The Higher You Go...

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Another day, another copy of the Reveal 7 inch. When I said that I was obsessed with collecting this record, and would purchase every cheap auction on eBay, I wasn't fucking around. This is serious business.

When Marcus gave me the heads up that Number 3 was available on eBay, I knew that it would be mine. Four dollars and the only bidder. You're goddamn right.

The funny part of this deal was that the seller lives about a half hour from me. I found it extremely odd that there was another dude from my home state that also had a copy of this record. I sent him a message through eBay, asking how he came across this copy, but unfortunately my question went unanswered.

Obligatory group shot, showing all the numbers that I own.

Strange that covers for number 3 and number 37 use the same color of yellow paper, while in the middle of them is a much brighter yellow for number 24.

Number One For New Jersey Straight Edge

A month ago, Marcus and I were exchanging some blogger related messages, and he mentioned that he was currently looking at a list of records that someone was selling. On the list was the Reveal 7 inch with the numbered cover, and he said that if it was available, he was buying it for me. I laughed it off, thinking that he was making a joke of my Reveal obsession, but I would have certainly welcomed another copy to my collection.

A couple weeks later, and I get another message from Marcus, telling me that he had bought me a record as a way of saying thank you for helping him out recently. When I got home that night, the record was there in my mailbox, and it ended up being much cooler than I expected.

I wondered which cover Marcus managed to pick up for the Reveal record. Was it the yellow, blue or orange one? I pulled it out of the packaging, and...whoa...it's brown? Holy fuck. I didn't know there was a brown cover!

Not only did it have a brown cover, but it was number 1 of 100. Outside of the test press that Casali owns, this is the coolest Reveal record that I've seen. Thanks, Marcus!

I pity the fool that doesn't have a Reveal record with the Mr. T stamp!

This one makes the sixth numbered cover I own. When I bought my first copy of this cover from Brian Murphy back at Posi Numbers in 2005, I never guessed that it would blossom into an obsession like this.

Hell, I might as well pull them all out for a photo. Yeah, I challenge anyone to come up with a better collection than this. Ha!

More and More Reveal

Last year, I felt like I completed my Reveal collection. I had the white and the green colored vinyl, and had just added the limited yellow sleeve to the orange and the blue ones that I already owned. I thought that I was done. At that point, I was told that there was another variant with round Reveal sticker on a plain white cover. I've still never seen one of these, so in the meantime, I figured that I'd grab a couple more copies of the limited sleeve.

I've always told myself that if I found other copies of the limited sleeve, even though I already owned them, I'd probably still buy them if the price was right. I'm obsessed with this record, and when two copies popped up on eBay over the past couple of months, I threw a low bid on each of them. I figured that if no one else was going to bid, then I'd take them. Seems a shame to let an auction end on this record with no bids. Reveal deserve better than that.

At least the new yellow cover that I won is a different shade than the one I already owned. It saves me from looking like a total idiot for buying these again. It does, right?

I'm not sure what my end goal is here. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another copy, but am I really expecting to buy all 100 of these? No, not really. Still, it will be fun to see how stupid this collection can get.

Obsession Revealed

I seem to recall an interview that Indecision fanzine did with Mike Hartsfield from Outspoken/New Age Records a long time ago, where he was asked about his obsession over Wide Awake. In the interview, Mike acknowledges that they aren't the best band in the world, and he can't explain why he feels so strong about them...he just does. I can relate to that vague sense of reasoning when it comes to Reveal. I've enjoyed the band since I first heard about them in the early 90's, but as I've started collecting records, and discovering a new pressing every couple of years for the Descent 7 inch, my general interest has snowballed to a point of obesession. At this point, I feel like I'd buy every copy that I see on eBay.

I was surprised to find the record was pressed with a special cover when I stumbled upon it back in 2005 while flipping through some of Brian Murphy's used records at the Posi Numbers fest. Then in 2009, I discovered this special cover actually came on three different colors. Three years later, I finally picked up the last cover that I was missing...yellow. Five bidders on eBay, and still this record didn't top $5.00.

Hand numbered out of 100 created for the Vort 'n Vis festival in Belgium.

It looks like the yellow covers were numbered first, then the blue ones, and finally orange.

My Reveal collection may be complete, but that is not to say that I wouldn't buy another copy if I happened to see it on eBay.

A New Cover Is Revealed

Every time that I find a different pressing of the Reveal 7 inch, I'm surprised. I know nothing about the pressing info on this record, so I get excited each time I find something new. This time around, I stumbled upon the pressing with the limited edition cover...except this one was blue and not orange, like the one I already have. Anything else that I was watching on eBay took an immediate back seat, as I set out to win this at any cost.

Just like the orange cover that I own, this one is hand numbered out of 100. I'm assuming that this is just one run of 100 on black vinyl with the big hole, and they just a couple different colors for printing the covers.

The question now is, are there any other different pressings that I don't know about?

You Drink, You Suck

There is something about Reveal that makes me consider them a kind of cult classic. They were a New Jersey band that put out their one 7 inch on the PMA label out of Belgium. Featuring the Jordan brothers from Encounter, and some kid named Troll on vocals, the band blew in and out of the hardcore scene in about 6 months. In 1991/1992 there were not a lot of really vocal Straight Edge bands, and with their motto of "You Drink, You Suck", Reveal really captured my attention. The band first showed up along side other up and coming Straight Edge bands like Mouthpiece, Strife, and Unbroken, on the It's For Life comp. Shortly after that, PMA released their Descent 7 inch. Then, in the pre-internet days of hardcore, the band vanished. Apparently the band set a World Record for the the fastest edge break in scene history, and those slogans of "the higher you go, the further you fall", rang pretty hollow.

But regardless of that, the band always has a special place in my heart. I bought the record when it was first released (through Ebullition's distro?) and received a copy on white vinyl. When I was at Posi Numbers in 2005, Brian Murphy was selling some records with a couple of friends, and as I was flipping through what they had, I came across the Reveal 7 inch with the limited cover. I'm not sure if it was a record release cover, or what, but it was hand numbered, limited to 100, it was pressed on black vinyl with the big hole, and I had no idea that it existed. I didn't hesitate to pick it up. I was surprised again, a few weeks ago, when I saw that Dobek had a green vinyl pressing listed up on eBay. It was listed with a Buy It Now price of $16.00, or the option for a Best Offer. Because I'm an idiot, I would have seriously paid $50 for this treasure....instead I sent him my Best Offer price, which was accepted. So here I sit with three pieces of vinyl for this record, and it is one that I personally would consider a classic...but you probably had to be there at that time to fully appreciate it.