Choice Of Green

There are some albums that I listened to so much as a kid, that I rarely give them a spin nowadays. Albums that were so good, that I listened to them over and over again...until the magic had worn off. Screaming For Change was one of those albums. As a 20 year old, just discovering Straight Edge Hardcore around 1990, this record spoke to me. "If drinking's what it takes to be accepted, I'd rather stay aware and be rejected". Sure, I was digging Slapshot at the time, and I loved the anger in their message, but I wasn't going to fool anyone...I wasn't hard...I wasn't tough like those guys. Bands like UC and Insted were more my style.

I can't even begin to imagine how many times I listen to this record in those days (and by record, I mean CD). But you know, sitting here now, 20 years later, I can't remember the last time I listened to this. Thankfully, Wishingwell Records reissued Screaming For Change for 2012 and gave me a great excuse to revisit this album and remind me how great it really is.

I had originally heard of this reissue from Lins. As I mentioned earlier, I only owned it on CD, so I was stoked to pick up a copy on colored vinyl that didn't cost me a few hundred dollars. Lins had posted about a clear green copy, but soon I was hearing about a second green vinyl pressing...this one was a guacamole green. I finally got around to placing an order with REV, and discovered that I got the "ugly" green copy.

I still desperately wanted the clear green vinyl, so I rolled the dice and placed another order with REV. Luckily, I received the copy that I wanted.

Of course this pressing looks an awful lot like one of the original pressings. A few people have done all the comparisons as to how to tell the two apart, so I won't go into it here. I'm just happy to finally have this in my record collection.

Edge Day With Overkill

A month or so ago, Rob and I decided to go and see Overkill in New Hampshire. A few days after we made plans I found out that there was going to be an Edge Day show on the very same day. I was torn. I had really been looking forward to seeing Overkill with Rob, but come on, EDGE DAY...how could I miss that show?!?! The problem was that I had no idea who the bands were for the Edge Day line up. Remembering the disappointment of the last show I went to, and all the bad bands that I sat through, I decided to stick with our original plan and go see Overkill. Well shortly after Rob buys us tickets, I find out the Edge Day line up consists of Have Heart, Verse, The First Step, but most importantly, a kind of Ten Yard Fight reunion. Holy shit, I couldn't believe it...Wrench and Clevo were going to play Ten Yard Fight songs with a couple of other guys. I saw this band from their beginnings, straight through to their last show. I couldn't believe that I was going to have to miss seeing them. Big disappointment. Rob was awesome about it and offered to skip Overkill, so I could make the Edge Day show. No, I had committed to Overkill, and I couldn't back out of that just because something better came along. Well, after checking the map and show times, Rob figured that we could catch the beginning of Edge Day, skip out and then take the half hour drive over to Overkill. Yes, we were going to pull off a double header and go to both shows.

The Edge Day show was at Welfare Records in Haverhill, Mass. Before the show we checked out the store, and I could have very easily dropped $100 on vinyl. They had a huge Punk section, and a nice looking Metal section as well. I resisted the urge to spend money so I could see what the Edge Day merch tables had to offer first. We head down to show and find out that a National Geographic film crew is at the show shooting for some Inside Straight Edge show they are doing. Apparently they are there in connection with Ross Haenfler, the author of Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk, And Social Change. Rob and I joked that the film crew was wishing they were back in Africa running from lions instead of following around 16 year old kids, taping their conversations. We get inside and bump into Aram, he recognizes me right off and says that he knew that I would be at this show. We talk about how I'm going to have to leave early and miss The First Step, but he understands and says "You can see The First Step anytime, when will you get another chance to see Overkill.". He also mentions that he will be releasing the Get The Most demo on vinyl in a few weeks and he will make sure that I get a copy. Great to see him again, and I am immediately happy that we stopped in at the show. Get The Most play first and since this is probably the only band I will see for the day that I am familiar with, I head right down front. The band opened with Flame Still Burns by Youth of Today and I immediately take off across the stage for a nice dive. Their set was so much fun, ending with a cover of Chain of Strength's Never Understand and then Clock Me Out from their Common Goals E.P.. After their set, I headed up to pick up their new 7 inch, which they had on black and the limited yellow vinyl. Next up were Maintain and then Outrage. Both of which failed to impress me...wasn't feeling it at all. I was worried that we would only see crap bands until we left but thankfully Let Down and Foundation were both solid bands that I enjoyed checking out. Minutes before The Effort took the stage I bumped into Sweet Pete, and he was telling me that the band wanted him to sing an In My Eyes song with them. I wasn't sure if it was going to happen or not, but I made sure I was down front when the band started. I had seen The Effort at the last show I was at. At that time they had said that they were celebrating their six month anniversary and had record release pressings of their new 7 inch for sale. I was so put off that they had only been around for six months and already were releasing a record, that I didn't buy it out of principle. Well they surprised me this time around as their set was full of energy and did not disappoint. Half way through their set, they asked for a moment of silence for Ten Yard Fight and In My Eyes. After a few seconds of complete silence, Pete steps on the stage and they rip into Take The Risk. I push my way to the front of the stage, so overcome with adrenaline that when someone dives and lands on my neck, dropping me to my knees, I do not hesitate and I'm back up, scrambling onto the stage screaming along to the song. In My Eyes were one of my favorite bands, and I fucking lost it during this song, screaming my throat raw. Amazing. After The Effort finish their set, I head up to their table and pick up their 7 inch, which has a special Summer tour cover. The cover was a page ripped out of a bible, and hand written for their Summer tour...mine was numbered 20 and had a nice upside down cross on it. The record itself is really good, with Sean from Verse and Pat from Have Heart each doing guest vocals on a couple of songs.

It's time for Rob and I to hit the road for the half hour drive to Overkill. Turns out we got there way too early and had to sit through too many bad metal bands. The only one that was semi-interesting was Candy Stripper Death Orgy. The funny thing was that Paul and had seen that band 15 years ago in Boston. I guess they are still going at it. The good thing about the show was that they had TV's playing the baseball game, and Rob and I watched the Sox take another step closer to the World Series, beating the Indians. Overkill finally went on around 11:00, and played an impressive set. They didn't play as many of the classics as I would have hoped, but it was still a good time. The show got out around 1:00 and I didn't make it to bed until 3:30 in the morning. One of the best days out at a show that I've had in a long time, even though I missed out on seeing my favorite bands. Good times.

Build To Break

I love Uniform Choice's Screaming For Change, yet until it was repressed on vinyl two years ago, I hadn't made any moves to obtain one. Even now, having four copies of the repressed vinyl, I still feel no great desire to chase an original pressing. I mean, I'd like to get them someday, but I guess I've just got my eye on other prizes right now.

This time around we get two new pressings...one on blue, and one on white. I guess that spending $12 for a repress is more attractive than spending a couple hundred dollars for an original, because I didn't hesitate to pick these two up.

It does bother me that there is no lyric sheet insert with these reissues. I feel like I'm being short changed. I guess if I do want one with a lyric sheet, maybe I'd better start thinking about one of those first pressings.

I actually had this post queued up to write early next week, but since Marcus posted about these records yesterday, I figured that I'd move mine to the top of the pile. The main reason being that the stickers on my copies are different than the colored vinyl stickers on the ones he received. I know...record collecting is pretty mind blowing stuff.

Thinking Straight

I recently sold one of my records, and made a very nice chunk of change in the process. I really hate parting with anything from my collection, and it's why I make a terrible record trader. I really can't part with anything, because I fear that I'll regret it at some point down the road. Therefore, I hold on to everything. This one record however, the price was very high, and it was one that I really never cared about, so I made the jump and sold it on eBay. Once I had the $350 in my paypal account, I was ready to go on a shopping spree. My initial reaction was to use the money for a nice rare Hardcore record. I made an attempt to get a first pressing of Youth of Today's Can't Close My Eyes. I lost the auction as the record ended up selling well past my maximum bid of $65. I really wanted an original pressing of a Youth of Today record, but at the end of the day I figured that the smartest move was to really put the money towards the new addition we are doing on the house, and buy some shelving for my music room.

However, I was not going to just walk away without buying something! I was watching another auction for Youth of Today's Break Down the Walls. It had the original cover, and looked like it was in mint condition, so I was surprised when I won it for only $5. When I recieved the record, and slid the vinyl out of the sleeve, I noticed the label on the record had Ray decked out in some Krishna gear. I thought it was odd for the Break Down the Walls album, since I didn't think that Ray got into the Krishna thing that early. Upon further investigation it appeared that the vinyl was from the 1992 reissue the Revelation Records did, and not the original pressing. I had heard that Rev had thrown some new vinyl in with the old covers that they had lying around, and it appears that was what I got. I was kind of disappointed, but hey, at $5.00, I'm not going to cry too loudly. So here I sit, still without an original Youth of Today pressing.

As a side note, the one and only time that I saw Youth of Today was at one of their reunion shows. Paul, Rob and I took a drive down to Pennsylvania for the Knife or Death fest in 2004. A ton of great bands played, but I was really looking forward to seeing Mouthpiece and Youth of Today play. The place were the show was held decided that they didn't want the bands swearing on stage and there was NO STAGEDIVING. I was really disappointed, but still had a lot of fun getting up front and screaming along. Unintentionally, this trip kind of kicked off our annual tradition for the Guys Roadtrip.

Back To The Roots Of Accept

When I first started going to concerts back in 1985, the first band that I saw, where I didn't know any of their songs, was Accept. They were opening for Iron Maiden, who were on their World Slavery Tour, and being a fourteen year old kid with no means to buy every album that I wanted, I went to the show completely blind on who Accept were. They tore up the stage with a ton of energy, loud guitars and screaming vocals, and watching them from the back of the arena, I was sold on their live show. Shortly after that concert, I got myself to the record store, and picked up their Metal Heart album on vinyl. It was another giant leap forward down the path of becoming a diehard metalhead.

Accept's original singer, Udo Dirkschneider, recorded his last album with the band in 1996, and has since been focusing on his own band, U.D.O., that he started back in '87.

As one final nod to his Accept days, Udo took his solo band on the road to play a nostalgia setlist full of nothing but those old songs that he recorded with Accept. This of course lead to a live album release.

Sure, I was kind of interested in checking out the live record...but honestly, I struggled to justify parting with the money for the triple LP set. I had higher priorities that I wanted to spend my money on, and live albums do not command that kind of attention from me. However, I had a change of heart when I saw the album in clearance bin at my local store for $15. That was too good a deal to pass up.