State Of Alert II

Another day, another major want crossed off my wants list. This time it's Dischord Records #2, the S.O.A. (State Of Alert) 'No Policy E.P.' on green vinyl. This is one that, about 7 years ago or so, I concluded that I would never own as the price was going off the charts. Well, time moves on and things change.

As well as picking one of these things up, which in itself is an achievement, what is even more satisfying is that this copy is in particularly good shape. I would say that this is as close to mint as it is possible to get for a record of this age.

Coincidentally, as I have just acquired this, Dischord have just pressed the S.O.A. demo onto red vinyl. So all of a sudden there's enough S.O.A. colour vinyl for everyone. Which reminds me, I need to order one of those...

Cool To Be Blue

When I set out to collect Descendents colour vinyl LPs, I don't think I realised how tough this one would be to find. It's taken me something like 4 years to get this thing. The problem has been two-fold. Firstly, this is probably the rarest of all the Descendents LPs. There were only 197 copies on blue vinyl. Secondly, this is on Fat Wreck Chords, and some of the kids who collect Fat Wreck stuff are almost as crazy as Revelation collectors. And thirdly (even though I said the problem was two-fold), this is a colour vinyl Descendents record. You add these factors together and the chances of picking one of these things up is slim. Fortunately though, I like a challenge. So here we are, finally. 'Cool To Be You' on blue vinyl. Done.

I always thought that when I got one of these I would then be able to post a picture of a complete Descendents colour vinyl LP collection. But like a fool I missed out on the purple vinyl reissue of 'ALL' a couple of years back. There were loads of them about and I planned on ordering one direct at some point, but by the time I finally got around to it they were sold out, and for some reason they don't seem to come up for sale. Obviously I badly want one so that I can take a collection photo. Hopefully it'll happen before the year is out.

Scars

It's been a longass time since I bought a Ringworm record. At least ten years. I saw them play in about 2005 in London and the whole day was just awful. I was so disgusted that I went for about five years without listening to them at all. Then I woke back up when this 'Scars' LP was released a couple of years back... although somehow I've only just got around to buying a copy. This is the clear with black smoke' colour which Victory seem to now press every record on. A bit like Relapse has always pressed everything on clear out of 100 copies, Victory now press 100 copies of everything on this colour. The regular colour of this one is red, which looks way better with the cover art if you ask me, but I'm happy to have this more limited version.

I still haven't checked out the previous two Ringworm records before this one. I might have to correct that. Oh, and then there's a new one coming out this month on Relapse too. Could be the year of the Ringworm for me. We shall see...

No Frills

There is pretty much nothing to say about this one. The No Tolerance 'No Remorse, No Tolerance' 7" on Youngblood on black vinyl. I think this is the second press black vinyl as it comes in the sleeve with silver ink on the front.

I don't usually bother with black vinyl unless it's a band for which I am trying to collect every variant of every record. I don't really like black vinyl. But wouldn't you know it, there are two different black pressings of this, and I don't have the other, so that's another one I still need. Yes, that's right, need. Not want.

Inner Earth Inferno

So there I was a few weeks ago surfing eBay when I stumbled across someone selling a load of Ancient VVIsdom records. They had about three different versions of a split 12" with Charles Manson that I didn't have, so I made a point to bid on one and won it with (I think) one bid.

The art work on this thing is pretty rad. It looks great. I especially like how the fire on the cover goes nicely with the vinyl colour.

The back story on this is also pretty cool. Apparently the Ancient VVisdom songs were recorded in a shack in the woods by a lake. The perfect setting for this band. Apparently these two songs were their first recording, and I was told to consider this their demo. The Charles Manson side I have pretty much zero interest in, although they were apparently recorded over the phone in his cell by his then girlfriend.

Unfortuantely, however, despite this thing looking the business and the cool story behind it, it just isn't very good. The AVV songs don't sound too good compared to everything else they've done, and the Manson side is utter garbage. Still, at least it looks nice eh?

I Bet On Sky Yet Again

More variants that I can't say no to... this time it's the US pressing of the latest Dinosaur Jr LP 'I Bet On Sky' on purple vinyl. I didn't realise at first that the US and UK pressings were on different labels and different colours, but when I did realise what was going on I knew I had something to chase.

I picked up the purple vinyl UK pressing of this one back when it came out in late 2012. Here's a photo to show the colour difference between UK purple (left) and US purple (right):

The two sleeves are also slightly different colours too. It stands out with the two next to each other. The UK press on Play It Again Sam just has more colour in the print, whereas the US press on Jagjaguwar is very washed out.

Every time I buy pick up a Dinosaur Jr record I have the same thought - I need more Dinosaur Jr records.

Tin Cans And Solutions

I've been trying to avoid reissues and represses the last couple of years. I think it was 2009 when I realised that a massive chunk of what I had bought was reissued classic LPs that I already owned. I guess when vinyl started to become more popular again, there was more and more demand for certain titles on vinyl, and I assume a lot of people don't care about owning an original pressing. So a lot of labels started repressing or reissuing old records. I just reached a point where I didn't want to spend money on records I already had. So I intentionally stopped. Except for Revelation and Integrity that is.

The other occasional exception, however, is where a reissue is actually the first time something has been put on vinyl. So here are two examples - a couple of FAR albums, both of which were released by a major label in the late 90s. I only got into this band in about 2001, but these two records I must have played every day for like 4 months or so. You know how sometimes you find an album and it is literally the only thing you feel like listening to? Well, I was like that with these two records throughout the spring and summer of 2001. But I spent the whole time listening to them on minidisc (remember those?), recorded from CDs that I bought used on eBay, as there was no vinyl made. Fast Forward to the end of 2013, and these things have finally been released on a proper format.

First up, the band's third album, 'Tin Cans With Strings To You'. This was pressed as a double LP, on two colours. I picked up the yellow vinyl. I'm not sure why they picked yellow. Perhaps because there's some yellow on the front cover, although it's clearly a different shade than the vinyl.

For some reason, the fourth LP, 'Water And Solutions' was pressed only as a single LP. Don't get me wrong, I don't like double LPs as a rule, but I would have thought that these things being reissued together they would have both been treated the same. So to have both in gatefold sleeves, but only one as a double LP seems not quite right. Anyway, at least this one seems to be on a nicer and more suitable colour. The clear blue goes much nicer with the cover.

Nice to have these things on vinyl, finally. The only let down is that 'Water And Solutions' is a bit of a shit job. The first couple of notes from the first song got missed off, so it sounds wrong. Jake also thinks that the pitch sounds off, although I'm not sure about that myself. Still, I don't really need these for the music at this point. I just want them for my record shelf rather than my CD box.

I'm The One

Here we go again with another Descendents 7". This one was released in support of the 'Everything Sucks' LP back in 1997. For some reason though, this 7" was only released in Europe. I have no idea if they were all on blue vinyl or not. But this one seems quite hard to find and doesn't pop up too often. Seems crazy to me given it's an Epitaph 7" and they probably made like 10,000 of them or something.

I got a really good deal on this one. I guess everyone was asleep. In the last few months this has sold for $130 and $79 in the States, and £40 in the UK. I got mine for about £11 on eBay UK. I guess I got lucky because according to popsike this has never sold for as little. I'm happy as I thought I would never get this as I didn't want to pay much for it simply because I perceive it to be some mass produced piece of crap. So it worked out well in the end.

Consolation Prize

It wasn't long ago that Dischord started repressing some of their classic records on coloured wax. Or so I thought. It was actuaslly five years ago now. Even though most people are starting to get frustrated & bored by Revelation's endless represses, the Dischord color vinyl pressings somehow seem less offensive... probably because they are less frequent. Here's my latest one - a great looking purple vinyl pressing of Jawbox's 'Grippe' LP.

I really like this purple. It's seems to be both solid and clear at the same time. A really interesting colour. Although, having said that, it's not quite the right shade of purple to go with the cover. Seems a shame to try to match the colour to the artwork but then get it wrong. Ah well, it's the thought that counts I guess!

I'd Buy That For A Dollar

You can't buy much for a dollar these days. Unless you're interested in late 90s 7"s by The Hollomen... in which case you can buy white vinyl record in a white sleeve, which you think will sit nicely with your copy in a black sleeve and your test press. Yes, that's right, I bought this for one buck.

Ok, so this isn't the most well known or liked band in the world, but it's on Hydrahead and has Aaron Turner in it. Surely that must make it worth at least, oh... a buck twenty five... right? Ha! Apparently not. At least, not on the day I bought it.

PS I just realised that technically I didn't buy this for a buck as I had to about six times that for postage. Balls.

Another Integrity Catch Up

Sometimes I really feel like I have made a mistake in trying to collect Integrity records. I mean, up until about 2008 or so, there weren't too many Integrity records out there. The band had been quiet for a long time. For the past few years, there seems to be a new Integrity record every couple of months, or a new pressing of an old Integrity record. Or a new pressing of a not so new Integrity record. I've got over 100 Integrity records and, believe me, there are still a LOT that I am missing. Every now and again I try to make a dent in catching up (or keeping up) before 20 new records come out and I temporarily give up again. So here's my latest catch up batch...

The first record is the third pressing of the reissue of the 'In Contrast Of Sin' 7" on Organised Crime records. This has been updated since it was first reissued back in 2010. This new version does away with the inside of the sleeve artwork and lyrics and replaces them with some words written by founding member Aaron Melnick. There were two colours - a blue numbered version and a more common green version.

Next up is a third press reissue of the 'Those Who Fear Tomorrow' LP, which has similar liner notes from A2. Again, there were two colours of this one - a stamped and numbered clear blue, and a more common solid blue.

Next we move on to the reissue of the 'Systems Overload' LP. This one came out at some point last year, and was later followed by the superior remixed version. I never picked up the first reissue as I felt burnt out on Integrity reissues, but I guess it was inevitable that I would pick them up in the end. There were three colours for the first press - the clear with black smoke pressing in the limited sleeve, a white vinyl and a red vinyl. Obviously I picked up all three.

And next is the common pressing of the 'Systems Overload' remix. This was originally pressed in very limited form on red vinyl for Halloween 2012 and then on black for RSD 2013. Both came in a folded poster sleeve. But demand seemed high for this recording, so Organized Crime then made some more with regular covers for the masses. There were three colours. I think these all look great. I love the simplicity of the cover art.

Of course, since I bought these the regular version of 'Systems Overload' got repressed yet again on two more colours. Then A389 released a new pressing of the 'Black Heksen Rise' 7" and then a brand new 7" featuring the 'Systems Overload' line up on numerous colours. It seems I am destined to never be up to date with Integ vinyl.

Forget The Cars

I've had a blue/orange mix vinyl of the first Fastbreak LP since it came out. But recently I saw picture of the more common blue vinyl and decided I wanted one. Fast forward a few weeks and that vision has now become a reality. I got one for a pretty low price too which makes it even better.

I was sure that from memory this came out on three colours - blue, orange, and a blue/orange mix. Looks like I must have imagined the orange vinyl though as that doesn't seem to exist at all. I did get outbid on a test press of this one a while ago, which was disappointing, but I'm sure I'll get another shot at some point. Anyway, as much as I like this LP, I never liked the cover. There are a couple of things that annoy me. Firstly, the song titles and 'credits' are listed on the front. I mean, seriously, why would anyone put all that text on the front? And secondly, where are the so-called Fast Women? The album is called 'Fast Cars, Fast Women' yet I see only cars. Talk about false advertising!

Photocopied Paper

Are you the kind of person who would buy a record you already own for a second time just because it has a piece of paper slapped on the front? If so, you've come to the right place. Here's my third copy of the first GIVE 12", and the second copy on grey vinyl. The difference between this one and the first grey vinyl copy that I bought is simply that this one comes with a photocopied piece of paper craftily slipped in front of the record cover.

Ok, so this particular piece of photocopied paper does look particularly awesome compared to most, but still... do I need to own two grey vinyl copies because of it? Apparently yes, I do.

Vital Times

I've talked about having patience many times before. If you want something and the price is high, you have two options - you can either pay now and potentially save money if you expect the price to carry on rising, or you can play the long game and settle down and wait for the price to come down. History has shown that most bands will break up and get almost forgotten about, and the prices of their records will drop significantly. Today's post is an example of this. Back when ON were about and creating a bit of a buzz, their 7"s would sell for a decent wedge, but I bought these two 'Vital Times' 7"s for less than $20 for the two.

Firstly, the white vinyl. This was the pre-order version out of 250 copies.

The second copy was this green vinyl 2008 west coast tour version. As you can see, this one is numbered out of only 75 copies. This used to regularly sell for $30-60 when the band were about, so to get it for $10 feels quite satisfying. And it's a cool low number too.

There's something to be said for the 'sit back and wait four years' approach. I might see if I can pick up a couple more ON 7"s I'm missing too. I could do with a release version of this, and the red vinyl version of the other 7" too. Maybe they'll come around by 2016...

Crossbearer

Another Cave In 7" for the collection. This is a third press copy of the first 7" they did on Hydrahead on solid green vinyl. It has blank labels which somehow make it look better than the copies with proper printed labels.

I dug out my other two copies of this one for a family photo - the clear green vinyl first press, and the yellow vinyl second press - both of which I have had since they came out many moons ago.

Interesting how all three have different labels. Early Hydrahead was a really exciting label at the time, with numerous different vinyl colours and covers... enough to keep a dude collecting for, what... fifteen years and counting...

Handsome

Somewhere in the late 90s someone told me about a band called Handsome. I don't know how they heard of the band, although to be fair I can't remember how we found out about anything pre-internet. Anyway, the main attraction to the band seemed to be that Tom Capone was in it and it sounded vaguely like Quicksand. What I remember most though was a local record shop had a huge pile of the band's full length CD on sale dirt cheap pretty much as soon as it came out. I think I bought one for about £3 brand new... and this was in an era when CDs were £10-12 as standard. The album was pretty good, although not as good as Quicksand. But it always felt weird that this band had seemingly come out of nowhere, put out an album on a major label which probably didn't do very well, and then disappeared. At least, that's what it felt like happened from where I was sitting... which was a few thousand miles away.

Fast forward to 2013 (a full 16 years after the album was first released) and 6131 Records decided to release it for the first time properly, i.e. on vinyl. There were 100 on clear vinyl (which sold out fast and I missed) and 400 on 'silver' vinyl.

So the thing I don't understand is why, after sixteen years of no vinyl existing for this thing, two labels both put this out within a few weeks of each other. Like I said, I got mine from 6131 Records. Only a few weeks later, Shop Radio Cast (a weird label that only seems to put out vinyl releases of older CD only albums) also put it out as an LP with a bonus 7" included. I have never heard of two labels both simultaneously re-releasing an old record before. Did these two labels both know the other was putting out the same record? Are the labels somehow connected? Was it planned? Is it a coincidence? Does anyone know? Does anyone else care?

Fucking weird.