Catching Up With Today

Richmond's very own Down To Nothing have released a new LP on Revelation. I really liked all the early stuff that DTN released and I still love the Splitting Headache 7". The LPs just never could live up to that in my opinion. Save It For The Birds is still the best of the lot. Not that the LPs are bad records by any means. It's just that they never were as good as the early releases. Life On The James follows that trend. There was also a first press clear green edition, but I believe this is one of the second press copies on clear green vinyl mainly because I bought it kind of late.

I also grabbed a copy of the The Fact Remains LP by Focused Minds. When I buy current records I mainly follow the descriptions of the distro (which are usually copied and pasted from the labels, I know), but I never listen to records online beforehand. I'm kind of old-fashioned that way. The main reason is that I really like being surprised. Positively that is of course. This is not always the case obviously the case but if it happens, it's such an awesome feeling. Well, this is one of those LPs where this is not the case.
The description said something about 'drawing influences' from the past but 'putting a contemporary spin on the youth crew sound'. I haven't checked out any current youth crew bands lately so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's a good enough record and I might listen to it a couple of more times, but so far it's not that special. Generic youth crew sound, which is always ok in my book, but it doesn't get me overly excited either. 1st press out of 600 on black vinyl.

Speaking of contemporary youth crew records, I picked up Test of Time's self-released first 7" as well. I had read some good things about this band and seeing that they were recently bumped up by joining the B9 roster I thought I ought to give them a listen. Sadly the record doesn't do anything for me. There's not one song that really got stuck in my head. Maybe I'll give them a second chance and buy the 7" released by B9. This copy could be on grey /70 or cranberry /180. Don't really know. If you do, let me know. Gotta keep things in order here. Record collecting is serious business after all.

I really like split 7"s because they're a sweet way of checking out new bands for cheap. However, there's no wrong in putting two well established bands on one slab of vinyl. Shook Ones and Death Is Not Glamorous hardly need an introduction. Or at least I hope they don't. If you're not familiar with their back catalogue, you should change that quickly. I'm a little prejudiced towards Death Is Not Glamorous as they're easily one of my favourite Euorpean bands in the last couple of years and I still listen to their records on a regular basis. Good to get a couple of new songs by both bands, but the DING side wins in my book. Clear red /750.

I know, I know, this is not really catching up with new records. Re-presses don't really count. One of too many versions of Have Heart's debut LP that I already own. 8th pressing on white vinyl. And there's already a new one version out there. I wonder when I'll decide to call it quits on this record before it becomes way too ridiculous.

When it comes to represses, there are basically two way of how you can do it in my opinion. One, you
stick to the original as closely as possible when it comes to format, cover, lyric sheet, inlays etc and change as little as you have to. Two, you put in a lot of effort and create something new that is just so over the top it'll make your head spin. Radio Raheem opted for the 2nd way when they decided to re-release The Abused's Loud and Clear 7" and they did a bang-up job. This should be the standard of how reissues of classic records should be done.

Originally released in 1983, this classic NYHC 7" has been made available again for the first time in 30 years. That is if you don't count the 90s Lost and Found release, and who really cares about them. You get the songs from the Loud and Clear 7" plus the 1982 demo and a couple of unreleased live tracks. 21 songs all in all. The sleeve is a pseudo-gatefold of sorts with a flap in which you can put the record and everything that comes with it. You get a really cool booklet with a few texts and loads of pictures and flyers from back in the day. 24 pages all in full colour. Radio Raheem did truly a great job here. You also get a sticker sheet with replicas of OG stickers from the 1980s. Stickers are always cool, so why not throw some in here? I don't know what to say about the music except it's a classic record for good reasons. The music still holds up well today. I don't know if the songs are remixed since I've never heard the original 7", but who really cares.

If you don't want to spend a small fortune on this record, this is the way to go. If you want to spend that much money on the original 7", you should pick up the re-release nonetheless because this is a nice looking record and quite honestly, you probably just spent at least $700 on a 7" so you should be able to splash out $18 more for this LP.