Insta-trade

I've been enjoying Instagram lately, and today's records are the result of a trade that started via a comment on there. Tru mentioned that he'd picked up the Mindset RSD LP and wasn't into it. So we arranged a trade and, as we chatted, the trade expanded and in the end I got sent four new records. Cool.

The Mindset LP is a copy of the 'Leave No Doubt' LP that was made for Record Store Day 2013. This copy is on purple vinyl and comes in a screen printed sleeve. It was sold at Celebrated Summer Records in Baltimore, and is numbered out of 100 copies. After RSD there were a few left over which the band put up in their online store, but they sold out in about two minutes. I honestly thought I would never get one of these, so I'm pretty stoked on this.

I got number 49, which is only 1 away from the magic Chung King number I own. What a coincidence that would have been eh?

I also got a copy of the new Red Hare LP. This was recently released by Dischord Records and I think they are all on red vinyl. The band is pretty much Swiz reformed under a new name. It's a great record, and I'm happy to have picked up a new release that actually gets me excited for once.

I love how this also has the Hellfire Records logo on the label. A very nice touch.

I also got a couple of 7" test pressings thrown in. You know I'm into tests. First up is a test press of the recent Unity 'Blood Days' 7" that Fred Hammer released on his label, It's Alive Records, towards the end of last year. This features the songs that were on the 'Blood Days' LP which were not on the original Unity 7" on Wishingwell.

And finally, a test of the Dempsey / Kill Holiday split 7" that was released by Indecision Records in 1996. Tru couldn't wait to get rid of this for some reason. If he didn't give it to me he was going to throw it in the bin.

So that's another two test pressings, which brings my tally for the year to 26. The target for the year is 52 (an average of one per week) so at the halfway point of the year I'm exactly halfway there.

Time for Lift Off

So I picked up a few Cave In test pressings earlier in the year, and if nothing else it made me want to revisit my Cave In collection and start filling in holes. Right up until about 2005 or so, I used to be happy to collect & own one version of each record. Things changes after that partly due to earning more money. But even in the earlier days of collecting, there were some bands whose records I always seemed to buy more than one copy of, and Cave In was one. I have two copies of most of their releases. The problem is, there are more than two of most of them, so I have still have a lot of holes in the collection.

Given that I picked up a test of the 'Lift Off' 7", I targeted trying to pick up the remaining colours I am missing. I already have two, but that meant I was missing about 4 more. I managed to cross two of those off recently. First up, I grabbed a clear light blue. This is part of the second press. It's a really nice colour.

The seller also threw in a photo of the band that was taken around the time that the 'Antenna' LP was recorded.

I also picked up an orange vinyl copy from a different seller around the same time. I think this is also from the second press.

Because I already had the first press colours, I now only need the white vinyl and the standard black vinyl to complete this one. Any help appreciated!

Secret Love

Here's one I forgot about. I managed to leave it on my desk after trying to download the mp3s, and then I put some papers on top of it, and that was it. It was as good as lost, until this weekend when I spent a few minutes tidying up. I've had this at least a month. It came in the same parcel as the Supertouch 7" test press a few weeks ago. I opened the parcel to find a second 7" included that I had not been expecting. A copy of the Sacred Love / Secret People split 7".

I really enjoyed the Sacred Love 12" and 7" that Youngblood released, so was looking forward to more jams. But I think when this originally came out I'd had an expensive month so decided to hold off. I then promptly forgot about it. So I was more than grateful to receive this 7".

Once again the Sacred Love tracks are solid, although a little short. The secret People side I'm not into as much, although I fully admit I haven't listened to as much.

Thanks Mike. Greatly appreciated!

War Zone

For someone who has collected Revelation records for nearly 20 years, my War Zone 7" collection borders on embarrassing. Seriously. Until two days ago I only had two copies - one on orange vinyl, and one third press in a black & white sleeve. No first press, no green vinyl, no clear vinyl. I guess this was partly because I never really thought the record was very good, so I never prioritised it. I mean, aesthetically it looks great, but musically it's far from the best Rev release. So I just never got around to picking up more than the two copies I have. Suddenly I'm starting to regret this move and I realise that I badly want the set. So I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Anyway, an old friend was offering to sell some records recently to raise some cash, so I picked up his War Zone 7". This is, I believe, a third press copy, as denoted by the black & silver labels and the blue text on the cover. You've probably seen it a thousand times before, and so had I. I'd just never owned one. Kinda funny seeing as I always thought this blue lettering sleeve looks way better than the others.

This one even comes with a Gorilla Biscuits b-side label:

Considering I used to own a clear vinyl copy of this, and that I no doubt could have easily picked up the other variants through the 90s, starting to aim for more copies of this one in 2013 seems like a bit of an idiotic move. But hey, a dude's gotta have goals.

One Last Void Session

So there's nothing like colour vinyl to ratchet up the excitement a level or two. Some months ago (no idea when as time moves so fast these days!) Dischord Records released an LP of Void demos & outtakes. I wanted the record, but given that it was on black vinyl only it sat in the 'low priority' section of the list of records to order that exists in my head. Then recently, I became aware that it had been repressed on red vinyl. This was enough to send it flying up that list into the 'high priority' section, so I placed an order.

I'm kinda glad I didn't order the first press on black because if I did I would no doubt also want a red one, and therefore now be in possession of two copies, whereas now I only have one and I'm quite happy with that.

The same cannot be said, however, for the One Last Wish '1986' LP. I bought this when it came out on vinyl for the first time back in 2009 and loved it, even though it was only on black vinyl. Well, they recently repressed it on clear, so of course I had to buy it again.

This isn't something I am fussed about owning multiple copies of, however, so I'll probably punt my black vinyl copy at some point soon with 100 other records I plan on selling. Stay tuned.

Good For You

Here's a new release that I was quite excited about. GOOD FOR YOU is a new band designed for anyone who is partial to a bit of Black Flag. Featuring Greg Ginn on guitar, and with professional skateboarder Mike Vallely on vocals, I couldn't resist picking up their debut LP 'Life Is Too Short To Not Hold A Grudge', released by SST Records.

This isn't going to win any prizes for album cover of the year other than 'worst', but at least they made a limited colour vinyl version for the nerds. I'm not sure how many were pressed on white vinyl, but I know wasn't all of them. Based on previous SST runs I would guess at no less than 500, but it really is just a guess.

I still don't think I've listened to this enough times to properly make my mind up. I mean, it sounds like later, slower Black Flag. It's not bad by any means, but it's also missing something to get me excited. It'll probably still make my 'best of the year' list though because I'll probably only have 4 new releases to choose from the way 2013 is going.

Closed Casket Secrets

I stumbled across a UK seller on eBay who had a lot of good records up from the early 2000s. With a day to go there were some great Count Me Out records sitting at very low prices indeed. I already had them all, but figured on buying them all again as doubles to trade. Well anyway, wouldn't you know it, a day later the prices had all gone up significantly. But I spotted one item that had no bids, which had been sat on my wants list for years, as I never really wanted it badly enough to make a serious play for it. I waited until only a few seconds remained and then whacked in a bid. I was pretty happy to be the only bidder and get it for the measly sum of £2.20. Insane. You probably can't even buy a coffee in Starbucks for that (I don't drink coffee so I don't know for sure).

Anyway, the record in question is a split 12" between two bands who were active circa 2002, THE FINAL PLAN and MY LUCK. This split 12" is titled 'Closed Casket Secrets' and comes in minimal packaging. It sits in a clear plastic sleeve with a very small glossy card 'insert', and has stamped labels. I love stuff like this. Looks so DIY and yet so cool.

This is number 340 out of (I think) 500. I don't know how many CDs they made, but it seems you can still buy the CD from RevHQ for one dollar, so I guess the answer is 'too many'.

I'd almost forgotten, but I actually own a different copy of this which is numbered out of 50 and sits in a sleeve with Michael Jordan on the front. This is what it looks like:

I think I like new copy better. Sometimes less is more, as they say.

Deathlike

Around this time a year ago I went to see Ancient VVisdom play live in London. I had started listening to their album around Xmas time, and four months later finally got to see them live. After that I guess I suffered AVV overload as I didn't listen to the record again much for the rest of the year. But a year on, a little after Xmas this year, I realised that there was a second album that had just come out. I was then gutted to realise that there were only 90 copies on colour vinyl available, and they were already sold out at the pre-order stage which I hadn't known anything about. Damnit.

Well, I added it to my saved searched on eBay and eventually a copy came up. But then, like an idiot, I missed the auction end because I was in some meeting at work. But I was surprised to find that it ended without a single bid. A couple of weeks later the seller re-listed it, and this time I made sure I didn't miss out. I even managed to buy it from the same price that the label sold it for, so it was almost as if I didn't miss out after all.

The vinyl is 'clear with black smoke'. Not the most exciting colour, although it seems perfect for this release. It looks black until you hold it to the light.

The album itself is, as you may expect from a record entitled 'Deathlike', completely focused around the theme of death. Like ALL of the songs are about death. To continue the theme, the photos of the band members have been altered to look like they are half decomposed. Very subtle.

Overall I'm into this LP, although I have to say, it's not as catchy or infectious as the first one. But will definitely be in my top ten for the year.

Leave No Doubt

Back whenever it was that the pre-orders went up for the Mindset 'Leave No Doubt' LP, I didn't bother with an order. I'm not sure why exactly. I mean, I wanted it, but something stopped me actually placing an order. Might have been something to do with the fact that Hellfish were handling things, or maybe that I assumed the limited colour had sold out. Or perhaps it already had. Then again, maybe I'd just spent my month's budget already and didn't want to spend more money. I honestly don't remember. But I didn't order one and that was it. So then a couple of months later (or whenever), the LPs started to get sent out and it then became apparent that there were a couple of colours made that you couldn't even buy, which annoyed me further and made me glad I didn't try to collect this. Oh, and then a release show version surfaced. But of course, the worst thing about all of this was that every copy I saw pictures of looked great, and made me want one. Not only that, but I had downloaded the album and was really digging it. I think this is probably the best straight edge LP since The First Step 'What We Know' LP (unless anything in the last 6 years has that's better has slipped my mind). So of course, the combination of the great tunes and the cool layout meant that I was getting increasingly desperate to own one of these things. I started shopping around trying to find a copy, but it seemed to be all sold out. It reached the point where everyone in the world seemed to own one, and by this point it was really starting to annoy me. Fortunately though, it was blogger crew to the rescue as both Jake and Mike alerted me to the fact that some of the clear vinyl had been put up for sale in the React! / Hellfish store. So that was it.

The clear vinyl looks amazing. This is proper clear vinyl that almost looks like it is made of glass. Totally the best looking colour there is. The clear was apparently out of 300 copies for the European Tour.

I also love how this thing comes with an 'old fashioned' double sized insert, just like all the classic Wishingwell and Revelation LPs did back in the glory days of the straight edge youth crew scene.

And of course, when I placed the order, like a true idiot I couldn't bear to buy just one record, so I also picked up a 'red smoke' copy of the same LP. This is actually the most common colour of this LP, being out of 400. There are more black vinyl copies, but as we all know, black isn't a colour.

So now I'm in this weird position where I have two copies of this LP. I figure it would be mission impossible to try to collect all eight versions of this. But do I stop at two, or is that pointless? Maybe I should get rid of one so that I only own one? Then again, I look at Mike's photo of a complete collection and stopping here seems like something I could regret. Hmmmmmmm. It's not an easy choice.

Insted Live LP on Clear

Sometimes I buy stuff just because it's cheap. Here's a prime example. I spotted this Insted 'Live At CBGB' LP on clear vinyl on eBay with not much time left to go, and decided to bid. I figured nobody would really care too much about this and I was right. I won it for only £4.20. I usually spend that on lunch, so this felt like a good deal... although I then had to pay for postage

I bought this on blue when it first came out and was never fussed about getting other colours. But now I have two out of three it kinda seems silly not to get the third. Interestingly, I looked around the internet and found that it is still possible to buy all three brand new from the label. Gotta be tempting for anyone who lives in the States, right?

Version Number Fives

Picked up a couple of records through a message board private sale recently. One LP and one 7", one old and one new(ish), and both of which were the fifth copies of each record. I still don't have complete collections of either, but I'm slowly getting there.

First up is the grey vinyl Bridge Nine pressing of the Champion 'Promises Kept' LP. I had such an ordeal when this LP originally came out. I pre-ordered two copies and got sent only one, the dark red copy. Over time I picked up the other colours, but the grey always eluded me. I've watched several over the years and they've always gone beyond what I wanted to pay. So it's good to finally bag one.

Excluding the Dead And Gone pressing of this, I now have 5 Bridge Nine copies. I have zero interest in the reissue from last year, I'm also not really interested in the Warehouse versions, and I don't want to shell out for the tests. So I guess all I really need is the regular black vinyl pressing to 'complete' this one.

The second item I snagged was the red vinyl pressing of the second No Tolerance 7". I got all previous versions direct from the label, but somehow Sean had no red copies left. Seems weird as all the other pressings are rarer.

This now marks my fifth copy of this 7" and, just like the Champion LP, all I now need for this one to be complete is the regular black vinyl.

Kinda funny how I have never had any interest in regular black vinyl copies, but these days there are loads I 'need' to complete collections. I should probably make a list of all the black vinyl records I need and start trying to cross them off. I imagine a lot of them will be pretty cheap.

Rev 25 Chicago

What a roller coaster this one was. A couple of weeks before the Rev 25 Chicago shows were scheduled to take place, the internet started to fill up with pictures of clear vinyl 7"s. Part of me wonders whether this was some kind of plot to try to sell more tickets to the event, as I heard they weren't as populated as the NYC and CA shows. Whatever the reason though, Rev collectors the world over started to call in favours with anyone they may know who might possibly be going to the show. Other sat back and confidently figured on buying leftovers from RevHQ after the event. I didn't really have a plan. I had previously figured on getting the limited colors of the Rev 25 compilation LPs from RevHQ, but that didn't happen, so there was no reason to be confident about getting these 7"s either. I crossed my fingers and hoped... and then a few weeks later, one day I woke up to see messages on the internet that the left over 7"s had gone up for sale at RevHQ, and subsequently sold out. All whilst I was asleep. The next day, apparently a few more went up for sale, and these also sold out in minutes. It looked like game over and I missed out. But then a couple of weeks ago I was on the train to work, catching up on the internet, and some good samaritan on the Rev Collectors Board had decided to let us know that there was another round of 7"s up for sale. I went straight there and placed the order on my iphone on the train to work. Ah, technology!

The only catch this time around was that you had to buy the 7"s as a part of a bundle. Here's the other stuff I got sent. Two shirts, three posters, a mug and an LP.

Aside from the 7"s, the mug was the thing I actually wanted. I thought it would sit well with the other mug that I bought like 10 years ago or whenever it may have been. I think they look pretty good together.

Oh yeah, I also got another of the Rev 25 NYC LP on clear. I guess that'll be going to eBay at some point. So here's the whole lot together:

Ok, a bit of smart work there by Rev, getting rid of all this excess, unwanted stuff by bundling it with something that people badly do want. A bit of an excuse to charge more too... although I don't think it was too bad a deal. The bundle was $60 (plus postage). Considering that a couple of days later a pack of the four 7"s sold on eBay for over $150, I was happy enough with having to pay the extra items.