Here's to 2018, which will hopefully add more new good music and some old records to my collection and get me in touch with more people. Let's keep collecting fun.
XXX
Ralf
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Collector's Choice 2017
So many good records made it into my collection this year again. I'm more than happy with what I managed to pick up in 2017. I didn't make a whole lot of progress with my want list, but I was able to cross off some items at least. Plus I picked up a few records that weren't on that list and some that I didn't even know of one year ago. That's what makes collecting fun though. The other element that makes collecting really fun is the people you get in touch with. Quite a few people have helped me in my efforts by pointing me to records, selling, trading or straight up giving me records for free. All of which I'm very grateful for. My favorite pick up is the test press for Bane's It All Comes Down To This LP, because it embodies everything I like about collecting: great music, incredibly rare, release by one of my favorite bands, and I was tipped of by fellow collector.
Here's to 2018, which will hopefully add more new good music and some old records to my collection and get me in touch with more people. Let's keep collecting fun.
XXX
Ralf
Here's to 2018, which will hopefully add more new good music and some old records to my collection and get me in touch with more people. Let's keep collecting fun.
XXX
Ralf
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Top Of The Pops 2017
My blog hasn't seen much action the last few weeks. The reason behind that is that I recently joined the club of hardcore dads and the little man has taken up most of the time, as any first-time parents will probably testify to. Anyway, we have found sort of a rhythm and the days leave some more free time again. I still have some records lying around that I picked up in the last few weeks and I'll make sure to catch up with the backlog in the nearby future.
But for now, it's that time of the year again. I can't believe another has gone by already. It feels like I just typed the year's end post for 2016. Crazy. 2017 has been a year with more ups and downs than the years before. I've seen close friends and family experience serious illnesses, death has been around my circle of friends way too much, and there have been some personal issues that close friends and also I had to deal with. Then again, 2017 saw many new friends, some friends and I started a band project, my wife and I went to a bunch of awesome shows, we got to hang out with friends from all over Germany and the world, and a very important friendship was rekindled. Plus, my wife gave birth to our first kid, so all in all 2017 has been a good year I'd say. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.
As I said before, I still have some records lying around that I haven't posted about, so the post count should be a little higher than it is, but it still would have been lower than in the years before. I took it slow in late spring/summer, kind of like last year, but I didn't finish as strongly as in past years. Oh, well.
One projection I can make for 2018 is that the first half of the year is going to see few pick ups and posts on here because I'm going to be a stay-at-home dad for half a year, which means I get to spend some real quality time with my son, but it also means that money will be tighter and buying records on a regular basis won't be in the cards.
2017 has seen some great releases in my opinion. I have noticed a tendency to buy more releases by old bands I already know and like. However, staying up-to-date with newer bands feels more and more like work. That's probably the old man in m talking. I often tell him to shut up, but it's getting harder. Luckily, I have friends who are a fair bit younger than myself and they keep me somewhat in the loop. Still, looking back on the records I bought this year and seeing which bands made my Top 10 this year, there is definitely an imbalance. Anyway, here are my Top 10 for 2017. No particular order.
Record Of The Year
Spirits - Unrest
7" Of The Year
Abuse Of Power - When Then Becomes Now
Demo Of The Year
Split between Open Your Eyes and Stand Point. They're also the only two demo tapes I picked up this year if I remember correctly. Maybe I should include tapes into my blog activities to keep track of that... Both tapes are okay, but there have definitely been years that were way better as far as demo tapes go. I know that you can listen to demos online, but that's not really caught on with me.
Honorable Mention
Free - Ex Tenebris
I still haven't picked up a copy because I missed out on the pre-order and the 7" sells for like 8+€ in regular distros, so I couldn't bring myself to order a copy yet.
Bridge 9 - The First 10 Years Box
Beautifully done with lots of details from what I have seen at first glance. I got my copy only this week and haven't really had any chance to sit down and spend some time with it.
But for now, it's that time of the year again. I can't believe another has gone by already. It feels like I just typed the year's end post for 2016. Crazy. 2017 has been a year with more ups and downs than the years before. I've seen close friends and family experience serious illnesses, death has been around my circle of friends way too much, and there have been some personal issues that close friends and also I had to deal with. Then again, 2017 saw many new friends, some friends and I started a band project, my wife and I went to a bunch of awesome shows, we got to hang out with friends from all over Germany and the world, and a very important friendship was rekindled. Plus, my wife gave birth to our first kid, so all in all 2017 has been a good year I'd say. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.
As I said before, I still have some records lying around that I haven't posted about, so the post count should be a little higher than it is, but it still would have been lower than in the years before. I took it slow in late spring/summer, kind of like last year, but I didn't finish as strongly as in past years. Oh, well.
One projection I can make for 2018 is that the first half of the year is going to see few pick ups and posts on here because I'm going to be a stay-at-home dad for half a year, which means I get to spend some real quality time with my son, but it also means that money will be tighter and buying records on a regular basis won't be in the cards.
2017 has seen some great releases in my opinion. I have noticed a tendency to buy more releases by old bands I already know and like. However, staying up-to-date with newer bands feels more and more like work. That's probably the old man in m talking. I often tell him to shut up, but it's getting harder. Luckily, I have friends who are a fair bit younger than myself and they keep me somewhat in the loop. Still, looking back on the records I bought this year and seeing which bands made my Top 10 this year, there is definitely an imbalance. Anyway, here are my Top 10 for 2017. No particular order.
Record Of The Year
Spirits - Unrest
7" Of The Year
Abuse Of Power - When Then Becomes Now
Demo Of The Year
Split between Open Your Eyes and Stand Point. They're also the only two demo tapes I picked up this year if I remember correctly. Maybe I should include tapes into my blog activities to keep track of that... Both tapes are okay, but there have definitely been years that were way better as far as demo tapes go. I know that you can listen to demos online, but that's not really caught on with me.
Honorable Mention
Free - Ex Tenebris
I still haven't picked up a copy because I missed out on the pre-order and the 7" sells for like 8+€ in regular distros, so I couldn't bring myself to order a copy yet.
Bridge 9 - The First 10 Years Box
Beautifully done with lots of details from what I have seen at first glance. I got my copy only this week and haven't really had any chance to sit down and spend some time with it.
Saturday, December 2, 2017
It All Comes Down To This
This is one of those 'Wow, I can't believe that record is mine now.' posts. And it's all thanks to Marcus over at Endless Quest. A few weeks ago he wrote me a message asking me if I'd seen the It All Comes Down To This test on eBay. I told him I hadn't, but that changed within seconds. The next six days were excruciating and I checked the eBay listing at least once an hour to see if it's still there and how high the price was already. Now I definitely know what people mean when they talk about the thrill of the hunt, haha.
For once I even told my wife that I was going after a real heavy hitter, because I knew that the price was going to be rather high. After all, test pressings of early Bane records almost never pop up and are thus almost impossible to find. So having a shot at this one was really exciting. Luckily, my wife is very understanding about my record collecting and even more so when it's about Bane records.
The final minutes of the auction were really gut wrenching and I was still hoping for a steal, because the price was still pretty moderate shortly before the end of the auction. It rose quite drastically in the last seconds, but the final price was still below my personal limit. And anyway, sometimes you just have to pull the trigger. It's only money after all. After I won the auction I contacted a few friends who also happen to collect Bane to see if I'd effectively ruined any friendships. Luckily, a bunch of them weren't even aware that this test had been up on eBay. Less competition and no friendships ruined, I'll take that.
Nobody really knows how many copies there are. However, I recall Marcus telling me once that Equal Vision Records used to make 8 test for the early releases and given the fact that there are also 8 tests for Bane's Give Blood LP, which was also released on Equal Vision, it's probably a good guess to say that there are 8 copies of this test as well.
I've only ever seen one copy up for sale and that went from Kyle Whitlow to Marcus. Comparing the picture of that copy with my copy, I noticed that the labels on my copy are still blank as in not filled out. Check out Marcus' copy to compare. I guess it's enough to fill out just one set of labels and then just go by the label's name and the catalogue number. Does that mean Marcus has #1/8? Knowing his luck with (Bane) records, probably yes. I also asked the seller where he had the test from in the first place. All he told me was that he'd bought a collection from someone and that test was part of the collection. Makes you wonder whose collection that was, but the seller wouldn't tell me more.
This is really one of the absolute gems of my collection and I can't thank Marcus enough for tipping me off.
EURO 53. 'Blank' A side label.
For an occasion like this I had to pull out the other copies as well and go for the group shot.
For once I even told my wife that I was going after a real heavy hitter, because I knew that the price was going to be rather high. After all, test pressings of early Bane records almost never pop up and are thus almost impossible to find. So having a shot at this one was really exciting. Luckily, my wife is very understanding about my record collecting and even more so when it's about Bane records.
The final minutes of the auction were really gut wrenching and I was still hoping for a steal, because the price was still pretty moderate shortly before the end of the auction. It rose quite drastically in the last seconds, but the final price was still below my personal limit. And anyway, sometimes you just have to pull the trigger. It's only money after all. After I won the auction I contacted a few friends who also happen to collect Bane to see if I'd effectively ruined any friendships. Luckily, a bunch of them weren't even aware that this test had been up on eBay. Less competition and no friendships ruined, I'll take that.
Nobody really knows how many copies there are. However, I recall Marcus telling me once that Equal Vision Records used to make 8 test for the early releases and given the fact that there are also 8 tests for Bane's Give Blood LP, which was also released on Equal Vision, it's probably a good guess to say that there are 8 copies of this test as well.
I've only ever seen one copy up for sale and that went from Kyle Whitlow to Marcus. Comparing the picture of that copy with my copy, I noticed that the labels on my copy are still blank as in not filled out. Check out Marcus' copy to compare. I guess it's enough to fill out just one set of labels and then just go by the label's name and the catalogue number. Does that mean Marcus has #1/8? Knowing his luck with (Bane) records, probably yes. I also asked the seller where he had the test from in the first place. All he told me was that he'd bought a collection from someone and that test was part of the collection. Makes you wonder whose collection that was, but the seller wouldn't tell me more.
This is really one of the absolute gems of my collection and I can't thank Marcus enough for tipping me off.
EURO 53. 'Blank' A side label.
For an occasion like this I had to pull out the other copies as well and go for the group shot.
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