Youngblood Pre-Order

I finally got the latest Youngblood pre-order in the mail the other day. I believe that the label had some problems with the Fired Up CD, because they finally just shipped my package and will be sending the CD when it comes in. In addition to the new Fired Up 7 inch (limited to 200 on clear vinyl), I also got the new Lion of Judah LP (limited to 225 on clear vinyl with purple/gold splatter). The LOJ vinyl looks absolutely sick. Both records are really good, but I am liking the Fired Up 7 inch more. It has that youth crew hardore sound that I love, and the energy is just amazing. I saw the band play with The First Step last Spring, and I have been anticipating this release since that show.

Have Heart Collection

Back when I had a day off to myself, I pulled out the Have Heart collection. I received a new pressing of The Things We Carry from Bridge Nine Records, and figured that it was a good time to get a picture. The latest pressing is yellow with green splatter. It was the final gatefold pressing, limited to 1,000. My Have Heart collection has a little ways to go before it is complete, and I'm not really concentrating on it like I was 6 months ago. Still, I aim to get this complete at some point.

Records at Radio Shack

I took another day off from work this week. My friend, Jeff, had told me that the Radio Shack in town had a section for used vinyl in their store, so I figured that I would take a drive up the street to check it out. Truth be told, most of it was junk, but I did find a couple of records for the collection.

• Wasted Youth - Reagan's In : I was very excited to find this for only $3.00. I had seen this sell for around $40 on ebay, and thought that I was finding one of those legendary deals. I took it home and checked again on ebay and found out that my copy on Medusa Records was a repressing. The original on Sanoblast Records is the one that is actually worth some money. Still this record is a lot of fun. Great early 80's style of hardcore punk out of Los Angeles.
• Blue Oyster Cult - Self Titled : I downloaded this CD a while ago, and I really liked the 70's rock sound. I saw this one for $4.00 and didn't hesitate to buy it.

Best Album of 2006

While I was pulling out my Champion records last week, I also decided to pull out my First Step collection. It isn't nearly as big as the Champion records, but I did just receive two new First Step pressings of What We Know, so I figured that I'd just get a picture of the whole collection. For some reason, at this point, I'm not really interested in collecting the 7 inches, so here is my collection of their 12 inch records. I just picked up the Sound and Fury Fest pressing of What We Know. It is on red with white splatter colored vinyl and is limited to 135. The guy from Rivalry Records was selling one on eBay, so I placed a bid. I was outbid, but the guy sent me an email saying that he had a couple of extra copies, so if I wanted one at the price of my maximum bid, I could have one. I checked with him and he also had an extra copy of the European pressing on grey, so I took him up on the offer and bought both copies.

Too Much Time On My Hands

I had the day off from work today...just me...the wife was at work and the kids were at school. Perfect time to pull the records out of the closet, and take an updated picture of my Champion collection. Since I had picked up the last Promises Kept pressing that I needed, I felt it was a good time. The Champion collection still has quite a few holes, most notably is the pressing of Count Our Numbers with the Youth of Today cover. It was fun pulling all of these out today, and examining each pressing. I forgot that I had two pressings of Count Our Numbers on blue. Bridge Nine put up a blue pressing for sale, and then a month later they put up a "purple" pressing. I bought both of them, and they look identical. I've seen Aram selling both the blue and purple on ebay, and he has stated that the blue vinyl was a pressing plant error and is the more limited of the two...damned if I can tell them apart.

The Aram Connection

I bought some more records from Aram. He posted a list of Champion and Betrayed records on the Livewire Records messageboard, and when I saw that he was selling a copy of the Euro tour pressing of Promises Kept, I jumped on it. Nothing too special about the pressing, just grey vinyl with blank, white labels, made for their European tour. Still, I've found this pressing rather difficult to find. The couple of times that I've seen it on eBay, it went for more than I was ready to spend. Getting this pressing finishes my Promises Kept collection.

Another record that he set aside for me was the Betrayed last show pressing of the Champion/Betrayed split 7". I can't remember how many were pressed of this record, but mine is #183. As a cool little bonus, Aram also threw in a couple of laminated tour passes from the Australian and Japan tours.

Two of the best bands from the past few years.

Have Heart From Ebay

Two more Have Heart 7 inches for the collection. The demo on yellow is limited to 125 and What Counts on white only had 225 pressed. What more can I say about this band? In my list of favorite Boston Straight Edge bands, these guys would easily make the top 5. When I saw them at the End of Summer Jam in August, the singer, Pat Flynn was talking about being proud of his edge. I'm 36 years old and there is still something about straight edge pride that gets me excited.

Nuggets Is A Seductive Mistress

Another trip to Boston, another stop at Nuggets for some record shopping. Rob and I headed down for the Celtics season opener against the New Orleans Hornets on November 1st. We started the day off right with some NBA2K7 on the Xbox 360, and then we stopped at Chicago Dogs for lunch...that place has the best veggie dogs.

I had told myself that I wasn't going to go crazy and spend a lot of money at Nuggets this time. I was going to check to see if they had the import Black Sabbath record with the shiny, foil-like cover, and that would probably be it. Well, once I started flipping through all the records, I kept finding things that I couldn't pass up. Before I knew it, I was holding $50.00 worth of vinyl.

• Black Sabbath - Rock Heavies : This was the one that I almost picked up the last time I was in the store, but ended up putting it back. I was crossing my fingers that it would still be there this time around, and I was lucky enough to find it was still here. This is an odd collection of Sabbath songs, coming only from the last two Ozzy-era Sabbath records. German import.
• Black Sabbath - Death Riders : This is a live bootleg from the Heaven and Hell tour. The sound is great, and I thought that it would be a fun addition to the growing Sabbath collection.
• Black Sabbath - Techinal Ecstasy : The main reason why I bought this record was for the ultra-cool record label. Sweet looking U.F.O. artwork from this UK pressing.
• The Doors - Morrison Hotel : I had never heard this particular record before, but I have been loving The Doors, so I figured that I couldn't loose. It was only 6.99, and the record cover and vinyl was dead mint. I can't express how pissed I was that in the process of removing the price tag, the album cover received a small surface tear. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
• Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers : Another record that I had never heard before, but figured I couldn't loose since it had a $2.99 price tag. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this record. Classic Purple line up.
  
  

After record shopping, Rob and I found some parking and set off to kill some time before the Celtics game. We had a great time walking around Quincy Market and saw the Comedy Connection where he would be doing a show the following week. We got to the Garden for the game and got in line early to get the Red Auerbach commemorative pin. Before the game, there was a special remembrance ceremony with Paul Pierce dedicating the season to the legendary Celtic leader. Game time and the Celtics were disappointing, and ended up dropping the game to the Hornets. All in all, it was still a fun day out in Boston.

Close To Complete

A while back, someone on the B9 messageboard was desperate for cash, and was selling stuff from his record collection. When I saw The Difference Between by In My Eyes on red, I immediately emailed him with an offer. I was extremely grateful that he took me up on it. This was the last rare In My Eyes that I needed. It is limited to 104 pressed, and the only time that I had seen it on eBay, I was outbid. I had originally thought that this completed my collection of In My Eyes records, but I am missing both of the LP's on black vinyl, so I guess you can't really call it complete.

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.

Black Sabbath, White Label

I recently won a copy of Black Sabbath's Master of Reality off ebay recently. This thing looks amazing...such great condition...and to top it off, it has a white promo label and the original poster. Won it for $30, and is a great addition to my Sabbath collection.

My Sabbath collection is pretty pathetic right now. It consists mostly of the Earmark Records reissues that were released a couple of years ago. I think my only non-Earmark records are the Mob Rules and Born Again LP's, plus the Canadian pressing of Masters of Reality...oh yeah, I almost forgot the Korean pressing that I have of Volume 4.

A friend of mine recently directed me to a great site that documents the Black Sabbath discography at http://sabbath.se/. This site details all the different pressings for the Ozzy era with Sabbath. Seriously, the quickest way for me to gain interest in collecting vinyl for a band is if I have a list that I can use to check them off one by one. Judging from the size of the the list, the Sabbath collection will be a work in progress for many, many years.

The Fifth Step

I was able to get myself a copy of the Euro pressing of the new First Step album...my fifth copy of What We Know. Rivalry Records posted on their website that they had around 25 copies available, a mix of the white cover and the regular cover, both on grey vinyl. I noticed the posting a couple of day after they put it up, and I expected that they would have already been sold out, but surprisingly, I was able to order one, requesting the white cover. I was happy to get my hands on one. I had almost ordered one through Not Just Words Records, but the shipping from Europe was ridiculous so I passed on it. Glad I waited. This pressing with the white cover is limited to 270.

I love this record...it may even beat out Betrayed and Have Heart for my favorite for 2006. It is just so much fun. It really reminds me of those days when I first heard bands like Insted. Great positive straight edge hardcore.

The First Step

What We Know

Not afraid to say what's in my heart

Even if you put it down or tear it apart

We're standing on a solid foundation

Built on caring, honesty, the edge, and dedication

Scream For Me Boston!

Time for another trip to Boston, this time to see Iron Maiden. I had not seen these guys live since I was 18, when they played in Maine for the Seventh Son tour back in '88 or '89. Since some kind of nostalgia had kicked in a couple of years ago, and I've been on a supplementing my punk rock/hardcore diet with some metal and hard rock, I was excited to go see them tour for their new album. My friend Jeff was a member of the Maiden Fan Club, so he was able to buy tickets before they went on sale to the public, getting third row tickets, center stage. We planned that it would be fun to head down to the show with our wives and spend some time in Boston before the show.

We ended up leaving a little later than expected, but we still had plenty of time to stop at Nuggets to do some record shopping. Having Meesh and Jen with us didn't afford us the luxury to really take our time and browse, but I was able to pick up a few things.

• Ozzy Osbourne - Tribute : Classic live record from Ozzy featuring Randy Rhodes on guitar. This thing was in great condition at $10.99, and had a gold promo stamp on the back. I've got a thing for that promo stamp...my copy of Bark at the Moon has one as well. Promo records are generally the first ones off the press, which means that the plates are brand new and gives the recording the very best sound. Plus, since the were never really made available to the public, they are more collectible.
• Scorpions - Tokyo Tapes : I was never a big fan of the Scorpions while growing up. While discussing live albums with Jeff, he mentioned that I should check out Tokyo Tapes if I was to come across it. Well here it is. The cover for this copy was a little beat up, but for $4.99 I figured that I could give it a try. I like it...it's not as commercial as the MTV era singles.
• Alice Cooper - Muscle of Love : Man, those old Alice Cooper records came in quality packaging...always something different. Billion Dollar Babies has the oversized billion dollar bill and trading cards, the album cover for School's Out folds out with legs for a school desk while the vinyl is wrapped in a pair of panties, and the Muscle of Love album comes packaged in a cardboard box, and it includes a book cover for the kids to use to cover their school books. Great imaginative packaging. Muscle of Love is near the end of the classic Alice Cooper line-up, and I picked this copy up for $6.99.

After shopping and grabbing dinner at Bertucci's, we head up to Boston University for the Maiden concert. Having seats on the floor at a rock show was kind of weak, but it did mean that I was able to stand with my wife and friends for the show. Iron Maiden threw us a curve ball, playing the entire new album, start to finish, and then ended the show with a small handful of classics like Fear of the Dark, 2 Minutes to Midnight, Iron Maiden, The Evil That Men Do, and Hallowed Be Thy Name. While I was disappointed to not hear more of the older songs, hearing the new album live did make the experience more memorable and special.

Addiction to Substance

Here is my Betrayed collection. It is complete unless a Final Show pressing of Substance is made.

The Addiction 12 inch came from Aram. He sent me a message saying that he grabbed a copy for me when they were touring Europe...a "thank you" for helping him out financially earlier in the year when I bought a bunch of records from him. A very kind and thoughtful gesture, but seriously, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to buy the records that I got. It took him a while to mail out the Addiction 12 inch, and after a couple of weeks I noticed that a pink pressing of Substance was sold at the Sound and Fury fest out in California. I dropped him a line to see if he had any that he could spare, and as luck would have it, he did. Sold it to me for $15 and sent the Addiction 12 inch along with it, completing my collection of Betrayed vinyl. This shit is the pride and joy of my record collection...thanks Aram, I couldn't have done it without you.

Red Sox and Records, Part 3 (The Toronto Edition)

ROADTRIP!!! We hit the highway at 3:00 in the morning for our 10 hour drive to Toronto. Rob thought that it would be funny to eat baked beans just before our trip. While the end result of stinking up the car worked as planned, Paul and I did get a good laugh that he had to hit the bathroom stall to unload at each stop. We stopped in Springfield, MA for breakfast, and ended up in the town's armpit eating at Dunkin Donuts across the street from the adult video store. Next stop was Buffalo, NY, which was kind of depressing as well...seemed like the town had nothing but car dealerships and muffler shops. We finally crossed the border and headed to Niagara Falls to catch the sights. It was my second time at the falls, but it is still so impressive...such a massive sight.

Next stop was Toronto. We hit some traffic trying to get into the city, so we got in a little later than we had expected, and got to the hotel around 6:30. We stayed at a place on The Esplande, near the bottom of Younge Street. We could always tell that we were getting close to our hotel from the smell of piss and sewage that covered the neighborhood. It seemed like a good section of town, but it certainly had a stench to it! A couple of things that I learned about Toronto...that city loves it's water fountains, Starbucks and Tim Hortons. The drivers also love to use their car horns, as there was always someone honking at a pedestrian or another car that they didn't think was moving fast enough.

Saturday was a fun day. We spent the afternoon walking around the city, trying to find the Noise Annoys record store. I don't know how we missed it, but we never found it. We even stopped into a comic book store that sent us down the street one way, and then asked for directions in another store that sent us in another direction. It was disappointing to not find it, but truth be told, I was okay with it because I had already spent a bit of money and not finding the store helped me not blow even more money. I did find one small record store that had a lot of old R&B and early rock records, and I was able to pick up a copy of Black Sabbath's Master of Reality LP. I really had to pick it up because it was a Canadian pressing and the back cover had a small maple leaf in the upper corner. It was a cool souvenir of our trip. After checking out the city, we went to the Red Sox / Blue Jays game. Once again the Sox lost...I've never been to a game that they won!

Sunday morning we headed back to the States, and got hassled by the border patrol. I'm not sure what the red-flag was, but we got pulled out of line for questioning. We had to park and then go inside and wait. I seemed to draw the shortest straw as the officer called my name. Two officers took me outside to search the car. I knew that there was nothing they would find, but I did get weak in the knees when they asked me if I had "ever been arrested before". Before? You mean like I'm going to be arrested now?!?! Everything was fine and after searching the car, we could go, but that was a little nerve wracking. The three of us were pretty spent at this point and the ride home was long and uneventful. Good to be home.

Reincarnation of Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden is back with a new album, A Matter of Life and Death. The other day I picked up the first single, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg. It was released as a 10 inch record on clear vinyl. I love the artwork on this single. It reminds me of those classic Iron Maiden covers that Derek Riggs did for the band years ago. The song is pretty good too, but the two songs chosen for the b-side I could do without. How many more live versions of The Trooper and Run To The Hills do we need?

I'm going to see Maiden in Boston in October. There is floor seating for the show, and I have tickets for the third row, center stage. Sweet seats, but I'm not sure how I feel about floor seating for this show. On the one hand, it will be nice to hang out with my wife and friends during the show, who would not be up front otherwise. But come on, floor seats for a metal concert is kind of weak. The last concert that I went to that had floor seats was Harry Connick Jr. years ago. It is going to seem strange being up front at a show and not getting pushed around and crushed. I haven't seen Iron Maiden since they toured to support the Seventh Son album, and the new album is real good, so it should be a fun show anyway.

Triple Dose Of Triple Threat

Finished my collection of the Triple Threat "New Chapter" 7 inch. I had been casually looking to complete this since last year when I picked up the blue vinyl at Posi-Numbers...occasionally searching eBay for the white vinyl, but never seeing it listed. When I was searching for some Have Heart vinyl, and came across the last Triple Threat vinyl that I needed, I jumped on it for $20.00. This 7 inch is limited to 200 on white, 300 on blue, and 500 on pink.

Deep Purple Rock

As a part of my awakening and appreciation of 70's rock, I fell in love with Deep Purple. I grew up hating this band. Back in the late 80's, when I was getting heavily into Thrash and Death Metal, I had a friend that tried to get me into this band. I wanted nothing to do with them. Shit was too "old and boring" for me. Here we are 25 years later and I'm a bit more open minded (or maybe just old and boring!). I can't remember what inspired me to give them another shot, but when I did, I was blown away by the intensity of the music. Shit is heavy. Not in the sense of heavy like 80's and 90's metal, but heavy with so much power behind those riffs...that voice. Amazing. This entry is for the Deep Purple In Rock vinyl. It is the Japanese pressing. I saw it on eBay for only $7.00 and jumped on it. Shipping from Japan was a little expensive, but I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity. Pretty cool with the song titles written in Japanese on the inside of the gatefold cover and a price of what looks like 2,300 yen on the back.

End Of Summer Jam 2

The day after I get back from vacation, Rob and I head to Massachusetts for the second annual End Of Summer Jam. The show was in Lawrence, which is notorious for being a rough town and Rob and I were not thrilled when we got a little lost once we got off the highway. Nothing to worry about though as we quickly found our way to the Knights of Columbus hall where the show was. We got there a little late, so we didn't have to worry about standing outside in the rain and were able to go right in. First place we headed to was the merch tables. Since this was the record release show for both Have Heart and Verse, we did not want to miss out on that vinyl. The Have Heart record was on the limited pre-order color, and had an X of hearts spray painted on the front cover, while the back cover had "EOSJ2, 8/27/06" spray painted on. The Verse record looked better, with the date spraypainted across the front, and the record sleeve was handnumbered out of 108. Mine was number 83. Other than the Resist demo, that was all that I bought, since money was a little tight. I was also finally able to meet Aram face to face. We had communicated through email a few times, and he was nice enough to send me the 12" of the Addiction EP (more on that in a future post), so it was nice to say hi, and thank him in person for the record.

Tons of great bands played this show...Have Heart, Verse, Betrayed, The First Step, Outbreak, and Resist. Betrayed played the best set for me. Aram had some cracked ribs, and yet he still put so much energy into their set. For their song Understand, Aram told the crowd that "This one goes out to my brother.", and then he rubbed my head. Yeah, maybe it is kind of stupid, but it really made me feel good. Other highlights included finally be able to check out Resist. They are a new band which has Wrench from Ten Yard Fight/Stand & Fight on vocals. It is always good to see Wrench on the stage fronting a straight edge band. The Have Heart set was insane. During Something More Than Ink, kids crowded on to the stage, singing along. It was fun having everyone pack on to the stage for that song, but unfortunately the kids thought it was so much fun that they would do it for each song, even though the singer repeatedly told them to stop so the the band could play and kids could dive. In the end it was a great show. Mark your calendar for the End of Summer Jam 3, next August.

Here is a picture of me screaming along with The First Step.

Red Sox and Records, Part 2

Right now I have a large stack of albums sitting here next to the computer. I was away on vacation last week and unable to listen to any music, let alone keep the blog updated. Now that I'm back I'm working through the stack and trying to get things caught up.

The day before I left for vacation, I went to Boston for a Red Sox game with Paul, Rob and Heidi. I was looking forward to hanging out in Fenway Park on a beautiful August afternoon, but I was more excited about stopping at Nuggets Records before the game. The last time I went shopping there I got all kinds of great rock albums, and I was looking forward to thumbing my way through the stacks of vinyl in search of more great finds.

• Agnostic Front - Cause For Alarm : My brother used to have this on cassette tape, but I had never owned a copy. This is a great hardcore album from AF. This copy has a gold promo stamp on the back of the album cover, which I thought was pretty cool. Picked it up for $9.
• Exciter - Unveiling The Wicked : I loved Exciter in High School, owning their classic Long Live The Loud album, but I never had Unveiling the Wicked...I don't think that I ever saw it for sale, or I'm sure I would have bought it. I even had a t-shirt with that album cover on the front of it, and I'm wearing it in one of the pictures of me in my High School yearbook. Damn, I thought that album cover was so cool! This album is a European import on Music For Nations Records, and was $11.
• Blood Feast - Kill For Pleasure : Another album that I loved when I was in High School. Great speed metal band from New Jersey, but obviously influence by early Slayer. This one was a little more expensive than I would have expected to pay for it, $15, but this is such a great record, I didn't think twice about buying it.
• Metal Massacre 4 and 7: After just picking up number 6 in the Metal Massacre series, I was happy to find these two albums. I hadn't heard a lot of the bands on these two records...the only bands that I knew was Lizzy Borden on number 4, and Flotsam and Jetsam and Cryptic Slaughter on number 7. Still I'm looking forward to checking out the other metal bands included. These were in great condition and were $9 a piece.

After lunch and record shopping, the four of us headed into Fenway park to watch the Red Sox take on the Yankees. We got inside too late to see Joey McIntyre sing the National Anthem, but we were excited for this great rivalry. Johnny Damon had gone to the dark side, signing with the Yankees, and the crowd rained boos upon him to show their disapproval. Unfortunately, Damon set the tone for the game hitting a triple to start the game. Boston showed off how bad of shape the pitching staff is in losing the game 12 to 4. It felt like the longest game in history, as the Red Sox pitcher was walking players while the bases were loaded. Even though there were some bright spots for Boston, with Hinske hitting three Doubles, it was still a rough game to sit through, getting to the point of hysterical that Boston could not throw a strike.

Great day and I'm looking forward to heading to Toronto with Rob and Paul at the end of September to watch the Sox play the Blue Jays. Of course the trip will include some record shopping!

Metal Massacre Series

As a metalhead growing up in the 80's, if you weren't into Metal Blade Records, you weren't shit. This label introduced the world to Metallica and Slayer. Anything they put out could not lose. Metal Blade had a compilation series called Metal Massacre, which showcased a ton of great thrash and speed metal. I always wanted to own the Metal Massacre records growing up, but never got around to picking any of them up. I found Metal Massacre 6 on eBay for $3.25 and since I seem to be on a Heavy Metal kick, I couldn't let it pass me by. I didn't realize it when I bid on it, but it has a hole punched in the upper corner of the record sleeve. I hate cutouts, and would have passed on it had I known, but for $3.25, it's no big deal. The album art work is classic 80's speed metal...bloody heads and skulls. This record has great tracks by Possessed, Hallow's Eve, Hirax, Nasty Savage, Dark Angel and quite a few others. Death to posers.

From Another Breath and Verse

Here are the latest Rivalry Records pre-orders. First is the new Verse record, 'From Anger and Rage'. The new record is great, at times I feel like a cover of Inside Out's 'No Spiritual Surrender' would fit in nicely with their live set...they have that kind of sound. I got both colors of this record...the red and yellow swirl is limited to 270, while the white pressing is limited to 670. The other pre-order I got was the new Another Breath record, 'Mill City'. I had never heard this band before, but Rivalry posted a couple of new mp3's so I checked 'em out. I was really impressed. They play a hardcore style similar to Go It Alone. The blue and grey swirl colored vinyl is limited to 240.

Straight From The Bronx

This entry is for the new Bronx LP on white vinyl. A couple of years ago I went to a show at The Palladium in Worcester. It was a huge punk/hardcore show with Circle Jerks and G.B.H. headlining. The Bronx was one of the opening bands. I had never heard of them, but I headed down to the stage to check them out. I was blown away by this band. Nobody in the club seemed to be into them, but they had this early L.A. punk sound and I was loving it. The singer was a total spaz on the stage, trying to get the crowd to do this "cobra dance" which everyone was too cool for. The band didn't seem to give a shit if the audience was into them or not, and they just gave off this total punk vibe. I bought their Bats EP at the show, and soon after saw their first CD at a local record store. That first CD completely captured the sound and attitude from their live show, and was one of my favorites from 2004. I downloaded the new album a month ago, and was really disappointed. The new songs were missing that snotty, kick ass sound. I loaded them into my MP3 player and would listen to their songs while I was at the gym. Slowly they started to grow on me, and soon I was loving it. Sure it isn't nearly as good as the first CD, but this new stuff is still some quality punk rock.

More Have Heart From B9

The current trend right now for hardcore records, seems to be gatefold sleeves. The two records that I got from the Bridge Nine mailorder both had that style of packaging. I love the gatefold sleeve. Something about it seems so special. The two records that I got were Have Heart and Dead Stop. I needed the brown/orange pressing of Have Heart's 'The Things We Carry'. It is limited to 700, and since they sent me two of the yellow/blue pressing the first time around, I still needed this color. The colored vinyl looks amazing, and coordinates with the album cover nicely. I also picked up the Dead Stop 'Live For Nothing' album. This is the US pressing on Havoc Records. I had heard all kinds of good things about this band, but had never checked them out. Saw Live For Nothing available in the B9 store, with the gatefold cover, and I figured to give it a shot. Dead Stop play a great style of hardcore thrash, and I would definitely recommend checking them out.

Happy Birthday To Me

Today I turned 36 years old. Birthday's don't mean much to me. I enjoy life, and have a great time on this ride, so I don't really concentrate the number of years that have passed. As a friend of mine has been known to say..."You can't change what is.".

My family had a birthday party for me the other weekend. The only thing I ever really ask for is more music, and that was what I got this year. I did pretty good this year, getting a couple of DVD's, one of Dio and one of Judas Priest, plus I got some CD's which included Triple Threat and Mental. Of course this blog entry is about the vinyl that I got.

• Doomriders "Black Thunder" - Holy shit, the riff from the title track is amazing. Worth it for that song alone.
• The Raconteurs "Broken Boy Soldier" - First off, I love The White Stripes. Jack White has got that classic guitar sound down. Rob surprised me months ago, dropping off a burned copy of the Raconteurs CD. "Jack White plays in this band", he tells me. I had never heard anything about this, and I'm excited to check it out. The band is more polished than The White Stripes, and it took me a few listens to really appreciate it. Good stuff, but pales in comparison to The White Stripes.
• Queensryche "Operation Mindcrime II" - I loved the first Mindcrime CD from Queensryche and saw them on tour with Metallica, who were on the Justice For All tour. Queensryche was the first band that I slamdanced to. I lost all interest in the band by the time they released their next album, and I had low expectations when they released Mindcrime II this year. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this record.
• Black Flag "Loose Nut" - I don't know why it took me so long to buy this record. Other than Damaged, this is probably one of my favorite Black Flag records. Great songs like Modern Man, Annihilate This Week, and Best One Yet.
• Black Sabbath "Never Say Die" - This is a re-issue on Earmark Records, pressed on 180 gram vinyl. While this record is often overlooked by casual Sabbath fans, there is still some great songs on this album.
  

Bridge Nine Strikes Again

Bridge Nine comes on strong for this one releasing new albums by Have Heart and Triple Threat, plus a split 7 inch for Death Before Dishonor / Black Friday '29. Purchasing the vinyl package deal for $45 was rough on the bank account, but it was so worth it. Two pressings each of all three records was too tempting of a deal. Bridge Nine mailorder messed up and sent me two copies of the limited pressing of Have Heart. I was thinking of holding on to it and selling it on eBay in a year or so, but Rob was interested in it so I sold it to him for $10 to put towards the color pressing that I didn't receive.

• Have Heart "The Things We Carry" - Amazing. I had high expectations for this record, and I was still surprised at how great this record is. The new songs are played with that level of passion and sincerity that I have come to expect from the band. The record cover and gatefold sleeve are incredible as well. Pressed on blue/yellow and brown/orange vinyl.
• Triple Threat "Into the Darkness" - This record surprised me. I new that it was going to be good, but I wasn't expecting it to be this good. Great Black Flag meets Mouthpiece vibe on this record. There is a picture from Posi-Numbers included in the layout. I believe the back of my head is in the picture, but I can't be sure. Pressed on clear and red with black splatter vinyl.
• Death Before Dishonor / Black Friday '29 split 7 inch - DBD is okay, I guess. Their style doesn't really excite me. The singer reminds me of Some Kind Of Hate, but musically they have more in common with Terror. You know, very tough sounding. I just picture guys in wife-beaters covered with tattoos. Good, but not really interesting for me. Black Friday '29 is much better. Good solid hardcore. I can't think of who they remind me of, but I'm diggin' it, and you should too.

A Record Of Substance

Got my Betrayed pre-order for the new album, Substance, from Rivalry Records. It is limited to 328 on blue and 622 on white vinyl. There is also a pressing on pink for the record release show at the Sound & Fury fest in California. I'll need to get my hands on that one, and a friend has already promised to send me one.

I'll have to admit that I'm not a big fan of the record cover. The black and white picture of the band doesn't really do much for me...neither does the new font for the band's name. And while the songs are a little too polished, this is still a great album. Aram knows how to really write great, positive lyrics, and the band continues to create great songs. Amazing new songs like Think Twice, Substance, The City Lights, and Nothing Breaks Us Apart, plus some classics re-recorded. A total of 13 tracks of incredible hardcore.

No Life 'Til Leather

Yeah baby, here is Motorhead's No Remorse double album compilation with the faux leather cover. As far as I know this is the only record made that is packaged within a leather cover. The entire packaging is amazing. The trademark Motorhead logo is stamped on the front cover with a metallic silver, while the back cover has the song titles stamped in the same fashion. The record sleeves are a nice thick paperboard displaying the song lyrics, including a quote from Lemmy on how each song came to be, plus lots of photos of the band, and then a great historical overview. Very well done. I saw it on eBay and took a chance, winning it for only $10. Turns out it was the Earmark Records 2004 vinyl re-issue, which sells for $35 retail. As much as I was hoping that it was the original 1984 Bronze Records pressing, I'm quite happy to pick up this copy for the price that I did. I have seen in some places online that this was limited to 1,000.

Seventh Son With Promo Stamp

Here is the Iron Maiden 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son' LP. I picked it up for $8.00 on eBay. The cool thing about this particular record is that it has a gold promo stamp in the upper corner. The downside is that the vinyl is a mess. It has so much static and dust on it that it is pretty much unplayable. It will probably be fine if it gets a good cleaning, and at some point I'll need to invest in some solution to get it done right.

I love this album. I saw Iron Maiden on this tour, and it was really their last great record for me. Granted I like the Maiden albums that came out after this, but they haven't topped Seventh Son since it came out. This album was released in 1988 and shortly after, I started listening to more thrash and death metal before finding punk and hardcore. This led me to shelving the band for a good 15 years, before falling in love with them all over again and starting to collect their vinyl releases.

eBay Bonus

Since the guy that sent me the Blue Monday Rivalry Showcase pressing was a month late in sending it, he sent along the My Revenge / F.P.O. split 7 inch on pink vinyl as a bonus. I'm not sure if it was an auction of his that didn't sell or what, but finding an extra record in the mail is always cool. I have the first My Revenge record and I really dig it, so I was excited to check out some more stuff from the band. First spin through for both bands didn't leave much of an impression on me. My Revenge seemed to be missing that hook that I liked from the first record. Like the album, this record is very raw, but it may take a few spins to really appreciate it. The other side of the 7 inch is F.P.O. (Forever Positively Obsessed). They are a Straight Edge band from Europe, and play really fast old school hardcore. Pretty good and raw, like My Revenge, but I'll need to listen to it a few times to form an opinion.

Blue Monday at Rivalry Showcase 2006

I received another copy of Blue Monday's Rewritten album last week. This one has the cover made for the Rivalry Showcase 2006. I can only assume that the Showcase was an amazing show with Champion, Betrayed, Verse, The First Step, plus many others on the bill. The record itself is the picture disk that the band had pressed for their 2005 European tour. I'm not sure how well they sold, since Bridge Nine still has them available in their webstore. It's funny, because when I mentioned to Rob that they used the picture disk for the Rivalry Showcase, he laughed and said, "Well they had to get people to buy those records somehow.". The record with the Rivalry Showcase cover is limited to only 50, and mine is hand numbered 42. Since it is so limited, I'm happy to have picked it up on eBay for $20.50. The guy that I won it from has sold me a number of In My Eyes records in the past, so I was comfortable that it would arrive, even though it took him a month to send it out. With this copy, I now have five flavors of Rewritten, with only the Sink With Cali cover missing from my collection.

3 Colors of Motorhead

Here is the Motorhead 'England' box set released on Earmark records. I have had my eye on this box set at various times over the past year. Saw it at Bull Moose Music a year ago and I wanted it, but I continually passed on it to buy something else. After a few months, I finally entered the store committed to buying it only to find that it had been sold. When I went to Bull Moose last week to pick up the new Betrayed and Outbreak CD's, I glanced through the vinyl section and there it was. Since I had kind of started collecting Motorhead vinyl, I didn't hesitate to buy it. Three classic Motorhead records, each one a different color. Overkill is on green, Bomber is on blue, and Ace of Spades is on red. It is strange because the back of the box states that Ace of Spades is on gold vinyl. I'm not sure if that is an error or if the record was really pressed on gold for an earlier pressing.

More Maiden

More Iron Maiden records for the collection. This time around we have 7 inches for Stranger in a Strange Land and Run to the Hills. The labels on these two records are different...one has a silver label and the other one has the rings and picture of Eddie standing under a street light. I'm not sure what difference between the two are, but I have two versions of the Flight of Icarus 7 inch...one of them has the silver label. I believe that is for US pressings, but I'm not sure. Picked these two records up on eBay when I won the Motorhead 7 inch on pink. They had zero bids when the auction was ending so I threw a bid on to win them at $9.99 each.

Think Fast Pre-orders

I got my Think Fast Records pre-orders the other day. First to arrive was the new Sick of it All record, Death to Tyrants. I already had the CD release, but I kind of have a half-ass collection of their albums on colored vinyl, so I picked it up. The yellow colored vinyl with the red splatter seems a little out of place for a Sick of it All record, but the new songs are still great. People love to hate on this band. Sure their stuff isn't as good as that first album, but they still put out quality hardcore music with sincerity and passion. They were one of the bands that got me into hardcore music with Blood, Sweat, and No Tears, and I have seen these guys live countless times, starting back when Paul and I would travel to Boston to see them at The Channel in the early 90's. I remember it was around the time that they released their single for We Stand Alone, and at some point the stage was just flooded with people...I looked up and Paul was standing their with the mic in his hand as the band broke into World Full of Hate. Saw them again in Boston a couple of years ago...it may have been Good Riddance opening up for them...anyway, there was a barrier between the crowd and the stage and it completely killed the energy in the room as most people just stood there for S.O.I.A.'s set. I was right up front screaming along...every word to every song. I remember Pete coming down on to the floor after the set, shaking my hand and thanking me for coming. I don't tend to 'hero worship', but it was a very cool moment for me.

The other Think Fast record that came in the mail was Outbreak's new album, 'Failure'. For this one the colored vinyl fits the band...green wax with clear spots. I was surprised that Bridge Nine wasn't putting out the vinyl for this one, since they are releasing the CD, but I guess that the singer for the band has some role in Think Fast, so he wanted to do the vinyl on his label. The album has really surprised me. I liked the older Outbreak stuff, but this thing is just amazing. Incredibly tight songs. I'm really impressed. I think my favorite song right now is Losing Streak. The tempo and the gang vocals on that are amazing.

Each of these was limited to 300 on colored vinyl.

The New Bright Shiny Object

I really try to focus on completing the collections that I am currently working on, but sometimes I get distracted by a band that is currently commanding a lot of my attention. The current flavor of the month is Motorhead. They are such a classic. I'm not sure what brought on this current obsession, but I have been working my way through their CD's that I have in my collection. Admittedly, most of them are burned CD's from stuff that I have downloaded over the years. I was thinking that I would like to buy the original vinyl copies to truly own their releases, and did a search on eBay to see what was out there. I stumbled across their Motorhead/City Kids 7 inch on white vinyl. The record was released in 1977 and was in mint condition. The record was released before the band had even dropped their first album. I was thinking about how much history was wrapped up in this record, and since it was in such great condition, I figured that I'd throw a bid on it and see if I could pick it up at a reasonable price. I was surprised that I won it at only $15.00. I looked for some more information on this record online and found out that it is also available in pink, black, blue, and orange vinyl. My goal had been set...I needed a copy of each of these. Another search of eBay uncovered an auction for the pink pressing. Bids were made and I picked it up for $22.50. It was more than I wanted to spend, but I was committed to winning this record and getting my Motorhead collection underway.

This So-Called "Shit" Is What I Live For

Can you tell that I love Have Heart? Here is another entry with more records added to my collection. I've always liked the band, but something about seeing them live for the first time...seeing the emotion, energy, and honesty that they bring to their music, it just elevated them so much. After seeing them that time, I knew that I needed to start collecting their records. The new album is going to be released on August 8th (Happy Birthday to me), with the record release show in Massachusetts on August 27th. The day before, I'll be getting home from a weeks vacation on Sebago Lake with the family, but you couldn't keep me away from this show since it looks like The First Step and Betrayed will be playing as well.

I got this group of records from a couple of different sellers on eBay. The 'What Counts' on yellow is limited to 400, and the Demo 7 inch on pink is limited to 100. Got both of them for $18.50. The Demo 7 inch with the Summer Tour 2005 cover is limited to 150, and I got it for $4.99. This one was one of those rare eBay steals that you hope for.

Have Heart

'Lionheart'

This so-called "shit" is what I live for

It's why I'm alive

I'll never smother the fire, forever burning inside

I'm at the point where I'm sucked in by the message, I get this passion

This fury is mine, it keeps me alive

I can't breathe till I release what's inside

Fourth of July in Paris

I was originally going to travel to Massachusetts on the Fifth for Have Heart, but since the show in Maine was closer and I didn't have anything planned for the Fourth, I decided to hit the show in South Paris instead. It was a last minute decision, so I didn't bother checking to see if Rob or Paul wanted to go, plus I assumed that they probably already had plans. The flier said the show started at 5:00, but the first band didn't start until around 6:30 or 7:00, so I took a walk around town to kill some time. The first band never said their name, so I don't know who they were, but I wasn't into them at all. Then The Doldrums went on, and I wasn't feeling them either. Great, the show starts late and the first two bands suck...I guess I didn't have to rush out of the house for this one. The Doldrums break a guitar string in the first song...Christ, we have to wait while they get a new guitar. Second song, they break another string...now we have to wait while they string the guitar. I'm hoping they just call it a night and pack it up, but that didn't happen. Wake Up Call goes on next, and I was really excited to see them play. I love their One Eye Open 7 inch, and this was the first time I'd seen them play. Too bad the sound sucked so bad that I could hardly hear the vocals. Oh well, I'd love to see them again. News is out that Sinking Ships had their van breakdown in New York and weren't going to make it. Too bad, I was looking forward to checking them out. Down to Nothing played next, and came out X'd up...played a great set. I had no idea that they were a straight edge band. I had been listening to their 'Save It For The Birds' CD all week, and I was impressed with their set. Have Heart played last, and had to cut their set short. Not nearly as intense as when Rob and I saw them play in Massachusetts with The First Step, but I had a good time singing along.

After buying some merch after the Wake Up Call set, I was surprised to see Sweet Pete was at the show. I spent the rest of the night talking to him between bands. I had a great time talking to him and meeting another kid, Klint, that I had seen at shows for years. Pete and I talked music and basketball. Great time hanging out with him, and it really made the show worth the trip.

Other than the Down to Nothing and Wake Up Call CD's, I also picked up 7 inches from Wake Up Call and Have Heart. I had seen the Wake Up Call demo 7 inch for sale at Newbury's for $6 and was glad to pick it up on blue for $2 at the show. I was also happy to see the orange with blue splatter pressing of the Have Heart 'What Counts' 7 inch. I had tried to order this from MerchNow but they sent me the black vinyl instead, and I had seen this color go for around $10 on eBay. Glad I waited on both of those records and picked them up at a better price and could help the bands on tour.

Panic over the new Bridge Nine sampler

Two new records from Bridge Nine...the Bridge Nine 2006 sampler and Panic 'Strength in Solitude', which is thier two B9 7 inches pressed onto one LP. I'm not sure what the point is in pressing the four song sampler on vinyl. One song each from the upcoming albums of Have Heart, Triple Threat, Outbreak, and Think I Care. With the exception of Think I Care, all the songs were amazing and I'm really looking forward to each bands summer release. This 7 inch was limited to 500 on purple and 1,000 on orange. The Panic albums were limited to 300 splatter and 700 swirl pressings.

Learn to Have Heart

Received the Learn pre-order from Bottled Up Records. Picked up the Have Heart demo 7 inch on teal vinyl when I ordered it. Two great bands from this label. I picked up Posi Numbers pressings of this Have Heart record and the first Learn 7 inch when Rob and I were at the show last summer. That trip was so much fun, although we missed Bandit. On the ride home we came up with the idea that we should have taken pictures of a can of wasabi peas in various places along the way. Picture of the peas in a roadside bathroom...picture of the peas on the corner of the Posi Numbers stage...picture of the peas with all of our new records on the hotel bed. The wasabi peas are Bandit's signature snack and the pictures would have been a funny tribute to him. Too bad we came up with the idea too late. We had made the trip to Pennsylvania with Paul the year before for the Knife or Death Fest with Youth of Today, but last year he missed it since he had used all his vacation time when the new baby was born. This year the three of us are planning a trip to Toronto in September. The "Boys Club" road trip is becoming an annual event for us, and this year we will be traveling for a Red Sox game. While we are in Toronto, I will definitely need to hit some record stores for a vinyl fix.

Guns Up!

Guns Up! have been around for a while now, but I had never heard them. 1917 Records put up pre-orders for their new LP 'Outlive', so I figured that it was a good time to check them out. Outlive captures some pretty good hardcore. Guns Up! have a familiar sound, but I can't put my finger on who it is...maybe early Terror, I'm not sure. In any case, I like it. Pre-orders received the white with blue splatter colored vinyl, limited to 304 pressed. The colored vinyl coordinates with the album cover and looks very nice. My record arrived a little warped, but it didn't affect the sound when I listened to it.