Japanese Virgin

To start 2020, I put the Japanese pressing of Taken By Force from Scorpions on my Top 10 Want List for the year. I had become obsessed with the original cover that ended up being censored, and I wanted that shit in my collection. The OBI strip was a very cool bonus. Once I had that record in my hands, suddenly I wanted all of my Scorpions records to be Japanese pressings.

I don't own all the Scorpions albums that I'd like to have in my collection, and most of the ones that I have are US or German pressings, but there is just something cool about the prospect of lining up all those OBI strips. At some point, I'm going to have to upgrade those albums that I own that aren't Japanese pressings.

One of the bigger holes in my Scorpions collection was their Virgin Killer record. I love that album, but I've been on the fence if I wanted to grab a pressing with that original cover featuring the prepubescent girl. Sure it tends to offend people, but come on guys, what are you going to do, settle for that a censored cover? Whatever. Give me that original cover. I'm not going to lie...I did have to secretly open the box when it arrived and quickly get that shit into my music room, away from the eyes of my family. I have no problem owning this, but they don't need to know that I have no problem owning this.

Okay, I got confused when I was buying this on eBay, and thought this was a first pressing. I wasn't paying close attention to the OBI differences, and it turns out that this was the '82 reissue and not the '77 pressing. Oh well, the price for each is comparable, so I'm not going to sweat it.

Included with the Virgin Killer album, the seller also had a Japanese pressing of the Best Of Scorpions. I don't typically care about Best Of records, but with a cover that features some kind of spotlight scorpion shooting a laser from a tanned and glistening woman's ass, I guess I'll get down with that.

Originally released in '79, this compilation basically covers the three album stretch of In Trance, Virgin Killer and Taken By Force...plus the best song from Fly To The Rainbow. It is a solid collection.

Birds Of A Feather

Last year, one of the biggest surprises for me was Night Birds. Man, it set me of on a tangent of listening to tons of Circle Jerks, Angry Samoans, Dead Kennedys, Agent Orange, and a bunch of other early 80's Hardcore Punk bands. The Night Birds nailed that sound, and I find that I'm still spinning their discography on a regular basis.

When Grave Mistake put up pre-orders for the Fresh Kills LP, I didn't hesitate to buy a copy. Sure it is a compilation album that combines their 7 inch and demo recordings, and while I already owned the self titled and Midnight Movies records...oh, and I already owned Fresh Kills on CD...there wasn't any way that I was going to miss out on this.

The limited pre-order version came with a pretty cool looking, screened OBI style strip. I've raved on this blog numerous times about how much I love the OBI strip, so of course I thought it was a nice addition with this LP.

The back of each OBI strip is hand numbered out of 210.

A few months back, Grave Mistake issued the second pressing of the Night Birds debut album, The Other Side of Darkness. The first pressing was all on black vinyl, and since the second press was as well, I saw no reason to rush out and buy a copy. Since I was in the Grave Mistake store picking up the new Fresh Kills vinyl, and because I'm an idiot, I decided I might as well pick up that second pressing while I was there. Why the fuck not?

First press has white labels, while the second press got red. Sure they are both black vinyl, but when I set them side by side, I was glad to have one of each.

Winds Of Friends Press

About a month ago, I got a note on Instagram from Marko (@MKJNS69). I don't know Marko, but he'd posted a picture of the blue obi strip pressing of the REACT! comp, Winds Of Change, and I commented that I needed one. Weeks had passed, and I was surprised to hear from him, giving me a heads up that one was available on discogs. Record collector brotherhood.

I jumped over to discogs to check it out, expecting that it would be listed with ridiculous price tag. Much to my surprise it was available for only $5.99. Even with my obsession in collecting Metal records, the price was too good to pass up, and I was glad to grab this copy.

The blue obi pressing was only made available to the bands, and was limited to 100. I'm not sure what the distribution was for these...did each band get 15, and REACT! got the remainder? I don't know. What I do know is that the different colored strip was a cool touch. So cool in fact, that this is the only comp in Hardcore history that I've bothered to collect all the different pressings of. REACT! Records for the win.

Since this blue obi pressing completes the set, it was obviously time to get a picture of them all.

Steamrock OBI Fever

While Coronavirus was really heating up across the world at the end of February, the US was still relatively relaxed and feeling invincible. We could see that things were escalating in other countries, but it was tough to envision how fucked up everything would get here at home. Well, back in those carefree days when I was still going into the office and dinning out whenever the urge hit me, I could still see the impact COVID-19 was making in other countries. It felt like things were on the verge of spiraling out of control, so before it all went insane, I figured that I'd quickly do some last minute record shopping from Japan.

Each year I set up a list of ten records that I'd like to pick up over the following twelve months. It is more of a reminder to pick up some heavy hitters, and not really something that I work to complete before the years end...just something fun to chase. Well, last year I did a shitty job of staying focused on that list, and I only crossed off three of them in 2019. When I wanted to make a big purchase prior to the world pandemic shutting everything down, I consulted my list for 2020 and set my sights on the Japanese pressing of Taken By Force by Scorpions.

I've still got a number of holes in my Scorpions collection, but after picking up the German boob pressing of In Trance last year, I wanted to grab another crucial pressing from the band, so I added Taken By Force to the list for 2020. The original cover shows a couple of kids playing guns in a graveyard, and for some reason, that offended people, so soon after its release the record company changed it over to a much more generic cover showing the band. I needed that original "graveyard" cover, and the OBI looked cool as well, so I set my sights on the Japanese pressing. Now that I have this record though, I wish that all my Scorpions records were Japanese pressings. Shit just looks cool with that OBI. I've got a few other Scorpions records to pick up, and it is obvious which pressing I'm going to need to buy going forward.

As a bonus, the seller sent me a packet of Japanese tea and a little kitty note. Positive feedback is guaranteed!

OBI Blackout

Last year I made it my mission to pick up a Japanese pressing of a Scorpions album. I grabbed a copy of Taken By Force, and quickly followed it up with Virgin Killer plus an early Best Of record. I was struck by how great those pink and purple OBI strips looked with that little scorpion, and suddenly I needed all of my Scorpions record to be Japanese pressings.

I'm only missing a few Scorpions albums from my collection, and I didn't want to let the year slip by me without picking up at least one more Japanese pressing. When I was recently buying Y & T's Earthshaker from a seller out of Japan on eBay, I decided to check out what else they had available. As soon as I saw this copy of Blackout, I immediately added it to my cart.

The Blackout album has been a favorite of mine from the band, and given how big the record was for them, I'm kind of surprised that I hadn't grabbed a cheap US pressing at a local shop over the years. This is straight up an early 80's classic. I'm happy to finally have this copy on my shelves.

Level 4 Outbreak

I love The Nerve Agents. There are even days when I think that Days Of The White Owl might be on my list of favorite hardcore records. Yet somehow the self titled Nerve Agents EP has been a hole in my collection for a long time. Any time that I'd see it listed on Discogs, I'd think that the price was too high, and I'd let it pass me by, certain that a more reasonable priced one would come along. At some point I should have just bitten the bullet and grabbed on when I could... but then when Revelation recently announced they were doing a reissue campaign for The Nerve Agents, I figured that I'd check it out.

I own Days Of The White Owl and The Butterfly Collection, so didn't feel the need to buy another copy of them, but that self titled EP... with the OBI strip... looked too cool to pass up.

419 pressed on clear vinyl.

The packaging on this is really good. The OBI strip is a really cool touch, but the booklet insert is really nice as well, with some images of flyers for Nerve Agents shows and various writings from different people around the scene on the impact the band had at that time. All of this is really cool, but it would have been nice to get some perspective and words from the band themselves.

Of course the version that I was most interested in was the special Linas Garsys black sheep cover for the EP, but that was sold out before I was able to place an order. I figured that I was fucked and would never be able to get my hands on one, so I was surprised last week when I saw once listed on Discogs for only $30. I didn't hesitate and quickly added it to my cart and checked out. So happy to have scored one.

Number 38 of 131.

Live From the Astroturf

Sometimes Record Store Day can surprise me. Yes, there can be a lot of garbage that hits the racks on this day, but every once in a while, I unexpectedly find myself excited for one of the RSD releases. I had reviewed the list of Record Store Day releases for Black Friday, and while there were a couple of records that I motivated me to get to the store when the doors opened at 9:00 that morning, the live Alice Cooper record was not on that list.

I headed to the store early on Black Friday because I did not want to miss out on the vinyl pressing of the Only Living Witness album, Prone Mortal Form. This was the one RSD record that I wanted, so I was really disappointed when I got to the store and found that they did not have a single copy in the rack.

In my search through the bins, desperately hoping that maybe I'd just overlooked it, I spotted the new Alice Cooper album, Live From The Astroturf. I wasn't planning on buying this, but coming up short with the Only Living Witness left me feeling incomplete, so on a whim, I grabbed this to fill the emptiness in my heart....plus that reflective silver foil cover, with the pink OBI style strip, and title font that's a throw back to the Love It To Death album, it all looked so damn good, and it was too much to resist.

This live set was recorded back in 2015, when Alice Cooper made a "surprise" appearance at book signing for original bass player, Dennis Dunaway. Original guitarist, Michael Bruce, and drummer Neal Smith were there with Dunaway and had planned a short live set of classics from their time with the Alice Cooper Band, but shit went to the next level when Alice showed up and joined his old bandmates on the stage. This was absolutely historic, and thankfully the entire set was captured on tape, and is finally seeing the light of day with this vinyl release.

I was happy to buy a copy of this, but as soon as I started to open the shrink wrap and go through all the packaging for this record, I started to appreciate it more and more. While the price tag was a little high, it was well worth it for the absolute quality of the packaging and all the extras. Along with the OBI strip that has trading cards printed on the flipside, there is a giant double sided poster and a nice booklet that includes some writing and plenty of photos...plus, that translucent pink vinyl is fucking beautiful.

Absolutely amazing package. Limited to 3,000 and foil stamp numbered on the back cover.

Mil-Marathon

When I picked up the World House record from Mil-Spec back in 2020, I really enjoyed it. I played it quite a bit for about two months, and then we moved into a new year, and my focus shifted to other things. I forgot all about the band for about five years, until Marcus sent me a message recently to let me know that Lockin Out had colored vinyl available for the second Mil-Spec album, Marathon.

Marathon was released back in 2023, and honestly, I'd never even heard of it. I know that I'm not connected too well with happens in hardcore most days, but I still figured that I would have been aware of this record. I didn't really remember anything about Mil-Spec, and wasn't even that excited to revisit World House, but I figured that if Marcus took the time to give me the heads up on a record, I might as well check it out. I found Marathon on Spotify and from the first song I was interested. They had a familiar sound that I couldn't place... I was thinking it was something like Abuse Of Power, but Marcus said that they just sounded like Mil-Spec and maybe he was right... but I was really liking what I heard and so headed over to Lockin Out to buy the record.

Apparently the there were 220 pressed on orange vinyl, with 70 of them getting an OBI strip for a Japanese tour. This one obviously doesn't have the OBI, but at least the colored vinyl matches the front cover. Also, strange that the packaging for this record does not mention "Mil-Spec" anywhere on it, except for the small print copyright info on the back sleeve. If I saw this in a shop, I would have skipped right by it, thinking this was some band named Marathon that I'd never heard of before.

Winds Of Change

I'm really not a big fan of compilations. I am, however, a big fan of REACT!. Therefore, I had to put my prejudices aside for their latest release, the Winds Of Change 7 inch comp.

Once again, Ev and the REACT! crew deliver. This time, they highlight six up and coming bands from today's Hardcore scene. Each one impresses me, and having really only heard Violence To Fade and Enough, I'm looking forward to what the others will bring to the table with future releases.

350 pressed on red vinyl.

All of the bands on this comp are great, but that Violence To Fade song is absolutely amazing.

150 on "smoke" colored vinyl, or more commonly known as "grey".

The packaging on this 7 inch is very well done. With the six panel spread, allowing to change the the band on the cover to whichever one you wish, and wrapped in a screen printed OBI strip, the label continues to deliver quality releases. Another job well done.

500 pressed on black vinyl.

Shortly before the regular pressings shipped, Ev posted on the REACT! Facebook that there was a test press available and hidden in their webstore. Like a bloodhound, I sniffed that bad boy out! The price was a little higher than I would have wanted to pay, but damn, with it staring me in the face, it was too much to resist, and I quickly added it to my cart and checked out.

Nice and clean look, with the white cardboard sleeve and the black and white screened OBI strip.

Number 24 of 24. Doesn't get much better than that.

Test press count for 2014 is at six.

Killer Japanese Pressing

When I first started collecting Iron Maiden vinyl, I knew that I wanted a Japanese pressing of Killers with the OBI strip. While I was browsing the Maiden records on ebay, every once in a while I would see one up for bid. I'm not sure what it was about this record. Maybe it was the OBI strip with the record title written in Japanese, complete with the bloody font. Maybe it was the insert that was limited to the Japanese pressing. Whatever it was, I had to have one in my collection. While watching them on ebay, they were selling for around $40, plus the shipping from Japan, so I kept passing them by. Then a few weeks ago I was able to grab one for $19.50, and the seller was from the States so shipping was only $5. Perfect. Now that I have this one, I'm thinking that at some point I'd like to get other Japanese pressings for the other Maiden records.

Taste Of The Vinyl Dead

Back in 2008, I became obsessed with Night Of The Vinyl Dead Records. The label specialized in vinyl pressings for records that had never been released on wax, and within five months, I scratched five of them from my Want List. I was rollin', but since they are pressed in very limited numbers, and I had to order them all with high shipping prices from overseas, I quickly became burned out on spending the money needed to try and chase these. I bailed on the game, and instead I focused on things that I thought was more important at the time...like wasting my money on more Have Heart 7 inches.

After picking up the first Laaz Rockit LP at the end of 2014, I suddenly couldn't get enough of the band, and soon after found myself downloading their second LP, No Stranger To Danger. Those two records quickly dominated my playlists over the summer, and it got me thinking more and more about checking out some of their other stuff that I'd never heard before. While I grew up with Know Your Enemy and Annihilation Principle, I never bothered with anything that came out after '89. Feeling adventurous for some new Laaz Rockit, I dove headfirst into their live LP from 1992, Taste Of Rebellion - Live In Citta. I figured that if a live album full of latter day Laaz Rockit couldn't sell me on these songs that I'd never heard, nothing could.

Wow. This is some great shit. Live metal in '92...I had no idea that this style was still going this strong. Nirvana might have been blowing up at the time, but no one told Laaz Rockit as they were still bringing some great, straight forward Heavy Metal.

After falling in love with this live LP, I remembered that Night Of The Vinyl Dead did a pressing of it, and suddenly I was back on the NOTVD hunt. Of course I had to buy it from overseas, which meant that the shipping cost almost as much as the record itself, but I didn't care...I needed this. Another quality vinyl release from NOTVD...hand numbered and limited to 275...plus, since the album was recorded in Japan, the album cover comes wrapped in a cool looking OBI strip. Well done.

Japan Shaker

Y & T are one of those bands where my focus has shifted over the years. Initially I was content to just pick up cheap US pressings, and it has been kind of cool to pick up the majority of my collection for the band locally in second hand stores. However, I really like this band, and for the few records that I was still missing, I wanted to make things a bit more interesting and I moved my sights over to Japanese pressings. I don't know, there is just something about adding a record from Japan to the collection that makes it much more interesting.

I've wanted to pick up the Earthshaker album from Y & T for a few years now, but for one reason or another I've just never pulled the trigger. Seeing how the record was celebrating it's 40th anniversary this year, it provided a bit more incentive for me to get my hands on a copy. I love how the OBI incorporates the cover artwork into it's design, and it was one of the selling points that had me targeting a Japanese pressing for this record. It just looks great.

I've been listening to this album quite a bit over the past couple of years, and it has climbed a few notches in my Y & T ranking. Front to back, Earthshaker is full of so many great classic early metal songs.

The Reality Of The Master Of Brutality

When I was on my heavy doom kick last fall, one of the bands that I decided to check out was Church of Misery. In 2011, Rise Above had reissued the band's hard to find 2001 debut, Master of Brutality, so I decided to give it a chance. The fact that the Rise Above cover for the LP ripped off the Master of Reality cover from Sabbath, certainly helped to get my attention as well.

Church of Misery base all of their songs on serial killers. I'm not well versed in who a lot of these killers are, but after listening to the eerie intro of Killifornia with Ed Kemper talking about holding a severed human head and wondering if he was insane, I felt compelled to do a little research on the subjects of these songs. Staggering just how fucked up these guys were, with Herbert Mullin killing a total of 13 people because he believed that in doing so, he was protecting California from earthquakes...or Ed Kemper having oral sex with the decapitated head of his mother. Crazy and creepy to read some of this stuff. However, these songs are the perfect soundtrack to the stories of these disturbed individuals.

Since Church of Misery is from Japan, Rise Above included an OBI strip as part of the packaging. It's a real nice touch, and shows how much Rise Above care about the packaging of their releases.

300 pressed on the split grey and transparent purple/red vinyl.

Void Thrash

Back in May, I was finally posting the new Savage Master record here on the blog. I decided to check Shadow Kingdom to verify pressing info and I noticed an ad for a band named Void on their website. The ad described them as a technical thrash metal band, and it brought to mind bands like Holy Terror... and since I really like Holy Terror, I figured that I'd give this Void a chance and check the songs from their latest two song 7 inch.

Look, I really wasn't expecting much here. I thought that it would be good but forgettable, but I was wrong. The two songs here, one original that will be on the upcoming LP from Void, and a cover of Celtic Frost's Necromantical Screams, and both were so good that I rushed out to buy the 7 inch. I love it when a new metal band can hook me like this because it feels so rare these days... and I'm not sure if that is just because I'm not putting in the work to find something new, or if I'm just not really interested in what many newer metal bands are doing. But this 7 inch has me excited to check out the new Void LP.

The packaging on this 7 inch is insane. A high gloss foil gatefold cover, with an OBI strip, and a nice looking piece of vinyl. 250 pressed on turquoise colored vinyl.

Speak Of The Live Bootleg

I've been known to occasionally chase live bootlegs every now and then. I love the raw and unpolished live sound of these unofficial releases. They typically sound like shit, but for me, that is part of the charm. For the most part, I usually just focus on Iron Maiden, but when the mood strikes, and I'm not opposed to throwing money out the window, I'll jump on live boots for other bands as well.

I'm not too interested in live bootlegs for Ozzy, but I would like to get my hands on one from The Ultimate Sin tour. As I was searching the internets to see what was available, I stumbled upon this nice looking boot from Ozzy's performace at the US Festival in '83. Honestly, as soon as I saw that cover, I needed to own it. That black and white cover design with the bat and the gold OBI is cool as hell.

The Speak Of The Devil live album only consisted of Black Sabbath songs, however the tour to promote that record had a setlist that, for the most part, was filled with songs from the first two records that Ozzy recorded with Randy Rhodes. Jake E Lee is on guitar for this live show, and shortly after this, the band was in the studio to record Bark At The Moon which would be released later in the year.

Along with the poster, this record comes with multiple inserts to promote other live bootlegs that Rock Brigade has recently released. Honestly wouldn't mind owning all of these.

When The Levee Breaks

Last night, I hit the movie theater to check out Led Zeppelin on the big screen. This one night showing featured live footage that spanned the band's career, and while I've really been digging Zeppelin lately, this experience just made me appreciate them even more. The band were a powerhouse live...and seriously, when the shows starts off with that riff for Communication Breakdown, I wanted to be back in 1970 at that show...you could tell that those kids were on the verge of starting a mosh pit, and they just needed me as the spark to set it off. Damn...they were so raw and fierce...and when Immigrant Song starts I'm absolutely blown away by how heavy it is. If I'd heard this song as a kid, instead of focusing on the first two minutes of Stairway To Heaven, I may not have spent the majority of my life hating this band.

I fell a little behind in collecting the Super Deluxe editions for the new Led Zeppelin remasters, but I made a couple of big moves these past couple of months. First up is Led Zeppelin IV.

There are some mega-hits on this thing, and while some people would sit back and think, "Man, I never need to hear Stairway To Heaven again", I'm sitting here jamming the fuck out of these songs. I grew up hating these hit songs, but this new appreciation of the band has me hearing them with new ears, and it feels like I'm hearing them for the first time. As a side note, When The Levee Breaks may be my favorite Zeppelin song ever...at least right now it is. Damn, that song is absolutely crushing with it's heaviness.

The companion LP, with the negative image cover, looks cool, but the bonus songs are just all alternate mixes...and too be honest, I don't really get too deep into the weeds with these, and I hardly notice any difference to the ones on the regular album. Cool for what they are, and I'm sure some Zeppelin nerds get a kick out of them...me, I'd rather have some live shit instead.

The big selling point for me in this whole Super Deluxe thing is the hardcover book that comes in the box set. This thing is packed with old photos and news clippings. I love pouring through these things while the vinyl spins on the turntable.

I've never been terribly familiar with the Houses Of The Holy album, and I was eagerly looking forward to the release of this remaster...plus that orange box looks pretty sweet. No expense is spared with this set, as the LP replicates the original pressing with the paper strip that wraps around the cover OBI style. Very cool...even though it is a complete pain in the ass to put back on once you've take it off.

Led Zeppelin's fifth album in, and the band keeps cranking out powerful and passionate songs. Listening to this, I can't help but think that Over The Hills And Far Away is one of my new favorite Led Zep songs. This song was made for cruising around in the summertime with the windows down, and the music playing loud...warmer weather can't get here fast enough.

The bonus LP contains more alternate mixes for the album. These naked kids creep me out.

Love love LOVE these pictures. Plant and Page are two of the coolest motherfuckers to come out of the early 70's.

I knew that taking on the task of collecting the Super Deluxe versions of these new remasters was not for the weak. This isn't for the casual collector. Die hards only. Over the course of collecting these box sets, it has only made my appreciation for each Zeppelin album grow, and they have been worth every penny spent. Next up...Physical Graffiti.