Top Of The Pick Ups 2016

2016 has been another good year as far as record collecting goes. And even though I cut down massively on buying records for a good three months, I managed to buy a decent amount of records and pick up some really cool collectibles throughout 2016. These records comprise the Top 10 Pick Ups 2016. They're pretty much only records by my all-time favorite band and range from "Whoa, this is an incredible record. I didn't think I'd ever own over a copy of this." over "Huh, I didn't even know this variant existed, but I'm sure glad I stumbled upon it." and "I really like that cover." to "This record means a lot to me because it was a gift by a very generous person.". Especially the last category still makes hardcore and record collecting so much fun.

Thanks to everyone who pointed me towards a record, sold records to and  traded records with me, or even gave me a record as a present. Thanks to everyone who has been following my blog this year and has engaged me in conversation of some sort. It's been a lot of fun.

XXX

Ralf

Schweinfurt

This is one of my favourite rip-off covers out there. Evenworse made this cool sleeve poking fun at Ceremony's Rohnert Park LP for the final show edition of their last 7". Classic Mr Wilson. I didn't get to go to said show, so it took me quite a while to get a hold of this version. I really like the insert as well. You don't get the lyrics, instead the band put in pictures from the whole time of the band's existence. Quite funny to see how the people changed, especially if you know them in person. You also get random facts on the band and its members. This is #11/50.

Urban Waste

Nope, not the real deal. Just a repress. This one is a split release between Even Worse Records and Way Back When Records from 2012. I already have this as a 12" reissue, but if I buy represses, I prefer having represses on the same format as the original.

Local Heroes

I'm pretty sure everybody has this local hero band that they have fond memories of. Even Worse (not the 80's band from New York) were that for me. One of the best shows I ever went to was the record release show for their first split LP. Tiny venue in their hometown, a killer line up and a ton of confetti. Stage dives and high fives. Good times. I still play their early records on a regular basis. They changed their style over the years, which is kind of natural I guess. I totally get it, from a band's perspective, but from a listener's perspective, I was not a big fan of that change. The same goes for Goldust, another really good band from that period. The two bands bonded very closely from what I remember, so a split release was just sort of a given, despite them being quite different in their styles/progression. I didn't pick up this particular release back then, because, as I said, I didn't like the way both bands progressed at the time. On the other hand, it always felt like there was something missing because I didn't have all of Even Worse's release. So I finally decided to rectify that. I'm still not a big fan of both band's later output, but that isn't that important in this case.