Reigning Supremes

The other record I picked up at the record store the other day was a best of by Diana Ross & The Supremes. I need to get more into soul music. I’ve always loved it when songs from that genre were used in 80s and 90s movies, but I never listened to soul music much at home. Time to change that.

Diana Ross & The Supremes werd huge in the 1960s and rightfully though in my opinion. This is a German best of compilation from the late 1960s. Now, I could have picked up another best of album of theirs with more songs for less money, but I didn’t. This cover is much better than the other one and I really like the fact that the label gave the buyers biographical info on the artists. Now, if you look at this through a 2025 lense, this is very cringe - as the younger generation would say - but as a historic document it is certainly very interesting.

Red Album

When I picked up the Beatles box set, I wrote that I fell in love with them when I listened to the red and blue album as a teenager. Well, those weren‘t included in the aforementioned box set, so I knew I had to get them at one point. That point came when I made a quick stop at the local record store. Got it for a really good price too and it felt pretty good to buy a record from an actual store. 

Never Enough

One of the more anticipated albums of 2025 was the new Turnstile LP. I‘m not a big fan of singles being dropped before the actual album release, so I didn‘t listed to any new Turnstile material before ordering a copy. But based on the fact that I liked each of the previous albums, there was no reason not to order Turnstile‘s new record. 

When I first listened to the whole LP, I felt a little lukewarm towards it. My initial verdict was ‘this might be a grower‘ - and I’ve been right with my assessment. I worked the whole day in the garden today and I must have listened to the record for at least 8 hours. Never Enough is a pretty apt title for this album. Time Is Happening is probably my favorite song as of now. It‘s a pretty short and simple song, but the lyrics somehow strike a chord with me. 

I‘ve heard some chatter whether or not this is still a hardcore record or not. My 5 cents: Who cares? It‘s a fantastic record however you want to classify it. There‘s clearly hardcore DNA woven in on Never Enough. Does Turnstile use instruments you wouldn‘t hear on most hardcore records? Absolutely. The songs don‘t sound like AF 1983, but there‘s obviously a ton of Bad Brains worship. Actually, the more I listen to the record, the more I'm reminded of I Against I.

I like the vinyl color itself, but it wasn’t my first choice. I just bought a copy from a German distro to save on shipping/customs. The European Turnstile store had already sold out all the really nice looking copies, so I bought whatever I could get my hands on without having to pay an arm and a leg. The pressing info is kind of all over the place, I didn‘t even find a number for the version I have. There are like 20 versions listed on Discogs already, and the total number of the first press is 35,000+ vinyl copies - and that is despite the fact that for 8 versions no numbers are provided. That‘s crazy for a (hardcore) band this day and age. 

1st Press on Red Dark Wave [Target Exclusive US, HMV + Indies exclusive UK] on Roadrunner /???

Tokyo, Two to Eight

For some reason I felt the urge to add a Bane CD to the collection a couple of weeks ago. I own most of the versions of the different 7“s of the city series, but I still wanted to have the Tokyo, 7:58pm CD. I‘have owned the Curitiba CD since when it came out, but for whatever reason I wanted this version as well. I found a copy for a fraction of what the going rate on Discogs is. 

Hands down, the main reason why I wanted this CD was most likely just the fact that I wanted to own a different version on CD. However, the ulterior motive behind me buying this CD was the possibility of getting the sticker you can see in the top right corner. 

Last year, when we were on holiday my family and I spent a week with friend and fellow Bane collector Dan. As I was going through some of his things, I noticed a Bane sticker I hadn‘t seen before. I sent a picture of the sticker to another friend, who collects hardcore stickers. He hadn‘t seen that sticker either but wanted one badly after seeing it. 

A few weeks ago, I chatted with said friend who collects stickers and he told me he still hadn‘t found one. Now, Dan had mentioned that the sticker might have come with the Tokyo, 7:58pm CD, but he wasn‘t 100% sure. When I was thinking about buying this CD I remembered Dan telling me that detail and given his extraordinary memory when it comes to nerd stuff like this, I thought why not take a shot. I didn‘t get my hopes up though, because what are the odds of a sticker, which is a form of art meant to be put somewhere, still being with a CD that was released more than 15 years ago. Well, lo and behold, when the CD arrived, I opened it and, boom, there was the sticker! So I got the CD I wanted and while I would have liked to keep the sticker for myself, I knew that my friend appreciates stickers much more than I do, so I sent him the sticker for his collection. Win-win. 

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.