Something‘s Gotta Give

Agnostic Front is one of the first hardcore bands I discovered when I stumbled into hardcore. It was not one of their classic records from the 80s, but a song from their 1998 record Something‘s Gotta Give, which was the current record back then.

I was exposed to a lot of hardcore at a club which had alternative music nights every second Friday. Most of my friends wanted to go there because the drinks were cheap and since I didn‘t drink (yes, even before I stumbled across hardcore or knew about straight edge, I didn‘t drink), they always had a driver and I got to enjoy the music playing there. Gotta Go by AF was a staple at the club and as a matter of fact, I loved the song so much back then that I chose the beginning of the song to be played when I was walking to the stage to get the German equivalent of a high school diploma / A levels. It was between this song and Refused‘s New Noise. But since a friend of mine had used that song the year prior, this was a no-go... It‘s so funny to think back on the things that mattered to you when you are 18/19. 

Anyway, I had a little bit of an AF renaissance these last couple of weeks. I read Vinnie Stimga‘s book recently and listened to a bunch of podcasts with him, which made me want to listen to AF again. Both, United Blood and Victim In Pain have stood the test of time, but to be honest, that‘s the extend of my AF collection. They lost me with their follow up records in the 80s. I know that this is sacrilege for many people, but I‘ll never understand why hardcore bands gave to go crossover or even metal. 

Gotta Go alone made me want to finally get a copy of Something‘s Gotta Give. Turns out, this isn‘t as easy as I thought it‘d be, despite the fact that there was a repress just a couple of years ago. But even those go for a pretty penny. Eventually, I managed to find a fairly priced OG copy from a European seller, so I snagged it. 

It’s hard to fathom this is almost a 30 year old record, but then again, it‘s hard to fathom for me that I am as old as I am. I hadn‘t listened to the full album in I don‘t know how many years, but I actually like it. Besides Gotta Go, you get another AF classic, Crucified, but the rest of the record is also quite good. I‘m not sure if I need to check out the rest of their discography, but I certainly can enjoy this record. 

1st Press on Black on Epitaph /???

How Do You Like Them Apples?

So, at the beginning of the year I wrote about a Beatles record I was gifted by a dear friend of mine. In the same post I mentioned that my friend collects a certain kind of Japanese pressing of Beatles records and how nice they look. Well, said friend gifted me another record, Beatles For Sale, which was released in 1965, and this time it was one of those Japanese pressing I‘d mentioned before. Just look at the packaging. It‘s so awesome. Here‘s to another collection. 

Japanese Pressing on Clear Red w/OBI Strip

Inside of the gatefold sleeve. Cool pictures, plenty of Information in Japanese and you get to see the inside of the OBI strip. 

Lyric sheet: The song titles are in English, and they are also listed in Japanese right below, plus you get the actual lyrics to the songs in English. 

Lead Spirit

A couple of weeks ago a very good friend sent me a link to a Bandcamp page. I had actually seen the cover of the 7" he sent me the link to before on the website of a bistro I frequently buy from. Live picture plus band name always trigger my interest. It's not groundbreaking artwork, but 9/10 you know what to expect. I also really liked the purple lettering. I decided to listen to the 7" on Bandcamp, which is something I didn't use to do but with prices skyrocketing I have grown to be more cautious with what I buy.  I was hooked right away. Yeah, it is the umpteenth version of Youth Crew with a modern twist, but as long as it's done well - which it absolutely is here - I am onboard. Like I said, I dig the cover and I really like the insert as well. The only point of criticism is the color scheme of the labels. The maroon doesn't really work with the cover in my opinion. But hey, that's just me knit-picking. 

Of course I would have loved to get my hands on a colored copy, but with prices for a 7" already being in the double digits, I have to compromise and make do with whatever version I can get my hands on. 

 

1st Press on Black on From Within /200

Just Shut Up And Take My Money

So here we are again. Yet another Bane record. Give Blood is widely regarded as Bane‘s best LP and while it is an incredible record, it‘s not my favourite of theirs. But it‘s a very close second.  

This particular record on solid white vinyl, not to be confused with the opaque cream version I bought a couple of months ago. Overall I think the label did a much better job with the color choices for the repress of Give Blood compared to the It All Comes Down To This LP. The white, and for that matter also the opaque cream variant, look really good with the artwork. Just keep it simple and I‘m a happy record collector. 

2024 Repress on White on Equal vision /800

Found

Question: Can one ever have enough Walter Schreifels related records? Answer: No. Found was supposed to be the second Rival Schools album, but it never materialised that way because the label didn‘t hear a single. Well, that pretty much should tell you everything about major labels. Some of them songs were leaked or had been played live, but they weren‘t available on vinyl. That was until 2013, so only about 10 years after the songs were written. Fast forward another 12 years and I finally listened to these songs as well. 

In addition to Rival Schools original songs you also get a nice Buzzcocks cover to end the album. I really like the printed inner sleeve with the United By Fate artwork. That‘s a nice touch. 

3rd Press (2024 Repress) on Half Olive / Half Cream on Run For Cover /700

G.L.O.W.

I know that this isn‘t a huge platform, but if I can promote bands by friends, I will use that opportunity. G.L.O.W. are a new band of old(er) people from the area I live in and some of them I have known for 10+ years and also played with together in bands, so, yes, I‘m  biased very much, but who cares. 

G.L.O.W. play 80s style hardcore punk, with some wave influences. Since I‘ve known both people who are in charge of songwriting from their previous and current bands, I kinda can tell who wrote which song. 

I also went to see their second show a couple of weeks ago, which is where I picked up the demo. The show itself was a lot of fun and I really enjoy the demo. I'm really looking forward to hearing their new material. 

Clear Red Tape Self-Released by the Band /50

Your Life And Nothing Else

The first Faim LP, Hollow Hope, blew me away when I first listened to it back in 2020. All the more is the pity that I slept for almost two years on their follow up record, Your Life And Nothing Else. Great name, great art work, especially in combination with this particular vinyl color. The music is fast and ferocious, but then there are also post-hardcore influences. It‘s an interesting combination that works really well for me. This is not a record to listen every day, I have to be in the mood for music like this. But when I am, this really scratches an itch for me. 

1st Press on Solid Pink on Safe Inside /250

No Need To Hide

I‘m the kind of person who really likes surprises in real life. I also like surprises when it comes to music. However, sometimes I just want to get exactly what I expect. Take the cover of Jusitfy‘s Run and Hide 7“ for instance. It may not be groundbreaking and all that exciting, but you get exactly as advertised. Take the best parts of every wave of youth crew bands and you get the songs on this 7“. Some people might read this as a dig at the band, but I mean that as a compliment. Put on your Nikes and get moshing. 

1st Press on Black on Total Supply / Extinction Burst

A Life‘s Refrain

There‘s a million bands out there that I have no idea about, but one of the current bands that gets me really excited is Speedway from Sweden. That‘s what the folks at Revelation Records must have felt as well because it‘s still very rare that they sign European bands. I‘d been looking forward to the debut LP for a long time and the band delivers on A Life‘s Refrain. I could do without some of the leads on some songs, but that‘s me really nitpicking. This is just a great LP and so much fun to listen to. 

And from a collector‘s point of view, I’m happy to say that there are only five versions of the first press. The red or ‘ruby‘ color works really well with the artwork. Great job all around. 

1st Press on Translucent Ruby on Rev /300 (Retail Exclusive)

Holding On

When I ordered the FC Five CD I took a look at the seller's inventory on Discogs. Like I said, I'm still not 100% over being a vinyl snob so I felt I needed to order at least one vinyl record, too. 

In many respects, I‘m a quite simple guy. Put a guy jumping with a guitar on the front cover of a record and you got my interest. Combine it with a classic looking hardcore font and you got my full attention. I‘ve had the second Holding On LP for a long time, but for some reason I never bothered to check out their other material, even though I really like that album. But here we are and I finally listened to the Hoding On demo 26 years after its release. No frills hardcore just the way I like it. 

1st Press on Clear Blue on Looking Back /???

Reasons Not Self-Imposed Rules

Mainly, this is a vinyl only blog as you may have noticed. Tapes get a pass from me, but I can‘t honestly say when I spent money on a CD the last time. It must have been one of those Bane city 7“s that were also available on CD. But after that, I have no idea. 

Now, in the 2000s, there was a phase during which less vinyl was pressed by record labels. Even hardcore labels followed that trend to some degree, which is why there are certain releases from that era that are CD only. For the longest time I was a real snob about this and didn‘t buy albums or 7“s that weren‘t released on vinyl. Well, that was pretty stupid in hindsight. So after decades of ignoring CDs, here we are. 

FC Five were a band from Japan that existed from 2000 - 2012. I saw them twice in the mid-2000s and both shows were so much fun and really memorable. The first time I saw them was the very first Bane show I went to, which itself was such a huge turning point in my life. For some reason, FC Five weren’t featured on the flyer for the show, but I know they played that night. The second time I saw them was a year later when they were on tour with Ritual, a German hardcore band, and they played a local youth club. I don‘t think I‘ve ever seen a band that had more fun on stage and that‘s true for both times I saw them. They seemed to genuinely enjoy playing hardcore shows on a level I‘ve never seen with any other band before or since. And the band having the time of their lives was so infectious. The music was right up my alley at that time, too. After getting this CD, I listened to their whole discography and their records have stood the test of time for me. 

 

Here’s a shot of everything laid out. The band / label certainly didn‘t hold back when it came to the cover and inlays. The only thing that annoys me is that some of the pictures on the left are turned 90 degrees. Hard to tell because, well, it‘s a CD and not a vinyl record. I guess I‘m not 100% over being a little snobbish when it comes to CDs. 

One cool thing about releases from Asia are OBi strips. I‘m a sucker for those for some reason. They just look cool. 

Having said all of this, if anyone were to put out this record on vinyl, I‘d be all over it. But considering that the 20 year anniversary was already two years ago, I don‘t think this will happen anytime soon. 

Big Kids

A while ago a very good friend of mine tagged me in a post on Facebook in which he‘d posted a bunch of emo bands. One of the bands he‘d chose was Big Kids. He tagged me because I was the one who introduced him to the band. As a matter of fact, I recently turned on one of my bandmates to the band when we were on a long drive a couple of weeks ago. Two people in roughly ten years, not bad, but also not great. I‘ve been a longtime proponent time proponent of the band and Hoop Dreams easily makes my all-time top 5 of emo/indie records, but I feel like I‘m one of only a few people who are really into that record and that’s exactly why I‘ll never get tired of singing its praises. 

After my friend had tagged me, I started looking on Discogs what other versions of Hoop Dreams are out there. Looking turned into putting a pink copy into my shopping basket and after I admitted to myself that I was just kidding myself by pretending not wanting to buy it, I clicked on ‘Place order and buy now‘. There‘s only a few variants out there (good old 2000s…) and all of them are cheap, at least until you factor in shipping from the States ($8.75 for the record turns into $56 total…). So that keeps me from buying more copies right now. However, this great looking pink copy was available from a seller in Europe and for less than 10€ I couldn‘t say no. 

1st Press on Pink Marble on Topshelf /250

Wait… Whut?

When the announcement of a 10 year anniversary was made, I heard talks about a very special, special version. While some of the versions that were part of the anniversary press were cool, others fell rather flat. But I had high hopes for the special version and man, I didn’t get disappointed. 

So, this is what the record looked like when it arrived. This is the only record I own that comes with a safety warning. Of course, I cut out the stickers and now I keep the with the record.

Standard shot of the record and the sleeve. Everything looks pretty cool if you ask me. 

10 Year Anniversary Press on Purple Swirl w/ Confetti on End Hits /100

Having said that, when you hold the record up against the light, it looks incredible. Just look at it. The purple swirl would have been a great color for the record on its own, but the rainbow confetti makes it that much more special. Such a beautiful sight to behold. 

Because the record is so beautiful, here‘s another shot against the light. 

End Hits also included a bonus lyric sheet. They really went all out with the packaging. 

Another cool feature is that you can recharge the light. With a simple battery, you wouldn‘t have been able to turn on the lights up eventually, but with the plug-in charger, you should be able to enjoy the lights much longer. Each record was hand-made, which probably took forever. 

When I talked to Marcus about this record and I told him I‘d send him picture, he suggested that a video would probably make more sense and of course he was right. So here‘s a short video of the whole thing. 

This is by far the most money I‘ve ever spent on a new record. It was 99€ in case you were wondering, but the record itself is such a beauty and the packaging is absolutely incredible. No regrets on my part.

Lessons Learrrrrrrrrrrned

Since I really got into Youth Of Today a couple of years ago, I wanted to get my hands on a Can‘t Close My Eyes 7“ on Positive Force. They just looked like a cool record to own. Unfortunately any press of that record comes with a hefty price tag these days. So I waited patiently until I found a rather cheap copy. Here‘s where the lesson learning starts:

#1 Buying from eBay in the US nowadays sucks. While the price for the record was okay, I almost paid the same amount for shipping, VAT and other fees. So, all in all I just could have bought a more expensive copy in Europe and saved me some heartache and money.

#2 Because I was so happy to finally have found a reasonably priced record, I didn‘t check for all of the details of the auction. Which is why I ended up with a record without a lyric sheet. So not only did I pay too much when all was said and done, I also paid too much for an incomplete record. If anyone has a spare copy of the lyric sheet or could provide a copy, I‘d be most grateful. 

I knew that the sound quality of this record was always describe as poor and I am definitely not an audiophile, but this does sound incredibly thin. I can appreciate the record for what it is - a documentation of a band at a certain time under certain circumstances, but I know I‘m not going to listen to this version that often. 

I know this was a rather negative post, which is kind of ironic, but having said all of these negative things, I‘m still happy to finally own a copy. 

4th Press on Black on Positive Force

The B-side label is just so rad. It deserves a picture of its own. 

Pezcore Forever

As much as I love original pressings, sometimes getting a repress is just much more convenient and of course affordable. Pezcore is the debut LP by Less Than Jake and was first released in 1995. To commemorate the 30-year anniversary, Pezcore was rereleased at the beginning of this year. It comes on nice 180g vinyl. The rerelease comes on a bunch of different colors, but the mock ups were all incredibly ugly splatter vinyl and there‘s no way those could have looked good in real life, so black vinyl was definitely the better choice (sorry, Marcus). 

While this is not my favorite LTJ LP, there are some real tracks on this album. I mean, each of the first five LPs has a bunch of absolute hits in my book. All of them are just a good time. 

Close-up of the hype sticker. I‘m not quite sure what makes this the ‘forever version‘, but that‘s ok. 

 

…Home Is So Far From Here

I have a weak spot for emo music (sorry, Ian), be it Revolution Summer style music or 90s emo. I’ll draw the line at what became known as emo in the early 2000s, but I’m still down with the two aforementioned styles. So, when newer bands play music of that ilk, I‘m always willing to check it out. … Home Is So Far From Here is the debut LP by The Arrival Note. The cover has a very 90s feel to it, but with a modern touch. Someone also put in real thought when it came to choosing the vinyl colors. Both, dark blue and white, match the artwork really well. The music is what you‘d expect by my introduction, but the band managed to add a modern touch to it that works really well for me. 

1st Press on Dark Blue Marble on Sunday Drive /200

I Against I(V)

A couple of weeks ago I got to spent a quiet Saturday evening lounging on the sofa, having some TV show I’ve seen a hundred times in the background and browsing for records. I happened to find a listing of the last colored version of Bad Brains‘ I Against I that I needed for a really good price. Since this clear variant  hadn‘t sold in four year on Discogs and I hadn‘t found any other copies on local listening or eBay in the past year, it took me only about a second or two to buy this record right away. 

Time for a family picture of the colored represses from the early 90s, most likely 1990/1991.

I also added the German pressing on white vinyl, just for the fun of it. The German pressing is the only solid color version and comes with different label art as well. 

After I’d taken the picture of the clear vinyl copy and applying the setting I usually use for the pictures on my blog, I noticed that the picture looked different from the ones I remembered posting on here. So, I compared the sleeves and the colors of the sleeves are slightly different. You can see it especially when you look at the band name, the album title and the hair underneath the band name. It‘s like someone played around with the contrast. If the albums were repressed at the same time, why not have thousands of  covers printed? That would be the cheaper option, wouldn‘t it? Or does that mean these colored represses weren‘t repressed at the same time?

Close-up of the covers. Check the band name and the hair color. Top cover = lightest version, bottom cover = darkest cover. The covers of the clear variant and the yellow variant look kinda similar, as do the covers of the green and blue versions, but they’re still noticeably different. 

I also checked the back cover to see if there are any differences, but they look pretty much the same to me. They all have the same barcode as well, so you can‘t differentiate them that way either. It all remains sort of a mystery. 

Fugaziture

Another band I still have some gaps of in my collection is Fugazi. I have all their full lengths, but there are still some bit and pieces missing. Furniture is a nice three song 7” from 2001, released in the final stage of the band’s existence. The songs however date back to the beginnings of the band. Furniture is actually one of the first songs Fugazi ever wrote and they performed it at their first show. The music for Hello Morning was written in the late 80s, but the lyrics came much later according to Wikipedia. It‘s a fun three song 7“ for sure. I‘m not 100% sure what pressing this is, but my guess is that it‘s a recent repress. 

2023/2024 Repress on Black on Dischord

The reason why I assume this is a pretty recent repress is based on the fact that there‘s no ppd price listed on the back cover. For all the versions listed on Discogs there‘s a ppd price printed in front of the address, which is not the case on this sleeve as you can see. 

It All Comes Down

Getting the repress of It All Comes Down To This hasn’t been this hard. Pricey, yes, but not really hard. The only variant that was hard to get was the band variant, which was to be sold in increments of 100 each at shows on the east coast and west coast respectively. Since I wasn’t going to attend any of these shows, chances of getting a copy were slim. 

A couple of weeks ago, the band posted on Instagram that not all of the copies had sold at those shows and that the remaining records would be made available through the Equal Vision web store. Now, while I am happy that this made it much easier and cheaper to get this variant, it’s kind of sad that a band like Bane didn’t manage to sell 200 copies of a record on two legs of a US tour. Bands made tour or even festival pressings in similar or higher quantities and sold through them easily. Not anymore apparently. I get it, money's an issue for many people and especially records have become really expensive, but bands of the calibre of Bane not being able to sell through tour presses is not a great sign. Now enough of another old guy ranting about the good old times. 

The mock up on Instagram of the aforementioned band variant looked pretty great and it was easily the variant I was most excited about. So when I received my actual copy, I was really bummed out. I included a picture of the mock up for reference, so you can judge for yourself, but I mean, come on. The difference is easily a thousand miles wide, right?

Anyway, that's one more Bane record taken care of. 

2024 Repress on Green and Violet Eclipse (Band Variant) on Equal Vision /200
 

Source: @banecentral on Instagram

Gainesville Rock City

Unlike Marcus, whose recent dive into Less Than Jake was inspired by an actual trip to Gainesville, Florida, I merely wanted to close another gap in my collection when I picked up a copy of Borders & Boundaries. The first five Less Than Jake records are all really good and each one has a bunch of hits on it. And Borders and Boundaries is no exception. Just a fun records to listen to and lift my spirits during winter time. After Anthem, which was released in 2003, I sort of lost touch with the band. I liked the Sound The Alarm 12” I picked up some time ago, but I’m not really familiar with any of their other material post 2003. So I might join Marcus in his quest to dive deeper into the Less Than Jake discography. 

2023 Repress on Black on Fat Wreck

Fan Boy

Towards the end of last year I saw Quicksand for the first time and thus crossed off one of my main wants on my bucket list of bands/artists I want to see. They opened with Omission and for the next 45 minutes or so I was completely captivated by the band, and in particular Walter Schreifels. He’s just such a talented musician and you could clearly tell he was having a great time. Dude couldn’t write a bad song if he wanted to. 

After the show I made the resolution to buy any Walter related material I didn’t have already. I’ve had United By Fate for quite a white and it is a a great record. I don’t know what kept me from buying the second Rival Schools LP for so long, but here we finally are. Not quite as good as United By Fate, but Petals is another excellent album. The artwork fits the name of the album really nicely and the vinyl color is chosen really well. I’m very glad I was able to add this to the collection. 

2024 Repress on Clear Pink Swirl on Run For Cover /1000

Okay Player

Another classic by what now can also be considered a classic band. Illadelph Haflife is The Roots‘ third LP and is broader in its musical approach, but also darker in some respects. Can‘t go wrong with The Roots. 

Return To The Classics

On my quest to add more non-hardcore/punk records to my collection I picked up this absolute hip hop classic from 1989. I‘d never listened to Three Feet High And Rising in total to be honest, but it appears on many greatest hip hop records lists, so I decided to get a copy. The artwork is pretty cool too. This could easily be a Turnstile cover as well. 

I don‘t know what it is, but hip hop from the 80s and 90s was just different. This, to me, is the golden age of hip hop. But most likely, this is a me issue and I just don’t know enough about the current hip hop scene. Be that as it may, this is a great album and I recognized a lot of songs from skate videos. Usually I‘d prefer picking up an old copy on black vinyl, but this repress on yellow vinyl was not only cheaper, it also looks really cool. 

2023 Repress on Solid Yellow on AOI

April 19th, 1982

People seeing the Bad Brains in the late 70s and early 80s usually run out of superlatives when they talk about those shows. I sure wish I could have seen then in their prime, but since I‘m neither from the US, nor had I been alive yet, I‘ll have to make do with videos and live recordings. One of the more legendary Bad Brains shows took place at 9.30 Club in Washington on April 19, 1982, which was roughly one month before I was born. Great song selection (including Banned at DC, which is kinda funny) and pretty good quality for a live bootleg from 1982. 

Uprising

Last year I picked up a couple of Bob Marley & The Wailers records and I always knew I wanted to get more of their discography. When I saw this copy of Uprising sitting in the record store my friends and I went to for a really good price, I just had to get it even though there’s a stain on the bottom right corner. The songs on the A-side are alright, but on the B-Side there are some real hits. 

Live At The Hollywood Bowl

When a bunch of record collectors hang out together, obviously they will go to the local record store sooner or later. Well, that‘s exactly what we did and we all walked out of the store with a few more records each. Mission accomplished.

I might have been influenced by the two Beatles records I had already received on that trip, so picking up another one just felt right. I‘ve stated before that I really like live records and this is a great one! Actually it’s not a live records of once concert, rather songs were taken from two or three different concerts. Opinions on this vary. Be that as it may, the song selection reflects the time period of the band quite well. This album came out way later in 1977, so seven years after the band The Beatles had disbanded and a good 12 to 13 years after the songs were recorded. People often complain about the audio quality of live recordings, but the songs on here sound really, really good. It must have been quite the effort to find a balance between the band and the about 19,000 (most female) people screaming at the top of their lungs to make the audio experience as enjoyable as it is. That‘s actually one of the reasons why I like this album so much, even though most of my favorite Beatles songs aren‘t even on there - because the recordings manage to show what Beatlesmania was like: C-R-A-Z-Y! 

The best moment on the record for me occurs during Help!, which is one of my favorite Bealtes‘ songs. At one point during the song, John Lennon‘s voice cracks and he has to suppress a slight laughter because he seems to be in disbelief / in awe of what‘s happening around him. I mean, he was only 24/25 at the time the song was recorded and he was playing in the biggest band in the world, so playing in front of thousands of people in the US must have still felt like a dream at this point. 

Another thing I really like about this record is that they played a bunch of covers. You could argue that playing five covers out of thirteen songs total might be a bit much, but I like bands paying homage to their heroes. Plus, some of the songs they played live back then had also been released on Beatles LPs. 

Last, but not least I got this record because of the leaflet it came with advertising a book for Beatles fans. I‘m just a sucker for stuff like this. The book title translates to “The Beatles - Their Career, Their Music, Their Successes“. The book not only gives info on the band history and the members, but also on the pressing info on the various Beatles records, so basically it‘s like  the Flex! Discography, just for Beatles records, at least that‘s how I picture it in my head. Makes me wonder if there was a scene of Beatles collectors around back then. I already checked and you can get a decent used copy for under 10€ and I‘m really intrigued to get one of these at one point. The leaflet still contains the original postcard you could use to order the book back then, but I doubt that will still work, haha. Even though I‘m tempted to try it. Sleeve, record and all the extra gimmicks are in pristine condition and considering what I paid for the record, this might end up on my list of favorite pick ups this year in the category Value for Money.

A Collection of Oldies

A Collection of Oldies, not only an apt name for this record, but also if anyone wanted to refer to three older guys hanging out talking about music, amirite?

This record was another gift I received from my friend who gave me the Beatles 7“ I wrote about in the previous post. To give you some context: my friend collects Japanese pressings of Beatles records. I love how people buying records come up with all of these unique micro collections and I must say, those Japanese pressings are pretty awesome. The lyric sheets are pretty interesting with Japanese and English on them, and all of the records come on this really amazing dark shade of clear red vinyl. The details on these Japanese pressings are pretty neat. For example, they all have this red dot on the spine, which is usually white, so you get a Japanese flag to make them easily recognizable. A bunch of these next to each other on a shelf look pretty sweet. Usually they come with an OBI strip as well, but this copy doesn‘t have one unfortunately. 

I really like the songs on this collection, too. Judging by the cover art, which is sort of trippy, you‘d probably think this is a collection of later era Beatles songs, but they‘re all songs from the early days of their carrer since this compilation was originally released in 1966. I‘ve heard all of them a million times, but not in this particular order, so this is still a fun listen.

While this is not an original, this repress from 1970 still is one of the oldest records I own. Considering it‘s a 55 year old record, this is in pristine condition. I‘m very grateful for this cool record and even more so for having such good friends. 

1970 Repress on Clear Dark Red on Apple /???

Edit: Forgot to include the close up of the lyric sheet in my original post. The song titles are listed in English and Japanese, the lyrics are English only. This is printed on quality paper as well and has a really nice feel to it. 

Now And Then

Happy new year, everyone. I spent the beginning of the new year with a good friend and his family. People I love and don‘t nearly get to see as often I‘d like to. We did the same thing two years ago and I wrote similar words and they are still true. But such is life. Having said that, the five days we spent together were an absolute bliss. Not only did my family and I get to see them, another person we‘re friends with was travelling Europe, so we all got to hang out for almost a week despite living in three different countries spread over to continents. 

Daytime was for food, sightseeing and family activities, night-time was for sports and music talks. We always pick up stuff for each other we think the others might like, but this time we got exchange records personally instead of receiving parcels, which was pretty cool. We all have different tastes in music in some regards, but we also have some bands we all can agree on. One of these is The Beatles. I was graciously given a copy of Now And Then, which just came out in 2023 and is the final single by The Beatles. Originally it was recorded as a demo by John Lennon in 1977, but the other three members of The Beatles all worked on the song after John Lennon‘s death, albeit to varying degrees. It‘s a good enough song, but not as good as their biggest hits. On the b-side you get Love Me Do, an absolute classic from the early days of the band. It says it‘s a 2023 remix, but I also found info on Discogs that this is 1962 singles version. Since I don‘t own one of these, I can‘t really attest to that. 

The artwork is whatever, but at least the vinyl colour is pretty cool. A really cool shade of baby blue with some white marble. 

I really hope we can make this New Year‘s hang out a biannual thing, so I can make a similar post in two years. 

2023 Press on Baby Blue w/ White Marble on Apple/Parlopahone /???