Down To The Most

Lately, I’ve been rediscovering Down To Nothing and their records have seen a lot of time on my record player. The Splitting Headache 7” is still my favorite release of theirs, but I enjoy most of their catalogue, especially their earlier stuff.

I’ve had a rather ugly press of The Most on orange/purple split since the late 2000s and I’ve always wanted to get a nicer looking copy. There’s a particular version of the first pressing I’ve had my eyes on in forever and finally a copy came for sale for a fair price. Unfortunately, the seller had listed the record incorrectly and I didn’t receive the version I’d wanted. Still, this fifth press actually looks pretty good and definitely looks a lot better than the version I already owned, so I’m ok with getting the wrong record for once. 

5th Press on Turquoise on Revelation /700

Trigger

Last record from my recent haul at the local record store. One of the rules I’ve come up for myself is that whenever there’s a record on Dischord from the 80s available at a reasonable price, just buy it. Is every Dischord release from the 80s great? No. Is every 80s Dischord release necessary? Probably not. Can you really go wrong? No. Are all of them enjoyable on some level? You bet. In short, you’re better off buying Dischord releases from the 80s. 

1st Press on Black on Dischord

Keep 'Em Coming

There's just something about browsing the racks in a record store and buying records right there compared to ordering records online. I'd meant to check out The Ruts for a long time, but never got around to it and by pure coincidence I'd put their first LP, The Crack, on the want list section in my Excel spreadsheet documenting my collection just a couple of days before I actually found a copy. Record and sleeve are in very good condition considering their age. Sadly, the lyric sheet is missing, but the price was too good to pass up on it. 

I really like this record. Gives me a lot of The Clash vibes because there are so many different music styles combined on this record. The cover art is also pretty cool. 

Despite my best efforts and even checking the matrix numbers, I didn't manage to find out which pressing this is exactly, because the Discogs entry is a little confusing. But it must be some early pressing, see below.

Early Press from 1979 (?)

I know that people frown upon scribblings on the cover, labels or lyric sheet, but sometimes, that makes a record also more interesting. Someone wrote "Nov '79" on the front cover, which could be a reference to the release date or date of purchase. 

Wonderfully Weird World

While browsing the soul section in the record store, I came across this Best of Sam Cooke record. Usually I’m not the biggest fan of best of compilations, but since most of those song had originally been released only as 7”s because this was before the album era, I’m perfectly alright with getting this record. This is the kind of music I like listening to while working in my home office, so albums are definitely a much more preferable listening experience than having to stand up after every song. 

I would have bought this record regardless, but what it made even more appealing was the fact that it is a South Korean pressing. Actually it’s a repress from 1981, done 19 years after the original release of this best of compilation in 1962. How it ended up in record store in a small town in Germany, I have no idea. There’s so much weirdness going on here, and I like it. 

What I love about these old records are the short infos you get on the back cover. Such a nice time capsule and throw back to a time when people didn’t have all the information in the world at their finger tips. I also really like the fact you get a signature of the two producers underneath. Thanks, Hugo and Luigi, I think you did a fine job. 

All Over America

After listening extensively to the Beatles catalogue extensively the last couple of years, I figured diving into the solo careers of the four Beatles after the band’s breakup might be a fun activity. I have to admit that I am partial to checking out Paul McCartney and George Harrison first because the two friends of mine I’m talking about the Beatles all the time like their solo work the best. I didn’t really seek out any records, but the last time I went to the local record store, I saw this Wings album sitting on a shelf and grabbed it right away. 

Now, you might say “Wait a minute, didn’t you just recently buy a 3xLP and complained that there was too much music on it? And now you go and buy another 3xLP and a live record for that matter, too? What kind of idiot are you?” Well, yeah, I did do both of those things, and I’ll just let you be the judge of my level of idiocy.

The songs on Wings Over America were recorded at different concerts in 1976 during the American leg of the Wings Over The World tour, which had started the year prior. In addition to Wings songs, the band also played some solo stuff by Paul McCartney and a bunch of Beatles songs, which must have been such a trip for the audience. All in all there are 29 songs which amount to just under two hours of music. Like I said, 3xLPs can be quite taxing, but this one works for me really well, basically because you can also treat each record as an individual live album and I don’t really feel the need to listen all three records to get the full album experience, if that makes sense. 

3xLP on Black on Apple [Circle on Back Cover / Sturdy Cardboard Inner Sleeves]

I really like the artwork on the inside of the gatefold sleeve. Cool pop art of the band that looks pretty awesome.

There’s also this huge poster included. It’s actually a two-sided poster, but I just picked my favorite side to show here.