Want List Full Of Metal

The Chromium Dioxide channel over on Youtube recently posted a video on the dangers of drinking and eBaying. It was a fantastic celebration of poor decisions and impulse spending for records, and I wanted a piece of that action. My Top Wants list for 2021 was staring me in the face, and I wanted to ignore price tags and see what kind of trouble I could get into. I don't need alcohol to influence me into doing some damage when record shopping.

The Fistful Of Metal album from Anthrax has been near the top of my want list for more years than I'd care to mention. I went nuts over those silver Megaforce labels for a while, but it has been a few years since I've picked one up, so it felt good to get back to it. I didn't end up with a triple digit price tag, so I don't think that I got suckered into spending too much, and this thing is in such great condition, so who fucking cares how much it cost.

Shortly after winning this eBay auction, the seller sent me a message to thank me for the purchase and he mentioned that he was 65 years old and was selling off his collection, listing a few records each weekend. It got me thinking about my own mortality and where I might be at that age. 65 for me is only in another 15 years. What the fuck? I've been doing this blog for 15 years, and to think that in another 15 I might be in a position where I've got to sell my collection kind of fucked me up mentally. Realistically, how long can I keep this up? Am I just wasting time acquiring things that I'm just going to have to eventually sell off. What's the point? Tough questions came to the surface that I fully intend to bury under the purchases of more records.

Blue Bomber

As we enter the last couple of months for the year, I wanted to make another move on the Top Wants list that I post in the sidebar for this blog each year. I'm typically unfocused and all over the map with my record collecting... I get excited about chasing a record, but then when I don't immediately pull the trigger for one reason or another, I forget about it and move on to the next shiny object that captures my attention... this list helps me set a couple of goals and not lose sight of a few records that I really want to add to the collection.

When I recently picked up a Motorhead bootleg, it got me thinking about the pressing of Bomber that I'd added to my Top Wants list at the start of the year. I've been wanting the UK Bronze pressings for the classic early Motorhead records for while now, and I've slowly picked off a few of them. The Bomber album was the next logical stop in my quest. For Overkill and Ace Of Spades, I went with the standard black vinyl pressing, and I was content with that... but for Bomber, I wanted one of those early colored vinyl pressings. It seems that Bronze did these colored vinyl pressings for some of their releases. I grabbed one for the Girlschool record I picked up a few years ago, and it was cool to grab Bomber on blue.

Just like Overkill and Ace Of Spades, Bomber is absolute perfection. Each song is a perfect fit into the record, and it plays so smoothly that it's over before I realize it... and then I immediately want to listen to it again.

Australian Powerage

Last year I made some great progress with my AC/DC collection. The band released a new album at the end of the year, and I spent a lot of time leading up to it grabbing pieces of their back catalog. Things haven't been as productive on the AC/DC front this year, but I've actively been on the hunt for the Australian pressing for Powerage for a while so it feels good to finally cross this big boy off my list.

Powerage was AC/DC's fifth album released in Australia, and the first to not carry the kangaroo logo on the record label...plus it was the first time the cover art was the same as all other international releases. Because of these things I assumed that I wouldn't have to sink as much money into this record as I had the first four. I was wrong. I guess that any first press Aussie pressing for AC/DC is going to hit the savings account hard.

I'll often cite Powerage as my favorite AC/DC record, so I was very excited to finally add this one to the collection.

Apparently the European pressing has an earlier mix than all others and has a slight variation in the tracklisting by adding Cold Hearted Man and dumping Rock 'n' Roll Damnation, so I'm obviously going to have to chase that one down as well...and let's not forget about the red vinyl Canadian pressing or the New Zealand one with the different color text on the cover. I need them all.

Don't Forget The 2021 Want List

These past couple of months have been a bit wild when it came to buying records. I've had zero self restraint and have been chasing whatever pops up on my radar lately. I got a bit out of control, and I knew that I probably needed to reel things in, but before I started to lock things down I wanted to have one last fling.

I wanted to go big. I wanted to make a dent. I looked at my Top Wants list for the year, and there at the top was the first pressing of Warzone's Don't Forget The Struggle LP. I haven't done a great job in tackling this list in years past, and I didn't want that to be the story for this year as well. As soon as a good looking copy popped up on Discogs, I was making moves.

This album is a classic for a reason. There is a lot of youthful energy and charm here that keeps this record sounding fresh after all these years. While there are definitely some cringe worthy aspects of the band, I still really dig them...however, if a band came out today playing songs like Fighting For Our Country or The American Movement, I'd tell them to fuck right off.

(I'm) Stranded In Australia

Last year I did a terrible job of focusing on my Top Wants list. I put this top 10 list together each year, not with the expectation that I'll buy everything on it, but to highlight some records that I've wanted over recent years, and to keep them in my sights so they don't continue to get pushed aside. Last year I only managed to pick off two of them from list, and I swore that in 2021 I'd do better. Before too much time got away from me, I wanted to make a move on my Top Wants list early, so back in January I started scheming on which one I was going to chase first.

The first album from The Saints, (I'm) Stranded, first showed up on my Top Wants list back in 2018. It has been stuck (errr...stranded) on the list for a few years, because I got it into my head that I would only be satisfied with an Australian pressing of the record...because of course The Saints were from Australia, so it only made sense to buy the pressing from their counrty...which of course makes it more expensive and difficult to track down...especially one in good condition. Hell, the US pressing of this record isn't exactly cheap, so if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it right.

I first discovered this album back in 2016 when I was obsessing over late 70's punk bands. I'd never heard of The Saints, but I was so hungry for that sound that I was trying a bunch of bands from that time period hoping to find something that hooked me. Along with bands like The Adverts, UK Subs, The Buzzcocks and The Dickies, I also struck gold with that first album from The Saints. From start to finish, it just has that cool punk attitude, and it feels good to finally have this classic in the collection.

I'm used to seeing the kangaroo logo on the early AC/DC records, but it is kind of cool to see it here on this album from The Saints.