After getting home at 1:00 in the morning from the Ceremony show on Saturday, I was up early on Saturday for Record Store Day. While I was looking forward to the day, I really hadn't put in a whole lot of research into what was being released. I knew Revelation and Victory were releasing some stuff for RSD, but for the most part, I just planned on getting to the store and seeing what was available.
By the end of the day, I managed to pull in a pretty good haul, and got my hands on everything I wanted.
Let's kick things off with the vinyl that was at the top of my Record Store Day want list...the "Big Four" from REV. Since I didn't have any of these releases on colored vinyl, I was excited for the choices REV made this year.
When Farside's second LP, Rigged was released back in 1994, I was still occasionally buying vinyl, so I do have the original pressing on black vinyl. I was not a collector, however, and I wasn't even aware of the concept of limited colored vinyl. It was foreign to me. I had my copy that I picked up at Newbury Comics, and that was good enough for me. How times have changed. I was pretty happy to finally pick up a copy on colored vinyl.
Also released in 1994, we have Sense Field's Killed For Less LP. This album has a lot of sentimental value for me, as I clearly remember listening to this CD in my car as my wife and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary along the coast of Maine. Lyrics like "in a town by the ocean, shall we pass another year", they bring me back to that time and those memories from almost 18 years ago.
Into Another were a strange band, and one that I still struggle to fully appreciate. I remember when this was released...dudes from Underdog and Bold, the guitar player from Whiplash...fuck yeah! I dropped the arm of my turntable and as Underlord kicked in, I thought it sounded a lot like Ozzy. What the fuck?! I tried to get into the album, but after a while I just gave up and shelved it. 20 years later I find myself pretty excited to pick up a colored vinyl copy of this LP, because these days, I can truly appreciate how good this first album is.
The re-issue of Ignite's Call On My Brothers is an odd fit with the other three releases. A repress of Texas Is The Reason or even Shades Apart would seem to be a better fit, but this is my favorite Ignite release, so I'm not complaining. I still get chills listening to Ash Return.
I'm a huge fanboy for Ronnie James Dio, so of course I had the new picture disk release for Rainbow's Long Live Rock N Roll on my want list for the day. By far, this was the most expensive item that I purchased for Record Store Day. $30 for a picture disc seemed pretty steep. Since I already own the original vinyl release, and the Back On Black colored vinyl re-issue, I experienced some inner conflict as to why I needed to spend my money on this. Yeah, the fanboy won the argument, and I ended up with another copy for the collection. Don't ask me to justify it, because I can't.
Yeah, it is limited and shit.
Rhino repressed Walk Among Us by The Misfits...again. It has been a few years since their 180 gram vinyl pressing, so I guess it was time to cash in again...this time with four different pressings of colored vinyl. While I love the band, I don't really collect Misfits vinyl. Still I couldn't resist the urge, and I grabbed two copies.
I typically take the plastic wrap off the albums I purchase, but I kind of want to keep the silver Record Store Day stamp.
I had ended up with two blue copies, but my friend, Rob, was nice enough to trade his red copy for one of my blues.
Maybe it was an attempt to apologize for Lulu, but at the end of last year, Metallica released four songs that ended up on the cutting room floor from the Death Magnetic sessions. They were originally released as an exclusive download through itunes, but Record Store Day is a pretty good occassion to deliver a vinyl release. The songs themselves aren't as strong as anything off Death Magnetic, and I can see why they were originally cut. Still as some bonus Metallica material, it isn't terrible.
I think this was Victory's first year doing special releases for Record Store Day. I don't care for some of the stuff they released, but they did make a few great choices.
You couldn't be a part of the Hardcore scene in the mid-90's without liking Snapcase. Seriously, I think it was a rule. Snapcase set the foundation down with great releases like Lookinglasself and Steps, but they hit their peak with 1997's Progression Through Unlearning. Damn, that crazy guitar riff/into to Zombie Perscription encapsules everything that was great about this era of Hardcore.
One of the few records that I bought on Record Store Day that I'd never heard before was the 7 inch from Blood For Blood. I don't think it is as good as Outlaw Anthems or Living In Exile, but these three songs are solid and much better then I would have guessed them to be.
The RSD pressing of the Cause For Alarm 7 inch was the first time that I've bought this record. For some reason, I never even bothered to pick this up when Victory re-issued it back in 1994. Great record, and I'm glad that I finally have a copy in my collection.
Sure, I'm a big nerd, but I like the added touch of the Record Store Day stickers that Victory used on their releases.
Another record that I've never owned a copy of, until Record Store Day, was Poison Idea's Pick Your King. I've never really spent a lot of time with this band, but I am enjoying listening to this 7 inch. Thirteen songs in about twelve and half minutes. Ripping.
The cool touch about this re-issue was the additional note on the inside sleeve that announces that this was a RSD release.
A couple of my favorite things from The White Stripes...the non-album song Hand Springs, and Meg White's boobs. After this was sold out at the first store I went to, I was glad to find a copy at the next store I visited.
The one non-Record Store Day vinyl that I picked up was the Artifitial Peace LP from Dischord. Another classic from that early 80's DC scene.
That's it for my Record Store Day haul. Pretty good day overall, with some very solid re-issues. I'm broke and happy.