On Trial

Back in September, I ordered the new Trial repress from New Age Records. So much time had passed since then, that I'd forgotten exactly what I'd ordered. When Sandwell posted four copies on his blog in December, I didn't remember ordering that many copies. For some reason I only remembered ordering two copies. If this was true I was going to need to place another order with New Age, and I was not looking forward to that possibility.

When the package finally landed in my mailbox in January, I was thrilled to find that I had ordered all four copies.

200 pressed on grey vinyl.

300 pressed on clear.

500 pressed on brown vinyl.

For best results, hold up to light.

Don't forget about the '77 pressing that New Age does with each repress. 77 copies on grey vinyl with the Walk Proud labels. Damn, did they have that many labels left over from the original Walk Proud run, or has New Age been printing them just for these '77 pressings?

In addition to the Trial 7 inches, I also picked up a copy of the Suppression Swing LP. Of course I originally bought this on CD back in the late 90's, but for $4.00 I figured it was time to grab a vinyl copy. Much to my surprise, I found that the vinyl has a bonus track that wasn't on the CD. Truly, one of the last great New Age releases.

Trial Separation

A few months back, New Age started taking orders for the repress of Trial's Foundation 7 inch. Some people have received their order, but I'm still waiting for mine. In the meantime, I picked up two copies of the reissue that Panic Records did over the summer.

The Panic Records reissue combines both the Through The Darkest Days and Foundation EPs, and presses them onto one LP. I grabbed the purple and blue pressings, which are limited to 200 each.

I really enjoyed Trial back in the mid to late 90's, but as time went on, I forgot all about them. Prompted by their reunion and these reissues, I've started giving them a spin again, and I'm impressed with how well they have held up over time.

As a side note, the download for this LP contains a few songs that were not on the vinyl. Three covers...Crucified (Iron Cross), Potential Friends (Youth of Today) and Red Hot (Motley Crue). Now I don't really need to hear the Motley Crue cover again, but it would have been nice to include the other two songs on the Foundation side of this LP. They had plenty of room.