Wasted Time

Last year I checked out the debut LP by Beach Rats, and it would be fair to say that I loved it. Featuring Brian Baker from Minor Threat / Dag Nasty / Bad Religion, the singer of Lifetime and a coupe of dudes from Bouncing Souls, the record was a great catchy punk LP that made me feel stupid for completly ignoring their debut 7" when it came out. So I went back to fix that problem.

'Wasted Time' is a 5 song 7" that was released by Bridge Nine Records in 2018. I initially dismissed it based on the cover art. To me it just looks like a bad tattoo. The back isn't much better either. It doesn't exactly entice someone to want to check it out I would say.

The first pressing of this 7" was on two different colours of vinyl - brown / 700 (above), and red /300 (below). I managed to find both for less than they usually sell for. I wasn't really looking to buy more than one of these, but I bought the brown one and then not long after stumbled across a red one. I guess that's how it happens sometimes.

In a way I am glad I only got around to checking this out after I picked up the LP. I can't imagine hwo long the wait for more songs would have seemed if I'd have picked this up when it came out. This is so catchy... and over so quickly. I just hope that it's not another 4 years before they serve up something else.

4 Years To Jupiter

So I used to collect Cave In records. I say 'used to' because I have now officially given up. Their latest LP came out last year on 12 or more different colours of vinyl, and that was enough for me to quit. Just in time too, as it seems that most of their back catalog is going to be repressed by Relapse Records, probably on a multitude of splatter vinyl options which I want no part of. Anyway, I'm still interested in picking up the older releases that I am missing, and here's one that has a slightly cool story to it... the test press of the european pressing of 'Jupiter'. This one was pressed by a label called Chrome Saint Magnus back in the year 2000.

I first held this exact record in Los Angeles in 2018. I went back to some dude's house who used to help run Hydrahead Records, and he had this record in his house amongst a lot of other records that were for sale. I was interested, but we couldn't agree a price. He wanted $350, which I thought was way too much. I told him that I would be prepared to go to $120 but tht was my limit. Needless to say, I left the record in the house that night when I left.

Well, only a couple of months later and the dude sold most of his records to record shops in LA, and a lot of them (including this one) appeared on discogs. I can't remember the exact price, but I think it was initially listed for $300, possibly a little more. It doesn't matter really. The point is that the price was way too high. But still, I added the item to my cart. I figured I would watch it and hoped that the price would come down. And yes, the price did come down, but very slowly. After being initially listed at some point in late 2018, the price came down and down over the course of 4 years. Then, near the end of 2022, the price came down to $120. I then shot the seller a message offering $100, and he accepted. So after 4 years, my estimate of this record's value was finally proven correct. As I have said so many times before... record collecting is all about patience.

WHat I always liked about the Euro press of this record is that it uses the green cover art. The US vinyl pressing has purple cover art, although the US CD version (which came out before the vinyl by a good few weeks, I think) had the green cover. Anyway, as ever I don't need a black vinyl copy, so this collection ends here. One of my favourite records of all time, and I tihnk that I now have every version that I want.

Serenity Of The Once Lost

A few months ago one of the biggest Integrity collections in the world got sold in one chunk as part of a larger collection. Some early birds managed to raid it and get the rarest stuff, and then Dave from Six Feet Under bought the remains and sold it all on eBay. There were no big or expensive items that I needed, but I did watch a few auctions with the intention of plugging some smaller holes in the collection. Most of the records sold for so cheap that it actually worried me that my Integrity collection is practically worthless, but hey, I'm in too deep now to really care about that stuff. So I ended up picking up a few cheap 7"s that I was missing.

First up is a black vinyl copy of the first 7", 'In Contrast Of Sin', on Dark Empire. I have no idea of the pressing info of this, but the black version of this pressing always felt rarer than the white vinyl. This copy is signed on the front cover, which kinda ruins it for me, but never mind.

Next is the black vinyl pressing of the split 7" with Lockweld. This one was put out by Victory Records back in 1998. I bought the white and silver versions when it came out but had no need for the black... until 25 years later.

Next is the black version of the 'Evacuate' flexi 7". This contains one song, which is a Negative Approach cover. I remember this coming out in 2012. The whole press sold out before I even knew it existed. So it's cool to have finally got this one.

Next, the black vinyl version of the split 7" with Gehenna. I thought I had a complete collection of this 7", and then somehow only realised recently that there was a black one that I didn't have. Apparently black was the Integrity exclusive version. I still don't have a complete collection as there is a test press that I don't have.

Next is the black vinyl Indie Recordings pressing of the 'Black Heksen Rise' 7". Another one that I ignored when it came out.

ANd finally, the odd one out. The red vinyl pressing of the split 7" with Rot In Hell. Unbelievably this one came out way back in 2011, and I picked up the other copies of this one, but the red eluded me.

These things have been on my minor want list for years, so it felt quite efficient to grab them all in one go and pay only one lot of postage. So that's 6 more into the INteg 7" box, which now contains 140 records. And as crazy as that sounds, there are still quite a few that I don't have.

Jade Dust

Sometimes I am relatively up to date, and recently I have been really enjoying the band Jade Dust. The band ceom from Portland, Oregon but sound more like they came from Washington DC circa 1985. Bringing to mind bands like Rites of Spring, Gray Matter, One Last Wish, Embrace, Rain, 3, and also slightly Give. This is some great DC emo sounding stuff that genuinely gets better with each play. I picked up their debt release, the self titled 6 song 12" EP.

There were 100 copies on blue vinyl, and 200 on 'random' colour vinyl. I got one of the ramdom copies, which is on this bright yellow colour.

Somehow I then got confused. A couple of weeks later I went to order the second 12" EP, but accidentally ordered another copy of the first 12". The second copy was also one of the ramdom coloured pressing, but this time on orange.

So of course, when this arrived and I realised my mistake, I then ordered a copy of the second 12", 'Wild Geese'. This one was also pressed on random coloured vinyl, and the copy I received is a nice mish mash of several colours, which I think looks great.

I think it's great that there is a band playing this sound in 2023 and I can't stress enough how good this is. If you're into this sound at all then this band is definitely something you will enjoy.

If anyone wants to buy or trade one of the copies of the first 12" that I have then please get in touch. I'd be happy to let one go, although not sure which one yet.

Unnumbered Green

Back in 2020 I picked up a bunch of 7"s by Constant Elevation, which is a band featuring Sammy from youth crew bands and the singer of The Movielife. It was ok back then but I haven't really listened to it much since. Anyway, there were 3 different colours of vinyl and the most common one is still available as I type this, so I think it's fair to say that this one has not been overly well received by the masses. Regardless, the rarest colour was green vinyl which was exclusive to Coretex, and numbered out of 150 copies, although the Rev pressing info states that there were 165 on green... meaning that 15 copies were not sold by Coretex and do not have the Coretex sticker slapped onto the back cover. I managed to acquire one of the unnumbered copies, which isn't overly exciting to look at. But it's a cool one to have.

I got the numbered copy out to take a photo of the two together, and it was then obvious that they are different shades of green.

I'm not sure whether the majority of these green records are more like the lighter green one or the darker green one. But I guess it doesn't matter. I think it's just kinda cool that as well as the numbered and unnumbered copies I lucked out on different shades too, as I'm really into this level of nerdery.

Single Successful Guy

On the last night of my last holiday in December last year, I found myself passing by Newbury Records in Boston, so decided to look inside at the record section. I have had mixed results at Newbury Comics in the past, but one thing that it does have going for it is that it gets lots of exclusive pressings from all kinds of labels, and they have a fairly healthy selection generally. I didn't really find anything that I really needed, but there was an exclusive orange vinyl pressing of the self titled Bouncing Souls LP in the bargain bin at a really cheap price.

This is actually a 25th anniversary pressing and there were 500 made. On the Newbury Comics website the vinyl colour is referred to as 'orange cream sherbert', although I think it could just as legitimately be called 'orange'.

I've never really been interested in the Bouncing Souls before, but given that I spent the first three months of last year listening exclusively to pop punk, I figured I'd give it a go. It didn't grab me immediately, and at first I felt that there were too many songs and it was a bit too long. But after I started to get used to it, the songs started to become very catchy, and it felt like the album was over very quickly. Weird. So that's where I got to with this one. A catchy record that you can sing along to, especially 'The Toilet Song'.

Even Score

I've always thought that record collecting is built on patience. If you're the kind of person who wants a collection by the end of the month then sometimes that is possible, but generaly only if you are incredibly lucky or willing to spend big. But for the most part, it's about patience. After collecting for three decades now, I genuinely believe that everything will present itself in time. So it's just a case of waiting... and waiting some more.

At some point in the past couple of years or so I picked up a second colour vinyl copy of the Victory Swingin' Singles Club pressing of the Even Score 7". And then another. So here's yet another that I picked up recently for pretty cheap.

Every time I buy another one of these I think it is the best looking version, and this white one is no exception. It looks great with the silver ink on the cover.

I think I'm only missing one colour version of thie record now. But I'm in no rush. It will come.

Time After Time

My love for the band Gameface has been well documented on here over the years. My spreadsheet tells me that I have 53 Gameface records, and they are one of only a small handful of bands that I have tried to collect everything for. A few short years ago I traded away one of two test pressings that I owned for their second LP 'Three To Get Ready'. It was released by Dr. Strange Records back in 1995 and I initially got a test press from someone at the label via a trade in the late 90s. The second one I bought for cheap on eBay in the mid 2000s. But after ten years or so of owning two, I let one go. Well, a couple of months back I came across another for sale on eBay and ended up buying it.

This one I bought for two reasons. Firstly, because it came with a promo sheet stapled to the paper sleeve, which I had never seen before. I think that technically this is a promo copy rather than a test press... although clearly both are really the same thing - an early pressing of the record with plain white labels.

The second reason I buoght this was because it was too cheap to pass up. $15 buy it now in this day and age is an absolute steal. So here I am back to two copies of this test press again... although I'd probably consider trading one away (again) if someone was keen.

Still Strong

I was given this record a few weeks ago by a friend I've known for most of my life. We grew up together skateboarding and got into a lot of music together way back when we were young. We'd both get into bands and then recommend them to each other. Probably around 1994 I gave him this Bold LP. It would have been one of the first ten Rev records I owned, and was just a bog standard early 90s pressing in a non gatefold sleeve. I bought this in a record shop and then at some point not long after acquired a first press gatefold sleeve copy, so this one was spare. So I gave it to my friend.

So now somewhere around 29 years later and it has come back to me. I'm not a big collector of black vinyl 'regular' pressings, and certainly have no intention of collecting the black versions of every Rev release. But I figured I would keep this one as it used to be mine. And also because I think this one is the pressing that comes from the green vinyl test press that I own.

Unified Action

Today's post is a 12" EP by a newish UK hardcore band. Unified Action features my old mate Lins on vocals who has been around for longer than the moon and who has been in a couple of great bands in the past (Tied Down amd Break It Up). I'm not exactly sure when and why Tied Doen ended, but Unified Action carries on in a similar vein, playing stuff that sounds like it came out of the States in the mid 80s.

The debut release comes on a 12" and there were only 250 copies made (100 on clear and 150 on black). Even if clear were the more common colour I'd probably have ordered that one because that's how I roll.

I really like it when records come in black and white covers. I just identify this with old school hardcore punk records. I mean, how many other types of music come in black and white covers? Anyway, these records are all stamped out of 250 copies. Presumably the clear ones are numbers 1-100 and the black numbers 101-250. I'm guessing but it makes sense. The number I got sent was one away from being my number.

In total this thing has 9 songs that clock in at around 11 minutes, and that gives a big clue as to what this sounds like. Fast, angry hardcore from the frozen northern wastelands of a decaying shithole of a country, trying to warn us all about the impending doom we are all facing. If that sounds like your cup of tea then there are still a few copies available from the label, HERE.

Hiding In Plain Sight

Without a doubt the 7" record format is much less popular these days, and the number of 7"s pressed and purchased is definitely on the decline. But thankfully there are still some great 7"s being pressed and helping to keep the format alive. This new Precious 7" is a great example. Titled 'Hiding In Plain Sight', it was released at the end of 2022 by Indecision Records.

I'm really stoked that thsi record came out. The band released a full length back in 2018, and they have been quiet ever since, to the point where I had assumed that the band was done. It's great that they are still going, and hopefully there will be more at some point in the not too distant future.

The band features the vocalist and bass player from Threadbare and some dude from Adamantium. It doesn't sound particularly 90s really, but I would assume that anyone who likes 90s hardcore would enjoy it. I say that because it is one of those records that sits between genres. If you like your music to sit clearly in pre-defined categories, this band probably isn't for you.

There were 100 copies on this pink vinyl, and 400 on black vinyl. Both colours are still available as I type this. There are only two songs on here, but it's well worth the money and you'll be doing your bit to keep the format alive.

Punk As Fuck

Another trip aboard the repress train that I couldn't pass up. When this one went up for preorder I jumped on it immediately. Down By Law's 'Punkrockacademyfightsong' LP came out in 1994 and I remember it like it were yesterday. I absolutely loved this record when it was released and can still sing pretty much every word. But back then Epitaph Records didn't do colour vinyl so all copies came on black. But for some reason in 2022 they decided to press it again on purple.

This seems for me a really strange choice to repress in this day and age. I mean, does anyone really care about Down By Law still? And why this one? Is this somehow their most popular record and I never knew it? Too many questions. But I just checked and it seems that this is still available to buy. Given the speed with which most records sell out these days, I can only assume that the answer to my first question is 'no'.

Just A(nother) Minor Threat

When I decided to buy the blue vinyl Fugazi 'Repeater' LP I decided to also pick up the latest repress of the Minor Threat self-titled 12". This time it comes with a light grey cover and is on silver vinyl.

I'm not a fan of these modern day silver and gold vinyl colors. The records generally look like they are made of a cheap plastic that reminds me of kids toys. I can imagine a toy truck being made of this color plastic. But it doesn't seem quite right for a record.

This is a great example of a record where I have no idea what I am doing. I have never really tried to collect Minor Threat records, but this now represents the 4th colour vinyl pressing of this record that I own. It feels like they are going to keep on pressing this one for years to come on different colours and I'm not entirely sure I want to carry on playing the game. But for now I feel I should grab these things whilst they are available and then figure out if I need them later on.

Repeater

So I will admit right up front that I've never really been a huge Fugazi fan. Back in the early 90s I picked up their first couple of records and thought that they were ok. But they weren't exactly a life changing band for me. Far from it. I remember buying 'End Hits' when it came out and thinking it was really boring and I sold it again. Anyway, by far my favourite of their full length records is the first one, 'Repeater'. This was the first Fugazi record I ever bought, and it takes me back to the time I bought it, so when I saw that it had been repressed recently on blue vinyl I figured I would pick one up.

Other than white vinyl, I guess clear blue seems like the most suitable colour for this to have been pressed on, and I like that whoever is involved in making such decisions seems to be picking colours that suit the artwork.

I am going to guess that in time all of the Fugazi records are going to be repressed on colour vinyl and I will probably get sucked into buying them all. Well, except 'End Hits'. But if this does happen then I will end up owning two copies of each record - one black vinyl first press, and one colour vinyl repress from 30 years later.Yet Fugazi is not really a band that I feel I need to own multiple copies of. So I'm already having a debate with myself about which copies I should keep. As ever, it's not an easy decision.

A Drop Of Patience

It seems like a couple of years ago, but somehow it was ten years ago, that I picked up a couple of colour vinyl copies of a repress of the Absolution 7". At the time I was trying to cut back on represses, but then I found out that the record was actually a re-recording of the 7" rather than a repress, so that made me feel better about wasting my money. And then a while ago I saw another couple of colours for sale on eBay. I wasn't sure what was going on, but it turns out there was a second press with two more colours, and I got sucked into buying these as well.

The green vinyl is the more limited colour, out of 150 copies. The paper sleeve is also stamped with the Absolution logo in green ink to match the record.

The clear vinyl is the more common second press colour out of 400 copies. As is always the case with clear vinyl, it looks great.

It's kinda funny, but I own one copy of the original pressing of this record, and now 4 copies of the re-recorded version. Admittedly the new recording sounds a lot better but still, it feels a bit back to front.

Shown above are the first press copies (gold/60, purple/150) and the second press colours (green/150, clear/400). I don't think the label's site exists anymore, so no idea where anyone coule try to buy this other than eBay. The label has an instagram which is full of weird pictures of stuff that makes it look nothing like a label that has released some hardcore records. Peep it yourself. Weird huh?

Batman 2

At the back end of last year Revelation pressed up another colour version of the Youth Of Today 'Can't Close My Eyes' 12". On average this one now seems to get pressed on a new colour every couple of years, and there probably isn't too much excitement about these things in the record collecing community. Except this time there was a bit of a buzz about it, because 100 copies of it were a little more special than the average repress.

In total there were 1,000 copies of this colour pressed. But 100 of them have a blank white label with a batman stamp and a batman stamp in the bottom corner of the front cover, as a tribute to the orange vinyl 7" pressing (although that one had a couple of extra stamps on it). I was lucky enough to get one of these in the few minutes that they were available, but of course I also had to pick up a regular one too because, you know, they are different.

The batman version also came with a numbered print. I scored number 3/100. It's kinda cool I guess, although I would have preferred if it were the reord that were numbered rather than the insert. ALthough if it were then it would be different to the 7" version. So I guess this is fair enough.

The batman stamped version sold out in a matter of minutes, so it's cool to see that Rev are still able to crank out stuff that there is a bit of excitement for... whereas the regular, unstamped one is still very much available and I would guess is likely to be so for quite some time.

Sweetbelly Freakdown

A couple of months ago I was driving my car when my phone lit up with a couple of messages from Nico. He seemed pretty desperate to get hold of me. When I eventually parked up and read the message, he was trying to alert me to a test press being sold on discogs for cheap. To be fair, he had found a great item at a good price, and I'm really grateful that he flagged it to me. And here we are:

Released on Jade Tree Records, catalogue number 1032. This is a test press for a full length LP by a band called Sweetbelly Freakdown. The band contained all of the final 4 members of legendary DC band Swiz. So you know, it sounds a little bit like Swiz... although in my opinion the songs on here aren't quite in the same league. The record was released in 1997, and a couple of years later the band was formerly done.

Pictured above is the test press with the regular cover. I've always really loved the artwork on the cover of this one. And whilst the record isn't quite a match for the power of Swiz, the first song here is an absolute banger, with an opening cry of 'Help me Obi Wan Kenobi!'. Yup, this is a pretty nice one to have for sure. Thanks Nico !

Tales Of The Ancient Age

Back in 2008 I picked up the 3rd Annihilation Time LP. I remember being slightly disappointed that I was sent a black vinyl copy rather than one of the red vinyl copies. Well, here we are almost fifteen years later, and I finally got around to upgrading. It helped that the red vinyl copy is pretty cheap these days.

This one was released on two different labels (Tee Pee Records in the US, and Reflections Records in Europe) and both labels put out a limited red vinyl copy. This one here is from the US pressing.

Of the three Annihilation Time full lengths, this one is probably my least favourite. But it's still a solid record. A lot more rock 'n' roll and less punk than the first album, and much more like the second only without quite as strong songs.

I already sold my black vinyl copy and got enough money to cover the cost of this red one, so it worked out pretty well.

Don't Forget The Repress

So back in 2016 I had a parcel get lost with a lot of records inside and, as a result, I decided to quit buying Revelation represses. There were a few in the box and after they got lost I couldn't face buying them again. And I stuck to that for a couple of years, until something tempted me back in, and then a couple of years later still I made the decision that I did want to go back and fill the holes that I had left, which meant tracking down 4 different colour copies of 'Don't Forget The Struggle, Don't Forget The Streets'. For some reason I wasn't overly excited about this... and then another colour got pressed. I picked it up and then started to find the older colours. And then another colour got pressed. Damnit. This was a moving target.

I picked up this 'first press' solid red vinyl copy this week in a trade. There were 2,108 copies of this one pressed in 2016. Somehow that is now almost 7 years ago. Crazy.

In a relatively short time I have managed to find 5 of the 6 colours that exist for this Rev pressing. I still need the clear blue vinyl copy and now I'm this deep I will find it eventually. And even though I wasn't really too interested in picking this one up at all, I think that these colour pressings look pretty cool all laid out together.