Fat Represses

Even though I have been trying to avoid represses, reissues and discographies for a while, I always seem to be able to find reasons to bend my own rules and buy more of the things. Today I present two more examples...

Firstly, a repress of the Good Riddance 'Symptoms Of A Levelling Spirit' LP from 2017. I kinda got the bug for picking up Good Riddance records after picking up another of their represses ('Ballads From The Revolution') last year. I think partly it's because I know that some Fat Wreck stuff is highly sought-after and hard to get, so when the chance comes along I figure best take it.

Apparently this red vinyl repress (which seems a far better colour choice than the original grey vinyl pressing) is limited to 327 copies. I didn't actually own a vinyl copy of this LP before this, and it was super cheap, so everything worked out pretty well.

I also couldn't help myself from picking up this yellow vinyl repress of the Sick Of It All 'Life On The Ropes' LP.

I'm not exactly sure what it was that made me want to spend money on this. I mean, this is far from my favourite Sick Of It All record. I guess the prospect of a Fat Wreck colour vinyl LP for $10 seemed too good to turn down.

Curl Up And Die

In early June a fun little competition was announced in the weekly update email from RevHQ. This is what it said:

The main riff in "ITSAFUCKINGTIMEMACHINE" was written to sound out a message in Morse code, so they decided to name the track using the same code. If you're able to figure out the message being played by the guitar, e-mail it to us at webmaster@revhq.com, and we'll enter you in a raffle for a chance to win a Curl Up And Die test pressing. Go!

Once I read this, I was intrigued and wanted to have a go. Fortunately, with modern technology the way it is, the fact that I didn't even own the song in question (as it was released on CD only) didn't prove too much of a problem as I was able to play it on youtube. But even after finding the song, and (eventually) transcribing the morse code, figuring out the message proved quite a challenge. It was one of those things that just got in my brain and wouldn't let go, mainly because I felt like I was close to getting it and would probably figure it out if I just invested a few more minutes. Eventually I clocked up a few hours of trying to figure this out, and then just gave up. But to give myself a chance I at least emailed the morse code sequence to show I had done SOMETHING.

In the next week's email they printed this:

Last week, we told you about the Curl Up And Die song that's titled in Morse Code and contains a message within the music in that same code. We challenged readers to try and decipher the message in the song's main riff and the task proved more difficult than we thought. Of the "many" replies we received, only one came close. While our valiant reader translated the notes into Morse Code correctly, he was unfortunately unable to break the dots and dashes up into the correct corresponding letters on the Morse Code chart. The notes in the main riff of track #3 ("ITSAFUCKINGTIMEMACHINE") on Curl Up And Die's EP "But The Past Ain't Through With Us" were properly transcribed by our loyal reader Marcus A. as: -.-...-.--.. But without the spaces between each set of dots and dashes that identify an individual letter, it proved impossible to guess that the bands intention was for it to read as: -.-. ..- .- -.. , which, when translated from Morse Code, spells out C U A D. Thanks for reading, and to the determined Marcus A, we say: -.-. .-.. --- ... . . -. --- ..- --. .... -.-- --- ..- .-- .. -.

For those of you who don't understand morse code, the final bit translates as 'Close enough, you win'. Which I was pretty happy with. A few weeks later and it showed up at my house.

As with a lot of test pressings, and especially those from several years ago, there's no cover. It just looks as above.

The final picture shows it next to the regular sleeve, just because that somehow seems appropriate.

This is far from my favourite record or even Rev release, but I do think it makes for a cool little story. A nice change from 'I bought it from eBay' or whatever. Colour me stoked!

Freewill Demo

I really love the Freewill LP. The mysterious, unreleased Wishingwell Records release that existed only as a test press for 28 years until New Age Records finally pressed it to wax to give it an official release. A melodic hardcore classic, but sadly the only record that the band put out. Well, until a couple of years ago, when the demo was put to vinyl by Mankind Records.

Last year I picked up the blue vinyl copy at RevHQ, but they were out of the more limited red. Fortunately the dude who released it works there, and he told me he had a few left. So I said I'd get in touch when I got home and we'd figure it out. I think we worked out a deal and I paid within about three weeks of getting home, but it then took months for me to get the records. Not that I was particularly in a hurry or anything.

The red vinyl is the more limited colour, out of 200 copies.

And of course, in the discussion about it, I asked about the possibility of buying a test press, which led to me buying a test press. Funny how things work sometimes eh?

So here's the set of three, which nicely makes a complete collection.

Ten Spot At Denko's

I'm trying to avoid buying represses and reissues as far as possible these days, but some I still can't seem to ignore. A few months ago Dischord repressed a couple of classics and I couldn't resist adding them to the collection.

'Wig Out At Denko's' is Dag Nasty's second album and one which will always split opinion. Some people think this is their best record, others will say it's the first album 'Can I Say'. It doesn't really matter. Both are great. The thing that both have in common is that they were both pressed on black vinyl only until about 2008 or so, when both were repressed on colour vinyl. I'm not sure how many of each colour were made, but they seem relatively hard to come by these days. The thing I didn't like, however, is that those represses were on euro vinyl and the sleeves were made of super flimsy card. So a decade later it doesn't seem unreasonable that this record has been repressed again, on a better quality vinyl and with a proper sleeve.

Again, I have no idea how many were made, but it feels that not many people have picked it up as it is still available from Dischord and has been up for sale for at least 7 months.

The second record I added to my cart was the reissue of the first Shudder To Think LP, 'Ten Spot'. This one has been remastered and comes in a completely redesigned sleeve with different artwork, and is also on blue vinyl.

I seriously love Shudder To Think and have done for many years, but this reissue is a little disappointing. I'm not a huge fan of the new artwork, as it just feels a little boring, and there's not really much else of interest going on either. I can't really imagine that anyone who isn't overly familiar with the band would look at this record and have their curiosity peaked. Definitely one that would be flipped past in the racks. I guess it just feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity, which is a shame as this record SOUNDS great.

Crucial Times

Another day, another big item scratched from the wants list.

Youth Of Today 'Can't Close My Eyes E.P.' on orange vinyl. 100 were made, and I've had this on my want list for quite a few years.

Until I picked this up, I've only ever owned one copy of the 'Can't Close My Eyes' in 7" format. You can see it in the background photo of this blog. A plain old black vinyl second press copy. I've never been overly excited about trying to grab a first press copy, or a Some Records copy. Mainly because they are pretty expensive and are, ultimately, black vinyl records... which I have always found pretty boring, and for which I have always been less motivated to pay big money (excluding test pressings, of course). But I did always want this orange vinyl pressing of the record, for obvious reasons, and it's especially cool to pick one up that is in mint condition.

Here's what the Rev discography says about this, in case you're unfamiliar with it:

4th press: 100 orange vinyl
The final press of the 7" originally done by Positive Force records. These were made by Jordan and Ray to trade for toys. The only press of the 7" on colored vinyl and contains a small Batman insignia on front sleeve, B-side label, and inner record sleeve.

Aside from the four (count 'em!) batman stamps on this thing, I also love how the label on this one got changed to blue ink, rather than black. Somehow the blue label really compliments the orange vinyl.

And of course, now that I have this, I have even more of a yearning to go after a first press and Some Records versions, although I can't see that these will ever really be a priority. But hey, we shall see...

The Aborted

Almost five years ago I paid more than I had ever paid for an aborted press copy of the Warzone 7".. I featured it on here, but that was kinda cheating as I never really intended to own it. I had bought it to trade to someone else, so it was in my possession for only a few days. It was (is) stupidly rare, and I genuinely never thought I would ever own a copy for myself. Heck, I wasn't even too bothered about not owning one as it was too rare (and too expensive) for my blood.

Well, time flies and things change, and by some miracle I somehow now have one of my own.

For those of you unfamiliar with this one, this is what the Rev discography has to say about it:

There was 41 copies of the initial pressing that come with white paper labels rather than blue and have the 'Warzone' logo on the sleeve colored in with orange magic marker. Besides the normal lyric sheet, a number of the first press come with one of two fold out inserts that have a photo of a band member on either side.

This copy does indeed come with a big fold out insert that has pics of the band members, as well as a 'standard' insert. Just like the last copy I picked up, there is a lot of folded paper going on here:

The other copy I picked up contained a Warzone sticker, but alas this copy does not have one. But hey, you can't have it all I guess.

So that's the 7th copy of this 7" that I now own, yet still there are a few versions I don't have. I doubt I'll add any more copies of this one as the ones I don't have are rare and expensive and I am not that fussed about owning them. But then again, that's what I used to think about this one, so who knows?

Who We Are II

I vaguely remember when I started collecting Descendents records a few years ago. Finding one of their records felt like a rarity, and as such it was kinda exciting. I remember how stoked I was to grab 'I Don't Want To Grow Up' on red, and 'All'on blue. Those were exciting records to buy. These days, however, any excitement has been well and truly beaten out of me by endless pressings of new releases. Yet still I consume. I was hugely underwhelmed with the clear vinyl euro pressing of the 'Who We Are' 7" on clear, but still decided to add a red copy to my collection.

This one was for the States, and is on a better quality vinyl (or so it feels), plus it actually came in a poly bag. But yeah, it doesn't really interest me in the slightest I'm afraid.

Dew It!

A couple of months ago I went to see Into Another play, and I had pretty much ignored (or not cared) about the fact that Beyond were supporting. I've never been a big Beyond fan. I Picked up their LP about 25 years ago and thought it was ok, but over the years it never really found itself coming back onto my playlist. So I wasn't too fussed about seeing them play.

The first night we only saw a couple of songs, but the second night I watched the whole set and actually really enjoyed it. Even though the band looked kinda old and there wasn't much energy in the room, the songs kinda clicked with me more than ever before. I found myself wanting to buy some records, although obviously there's only really one. Still, I managed to find something to waste my money on...

A couple of years ago Rev repressed the band's only official release, the 'No Longer At Ease' LP. I didn't pick it up at the time due mainly to not being bothered, so decided to grab a copy of the rarer colour, which is 'opaque red':

Around the same time, Rev also put the band's 'Dew It!' demo onto wax, along with a live set. Again, I picked up the rarer colour which also happens to be 'opaque red', although the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that both of these 'opaque reds' look pretty different to each other.

Kinda funny that seeing a band live can re-ignite my interest in songs that I have owned for 25 years, but sometimes that's exactly how the game plays out.

To end, here's a couple of songs I filmed from the show I went to. Enjoy...

Toybox Records

I don't remember when exactly, but at some point last year a lot of grown men got very upset at not being able to buy a toy monkey. Super 7 put up a Gorilla Biscuits boxset for order, containing a blue vinyl pressing of the self-titled GB 7" and a gorilla toy. I tried to buy one but failed. I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't disappointed, but I accepted it, didn't whinge and moved on with life.

A few months later and I got the chance to pick one up for cost price, which I couldn't really turn down.

I have to say, the box is pretty cool. But the record looks a little cheap, mainly due to the plain looking labels.

And it doesn't have a sleeve. There is a folded up poster, but I'm not sure whether this is supposed to act as a cover or whether it is just supposed to be a poster.

And then a few weeks after I picked this thing up, another one went up for order at RevHQ. A 'second pressing' purple box was made and again I couldn't say no.

This one is kinda the same yet kinda different. This one opens in a different way. Rather than open like a book, it's a slipcase style to reveal the toy inside.

This one comes WITH a purple vinyl pressing of the GB 7", which (unlike the blue version) has a more typical style sleeve.

The sleeve itself is a booklet which contains a bunch of photos and some blurb about the record from various people involved in its release.

As I mentioned, the purple box comes WITH a 7". I'm emphasising this because it doesn't actually fit inside the box. Well, the record fits inside, but the sleeve is too big. So a bit of a major cock up.

And I think this is how I feel about both of these things. They both feel like a missed opportunity. The blue one doesn't have a proper cover, and the labels look too plain. And the purple record doesn't actually fit in the box. So slightly underwhelming really.

California Son

There seems to have been a lot of controversy around Morrissey lately. I only really know of this because of stuff popping up on my facebook feed. It follows pretty much the same format as always, with some people slagging him off and other people defending him. I don't really pay attention to this stuff, because I've seen and heard it too much over the past fifteen years or so. But when a new record was announced my first thought was 'it feels like there was one released only a few months ago'.

This new one is a covers album. I wasn't actually intending to buy it. I downloaded it and made it through three songs before turning it off because I was bored. But then I found myself feeling tired and wanting to listen to something a little 'quieter', so I tried again... and really enjoyed it. And as often happens, I then found myself listening to it two or three times a day. So last week I decided to see if it was in the record shop that's about 5 minutes from my work during my lunchbreak.

Well, it turned out that they had two versions for sale - a black vinyl, and a 'limited' blue version for £1 more. So I paid up.

It's certainly a novelty for me to buy a record on my lunchbreak. It's a good job the shop is really poor else I'd probably be spending too much money there.

Anyway, I'm quite surprised that I have been enjoying this record so much. Could well be the soundtrack to Summer 2019...

Final Transmission

A few weeks ago I went to see Cave In play a show in London with Old Man Gloom. It was a benefit show for the family of bassist Caleb Scofield who sadly passed away last year. I hadn't seen Cave In play for probably about 13 years or so, and it was an interesting night for sure. One nice treat was that the new Cave In album, 'Final Transmission', was available to buy, a full two months before it would be sent out to those who had pre-ordered. Fortunately I hadn't pre-ordered (due mainly to the postage cost), so I was able to pick up both of the two coloured versions that were available fresh off the merch table.

The first colour is grey marble, out of 400 copies. It goes pretty well with the glossy grey front cover.

This is a pretty unique looking sleeve. The front is high gloss, whilst the back is a matte finish. I don't think I've ever seen one like this before as it's usually one or the other.

This also comes with an insert which has a really simple design. I love this image of a satellite blasting through the surface of a planet. There's something utterly fascinating about the infinite size of outer space that makes everything in human life seem to small and insignificant. And somehow this image of of the lonely satellite evokes similar feelings.

The second copy that I picked up is clear with white mix, also out of 400 copies, which also goes pretty well with the artwork.

I thought I'd put the two side by side to show the difference:

There is also a yellow vinyl version, which is the most limited colour, and which I don't have. I hope at some point to pick one up from somewhere or other.

So what is this like? Well, on first listen I found it pretty dull. But after a couple of goes it started to sink its hooks into me, and pretty soon I was feeling the addiction. It really does remind me of 'Jupiter' a lot, and in a similar way to when 'Jupiter' came out, I have been devoting a part of my day to this for the past three weeks or so. I could go on, but I won't. I'll simply say that this is my favourite record since 'Tides of Tomorrow', which came out in way back in 2002.

Minority Of 8

It's not too often the opportunity arises to pick up a Revelation Records test press. Despite test pressings becoming 'cool' over the past ten to fifteen years, Rev carried on making small quantities of tests (4-8) for most of their releases. Which makes them hard to get. So when a chance arises to pick one up, it's tough to say no.

So yeah... I was lucky enough to get this Dag Nasty 'Minority Of One' LP test press a few weeks ago. The cool thing about this particular test press is that Rev actually made up a sleeve for it. OK, so it's just a plain white jacket with a sticker on the front and a sticker on the back, but it's more than they usually do. Most of their tests just come in plain paper sleeves. But this looks pretty rad. Simple but effective, as they say.

The next thing I noticed was that the labels are plain white. Pretty much all Rev tests come with the standard Rainbo labels, so seeing this one with plain white labels left me slightly confused. I mean, was this record actually pressed somewhere else? Or did the plant run out of their standard labels? These are the kind of issues that can keep a nerd awake at night.

Well, after picking up the test press, I felt obliged to pick up the latest repress on 'clear and white marble' vinyl (which looks a lot like grey marble). I'm not sure how many of these exist but would guess at 500.

I remember being disappointed when this record came out back in 2002, but in the years since I have accepted this as a fully fledged Dag Nasty LP. Although I still think I prefer the other reunion record, 'Four On The Floor'.

Anyway, forget my opinion and enjoy this collection shot of my 8 copies of this record...

Mindforce

I'm always late to the party but generally I get there in the end. The latest example is this here Mindforce 'Demo' 7" that got released in 2017. I decided to add it to the order when I picked up the Sunstroke LP on a whim. It was pretty cheap and I'd seen a lot of Mindforce records get posted on instagram, so figured I would grab one while I had the chance.

There are about a million different versions of this record out there. I grabbed this second press gold vinyl copy. Apparently there are only 33 of this colour.

I have to admit, after listening to this a bit, it is very good for what it is... which is that Leeway type thing. I don't really know what the term crossover refers to, and I've always hated it, but that term gets attached to this band. All I know is that these songs have been creeping into my regular playlist recently and the more I listen, the more that I feel I need MORE songs. It's a good one for the gym, but barely long enough to get me through three sets of shoulder press.

Cave In Pre-Release

I remember buying Cave In's first release on Hydrahead Records when it came out. It was 1997 and the label was young and exciting, and I was into what they were putting out. I'd never heard of anything they were putting out, but I bought it all and lapped it up. A few years later, so did everyone else. But even though I bought multiple copies of some of their releases, especially Cave In, it was only a couple of years ago that I discovered that there was a pre-release cover made for a few copies of the first 7". So I did what I always do and waited it out until one came along.

Not sure how I managed to neve see one of these in 20 years, but hey, never mind. The cover is literally just a piece of paper to cover the record. It's not even folded. DIY or die.

I would have paid a decent amount to get this into my collection, but this was only $5 because the record has a small chip in it near the edge. I wasn't buying it for the record so didn't really care, so it was cool to grab a big want for next to nothing.

Still Hiding From Reality

One of my favourite records from last year (even though it actually came out the year before) was the Protester 'Hide From Reality' LP. I was lucky enough to pick up a gold vinyl copy last year on my travels, but part of me still wanted a blue one too. Well, all things come to those who wait, and I scooped one for a pretty damn good price on a site called 'discogs' (some of you may even have heard of it).

There's not much more to say on this one really, other than this is one of the best current straight edge bands around and this record rips.

Given that I'm always behind, it's no surprise that I missed out on the gold vinyl edition of their latest record, but hey, you can't have everything I guess.