Before The World Caves In

A couple of months ago a buddy of mine asked if I wanted to go see Good Riddance with him next August. I didn’t hesitate to say yes, because Good Riddance rules, and the last time I saw them live, maybe five years ago or so, they were excellent. When I happened to see that they had a new record out, it didn’t take me long to order a copy. Their 90s records are untouchable and some of my all-time favorites of that genre, but I also have a soft spot for their post reunion records. Before The World Caves In however is somewhat disappointing. I haven’t found the tracks on this album yet. Maybe I need to spend more time with it, maybe I wasn’t in the right mood, but this is my least favorite GR so far. I’m still very excited about seeing them soon live. 

1st Press on Black on Fat Wreck /???

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

Don't Turn Away

While ordering the Good Riddance LP I also picked up two more records from Fat Wreck that I'd long meant to pick up. The first of those two is Face To Face's debut LP. Originally released by Dr Strange Records in 1992, Fat Wreck has handled all the rereleases since 1994. I think the black/clear halves combo works quite well here, although blue and clear should have been the obvious choices.

Repress Of The Revolution

There are certain bands that - despite making the same promise to yourself over and over again - you will still buy every repress of. Good Riddance is such an example for me. They're probably the best band ever on Fat Wreck and one of my favourite bands ever. One of my collecting goals is to have all of the LPs on coloured vinyl at some point. That point is far, far away right now, because as of now I only have the last two records on coloured vinyl, but eventually I'm going to get there. When I saw a post on Instagram announcing a repress of their 3rd LP, I didn't hesitate a second, because coloured Fat Wreck vinyl usually sells out insanely fast. I think it came out really beautifully.

Decoy

Prior to this record, I didn't have any 7"s by Good Riddance. They're just one of those bands I have filed under LP band for some weird reason. But since I have them also files under few bands with a flawless discographies (so far), I really wanted to check out their 7"s too. Pretty damn good, just like the rest of their releases. Nothing fancy here, just plain black vinyl. I don't even know if Fat Wreck did a colour release for this 7".

Good Riddance

Good Riddance is one of those bands that apparently is unable to release a bad record. I love all their older material, so when I saw on Instagram that the pre-orders for their new LP were up, I had to get one. Funnily enough, I hadn't known anything about them releasing a new record prior to seeing the info about the pre-order being up-and-running. Peace In Our Time turned out to be a pretty good record, both by general and Good Riddance standards. I don't listen to melodic punk rock bands on a regular basis anymore and if I do, it is mainly for no nostalgic reasons - with the exception of Good Riddance. I still listen to them quite often. In my opinion they always stood out from all the those bands on Fat Wreck. Russ Rankin always managed to pull of really well written lyrics, too. That's probably why. As I said before, I think Good Riddance has a flawless discography, which is not a bad feat for a band that has been around that long.
I couldn't find any information on the pressing info for this release, but seeing that this is a Fat Wreck release, I'm inclined to say there's one variant on colour, the rest is on black vinyl. The orange vinyl with that brown/black blotch looks pretty good. The LP also comes with a one-sided bonus 7". On the b-side there's an etching of the Good Riddance bomb logo.