on Lookout! Records, they had a couple of split 7"s on Allied Recordings and a full length that was released by Rough Trade. They sounded a lot like Fugazi. I remember when I started getting into this kind of stuff, Fuel were a band that were loved by everyone. I'm not sure why exactly, but they seemed to have that magic ingredient that meant that they clicked with everyone - pop punkers, hardcore kids, and the political and emo scene too. After listening to them and writing this, I have to wonder exactly why they called it a day.

I already own this 7" on clear. There's also a red vinyl copy out there too which I am now looking for. BUT IT'S NOT UP FOR SALE!

Front Porch Stories

Another band I have been listening to recently after not listening to them for a while is Avail. I posted up a picture of their 'Live At The Kings Head Inn' 10" for the 'january record a day' thing on instagram, and that was enough to get me playing their stuff for a few days afterwards. I then realised that I had never owned, or even heard, their final LP 'Front Porch Stories'. So I went out looking for one. It didn't take too long either.

This came out on Fat Wreck Chords in 2002. There were only 218 copies pressed on red vinyl, and despite never hearing it, it's been on my want list for a few years. I never wanted one bad enough to pay the required price. It sells for a bit as it's Fat Wreck color vinyl, and there are some kids who collect that stuff. But with this being the year of the wants list attack, I figured I would take one when I saw it.

I have to say, I have struggled to get into this one so far. It just hasn't really grabbed me yet. Having said that, I've only listened to it twice. Hopefully it will grow on me as much as the rest of the band's catalogue.

I Am Live II

The day after my birthday this year, I woke up to an email from a friend letting me know that there was a new, red vinyl pressing of the Give 'I Am Live' 7" available to order. However, at the point I woke up, the email was already over 7 hours old, and it mentioned that there were only 45 copies in existence. I therefore assumed that when I followed the link to the Photobooth Records store, that it would already be sold out. I mean, Give are pretty hot right now. The US pressing of their LP sold out insanely quickly, so I figured 7 hours would be more than enough for 45 Give fans to add a 7" to their carts and check out. Fortunately, I was wrong and I was able to place an order.

After I successfully placed an order, I could relax. I then did my bit to help my fellow nerds out, so I emailed the link out to people who I thought would appreciate it. I think that they all managed to get one too. I'm not sure how long the records were in stock for, but it was cool how this came about and that a circle of record nerds were able to help each other out. Go nerds!

I Am 7

Wow. Time really does fly. It was 7 years ago today that I started this blog.

To prove it, and for nostalgia's sake, here's a link to my first post from 28 February 2008. It was a for a Rain On The Parade 7" - First Post

Life has moved on a lot in 7 years, although in many ways everything is still the same. I think this blog gets less readers now than ever judging from the stats, but I'm ok with that. Thanks to anyone who still reads or comments though, it's appreciated.

Testicle Explosion

After partaking in the 'January record a day' thing on instagram, I've been listening to a lot of Two Line Filler. The band were my choice for day 5, for which the category was 'underrated artist'. After putting up a picture of their LP and first 7", it occurred to me that they had other records that I didn't own. So I went to discogs to see what I could get, and found this split 7" with Fadeaway for cheap. The Two Line Filler side has the worst cover of all time, as you can see:

I actually used to own this 7" on black vinyl, but traded it back in about 1999 or so for a Slugfest 7". I thought it was a good trade at the time, and it still seems like a good trade to me in the current climate.

This always seemed like an odd spit to me. Two Line Filler were a poppy punk style band, whilst Fadeaway were the epitome of 90s chugga chugga hardcore. They were from Buffalo and featured Scott Vogel on drums, as well as (I think) some dude from Snapcase doing something else. They had a CD out on Conquer The World Records, and this split 7". They were good. I wish CTW had pressed the album on vinyl as well as CD. No idea why they didn't, as the label did release a lot of vinyl back in those days.

This copy that I have just picked up comes on limited purple vinyl. It's not really visible in the photos above, so I took the obligatory photo of the record with the light behind it to prove that I'm not making it up.

This here represents what is good about the internet. When this came out in the mid 90s, I didn't even know that a purple vinyl copy existed, and even if I did it would have been impossible to find one. But to get this in 2015, all I had to do was go to discogs, click with my mouse a couple of times, pay a trivial amount of money that probably wouldn't even buy me lunch, and a few days later it was in my hands. It feels a lot more fun to buy low cost, forgotten rarities like this than paying big money for something that every man and his dog is chasing. I think I need more cheap gems like this in my life...

FP D1C DC/NJ

2015 is off to a good start. Here's another one of my wants bagged. This version of the Floorpunch 'Division One Champs' 7" is actually THE rarest version of them all. Yes, even rarer than the gold vinyl... although that one sells for 5-10 times as much. This is the DC/NJ pressing, made for a tour back in 1999. It has the same Judge rip off cover as the Euro tour press, but this version has regular labels on the record.

This version is a red stamp inside the sleeve and is numbered out of only 75 copies. This means that there are 13 fewer copies of this version than the gold one. I'm not exactly sure why this one sells for so much less, but I would say that it's because it's not too significantly different from the Euro tour press with Judge sleeve, and it's on black vinyl. If this version were on color wax, and had a cover which was different and unique, then I'm sure this one would go for a hell of a lot more.

It's funny, but now that I have this I'm only missing two variants, which are the regular black vinyl copies, both first and second press. I was never really into collecting regular copies, but I now feel kinda compelled to pick them up...

The Crew

If truth be told, I've never been the biggest 7 Seconds fan. Some of their stuff is good and some is a bit meh. But there's no denying that the first LP is an absolute classic. And there was one version that I always wanted but figured I would never own. So when one came up for sale recently I jumped at it.

'The Crew' was put out by BYO Records waaaaay back in 1984. At the time I was 9 years old and probably had no interest in music at all. Kinda weird to think that this LP is now over 30 years old.

This version that I've been searching for is on a dark, clear blue vinyl... although it's only really visible when you hold it up to the light. Otherwise it looks almost black, as these photos show. It's a very interesting colour for sure, and is also a very similar colour to the first Youth Of Today LP on Wishingwell. In fact, I'm sure I read somewhere once that the 'Break Down The Walls' layout took a lot of influence from this LP, so perhaps the vinyl itself did too.

Some people have speculated that this colour vinyl pressing was not intentional. Some cheap vinyl from back in the day appears to be clear brown, just because it is super thin, although some people would actually think that it was brown vinyl rather than black. I also have a Lincoln 7" in my collection which is not thin vinyl at all, but when held to the light is dark red in colour. I would guess that the Lincoln 7" is not supposed to be red, but by a similar token, I struggle to believe that this blue vinyl 7 Seconds LP came about by accident. If nothing else, the vinyl colour just so happens to match the cover. So I firmly believe that this was intentional. But regardless, who really cares? It's a great record on a great colour.