Pink Beyond Recognition

Twelve years ago Marcus posted about the Life Time album from Rollins Band. He was attracted to the special pink vinyl, and his enthusiasm was contagious so that I found myself wanting to grab a copy as well. It took some time, but I was finally able to track one down.

I was a big fan of the early Rollins Band albums... including Hot Animal Machine... back when I started getting into hardcore. I mean, they were no Black Flag, but Henry Rollins could still rage at the microphone and got the job done for me. Life Time is probably my favorite of the bunch, although I've really come to appreciate The End Of Silence quite a bit over recent years. The songs on this LP absolutely rip and are catchy as hell... plus this pink vinyl looks bright and sharp... such a good look.

In case you missed it, Ian MacKaye produced this album.

Part Animal, Part Machine

A year or so ago, Rollins Band was brought back from the dead in my music collection. I was looking at some of my CDs, and realized that it had been awhile since I'd heard them, so I loaded the songs to my iPod. Soon, I found that I could not get enough, and in addition to the first three albums, I had downloaded End Of Silence and Weight as well. I'd done a few searches on eBay for some Rollins vinyl, but nothing ever panned out.

While record shopping in South Carolina a few months ago, I found the first LP, Hot Animal Machine, in the used bin. In addition to the Venom vinyl that I desperately needed, there was no doubt that I needed this Rollins record as well.

Man, these songs are such a blast to listen to. Not a bad song on here.

Rollins Demo Days

Last year I listened to a lot of Black Flag and early 90's Hardcore. It was only a matter of time before Rollins Band was going to get some playing time. Honestly, it had been ages since I'd given the Life Time and Hard Volume albums a spin. I had pretty much written off any post-Flag Rollins stuff over the past 15+ years, but hearing these albums again...I was surprised at how much I was digging them.

One of the albums that I never really spent any time with was Rollins' 1992 release The End of Silence. I had a copy of this on cassette when it was released, which I received as a free giveaway from a local college radio station...but I never really spent much time with it. Listening to it these days, I love it, and think that it fits in perfect with Life Time and Hard Volume.

In December, I saw that Rollins was releasing the demos from the End of Silence recording sessions on vinyl. I managed to hold off for about a week, before I couldn't resist the temptation and placed my order. Shipping was ridiculous from his 2.13.61 store, but I was riding such a Rollins rush, I threw caution to the wind and ordered it anyway.

Limited to 450 pressed on colored vinyl.

Henry does appreciate vinyl, and comments as such on the liner notes for the 2012 release.