I Hope You're Unhappy

I'm a big fan of the original Record Store Day in April, and while I'll acknowledge it's corporate greed wasteful ugliness, I'll still embrace it for it's celebration of vinyl and record shopping. The Black Friday RSD on the Friday after Thanksgiving, on the other hand...yeah, fuck that. Fool me once a year, but I ain't buying into the scam twice.

So three days after Black Friday, I wandered into my local store for some record shopping. The purpose of my trip was to pick up the new Clutch record, but it seems as though the curse of RSD delayed it's production, and the release date had been pushed out...again. Flipping through the garbage of Black Friday leftovers, I found two albums that I didn't own on vinyl, and figured that this was as good a time as any to right that wrong.

I've always had a soft spot for Farside, but the big hole on my record shelf has been The Monroe Doctrine. This is my favorite Farside release, so when REV announced they were repressing it on colored vinyl for Black Friday RSD, I was looking forward to finally adding a copy to my record collection.

1,000 pressed on red vinyl.

Man, some of these songs hit home on some personal experiences...specifically Seven-Day Constant, as I remember driving around town with my daughter, who was terrible at going to bed, and would sometimes just cry inconsolable for hours. I'd pop her into her carseat, and drive until she'd calmed down and had fallen asleep. I specifically remember driving around at midnight, just waiting for her to fall asleep, and Seven-Day Constant playing on the stereo with the opening lines of "Sleep is overrated". Yeah, kids are awesome like that.

When Death By Stereo released their second album, Day Of The Death, back in 2001, I was all over it. They were probably one of my favorite bands at the time, and I listened to that album a lot. However, over the course of about 15 years (and with the help of a couple of sub par follow up albums), I've largely left Death By Stereo to be buried by time and dust. Over the past 10 years, I've probably only listened to this a handful of times, and seeing it in the vinyl bin I figured that maybe it was time to finally pick it up and give it another spin.

This was a nice reminder of how great they were. One of my fondest memories of going to shows in the early 2000's was seeing Death By Stereo open up for Good Riddance in Boston. The crowd was kind of lame, and the singer Efrem climbed down off the stage, jumped the barricade, and spent the entire set on the floor getting in kid's faces with the microphone. The crowd loved the interaction, and were soon climbing over each other to sing along into the mic.

Strictly limited to a billion on gold colored vinyl.

Record Store Day 2014 Part 1: Learn To Obey

Somewhere along the way, I stopped caring about Record Store Day releases. It used to be that I would pour over the list each year, memorizing all those new records that I had to have. Then at some point it hit me...a lot of this was just part of the RSD hype machine, and at the end of the day, I didn't need another armful of vinyl repressings that I probably wouldn't care about if it wasn't Record Store Day.

For this year, I gave a passing glance at the list of RSD releases, and decided that there were only a couple of releases that I really wanted to get my hands on. This was the first year that I didn't bother with the lines, and showed up an hour after the doors opened. It was a pretty laid back affair, but as I started flipping through the vinyl, I ended up walking out of the store with much more than I had anticipated.

At the top of my Record Store Day list was the new OFF! 7 inch. Two exclusive songs that aren't on the new LP...it was one of the few things that I would have been bummed if I didn't get it. I let out a sigh of relief when I found a copy.

The one other piece of vinyl that I was on the hunt for was the Clutch/Lionize split 7 inch. I couldn't have cared less about the Lionize side, but a new Clutch song for their side of the record? Fuck yes.

Truth be told, I had completely forgotten that there was going to be a new pressing of Up Front's Spirit LP for Record Store Day. I was happily surprised when I saw it in the vinyl bin. Probably the best thing released on this day. This record completes the trifecta of vinyl that I NEEDED to have. Every new release beyond this point was a bonus, and was something that wouldn't have broken my heart if I didn't buy one.

Let start off the remainder of my RSD haul with the Revelation stuff. I love Farside, and someday I'd like to make a run at building a decent collection. Until then, I'll grab this copy of the band's first 7 inch on blue vinyl.

I skipped REV's RSD pressing of the first Sense Field LP last year. I've always though of it as a bit of a turd, but I do really enjoy Killed For Less and Building. I'm not out to collect multiple copies, but since I didn't already own Building on vinyl, I figured that this was a good opportunity to finally buy one...plus that red vinyl looks great!

Another band that I'd like to get around to collecting someday is Battery. I think that the only piece of vinyl I had for them was the copy of the 7 inch I got a couple years ago. Embarrassing. I happily took this opportunity to grab my first piece of vinyl for Whatever It Takes.

Quick story...I remember sitting outside a show talking to Lacroix from Ten Yard Fight, and he was telling me that Ken Olden was bragging about how easy it was to write a Youth Crew Hardcore record. Apparently, Ken said he could crank one out in 5 minutes. When I first heard Whatever It Takes, I was disappointed with how uninspired it sounded...kind of like the band rushed through it in 5 minutes. The record is okay, and I probably enjoy it more today than when it was released, but let's not kid ourselves...Until The End crushes this one.

At one point, I was a huge fan of Strife. I saw them a few times in Boston back in the day, and they always were great live. In This Defiance hasn't aged that well, and I rarely even bother with it these days, but I never owned it on vinyl, so I figured "what the Hell", and bought one on Record Store Day.

Scott Vogel has done a lot of bands. I liked Despair, and while it has been many years since I've bothered with Terror, I remember digging those first two records. I've never really spent a lot of time with Buried Alive, and figured that the Record Store Day provided a good opportunity to dig into them beyond a casual listen.

Once I had all the Hardcore vinyl that I wanted, it was time to decide what else I wanted to pick up. It seems that each year, there is some "limited" release from Jimi Hendrix. Typically it is some throw away 7 inch that I can't imagine anyone really needs, but this year we got a vinyl pressing of Live At Monterey. I love most of the Hendrix stuff and this is a solid live set. I was in the mood for spending money...plus that cover is too bad ass to resist...so I grabbed myself a copy.

Speaking of spending money...I had an internal debate over purchasing the reissue of The Doors compilation, Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine. While not really a Greatest Hits record, there is nothing new here, but it does have a couple of B-sides that I don't own on vinyl. These songs, in addition with how great the vinyl looks, convinced me to spend the money and buy a copy.

Now that I had plenty of new RSD vinyl, it was time to hit the used bins...to be continued...

The One Thing That Still Holds...Rochambeau

In 2012, I bought 29 records that Revelation had released. Not one of them was a new recording. Wow. That label sure stays busy doing nothing. Here are the final two represses from last year.

Dude, it is Chain of Strength, and I will buy Chain represses all year long. I'll admit though, I need to focus on some original Chain vinyl. Hope to turn that around in 2013.

4th pressing on clear vinyl.

I was happy to see that REV was repressing Farside's first album, Rochambeau, on colored vinyl. I've never really given much thought to collecting Farside vinyl, but these represses may be the push that I need.

Second pressing on clear green vinyl.

Not Record Store Day 2012

I was a little confused when Revelation announced their vinyl reissues for Record Store Day this year. It took me a few weeks to realize that there were two different colors...one specifically for Record Store Day, and then a different color for the REVHQ store. I got so caught up in all the excitement, that I made sure that I got one of everything.

The best thing about these reissues is how much it has pushed these bands back into view. Ever since buying the Keep My Soul Awake 7 inch from Al Quint at Rockit Records along Route 1 on the way to Boston, I've been a fan of Farside. I've never set out to collect their vinyl, but having three copies of Rigged on my shelf makes me think I want to take a stab at it.

If you had told me back in 1991 that someday I'd own three copies of the self titled Into Another record, I would have laughed at how absurd it sounded. First of all, I didn't understand the point of collecting vinyl back in the early 90's, and second I thought that the Into Another LP sucked. How the times have changed...I can't listen to this album enough these days.

I've always loved the first couple Ignite records. Call On My Brothers and Past Our Means blew me away in the late 90's, and I'm scratching my head as to why I've never sought out the vinyl until now.

I was happy to pick up the RSD pressing of the Sensefield LP (wait, is it Sensefield or Sense Field, I've never known)...I'd never owned it on vinyl, and I was glad to add it to my collection. After ordering the regular color vinyl pressing from REV, I was scratching my head as to what the point was in buying another copy. I like a couple of the Sensefield records, but I will never care enough to actively collect them. So why did I feel the need to buy two pressings? Sometimes even I can't figure out the answer to these things.

After pulling out the Record Store Day pressings to compare and take a picture of them next to the regular colored vinyl pressing, I suddenly felt happy that I picked up that Sensefield record after all. While I may not actively seek out all the vinyl from each of these four bands, it gave me a good feeling to see this complete 2012 collection.