Hot Water Music is a band that I've struggled with. I fucking love the No Division record, but I've had trouble getting any of their other stuff to stick with me...and it seems that at some point after 2000, their records become unlistenable for me. Still, because I love No Division so much, I want to keep giving their other earlier stuff a chance.
In trying to get into more Hot Water Music, I figured that I'd start with small bites. From 1996 through 1999, the band released eight 7 inches...with half of them splits with other bands...and that seemed like a good place to start. Just a couple songs at a time. I grabbed the two songs from the Alachua 7 inch and gave them a spin. Nice! Taken in this small dose, I found myself really enjoying these Hot Water Music songs.
I wanted to grab the Alachua 7 inch, and Discogs was showing me twelve different options. The record was originally released by Allied Recordings in 1997, and it has seen a variety of different reissues through No Idea. It was tempting to go with one of the colored vinyl reissues, but instead I went with the first press on Allied.
The first press was only done on black vinyl, and they are still very cheap to pick up, so that's the way I went. While I really like these songs, I'm just thankful that I don't obsess over them so much that I felt the need to chase all the different variants. You've got to be insane to collect HWM records. There are so many different pressings for most of their records. Hell, it looks like the band released a new album this year, and there are already around 25 different vinyl options. Do collectors find that fun?
