A month or so ago, Al Barkley had a bunch of stuff up on eBay. I saw that he had two different pressings of the Billingsgate 7 inch. Knowing that I only had the black vinyl pressing of this record (which I picked up when I saw them open up for Killing Time in Boston), I set out to win both of them. I was prepared to pay more than they were worth, because once I get my mind set on something, there is no stopping me. The 7 inch was released in 1990, and I wouldn't consider it a huge collector's item...however, it was second release from Victory Records, so I couldn't be sure how collectible they really were. Since the auctions ended at $10 for the white vinyl, and $3.50 for the blue vinyl, I guess that there isn't a huge demand for Billingsgate vinyl. There is something about this band that I love. They played straight forward hardcore, but had some real sincere lyrics that touched upon some political themes of the day, such as the war in Iraq and pro-choice...including their Reach Out intro, "Just remember knowledge leaves an imprint greater than any punch. Reach out and pass it on.". The guitarist went on to play in Dillinger Four. 
Comparing the three pressings, I was surprised at all the differences. Each one has a different color ink for the lyric sheet on the inside sleeve, plus the different ink on the b-side label for the black and white vinyl, not to mention the three different designs for the a-side labels. I would love to know the reasoning behind all the changes from one pressing to the next. Hell, I'd be content to just know the numbers pressed on this, since Victory doesn't seem to post the vinyl pressing info on their site.
6 comments:
hey man,
congratulation on this one. who gives a shit if it's collectible. This is where it's at. go on hunting. good luck.
1st press 500 on white, 8 tests. (50 (?) promo sleeves i cant remember off hand, these can be found with both white and black vinyl)
2nd press 1009 on blue, 6 tests
i know most people hate this 7", but i love it. glad to see others do too -geoff
Yeah, I don't care if they are collectible or not...some of my favorite pieces of vinyl are the ones that most people probably don't give a shit about.
Geoff, thank you for the pressing info! I knew that Victory had that info posted at one point, but I can no longer find it.
Wow. I didn't know that he went on to play in Dillinger 4! I love that band. Crazy....
a few years ago, Victory records had a pdf-file with pressing info on their homepage. I still have it lying around here and can mail it to you, if you want. best regards, sven.
Cool little set you got here. I have the white. Didn't realise the blue had diff labels and a slightly diff sleeve.
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