Red Rainbow Connection

Last year was kind of random and everything felt unfocused when it came to my record collecting. I bought a number of singles in 2020, and while it feels totally pointless picking them up, it is also a lot of fun for some reason. Don't ask me to rationalize it, I just do what I enjoy. I've only picked up a couple of singles this year, but when I was recently buying an album from a UK seller, I took the opportunity to add a few cheap ones to the cart.

While I've been obsessing over various singles, for some reason that hasn't bled over into my record collection for all things Ronnie James Dio. Seeing this Rainbow single for L.A. Connection b/w Lady Of The Lake available from a seller that I was already picking up a couple records from, it was obvious that I needed to add this one to the cart as well. The Dio years of Rainbow are the only ones that matter.

While there isn't anything new offered here on this single, I was still at unexplainable levels of excitement when it arrived. For me, there is just something very cool about collecting these old pieces of history... plus, that red vinyl looks fantastic.

In Memory Of...

On May 2nd of this year, it was announced that Jeff Hanneman, founding member and guitarist in Slayer, had died at the age of 49. Such terrible news, and an even bigger shame to hear that the cause of death was alcohol-related cirrhosis. So senseless, and completely preventable with a healthier lifestyle.

While Reign In Blood is the high point in Slayer's career, I usually hold out for Hell Awaits as my favorite album from them. It was the first Slayer album that I ever heard, and it just seems so raw in comparison to their other works. With the passing of Hanneman, I figured that I'd add another copy to the collection, to honor his memory.

The orange and red split colored vinyl was pressed by Back On Black for Record Store Day this year.

Damn, that picture disc from 2008 looks gross.

This past May also marked the three year anniversary of Ronnie James Dio's death. I'm a huge fan of everything Dio, so while I was picking up the Slayer vinyl for Hanneman, I decided that I needed to buy something in memory of Dio's passing as well.

Back On Black had just released new pressings of the Rainbow albums, as well as Dio's Holy Diver, so it was a tough call on which one to pick up. In the end I went with Long Live Rock 'n' Roll. I love the look of this split colored vinyl.

It's funny. I typically don't collect multiple copies of Metal records, but that doesn't seem to be the case with these albums.