...Shall Be Judged (Again)

I don't know why but I really have a soft spot for pink (and as a matter of fact also for purple) vinyl. I just think it looks almost always awesome. Just like this Burn 7", which is one of the best hardcore 7"s ever recorded. I know that I said this before, but some things need to be said just every so often. Great music, great lyrics, awesome pink vinyl. What could a record collector want more? First press /1000.

On a side note: this year shapes up to be pretty good music and collecting-wise. I've managed to pick up some classic records and some long-time items on my want list, plus there have been a lot of new releases that turned out to be really great. Let's see how it keeps going.

Free To Think, Free To Be

There are certain records on my want list that I think I'll never own for various reason. Be it that they are too expensive or simply so rare that the odds of me owning them are really, really small. This record here is a prime example for that. There are only 10 copies of the so-called 'Buffalo press' of Bane's Free To Think Free To Be 7". The funny thing is that no one of the people involved in making this record actually remembers making it. It seems that the 'Buffalo press' were the remaining ten copies of the 2nd press of the Free To Think Free To Be 7". Tre from Deathwish most likely marked them for a show in Buffalo, hence the name. The records of this 'pressing' don't have consecutive numbers. My copy is #169 (= Buffalo press #6), the other known one is #267 (= Buffalo press #7).
The only copy I knew of was Brian Murphy's. He had it listed on his HYE list and in the pressing info he provides on howsyouredge.com. That's how I came to know about this version in the first place. I've been collecting Bane for a couple of years now, but prior to this one I had never even seen one or heard of one for sale. Not even Marcus Andrews has one of these and that says a lot since he has the most complete Bane collection I know of, including insanely hard to come by test pressings of the early releases. So naturally I assumed I'd never get one of these…
In the end it took me less than 30 minutes to get it. I found this ebay listing of a lot consisting of three Bane 7"s. Nothing too fancy at first glance, but when I read the description I saw that the seller had written something about writing on the dust sleeve of the Free To Think Free To Be 7". Something about Buffalo and limited to 10. There hadn't been any bids made yet, most likely because I stumbled over the auction minutes after it had been put up. I didn't hesitate and contacted the seller to see if he was down for accepting offers. He was and after writing back and forth for roughly half an hour we had come to an agreement and a few minutes later I paid to seal the deal. I didn't even have time to try to verify if this was legit. When I received the record, I sent a picture to Brian Murphy and he told me this one looked exactly like his copy. Sometimes you get to be lucky that way. I was really happy that I managed to pick up the Give Blood test pressing a few weeks ago, but this record really makes my year.

RSD 2014

Everybody and their grandmother has already posted about their Record Store Day scores. Or so it seems. Well, with only two and a half weeks of delay, I'm finally chiming in here.
But first of all, let's talk about Record Store Day here for a minute. Introducing such a day was a really good idea and it still is a cause that is worthy of support if you can help out your local record store and bring in some extra cash. It's also cool if long out of print records are re-issued and you can save some money by buying reasonably priced re-issues rather than paying an arm and a leg for originals. Originals are way cooler of course, but sometimes I'm not interested in having an early edition, special colour or things like that and I just want to have the records for the music. There are also some records that are just waaaaay too expensive, so if RSD provides an opportunity to pick up some cheap re-issues, I'm all for that. That's the upside of RSD. On the downside, RSD could also be called Record Flipping Day nowadays since a myriad of people crawl out of the woodwork, who probably buy records once a year and that is - you might have guessed correctly - on RSD, just so they can run home and put them on eBay to flip them. If you're not interested in the records and buy them just so you can make money off of them, fuck off. End of rant.

One of the more bizarre developments surrounding RSD is that you can actually pre-order certain records from labels directly. Defies the whole purpose of RSD somehow, but that's the way it is in 2014. I shouldn't really complain about that thought, because without being able to pre-order, I probably would have never got my hands on these two records. I'm talking about the re-issues of the two The Fix 7"s released by Touch and Go. Well, actually only 300 were up for pre-order, the other 700 were sold on RSD in stores. I don't want to twist the truth here just for a dramatic effect. These records are classics, and rightly so, and I really dig them, but there's no way I'd have ever spent the kind of money that these two records usually go for. So I'm really happy that Touch and Go decided to re-issue them and I'm even happier that they didn't botch these re-issues like they did with the Negative Approach 7". If you've ever seen the new cover, you know what I'm talking about. What I don't like about this re-issue at all is the fact that they come with autographs. Really? Like, really? Autographs on hardcore 7"s? Why? Who cares about shit like that?

I didn't actually go out on RSD to hunt for records. Partly because I didn't really care about most of the records that were released, except for the two The Fix 7"s, which I had already pre-ordered. Partly because there are no record stores I could have gone to where I live.
However, I went to Prague the day after RSD and spent a couple of days there. On our last day, we had some time to kill and I checked if there were any good record stores close by. So we went to Rekomando, a record store with a rather large hardcore and punk section. They still had copies of the Battery and Up Front LPs, among others, and I finally caved in and bought both of them. I had wanted the Battery LP for a long time, and would have been pleased with a black copy, too, but since this orange version was sitting right in front of me, I decided to pick it up. I kind of regret it now since Rev has released a maroon version in the meantime, which looks so much better than the orange vinyl. Maybe I'll 'upgrade' it soon.

Catching Up 04/14

More keeping up-to-date with recent releases and re-reissues. Scratch The Surface was one of the first hardcore records I ever listened to and it's one of the few records I can (still) listen to in one go. So many good songs on that record including many live classics. I was very pleased to read that there would be a re-issue of this classic SOIA record to honour the 20 year anniversary of its original release. It rightly deserves it. Even if you already have one of the original records, you should still buy it since this re-issue comes with "Straight Ahead" as a bonus song. The whole package is pretty well done. 180g vinyl and a nice colour that matches the artwork really nicely. You probably don't have to hurry since there are 1,500 copies of this, but you shouldn't wait too long either.

I also picked up the latest release by one of my favourite bands from Germany right now: Jungbluth. They did a split with Callow, who I didn't know before. Okay band, but nothing that gets me overly excited. Jungbluth clearly wins this, although I have to admit that I might be a little biased here… I might be what you call a fanboy. Anyway, if you're into dark and heavy hardcore with a political attitude, you should definitely check out this band. So, so good.

Holy shit. This might be one of my favourite records this year already. Doesn't matter that the songs were originally recorded in 1980. Yes, I'm talking about the S.O.A. demo that was recently released on vinyl by Dischord. 80s hardcore at its best with Henry Rollins' trademark vocals. All killer, no filler. Makes me want to shave my head so badly, haha.

Give More, Give Everything, Give Blood

So, here it is. The most expensive record I have ever purchased and probably will purchase in a long time: the test pressing of the reissue that Triple B did for Bane's Give Blood LP for the album's ten year anniversary. I'd been hunting down one of these for a long time, contacted a lot of people - to no avail -, missed out on one on a few occasions on eBay, but finally was able to score one. Didn't come cheap, but it was well worth it.

I didn't buy the whole set when Triple B released this re-issue a few years back because I was a little strapped for money then. I reasoned that with black being the least rare colour, chances would be good that I might pick up this particular version along the road for a reasonable price. And that's just the way it happened. I stumbled across this black vinyl copy at a distro at one of the shows Bane recently played in order to promote their upcoming LP. Nice coincidence, right? So ironically, the least rare version completes this set for me. Triple B truly did a great job with this re-issue. Embossed cover, new cover art and an awesome booklet with lots of pictures and some bonus texts by the band. Plus, the choice of colours for the vinyl is excellent. You can really see that the label wanted to honour this record and the band with this re-release.

Bane - Give Blood (reissue on Triple B)

Bane - Give Blood - test pressing - toothpaste green - /15
Bane - Give Blood - red/white splatter - /200
Bane - Give Blood - white - /400
Bane - Give Blood - clear red - /400 (Equal Vision exclusive colour)
Bane - Give Blood - black - /1000

No Spiritual Surrender

So, I went a little crazy last month as far as buying records goes. At least for my standards. But dammit, there were so many good records to get for reasonable prices that I figured I might save some money in the long run. Funny how our mind plays these kinds of tricks on us… Now the records are slowly showing up on my doorstep.
I finally got one of my main wants - a first press copy of No Spiritual Surrender by Inside out on blue vinyl. 1000 of these exist but they're not easy to come by. Probably because this is an awesome record. Maybe because it looks so damn good. Most likely because of both points. I love everything about this record and I often wonder what an Inside Out LP would have been like…

Here's a little family picture.

1st press on blue /1000
'Final press' on white /350
Later press on black vinyl /???
2013 press on clear /510 or 550
[Apparently there were  two different pressings on clear vinyl. Don't know which one this is or if there's a difference between the two clear version.]
2013 press on clear red /550

Shall Be Jugded

Sorry, Shall Be Judged of course. My bad. Or actually it's Rev's bad since they made this spelling mistake on the back cover 24 years ago (and never bothered to correct it!). This is one of the best records that Rev has ever put out. I can never decide between this one, No Spiritual Surrender by Inside Out or the two Gorilla Biscuits records. Tough choice if you ask me. Godhead is probably one of the best hardcore songs ever written.
This is also one of the few Rev releases I care about in a true collector's sense, meaning I want all of them! This is a 2nd press copy. Comes with a black&white insert and there's still the Connecticut address on the back cover. I picked this up when I was at a festival recently and some guy had a box of 2nd hand records with him. Not mint condition, but it plays fine and at the price I paid it'd have been stupid to not pick it up.

A Life Less Plagued

This is one of my favourite LPs from the early 2000s by one of my favourite bands from that time. Much better than the 7"s imho. A Life Less Plagued is actually one of the few albums I don't want to skip any songs on. Very rare in my book, cause there's usually at least one song on LPs I don't like.  Back then it helped Bridge 9 getting really big and becoming one of the most important hardcore labels of that era. (For an excessive read on Carry On check Kyle Whitlow's blog). This is the first press on orange /150. I had this record before but traded it years ago to make some progress with one of my collections. I didn't really regret making this trade because I probably wouldn't have got the other record at all. I've never seen another copy of the record I got pop up after that. But I knew right away that I needed this specific LP back in my collection at one point. Took me some time, but sometimes patience is the way to go. The orange vinyl, which this picture sadly does not do justice, looks so sick if you hold in your hands. There are some white swirls in this mix, looks great. Matches the artwork really well, too. This one actually doesn't look quite as nice as the one I had before, if I remember correctly, but it's still a sweet piece of vinyl. Really glad to have this one back.

High scores

A buddy of mine has been selling a couple of his records to finance a few releases of his own (check koepfen.tictail.com). Win-win for everyone, because I was able to pick up these two Highscore LPs. Good fastcore made in Germany from the early 2000s. If you don't know them, make sure you'll give them a listen. They didn't end up on 625 Thrashcore later on without a reason. If you make it on a US label as a European band, you know you got something good going.

The first LP is called New Fuel. It was released in 2000 first on Bushido Records (no connection with the German rapper…) and later on Deranged Records. This is the latter version. Nothing fancy, but I'd wanted to have these LPs for quite some time, so I wasn't particularly picky about the pressing. Plus I could help out a good dude.

I also picked up the second Highscore LP - Unsuspecting Actors In A Bad Soap Opera. This is the Stereodrive Records version. I have no idea about pressing numbers, but honestly, I don't really care about that. Just wanted to have the records.

It All Ain't Gold That Glitters

On my seemlingy never-ending quest of collecting Bane records I thought I was one step closer to completion when I came across a Holding This Moment 7" on green vinyl - the last version I needed for my collection. Minus test pressing that is. Oh well, one can dream I guess. Anyway, I contacted the seller and we quickly agreed on a fair price. Fast forward, the record finally arrived on my doorstep some time ago and I eagerly opened the parcel, but only to be disappointed. As it turned out, the dude selling the record "got confused" and mixed up the records he had. I contacted him and he told me that he also had Free To Think, Free To Be on green vinyl, but unfortunately not Holding This Moment and that he had put the wrong colour in the description. To add insult to injury, it even says "Gold" on the plastic sleeve, but since I hadn't asked for pictures, I hadn't seen that before buying it. Stupid, really, but that's how it goes sometimes. So instead of finally getting the last puzzle piece to this particular record, I ended up with another copy on gold. It would have been too much of a hassle to send it back to the States, so I decided to keep it. It's not that bad though since a buddy of mine is still looking for this particular record and we've already worked out a trade.

I don't know if I'm alone with that tick, but whenever I want to buy only one record from a seller or online distro, I can't shake the feeling that buying only one record doesn't justify the shipping cost. I'm aware that this is rather stupid and there's no real logic behind it, but that's just the way it is. So I usually end up scouring lists for (at least) one more record I could buy in addition to the one I originally wanted. Sometimes that's hard, sometimes it's rather easy to find more records. This one was an easy choice. Grade's Triumph & Tragedy holds a special place in my heart. I had heard of this band before, but never really gave it a listen. That changed when I got a mix-tape by my then girlfriend-to-be and now current girlfriend and there was this one song on it that just floored me. Turns out it was Triumph and Tragedy by Grade. So when I finally had the chance to pick up this record on vinyl, I had to get it. 543 copies on gold vinyl exist of this record. 

Built To Last

So, another big want crossed off of my list. Coloured Sick Of It All vinyl is kind of hard to come by, especially the records that came out on Equal Vision and Fat Wreck. Probably because there are some crazy Fat Wreck collectors out there and also because the numbers pressed on coloured vinyl are usually somewhat low for a band of this caliber. Built To Last comes on this sweet looking blue marble. Only 300 were copies of this exist and they don't pop up too often. So when I recently saw that someone on a messageboard offered this for a fair price, I knew this was the time to finally get it. A lot of people don't like the 'later' SOIA albums, i.e. everything after Scratch The Surface or even after Blood, Sweat And No Tears already, but I can enjoy almost all of their records. Built To Last is no exception here. Good Lookin' Out, Built To Last and Us vs. Them are probably my favourite songs on this LP. Besides, they make great live songs. One more down, many to go.

Roll With The Punches

After passing up on this record for many, many times I pulled the trigger and was finally able to cross this off of my want list. Fun fact, my want list somehow never seems to get shorter, no matter how many records I buy. I wonder why that is... Anyway, Carry On's Roll With The Punches is a great 7". A couple of songs ended up on the LP they released a year later, which is even better than this 7", so you definitely need both of these records. One of my favourite bands from that time. 200 copies on stunningly looking baby blue marbled vinyl.

In addition to the Carry On 7" I bought, the seller threw in this Times Together 7" that came out on Just Another Day records a few years ago. If you read this, thanks again, man. I had never heard of the band, but I really like it. Sounds like a mix between Uniform Choice and H20. Since you can't go with neither of these two bands, you know you're getting something good here.

Gooooooooooooooooooooo!

A buddy of mine posted a picture of his Go! collection on instagram some time ago, which made me listen to the two Go! 7"s I already had. Something I hadn't done in a long time. Too long a time actually. I'd almost forgotten how good they were. Good, powerful hardcore with very outspoken political lyrics. All the 7"s originally came on black vinyl only as far as I know. Luckily, a lot of people seem to have forgotten or simply never cared about this band, so you can pick up their records for rather cheap. Buy them all! Okay, maybe you don't need the live 7" and the Root Canal flexi (!), but you should definitely check out the other ones. Really good NYHC band, which sadly flies under the radar of most people.

Go! - Your Power Means Nothing
Go! - Why Suffer?
Go! - Root Canal
Go! - And The Time Is Now…
Go! - Only Sheep Need A Leader (Live in Utrecht)

More Iron Chic

Another release by my latest new favourite band Iron Chic. This is a split 7" with a band called Pacer. Never heard of the latter and probably won't in the future either. Not really my cup of tea. The Iron Chic songs are good, but not awesome. But of course it'd be a little bit too much to ask to have outstanding hits on every single release. Nevertheless I'm glad I finally have a copy of this. First press on white vinyl out of 400.

All On Black II

Not only did I manage to pick up a whole bunch of 7"s on black vinyl, but with the same order I got three LPs that came all on black vinyl, too. What are the odds, right?

Some time ago I complained about the lack of compilations nowadays. So when I heard that Crucial Response was to release a compilation I knew I had to get it. Crucial Response had some quality releases in the past and from what I read the list of bands on this compilation sounded really promising. I do have mixed feelings about this LP though, now that I actually have it in my hands. There are some really good bands on it, both veteran and current. My favourite songs on here are probably by Snob Value, Sniffing Glue, Skaggs and Become. I'm really bummed that the latter already broke up. I had really enjoyed their demo and was looking forward to more to come. If you're into early, Boston-style hardcore at all, you should definitely check out Skaggs and get the two tapes they have put out so far.
However, my mixed feelings stem from including this band Dogends on the compilation. If anyone out there still thinks it's ok to use words like 'faggot' as an effort to insult someone, you can fuck off. I don't know if this was just 'meant as a joke' or that 'if I knew these guys, I'd know they weren't bad guys and didn't mean it like that' - these being the most common excuses around -, but that doesn't make it any less stupid. I also wish the label had taken more interest in the lyrics their bands have. Somewhat ruins this for me.

I've heard and read a lot of good things about this LP and it ended quite highly on many of the TOP 2013 lists that I saw, so I had to get it and see for myself. And I didn't get disappointed, that's for sure. Rough hardcore played in an early 80's style. X-Claim bands come to mind as a reference, but there's also some hint of early British hardcore in there. What makes this band really special is the fact that it consists of only one band member, Tom Pimlott, who plays all the instruments on the recordings. Talk about your DIY ethics. Will be listening to a lot in the future most likely.
This is the Painkiller version on black vinyl. 'City Streets' also comes on blue and red vinyl, and to make it more interesting for collectors, it was released on two different labels.

This is probably my favourite release of the lot 'All On Black' that I recently got. Left in Ruins' 'Ghost' LP, which is a split release by Per Koro, Epidemic and Ruins Records, is 10 songs of pure rage. One-sided LP, 10 songs in 14 minutes, no fancy gimmicks. Just pure raging hardcore. Plus one of the best covers I've ever heard. Classic rock song goes hardcore. So, so good.