Fear Of A White Planet

When Planet Mental was released back in 2005, I had just started to get into record collecting. I remember being pretty stoked to get an "Earth Sucks" record release pressing at their show, but being new to the game, I hadn't really gotten hooked on the concept of collecting multiple pressings...so the one copy was all I needed. As the years went by, I'd entertain the idea of going back to pick up some other copies of the Mental LP, but it just never happened.

It had been a long time since I'd spent any time with those mid-00's Hardcore records, but when I recently started dusting off some of those old records, I was hooked pretty quick, and that shit was getting multiple spins. It was exciting to go back and revisit that era that I'd been neglecting for the last few years...and soon I was checking Discogs to see if there was any vinyl that was available for a quick and easy purchase.

Since I already owned an original US pressing with the blue cover for Planet Mental, I was itching to pick up the red cover that was pressed for the Mental's Euro tour. I found a white vinyl pressing available, and I was good to go!

Mental Panic

While I'm trying to be more selective about the vinyl repressings I buy, there are some that I will step up and buy every time. Have Heart, Champion, In My Eyes, Chain Of Strength, Youth Of Today...okay, so maybe there are a lot of repressings that I will buy each time they are released.

Bridge Nine has done a lot of reissues lately, and I've passed most of them by, but there was no way I was going to be able to resist a chance to pick up some more Mental vinyl.

I'd forgotten how great Mental was. It has been a while since I've queued them up in my daily playlist, but this Bridge Nine reissue of Get An Oxygen Tank was a nice reminder of how much fun this band is to listen to. Some bands don't withstand the test of time...Mental has no problem with it.

One of the things that really excited me on this reissue was how great the vinyl looks. Once again, Bridge Nine picks some nice color combos. 300 on white/green haze vinyl.

The original CD pressing of GAOT included the songs from And You Know This, so I was surprised to see that those songs weren't included on this vinyl reissue. Instead, the B Side has the live set from WERS that was a bonus on the Yo! CD. Strange, but I guess it is nice to get the live set on vinyl for the first time.

700 pressed on red/yellow split vinyl.

Along with the Mental reissue, B9 also pressed another version of the Panic discography. The original version of Strength In Solitude only included the first two 7 inches, but this reissue includes the songs from the Circles 12 inch as well, plus some demo and unreleased live tracks. I'm not sure why I thought I needed this, as I already owned all the important pieces of this discography...still, it's kind of cool to have another version of the Strength In Solitude record. Maybe it is time for me to put some effort into building that Panic collection?

300 pressed on white vinyl.

Mental Jah

I've been wanting to get back to collecting Mental vinyl for a while now. I started making a small dent back in 2006 with a few additions of Get An Oxygen Tank, but since then all progress on it seriously stalled.

Recently I seem to only be posting new release vinyl or cheap ebay wins, and I felt the draw to pick up something a bit more exciting...something more substantial. In my ebay quest, I found an auction for the And You Know This record release. Here I was looking for a big purchase, and there was this Mental record practically calling out to me. It was destiny.

Who doesn't love a special record release cover? The spray painted "rasta" cover on this looks amazing.

Nice touch with the hand numbered record labels, and the record release date on the inside sleeve. Whoa, this thing is almost 10 years old. Holy shit.