Locals Only

While looking through Tim's collection, there were a few records available that, while not something that I would have sought out to purchase, had me thinking that I might as well buy them just because they were there.

I didn't hear Agression until around 2017, and I wish that I could remember what it was that put them on my radar at that time. I must have seen some online post or something at the time, and thought that it was time to finally check it out, so I downloaded the songs for Don't Be Mistaken. It is a cool record of good straight forward hardcore skater vibes, but I haven't spent much time with it since that initial download.

Seeing it in Tim's collection had me revisit it to see if should pick it up, and after a couple of spins, the answer was yes.

Restraining Order FYA

While I'm no longer buying every colored vinyl version for records that I like, I still have a hard time resisting a special cover. When I saw that Triple B was listing some leftover merch from the FYA Fest, I jumped to their webstore to see what was up.

While I was hoping to get the Gridiron album, that had quickly sold out, so instead I jumped on the latest Restraining Order record. I'm not sure what is happening with the cover, as the album is Locked In Time, while the FYA cover shows "Lost In Time". I don't know if that was intentional and I missed the meaning with the different title, but whatever, I'm still happy to own this limited version.

To be honest, this second LP from Restraining Order didn't excite me like their first, but this is still a good hardcore record. Buying this version has me listening to it on a regular basis recently, and appreciating it more these days.

Very happy to receive a low number for this one... 2 out of 50.

Quick Redness

Sometimes I get stuck with an older band. I'll discover them and fall in love with one record, and that will be all that I want to listen to from them. Either it is because I'll find that one record to be so perfect and I won't want to ruin that feeling by checking out anything else from them, or I will have heard something negative about their later records and I'll just avoid them blindly. With Bad Brains, for the longest time all I cared about was Rock For Light and in recent years, I've come to really appreciate I Against I... but still I figured that was as far as I'd go with my Bad Brains journey.

Last year, I picked up the Punk Note pressing of I Against I and it looked so good that I wanted to collect more from this Bad Brains reissue series. The one for Quickness looked so good, that I started thinking that maybe I should finally give it a chance... and when Ralf mentioned in his post for this record that the version here for Don't Blow Bubbles was an instrumental, that made it more attractive because I am not a homophobe and I'm not gonna fuck with that song.

Waiting until 2025 to give Quickness a chance may have been a bad idea. While not as great as Rock For Light or I Against I, this is still a pretty fucking rad record.

One From 1991

My favorite records to collect is the obscure shit that no one remembers or cares about. Oh, some mediocre hardcore band from the 90's? Fuck yes. Pump this shit straight into my veins.

While I would assume that the band ONE were kind of forgotten to time and dust, they did hit a few markers with their Remain 12 inch that were kind of a big deal for that time...Watermark Records and one of the Jordan brothers were involved, plus Jay Demko from Lincoln and Junction on guitar... so maybe there were a few people that might remember them. When I picked up that Remain record a few years ago, I saw the China Blue 7 inch listed for the band on Discogs. I didn't even know that this existed. Plus there was a blue vinyl pressing and only one had ever been sold through there? Oh hell yes. I put it on my wantlist and once one became available I grabbed it.

Look, the Remain record from ONE is good and I have a lot of fun with it, but it isn't going to blow minds. This 7 inch is a bit more raw, and not quite as good or catchy, but being the 90's fiend that I am, I still really enjoy it.

Out Of Step

Outside of a few reissues over recent years, I'd never much thought to chasing down Minor Threat records. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it is because I tend to buy records based on what I'm listening to at that moment, and I don't spend as much time sitting with those classic bands so they rarely spark the immediate excitement that makes me want to chase them down. Obscure bands from the 90's that no one cares about? Yes, give me that. Records from classic hardcore bands from the 80's that laid the foundation for everything that was to come? Meh.

Still, classics are classics for a reason, and there is no denying how great those Minor Threat records are. These songs played a major part in defining who I was going to be as we rolled into the 90's, and the lyrics still are still a core part of me. So as I was looking though Tim's collection, of course I had to put his Minor Threat records on the list of those records I wanted to buy.

Initially I was a bit intimidated by the price for this red cover 12 inch. I mean, I've definitely spent more than this for a record... but I wasn't sure that I wanted to lay down that amount of cash for something that seemed somewhat common. In the end, I obviously decided that I needed to take this opportunity to finally grab this classic.

One of the cool things about Tim's copy was the letter that he'd saved from Jeff Nelson from when he bought this in 1986. This one piece of paper with two simple sentences was really the deciding factor that had me buy this. It just seemed wrong to let this go to anyone else.

An early red cover, but reissues for yellow, green and blue. That should be enough for this collection.

The other Minor Threat record from Tim's collection was the Out Of Step 12 inch. I've only had these songs from the original Complete Discography CD that I bought as a kid, and never owned any version of this record. It was an easy decision to buy this one.

Third press with the blue stripe on the cover. I'm very happy to have this in the collection.

Jealous Again

Allow me to submit this post into evidence that I don't really know what the fuck I'm doing. A while back, I got it into my head that I wanted some older Black Flag colored vinyl, and I crossed a couple of big ones off my list in 2023. Sure I was following the idea that Marcus planted with his collection, but I knew that I wasn't going to take it as far as he had. I just wanted a piece of colored vinyl for each album.

Then when I was going through some of Tim's collection last year, and I saw an early pressing of the Jealous Again 12 inch, I couldn't resist buying it. I knew that there were a number of colored vinyl option for this on 10 inch, and I didn't want to fuck around with that. Ideally, I'd like to get the clear vinyl 12 inch, but they don't appear to show up too often on Discogs, so who knows when that might happen? So instead I have this 1983 black vinyl reissue copy because it was available and easy.

Still, the Jealous Again EP is probably my favorite Flag record, so I'm excited to finally have a copy in my collection.

Nice addition of the SST inserts in this one. Cool to check it out and remember a time when you could pick up the Nervous Breakdown 7 inch for $2.50 postpaid.