Right Brigade

Right Brigade were a kind of hardcore super group from Boston around 1999. Jesse Standhard from Follow Through was on vocals, Clevo from Ten Yard Fight was on bass, and over on guitar was Pat from Fastbreak. You would think that this record was destined for greatness, but by the time their album was released on Revelation, the band was falling apart at the seams. I seem to recall some messageboard chatter at the time about how Jesse left the finishing touches of the album up to the band, and that Pat(?) fucked it all up with the noisy extras he added. I believe that Jesse was so disgusted with the album that he was telling everyone to not buy it. But man, this first 7 inch showed so much promise.

When I received the Straight Ahead record from Brian Murphy, he threw this one in as a free bonus and since I only owned this one on CD, the vinyl was a welcome addition to the collection.

Extra Effort

I love cover variations. Usually bands just limit this to record release and tour pressings, or maybe even just for pre-orders, but The Effort went all out with their From Our Mistakes 7 inch and made a different cover for each color of vinyl. The latest one that I picked up on eBay was the green vinyl/tree cover, limited to 175. This one is the more limited pressings, and was sold out when I picked up the cloud and fire variants last year.

These things are just so slick. Nice screened covers that fold out to a big poster.

These are some of the best designed covers that I have ever seen. Just amazing and truly reflect a band that is passionate about what they do and say.

Boston Hardcore

Kingpin probably are not the band that most people think of when you are talking about Boston Hardcore, but back in 1991 when I was starting to break into the Boston scene, these guys played just about every show that I went to. I remember one of the first real hardcore shows that I went to was Sick of it All and Vision at Bunratty's, with Kingpin opening up for them. These kids just had so much energy, and people were going nuts for them...stagediving left and right. It was amazing, and probably one of those defining moments in my life...where I started to leave Metal behind and focus solely on Hardcore. Soon after that show they opened up for Killing Time at a small club behind The Channel, and Al Quint was selling the Kingpin 7 inch from the back of his car. I grabbed a copy from him on black vinyl.

One of the coolest things about collecting records is finding out about pressings that you had no idea existed. Up until this year, I thought that the black vinyl was the only pressing that existed for the Kingpin 7 inch. I was excited to find out that this record was pressed on gold, and I grabbed a copy from Robb Woods. Shortly after I posted about it, Marcus let me know that it was also pressed on red vinyl. Recently I was finally able to complete the Kingpin trilogy and buy a copy of the red vinyl from Al Barkley.

First press is 200 on red and 800 on black vinyl. Second press is 500 on gold.

Step On It

Sometimes I'm pretty slow. I hear of great new bands, but I put off checking them out until I'm forced to do so...and then I end up wishing that I hadn't waited so long. I remember hearing about Step Forward a couple of years ago. Boston Straight Edge featuring DFJ from Mental. Yet each time I would see their 10 Song EP for sale in one of the online distros, I continually passed it by...until it was sold out. I downloaded these tracks on Soulseek about a year ago, and even then, I still didn't really listen to them. When I saw that the band was playing the Edge Day show this year with Have Heart, I figured that it was about time that I start to listen to this. Damn. This is so good, and I listened to it repeatedly prior to the show. I was hoping that the band would have the 7 inch for sale, but no luck, as it appears to be out of print. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I started searching eBay. I was happy to win a copy for only $11. 418 were pressed on black for the first press on Painkiller Records, and then they did a second press of 350, also on black vinyl. I have no idea which pressing this on is, nor do I think that it really matters.

Shopping Spree (part 2)

Another stop on the Jeff and Mike record shopping spree was Enterprise Records in Portland. I had been here one other time, about a year ago with Rob, so I had high hopes that the selection would be as good as the last visit. It met my expectations, as I wasn't able to afford everything that I wanted.

• Black Sabbath : Vol 4 - This was a new pressing on the Nems label. 180 gram vinyl. Vol 4 is one of the Sabbath records that I can't resist buying when I find a pressing that I don't have.
• Thin Lizzy : Jailbreak - This is a great rock record. I "discovered" this band about 4 or 5 months ago, and downloaded a few albums. I bought this record so that I would own a copy, instead of just a burned CD. After I got home, I learned that the first pressing of this record came in a gatefold sleeve, and I was a little disappointed that mine wasn't.
• Rainbow : On Stage - Dio has rocked us for a long, long time. Before his solo career and Sabbath, he fronted the Ritchie Blackmore band, Rainbow. Just like when Blackmore was in Deep Purple, live performances produce epic songs with plenty of jam sessions. This double album set has only 6 or 7 songs, with a handful of them clocking in around the 15 minute mark. It was kind of cool to hear Dio perform Mistreated from Deep Purple, originally sung by David Coverdale.
• Fastway : Fastway - Jeff highly recommended this one, and at $3.75, I took the chance. The band has Fast Eddie from Motorhead, who was the original guitarist up through the Iron Fist album. Make no mistakes, Fastway sound nothing like Motorhead. Instead they play a very Zeppelin influenced style of rock. Good album.
• This Is Boston, Not L.A. compilation - This is a hardcore punk classic. Fast and furious early 80's hardcore featuring Boston greats like Gang Green, Jerry's Kids, The F.U.'s and The Freeze. I picked up this album for $7.00 The next day I took a look at eBay to check how much they go for, and found one that sold for $60. I think I got a bargain.