Gorilla Bootlegs

A couple of months ago a vey good friend of mine came to stay at our place with his family for a few days. He's one of those friend I don't see nearly often enough, but whenever we do it's like we've been hanging out daily for the last couple of years. It's a great feeling to have friendships like this. 

One of those evenings we got to hang out alone and listened to a bunch of records and talked about this and that. While talking about hardcore I told him that I recently found out that there is a version of Start Today with Walter singing, which was also news to him. I think I learned about this via Axe To Grind podcast and my mind was blown when I heard that. A quick research afterwards told me that there is a CD version of that, aptly called Walter Sings The Hits. I was considering buying the CD version, but then another friend posted a picture of the record below on his Instagram, which obviously made me want to buy the vinyl version. I'm not a big fan of bootlegs, but sometimes there's no way around it. 

That night when I was talking to my friend, I happened to find an online source and quickly ordered two copies. The sound isn't great and if sort of complain about the sound quality of a record, this means something. It's still a fun listed every once in while. 

Black vinyl /???

Start Today

Things have been quiet here lately. But between life and work, that's how it goes sometimes. I still have a few records that I bought over the last few weeks that I'm going to post about before things are going to slow down again.

I've managed to pick up most of the variants of this all-time great hardcore record over the last few years, only a red copy had evaded me for the longest time. A few weeks ago, I finally found a reasonably priced copy and best of all, it was still sealed! So not only did I manage to cross this beauty off my list, but this copy is also in pristine condition. I just love it. Now, people may say that it’s stupid to open such a gem, but for me records are meant to be listened to, so keeping it sealed wasn’t really an option for me. Also, how could I other wise have appreciated its full beauty?

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

Start Today

I know that the records covered in the last posts were not the most exciting ones from a collector's point of view, so I thought I'd show a really good one I picked up recently. Every hardcore kid loves Gorilla Biscuits. Every hardcore kid wants coloured Gorilla Biscuits vinyl. I won't pretend I'm any different. So here you are: Gorilla Biscuits' Start Today ze German press on We Bite Records. I've heard the numbers 500 and 200 info floating around on the Internet as pressing info, but nobody seems to know for sure how many there were pressed.

Rev 25

While at it I thought 'Why not expand the - to be honest rather sad - Gorilla Biscuits collection?' Same seller meant no extra shipping cost either. So here we are. Back in 2012 Revelation Records celebrated their 25th anniversary. There were a bunch of showcases with former, reformed and current bands on Revelation. For one of these showcases, the one in Chicago to be precise, Rev made a special set of records which included represses of the GB 7", YOT 7", Into Another 7" and Texas Is The Reason 7". All of them came with the same layout: black sleeve with the logo on front. The records also came on the same colour, which in this case was clear. Rev did a really good job with these. The records look really classy and befitted the occasion.
Had I been at the show, I definitely would have bought a set. A few days after the showcase in Chicago Rev sold a few of them online, but of course I missed out on those as well because of the time difference. So I had to wait a few more years. Again, it was well worth the wait. To be honest, the only record I really care about is the GB 7". The others would be a nice addition, but I don't consider them a must have.

Bananacore

I'm pretty sure that everybody who's into collecting vinyl has certain records that could be considered milestones of their collection. It doesn't have to be the most rare or most expensive record or variant of a record, but rather one that feels very special for some reason. For me personally, the s.t. 7" by Gorilla Biscuits on yellow vinyl is a prime example of that. It's just always been one of those records I knew I just had to have at some point. I always hesitated though when I had the chance to acquire one of these the last few years since the price - like for many early Rev releases - has gone up considerably. But at some point you just have to pull the trigger. On that note, I've become a big fan of the 'Make Offer' button on Discogs lately... It was well worth the wait though because record and sleeve are in awesome condition for a record that age.
Officially 2000 copies of this variant exist, but it wouldn't be an early Rev release if there weren't a bunch of variants out there. There's also a yellow/off white variant, 50-90 copies have a Warzone b-side label, and some come with red letters on the sleeve instead of the purple ones you can see here. So it's rather difficult to pinpoint a number of how many there are exactly.

Start Today

Alright, no need to talk about the greatness and importance of this record. If you didn't know about Gorilla Biscuits and Start Today, you would have never stumbled across my shitty little blog. But just in case you have no idea who Gorilla Biscuits are, stop doing whatever it is you're doing and listen to everything they ever recorded right now. Gorilla Biscuits have been one of my favourite bands since the first time I heard that fanfare at the beginning of New Direction. As far as my collection goes, it's embarrassing how weak the GB section is. Prior to this I didn't have a single record on colour vinyl, except for the glow in the dark variant released recently. I probably have 10% of all variants, if that. Gorilla Biscuits may be the band with the worst I-really-love-this-band/number-of-records-I-own-ratios in my collection. Mainly because their records go for quite some money these days. But sometimes you have to pull the trigger and spend a little more. I got a nice little unexpected backpay from my health insurance carrier last month, and the timing couldn't have been better, because I came across a purple copy of Start Today for sale literally the next day. This is a major want crossed off the list for me. It looks even better in reality than on all the pictures I droolingly admired over the years. I never knew it wasn't actually solid purple with white streaks. Couldn't be happier.

Start Today

So, 25 years ago one of the best hardcore albums ever was released. You might have heard of this band called Gorilla Biscuits and their debut LP Start Today, so I don't have to talk a whole lot about how good and influential this record was and still is. On a sidenote, I'm really looking forward to the book that Anthony Pappalardo is doing on this particular record.

Rev took the anniversary to re-release this classic LP. And what a re-release this is. Embossed cover (like the original first press), glow-in-the-dark vinyl and a sleeve that is printed on the inside. Great job, Rev. But really, if any LP (on Rev) deserves this kind of deluxe treatment, what other than Start Today? Probably none.

Printed inner sleeve. Nice touch.

There was also a black version of this available, so I grabbed this one too. Can't have too many Gorilla Biscuits records, right?