CBGB Circa ‘77

Most hardcore kids I know dream of travelling back in time to attend of the famed Sunday matinees at CBGBs. And I am one of them. However, it would be equally as cool to travel back even further in time to see bands like Blondie or the Ramones play there in the mid to late 70s. Since neither scenario is going to happen, live recordings from those shows will have to do. Seeing The Ramones live at CBGBs in 1977 sure would have been cool, right?

I don’t really pay attention to Record Store Day anymore, just like Marcus, but when I see a record I like after the event, I’ll gladly pick it up. Is this a vital addition to the collection? Probably not. Is it a fun addition that makes you wonder what it would have been like to be at that particular show? Absolutely. 

RSD 2025 Press on Clear Red on Sire /???

(I'm) Stranded

Some time ago I sifted through my collection and decided that I didn't need a bunch of records I had doubles of or never listened to anyway. I sold a bunch of them to friends and via Facebook, and took the rest to a record store when I was visiting a friend in Stuttgart. The last time we'd gone record hunting at said store, I'd been quite successful, so I definitely wanted to go back there. I got a good price (aka store credit) for the records I was going to sell, or at least more than I would have gotten had I sold them individually - if I'd have gotten rid off them at all. So I went through the records in the store and although the selection wasn't as good as the last time I'd been there, I still found a couple of items that caught my interest. One of them is a true classic that I'd wanted to add to the collection for some time.
The Saints are often referred to as the The Ramones of Australia, and when you listen to them you can definitely hear similarities. The Saints aren't just a cheap imitation though. They manage to have their own sound. I remember hearing the song (I'm) Stranded in a Black Label skatevideo in the early 2000s and immediately falling in love with it. The rest of the record is also pretty good. This is an original US press from 1977. The cover is still in pretty good shape for that age, despite one corner being clipped, and the record still sounds great.