Disco Sucks Fuck Everything

To give you an idea how far behind I've fallen with this blog, one of the first records that I bought in 2023 was this Sick Of It All album.

In early January, I felt like I'd spent the last few months chasing nothing but a bunch of cheap records that very few people probably care about. This blog doesn't have a huge following, so I'm not concerned about "creating content" that is exciting and will increase traffic here... but for my own personal satisfaction, I wanted to get my hands on a record that felt more substantial than variants of long forgotten 90's hardcore records. I wanted to cross something a bit bigger off my want list.

I'm under the impression that the majority opinion of the Fat Wreck years for Sick Of It All is that those records aren't great. Fuck that. For me, Call To Arms, Yours Truly and Life On The Ropes were the last really good SOIA albums. Those records are so fun, and while I don't really listen to them that often these days, when I do happen to hear them, they still give me a charge that has been missing from the band's latest albums.

While I think that hardcore kids generally look down at those Fat Wreck albums from Sick Of It All, it doesn't mean that you can pick up the colored vinyl for cheap. Nope. Those things still carry a high price tag, which I assume is due to the fact that an album like Yours Truly hasn't seen a vinyl pressing since the original release back in 2000... 23 years ago! I'm sure a reissue will be around the corner for this album (because everything gets the reissue treatment sooner or later), but I'm happy to grab that original red vinyl.

Red Front Porch

While I was definitely excited for the Pegboy records that Marcus was selling for his friend, the real treasure that I was able to pick up was the colored vinyl pressing for Avail's Front Porch Stories.

Most of the Avail catalog is relatively easy to pick up because, for the most part, those first pressings were only pressed on black vinyl...and we know that the kids really only like to collect those flashy color vinyl options. Front Porch Stories, however, saw a beautiful red vinyl option. This was limited to 218, so in addition to looking great, it is also kind of rare...and therefore it is one of the more expensive Avail records. I've had this on my wantlist for years, but I wasn't sure that I really wanted to drop the money needed to obtain it. When I saw it on the list of records that Marcus was selling, and having the opportunity right there in my face, I suddenly needed to own it.

Marcus happened to be travelling to the US earlier this year, and brought the records across the Atlantic with him. I'm not sure exactly what he was up to while he was here... although I did see a quick video of him vacuuming the REVHQ office, so I assume the he picked up some kind of janitorial job... but I was happy to take advantage of his low shipping costs. Thanks for the records!

Less Talk, 25 Years Of More Rock

Fat Wreck Chords has been rolling out some 25 year anniversary pressings for their catalog. I picked up a couple of the Good Riddance anniversary pressings last year, and I was surprised with how great they looked. I knew that I was going to have to keep my eye open to see if the label released anything else in this series that interested me. When I saw that Propagandhi's Less Talk, More Rock was getting the 25th anniversary treatment, I figured that I might as well grab that one too.

I've never been very big on the Fat Wreck bands, but in the late 90's both Good Riddance and Propagandhi were a couple of my favorite bands at that time. Less Talk, More Rock was especially a huge record for me. It wore it's politics on it's sleeve, and just seemed to shove a middle finger into the face of uptight conservatives everywhere... laughing the whole time. I absolutely loved the spirit of that record. I've wanted an original colored vinyl pressing of this record for a while now, but prices were just a little too high for me to seriously consider chasing it, so this one will have to do.

Once again, Fat Wreck does a great job with this anniversary pressing. I'm digging that metallic foil stamped name and title they use on the cover for this series.

The copy that I picked up came with a slipmat. Classic Propagandhi.

While I was picking up the Less Talk, More Rock record, I noticed that Fat Wreck also had a new colored vinyl pressing of Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes. This was another Propagandhi record that I'd wanted to add to the collection at some point. Seeing this one in the store made it an easy choice to just grab this one now. I've tried to get into the Propagandhi records after this one, and while they are okay, I just have never felt a burning need to revisit them very often. Basically, all that I need are the first three Propagandhi albums.

While this one isn't a part of the 25th anniversary series, I'm still happy to finally have a copy of this album. I also think that the colored vinyl for this one looks great.

A Comprehensive Guide To 25 Years

Reissues generally don't interest me, and for the most part, I try to stick with original pressings for my record colleciton. At one point, I was toying with the idea of chasing the first pressings for the Good Riddance albums. Then over the past few years a number of colored vinyl reissues for the band have caught my eye. They looked too good to resist, so I picked up one... and then another... and before I knew it my entire Good Riddance collection was reissues, but you know, I was okay with it.

I discovered Good Riddance around 1996/1997 with A Comprehensive Guide To Moderne Rebellion. The band was on Fat Wreck and I didn't give that label much attention at the time because I figured that everything on that label was kind of a joke pop punk band. With that mindset, I was completely surprised by Good Riddance. They played some great hardcore with lyrics addressing some serious topics. For the next five years or so, Good Riddance were my favorite band. I'm not one to overplay an album, but with A Comprehensive Guide I did just that. I loved that record so much and couldn't stop listening to it at the time, that I eventually got tired of it and shelved it for years. Listening to it today, this thing still holds up.

Last year I picked up the 25th anniversary pressing of the For God And Country album, and I loved the look of that thing. It was only a matter of time before I picked up the anniversary pressing of A Comprehensive Guide as well. With the alternate cover colors, the foil stamped logo, and the wild colored vinyl... this package is really well done.

Bound By Ties Of Colored Vinyl

There was a five year stretch in the late 90's into the early 2000's where Good Riddance were one of my favorite bands. I saw them play live in Boston and Providence a few times, and would I would dance like a fucking nut for their entire set. Man, I couldn't help but move for that band. Anyway, at one time I toyed with the idea of collecting original colored vinyl pressings, but I was going to have to drop some serious money if I wanted to go that route, and while I ain't afraid of expensive records, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go that deep for Good Riddance.

A few years ago, when there was more than just three people doing record collecting blogs, someone happened to post about a recent colored vinyl reissue for one of the Good Riddance records. I thought the vinyl looked great, so on a whim I bought a copy... then I found another reissue that looked great and I bought that one too... then at the end of last year I picked up the 25th anniversary reissue of the band's first album. Guess I'm collecting Good Riddance reissues now.

After I recently posted about the For God And Country reissue, I started wondering if there were other recent Good Riddance pressings that I may have missed out on. I found that the band's sixth album, Bound By Ties Of Blood And Affection, was reissued in 2018 on a yellow and gold piece of wax, so I grabbed one from a Discogs seller.

Once again, I really like the look of the vinyl for this pressing. Good looking vinyl for the reissues helps me not feel bad for focusing on these and ignoring the original pressings.

Ballads From The Reissue Revolution

There was a time when Good Riddance was one of my favorite bands. Of course this was back when I was buying CDs exclusively, and didn't understand the appeal of colored vinyl...so now here I sit, years later, with a shitty record collection for the band...and if I want to pick them up now, I'll be looking at some high price tags. Some days I entertain the thought of making a run at them, but for the most part, it just seems to overwhelming, and I end up chasing something else instead.

Last month, Ralf over at It All Comes Down To This posted about a colored vinyl reissue for Ballads From The Revolution. Knowing how quickly Fat Wreck colored vinyl pressings seem to sell out, I was immediately disappointed that I didn't have some advance notice on this, and I resigned myself to a missed opportunity. A couple of days after Ralf's post, Marcus sent me a message to let me know that Fat Wreck still had some of the colored vinyl repress available. Since the last one that sold on Discogs went for $100, I decided that I'd take the cheap way out, and take advantage of the new pressing.

I've been listening to this album a lot over the past couple of weeks. Man, this thing still holds up. 20th anniversary and still going strong.

Life's A Beach

Night Birds do Punk just the way I like it...lightening fast and sounding like they came straight outta southern California in 1980.

As soon as they released the video for the title track, Mutiny At Muscle Beach, I gave it a quick check and then settled in to wait for pre-orders to go up over at Fat Wreck.

The video was a great teaser for the record, and the album follows the same frantic pace that Night Birds are known for.

Night Birds don't do colored vinyl, and it is a refreshing change to not have to worry about chasing 6 different pressings if you want to collect them. Nope, if you want the limited version, you've got to get in early and get the special cover.

Number 348 out of 500 for preorders.

Colored Vinyl In Our Time

Back in the late 90's/early 00's, I absolutely loved Good Riddance. In fact, at that time, I may have even considered them my favorite band. I even went as far as bleaching my hair, and then coloring it red, so that it would look like the style Russ was sporting on the inside photos of the Ballads From The Revolution album. Yeah, I may have been man-crushing...you got a problem with that?

By the time that My Republic was released in 2006, I was barely paying attention, and while the band broke up in 2007, it took me over three years after the release date to finally pick up that "last" Good Riddance record.

Earlier this year, I heard that Good Riddance were back together and were putting out a new album. More shocking than this bit of news, was the fact that I was actually interested in checking out what the band had to offer in 2015. I was surprised at how much I liked that last Only Crime record, and I figured at the very least, a new Good Riddance album would be able to top that.

I thought about ordering the record direct from Fat Wreck Chords, but it wasn't really clear if I was ordering the colored vinyl option or not...and I didn't want to get stuck with black vinyl that was going to be available in every record store. Fat Wreck colored vinyl seems to draw some attention with collectors, and if I was going to buy a copy, I wanted to do it right.

Since it seemed like a gamble ordering direct from the label, I took the easy way out and just paid more than I probably needed to, and grabbed a copy off eBay.

Colored vinyl came with a bonus 7 inch, with an etched b-side. I love how the 7 inch is incorporated right into the front album design with it's own coordinated cover and plastic sleeve that is attached right to the cover.

I'm really impressed with this record. Feels like it is 2001 all over again.

No Control

There was a period of a few years where I stopped buying Crucial Response records. I was loyal to the label from around 1991, when I picked up the first Manliftingbanner 7 inch, through the late 90's. I still liked what the label was doing with bands like Eyeball and Mainstrike, but my musical direction was starting to lean in the direction of bands with a more punk influence, like Good Riddance or Propagandhi. Soon, I stopped paying any attention to what the label was doing and I skipped the era of Sportswear, Damage Control, and Insurance Risk.

While organizing music files on my computer, because everything has a place with my music collection, I realized that while I had never bought the first Damage Control 7 inch from 2001, I had also never even heard it. I enjoy the all the other DC recordings, so this was an immediate hole that needed to be filled. I quickly found and downloaded the mp3's online, and then hit eBay to find a copy on vinyl. Found one copy with a Buy It Now option for $5.00.

Since I couldn't just buy only one record from the eBay store, I checked into what else they had for sale. Good Riddance released their last studio album, My Republic, back in 2006, and while I have loved everything the band has released, I've never bought this album. In fact, I actually found myself in the exact opposite position from when I let the Damage Control 7 inch pass me by 10 years ago. For the past few years, I've been more interested in straight ahead, youth crew hardcore, and I've ignored new albums from Anti-Flag, Good Riddance and Propagandhi. For $10, I took the opportunity to rectify that, because there is no such thing as a bad Good Riddance album.