A Hard Road

Over the summer, the local art museum here in Portland, hosted a series called Deconstructing The Beatles. Each month, they would feature a film that focused on a single album from The Beatles, starting with Rubber Soul, and working its way through Abbey Road...and in it, the host would dig in deep and pull out the details around the recording of each album. This was some full-on music nerd stuff...playing and dissecting different takes for many of the songs.

I enjoy The Beatles, so I figure that it would be cool to catch some of these Deconstructing The Beatles shows. Little did I know just how much it was going to have me obsessing over the band, and pulling out their albums for repeat listens.

Now my record collection for The Beatles stood at exactly one lonely piece of vinyl...and it was some shitty compilation that captured a bunch of cover songs from the 50's like Twist And Shout and Roll Over Beethoven...not exactly what I want when I'm in the mood for some Beatles. So when I was recently going through Steve's old record collection that I'd inherited when he passed away a couple years ago, I immediately pulled out a couple of their albums and placed them in the pile that I was interested in.

Steve's records were a mess. These things were played hard, and were in the need of a good cleaning. I wish that I could hear his stories about when he got them, and what impact they had on him...but sadly that opportunity has passed. Either way, once I'd washed the vinyl, and dropped the needle on the Abbey Road album, I was overcome with such a joyous feeling, and with each song, I'd bump the volume higher and higher. Fuck...this record sounds great, and had me singing and dancing along to it. Queue a small late 60's music obsession in 3... 2... 1...

The other record from The Beatles in Steve's collection was A Hard Days Night. The record cover for this one threw me off a little bit, as it wasn't the cover image that I was familiar with. Oh yeah, sometimes record companies in The States liked to fuck with the original UK layout.

My sweet spot for The Beatles is from 65's Rubber Soul through Let It Be in 1970. While I enjoy their earlier stuff, they aren't my go-to albums when it comes to The Beatles. Records like A Hard Days Night are just more poppy and "nice"...again, not bad, just not my favorite era.

Not only did the record company change the album cover to fit the soundtrack for the Beatles film of the same name, they also fucked with the songs on the record. Some songs were pulled from the US release, and replaced with some easy-listening instrumental versions of Beatles songs. These instrumental songs aren't performed by The Beatles, and are incredibly cheesy. Leave it to the US to think that fans wanted some kind of watered down Beatles record. Honestly, these instrumental versions are so bad and out of place on the record that I can't help but laugh and get a kick out of it.

I Need Air

When Justice released Escapades back in 2007, I was majorly disappointed. Following up their Elephant Skin album, Escapades came across like a limp dick. I was not impressed.

Okay...sometimes I'm a little slow, and over time this album wormed it's way into my head, and grew into a full blown obsession as I bought pressing after pressing of the thing.

It's been a while since I've been excited to chase multiple pressings of a record, and about five years since my last copy of Escapades, but fuck, when I saw that Youngblood had pulled a copy from their vaults and posted it for sale in their store, I quickly added it to my cart and checked out.

I'm not sure what possessed me to make the impulse purchase. I'd probably only listened to the record a couple of times over the past three years, but here I was throwing money at Youngblood to obtain my fifth copy of Escapades. I don't why the sudden urge, but since I've received this record, it is basically all I want to listen to. Seriously, I can just throw on Escapades and Soul Structure from Higher Power, and let them roll back to back over and over.

The thing is, I was so quick to buy this pressing, that I didn't pay much attention to the details, and can't remember exactly why Youngblood printed up these covers. I had to check back on my email receipt to see that Youngblood had mentioned in the description that this pressing was from 2013, but why? I want to say it was some kind of Youngblood anniversary showcase pressing, but I can't be sure. Fuck.

Speed Kills

While they certainly served their purpose at the time, I find most compilations to be utterly useless these days. Unless they contain some serious exclusive tracks, I've go no interest in them.

I was recently having a conversation with Doug, and he was quite excited about his Speed Kills collection. I'd never heard of it, but apparently it was a compilation series that Music For Nations/Under One Flag released from the mid-80's to early 90's. How this never entered my radar in the 80's is beyond me...maybe it was more of a European thing, and in the States, I was more focused on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre series. Either way, Doug kind of rubbed off on me, and soon I was checking to see if maybe I should check them out for the sake of nostalgia.

I came across a copy on eBay listed with a 99 cent start price. The seller did not invoke a lot of confidence with their listing.

I know absolutely nothing about records
So im selling them as untested (or as-is)
Have no way to test so please look at pictures
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET THANK YOU
May contain scratches rips ect.

I rolled the dice, threw a low bid on it, and won the record for $5.00. Thankfully it paid off, and the record sounds great.

It was a lot of fun ripping through the songs on this record. Sure, I was already familiar with most of these songs...although the exclusive track from Exciter was a nice surprise...and even though I don't know how often I'll really pull this out for a spin, it is really cool to have this record in the collection. Of course I'm going to have to track down Speed Kills II through VII at some point as well.

Lost And Found Glories

It is a pretty rare occasion for me to chase multiple pressings of a record these days. That game was ruined for me with endless repressings and preorders that would go six colors deep, so in most cases, I'm quite content to own one copy. I've got way too many records that I still don't even own on vinyl yet, so I've got very little time to spend dicking around with multiple pieces of colored vinyl. Still, I'm a collector at heart, and sometimes I'm drawn back into those habits.

The past year or so, saw me rekindle some interest in Reach The Sky, and since my vinyl collection for the band was shit, I started filling some holes.

I made a good run at some 7 inches, but came up a little short when it came to their Lost Glories record. I added both the blue and the gold pressings to the red vinyl that I already owned, so the only one that I was missing was the white vinyl. Goddamn. They were all readily available, and cheap, but that white wax was nowhere to be found. I posted a photo of the incomplete collection to Instagram, and people jumped in to say they would check to see if they had a copy for me, but it was to no avail. When some guy commented that he had been searching for a few years, and just happened to score one through Discogs, my hopes were dashed. I don't think that white vinyl is super rare, but it has only shown up on Discogs twice in the last few years...so I added it to my Want List, and expected to play the long waiting game.

When a copy showed up a couple months later, I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

Four records and the collection is done. That felt good.

Sleeping On The Job

I love the early Deep Purple records with Ian Gillan on vocals, and I'm a huge fan of the Born Again album that he did with Black Sabbath in 1983...but between those two periods, I'm pretty much blind to what Gillan was up to. I know that he had a couple of bands going during that time, with the Ian Gillan Band, and then Gillan, but outside of the Mr. Universe album from '79, I've never really spent any time checking out what the man had been up to.

As I was reading Martin Popoff's New Wave Of British Heavy Metal series, I kept coming across the Gillan name. From '78 to '82 the band released six albums and countless singles. Maybe it was time for me to dig in and see what I'd been missing.

As I started to check things out, I came across a video for the song Sleeping On The Job. Like that, I was hooked. The song was great, and with the denim vest and long hair, the look reminded me of Ian's time with Sabbath. I knew that I needed to chase down some vinyl.

When I found a US seller on Discogs that had three of Gillan singles from 1980 available, I scooped up all without hesitation...starting with the Sleeping On The Job / Higher And Higher 7 inch.

Next in line was the No Easy Way single. Like Sleeping On The Job, the a-side here was from the Glory Road album.

This is another killer song, and I can tell that I'm going to have to get my hands on that Glory Road album soon. Another great single.

The last Gillan record that I grabbed from this seller was the double 7 inch pressing for the Trouble single. The song is an old Elvis cover, and isn't too exciting, but it is still kind of cool to add to the collection.

The bonus 7 inch contains three songs that were recorded live at the Reading Festival in 1980.

These three records were a great introduction to Gillan, and I'm looking forward to checking out more from the band.

Russian Collusion

Near the end of 2017, I finished reading Martin Popoff's second book on the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, This Means War. As I closed in on the end of the book, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I was ramping up for a NWOBHM obsession.

I'll admit, my NWOBHM game is weak. My record collection is very light on the subject, plus there are a number of bands from that era that I've still never heard or spent much time with. As we rolled into 2018, more than 35 years after the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal started to take off, I was finally committing myself to dig deep and spend some time with those records.

I've got lots of work to do on this project, but my first order of business was to finally pick up the vinyl for Witchfinder General's Soviet Invasion EP.

Witchfinder General have an obvious influence from Black Sabbath, and the band pull off that sound perfectly. They are a bit more raw and loose than Sabbath, but goddamn, they are still great.

This 12 inch EP might not have the stunning photography work like their two album covers, but I still think that this record looks great. Feels good to finally have one of those original Heavy Metal Records labels in my collection.

Between The Lines Of 2017

This past year saw me as a finely honed record buying machine. I felt like my record collecting focus was on point for 2016, and I carried those lessons over to 2017. I wasn't fucking around with multiple vinyl pressings, and I spent most of the year crossing records off my Want List.

By the end of the year, I'd added 194 records to the collection. I don't expect to hit those highs that I had back in 2012, when I was buying every pressing from React! Records, and I seem to have found my comfort zone the last couple of years. I was actually surprised to have beaten last years numbers, as I was really tried to focus more on quality over quantity, but I guess I got wrapped up in the excitement of record collecting and there were a few months where a still bought a lot of records, regardless of their price tag. My numbers were up a little from last year, but where I saw the biggest increase was in my total dollars spent. After crossing off a couple of big ticket items in January, I kept chasing that high throughout the year.

2017 was an epic year. I bought some things that I didn't even think were within my grasp...but, I wanted to get shit done, and I made some big moves. Believe me when I say that it was fucking hard to narrow this down to my Top 5 from this year.

1. Pentagram 'Pentagram' first pressing - Pentagram takes the top spot this year. Not because it was the most expensive record I picked up in 2017, but because I was surprised how much I loved it. I was feeling underwhelmed when I bought it, but once it arrived and it hit my turntable, I was in love. Crushingly heavy.

2. DYS 'Brotherhood' XClaim! pressing - The DYS record was a huge win for me. One of those records that I honestly never expected to own because of the price tag that it carries. Things fell into place this year, and I took the opportunity to grab one.

3. Dio 'Killing The Dragon' NOTVD pressing - Night Of The Vinyl Dead issued two Dio records on their label...Killing The Dragon and Magica...and both of them sell for ridiculous amounts of money. Another record that I didn't know if I would actually be able to own. Only 500 pressed...that's it...unless you want the shitty picture disk. As a Dio fanboy, I feel lucky to own this.

4. Gorilla Biscuits 'Start Today' on purple vinyl - The original REV colored vinyl is for serious collectors only. Again, this wasn't a record that I thought I'd ever own, but it got to a point where I was like, "Fuck it. I've already gone overboard this year, what's one more big record?" Plus, I'd missed an opportunity at Bringin' It Down on green, and Start Today on purple helped ease that pain.

5. Search 'Behind The Lines' special covers - Record collecting is a brotherhood, and that really showed when two different people stepped up to help me complete my collection for the new Search 7 inch. They didn't want anything extra...just wanted to help out a fellow collector. I was humbled by there generosity, and I doubt that I would have these limited pressings if it wasn't for them.

In a complete reversal from the past few years, I was more excited over new Hardcore records than Metal. Hardcore had a fire, and was exciting. Let's not go crazy, I was still a jaded old man for the year, but some shit was able to crack my resistance, and man, those records were a blast.

Don't get me wrong. There were still some great Metal albums that were released this year, but over all I felt underwhelmed. Some of it was really good, but really all I wanted to do was listen to old 80's Metal and Crossover records.

There it is, my 2017 recap. It's funny. A little while ago, I felt like I needed to apologize for not posting as many Hardcore records as I used to. Gone are the days of multiple pressings and variants, but looking back over the year, I still posted a ton Hardcore stuff, and a number of heavy hitters. So fuck that apology. I've got nothing to be sorry for. If you are one of few that still spends the time reading this nonsense, I thank you. Let's see what 2018 brings.

Strange Houses

At the end of 2014, I was hit with an urge to listen to some Billy Joel. When I was around 8 or 9 years old, he was kind of a big deal. I downloaded 52nd Street, and expected that I'd probably give it a quick spin and be done with it. That didn't happen. The album stuck with me, and I ended up listening to it multiple times, and then as we moved into 2015 I downloaded more of Billy Joel's albums, and surprisingly I was loving them...so much so that I went to see him three consecutive years in a row play at Fenway Park in Boston.

Back in 2015, I ended up picking up a handful of Billy Joel records at a used vinyl shop in downtown Portland. The Stranger is one of my favorites from him, but unfortunately, the store didn't have that one available during my shopping spree.

I'm not a big believer in fate, but when I inherited Steve's record collection after he passed away, and I added his copy of The Stranger to my collection, it just felt "right".

My wife and I had tickets to see Billy Joel at Fenway in 2016 with my mom and Steve. He passed away three months before the show. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, from The Stranger, was one of his favorite Billy Joel songs, and it brings back memories whenever I hear it.

The other Billy Joel record that Steve had in his collection was the Glass Houses album from 1980. I don't know...this may be my second favorite from Billy Joel. Both You May Be Right and It's Still Rock And Roll To Me were huge to me as a 10 year old, as I started expanding my tastes further and further into heavier music.

Fun fact: I had a huge crush on a girl at 10 years old...I think she was the daughter of one of my mom's friends...and we were over their house one evening, and I noticed that she had this Glass Houses record in her "collection". I didn't own any music at the time, and probably only had blank cassettes that I was recording Men At Work and Police songs from Casey Kasem's Top 40 weekly radio show, so there was nothing hotter than a girl that owned her own records. I tried to play it cool, and asked her if we could listen to the album while we were in her room, but it still didn't even get me a kiss.

Dio-cember: Part 8 - Mystery

I hated to break up the Dio-cember posts, but there was one record that arrived a little later than the rest. Now, before the end of the month, we can wrap up this blast of an obsession.

During my Dio vinyl obsession, I discovered the world of the promo 12 inch. They don't really bring anything new to the table, and outside of just being a collectible for the completist, they are rather pointless...but still...with that unique cover design, I was drawn to them. I was chasing a couple more of the 12 inch promos to wrap up this series of posts, but in the end I only walked away with the Mystery promo.

Like the other promos that I picked up, this is the same song on both sides. Oddly, I love the continuity of the plain white back cover.

As I mentioned at the start of my Dio-cember series, it was memories of my Dio collection photo from last years January Record A Day challenge on Instagram that ignited this recent obsession. There were holes that needed to be be filled, and I was on a mission to make some progress. This Dio spending spree did the job, and while I still have a couple of high priced records still missing (namely Strange Highways and Magica), I made some good progress this month. That being said, it was time to update the collection photo.

Formidable Red Death

One last new release before we reach the end of 2017.

I wasn't aware that there was a new Red Death record on the way, but when I was in the Triple B store picking up the Unified Right album, and I noticed that there were preorders up for Red Death as well.

Red Death is one of those bands that continually flies under the radar for me, and I always forget just how good they are. Last year, the band released their two song 7 inch, Deterrence...and while I enjoyed it, I hadn't bothered to listen to it in about a year. I gave it a spin while preparing this blog post, and I was like, "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, this band is so good. Why don't I listen to Red Death more often?"

With Formidable Darkness, Red Death keep on doing their thing. With a dirty and dark Crossover sound, the band always remind me of Iron Age, and are absolutely crushing.

200 pressed on clear red and orange swirl colored vinyl. I know that the pictures make it look like it is just red vinyl, but you'll have to see it in real life to see the different colors in this thing.

Send Me Straight To Hell

I started seeing photos of the Unified Right album pop up on Instagram a couple months ago, but to be honest, with that cover, I had no idea that it was a record, and I was assuming it was just some promo for a new band that I'd never heard of. It was another case where the Hardcore community was trying to tell me to pay attention, but I preferred to sit back in ignorant bliss and ignore them.

As we were closing in on the end of 2017, and I was revisiting a bunch of newer Hardcore records that I'd picked up over the past year, it got me wondering about what the deal was with this Unified Right band that I had been hearing about. Surprisingly, Hardcore impressed the fuck out of me this year, and I decided to take a chance on one more new release.

Unified Right kind of remind me of the 80's New York Hardcore sound...I don't know...maybe less The Way It Is, and more Where The Wild Things Are. It is pretty good, but it doesn't grab me the way that I'd hoped. Of course, I've only listened to it a couple of times, so maybe I just need to give it a few more spins.

Escape With High Spirits

I seem to find myself in the same place year after year. Suddenly, we are in December...the days are flying by, I'm sitting on a number of records that were released over the past year, and I'm scrambling to get them posted on the blog before I write up my year end summary. I've got some work to do to get things locked down over the next week or so.

A few months ago, I noticed that High Spirits were releasing a new EP, and I let it pass me by. The band had released three great albums over the last five years, but I was still hesitant to throw down the money for another record from the band.

A few months went by, and I was hearing from Sandwell just how great the new songs were, and it got me thinking that maybe I should chase this record down...then, a day later, the band posted on Facebook that they had a few more copies in their webstore, which gave me the opportunity to pick it up without paying overseas shipping, so I jumped on it.

Four songs of early 80's influenced Heavy Metal with hooks and melody for days.

350 pressed on black vinyl.

Live Souls

I saw a number of concerts this past summer, and one of the highlights was seeing Iron Maiden live for the sixth time. The past two times they have come through Massachusetts have been for their nostalgia tours of Somewhere Back In Time (2008) and Maiden England in 2012. Both shows were amazing, and I was happy to catch each of them...but Maiden haven't hit Massachusetts on a tour for an album since 2006 with A Matter Of Life And Death. For some reason, we tend to get skipped on those album support tours...which made it even more exciting when it was announced that Maiden were making a stop on their tour for Book Of Souls.

I love those nostalgia tours, but man, I was really looking forward to seeing something new! New stage designs...new Eddie walking onto the stage...but the most important piece were the new songs that they would be playing. Iron Maiden aren't going to rest on their laurels, and for this tour they had the setlist stacked with six new songs. It made for an amazing and memorable show.

I went through a small obsession with Iron Maiden live albums recently. Live At Donington. En Vivo. Death On The Road. I'm not usually a fan of live albums, but Iron Maiden are one of the few that I'll make an exception for, and this Live Chapter of The Book Of Souls does not disappoint.

In typical Maiden fashion, the packaging is top notch...full of new live photos and artwork. Great package through and through.

Back To The Roots Of Accept

When I first started going to concerts back in 1985, the first band that I saw, where I didn't know any of their songs, was Accept. They were opening for Iron Maiden, who were on their World Slavery Tour, and being a fourteen year old kid with no means to buy every album that I wanted, I went to the show completely blind on who Accept were. They tore up the stage with a ton of energy, loud guitars and screaming vocals, and watching them from the back of the arena, I was sold on their live show. Shortly after that concert, I got myself to the record store, and picked up their Metal Heart album on vinyl. It was another giant leap forward down the path of becoming a diehard metalhead.

Accept's original singer, Udo Dirkschneider, recorded his last album with the band in 1996, and has since been focusing on his own band, U.D.O., that he started back in '87.

As one final nod to his Accept days, Udo took his solo band on the road to play a nostalgia setlist full of nothing but those old songs that he recorded with Accept. This of course lead to a live album release.

Sure, I was kind of interested in checking out the live record...but honestly, I struggled to justify parting with the money for the triple LP set. I had higher priorities that I wanted to spend my money on, and live albums do not command that kind of attention from me. However, I had a change of heart when I saw the album in clearance bin at my local store for $15. That was too good a deal to pass up.

Music Is My Life, And This Is My Song

A while ago, my friend Jeff tried to get me interested in Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and played me some of their stuff while we were hanging out at his house one evening. Surprisingly, I kind of enjoyed it, and made a mental note to check them out the next time I got down with a 70's hard rock obsession.

When my mom's boyfriend passed, and I was weeding through his old record collection, I was happy to discover the Not Fragile album.

I was surprised by how much I loved this record. So many thick riffs, and those rough and kick ass vocals are pure 70's rock. I would have never thought that I'd need to hear You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, but here in the context of this album, the song is great.

This album became my soundtrack to the Spring of 2017, and I would queue it up on the iPod for the few long drives that I would take to pick up my daughter at college. Great driving music.

Tyranny Of Vinyl Reissues

After Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden in 1993, he released a handful of albums as a solo artist. Some of them are just okay, while a few of them are quite good. My favorite though was the 2005 release, Tyranny Of Souls.

Since it was released during those days when the music industry was dead set in their belief that CDs were the best and only format for music, Tyranny Of Souls did not originally see a vinyl release. This seemed like an odd decision, considering that Maiden have always provided a vinyl option...even if it was just a shitty picture disc...and even Dance Of Death (2003) and A Matter Of Life And Death (2006) were pressed on vinyl at the time. I guess Dickinson's solo album didn't carry the same weight as Maiden, and it took until 2017 for us to see the vinyl for Tyranny Of Souls, which was part of a re-issue campaign for all the Dickinson solo stuff.

This album can stand shoulder to shoulder with Maiden's output since Bruce reunited with the band in 2000. So glad to finally have it in my record collection.

Don't Stop The Youth

At some point I heard about Fireburn and the new record they were releasing. I checked their bandcamp page, listened to a song, and then walked away. I don't know why I showed so little interest...it was probably just a timing thing, and I was currently obsessing over Thrash records from 1987 or something like that...but either way, I quickly moved on.

Over the next few months, my Instagram feed was flooded with photos of Don't Stop The Youth, with people losing their minds and claiming this was the record of the year. Curious, I decided to check it out again, and give it more of my attention.

Fireburn is kind of supergroup, full of big names from Hardcore's past. I don't really care about that bullshit. There are plenty of old hardcore dudes writing mediocre songs that don't grab my attention...so I care very little about who is in this band. My only interest is, does this record deliver...and it does...well, half of it does anyway. Five songs...three that are killer Bad Brains influenced Hardcore...one throw away Bad Brains influenced reggae tune...and one dub version of said reggae song that I never need to listen to again for the rest of my life.

Man, when the band is rolling, they create something that it truly great...take out those clunkers, and this could have possibly been my favorite record of the year.

500 pressed on red with black smoke vinyl.

Ramrod The Destroyer

Make no mistakes, Ram are pure unadulterated 80's Metal worship. The leather, studs, and screaming voice conjure up images of Judas Priest...and putting on a Ram album is like a time warp back to the golden days when Metal ruled.

When I heard that the new Ram album was to be called "Rod"...as in ramrod (ugh...how corny and lame is that?)...I was disappointed, and set my expectations low. Checking the video for the song On Wings Of No Return, set me straight, and I was soon headbanging like a maniac. Man, Ram know how to get the Metal blood boiling.

Before I listened to the record, I'd read some initial reviews that weren't overly positive. Comparisons were made to the band's killer album from 2015, Svbversvm, and most reviews felt that Rod fell short. The album does come ripping out of the gates though, and the first side of this record does not let up with it's unrelenting Metal attack. Side two consists of one epic song, Ramrod The Destroyer, broken out into six parts, and we kind of pump the brakes a few times as some interludes try to set the mood. It's cool I guess, but compared to side one, it does leave me a little underwhelmed by the end of the record. Still, this is a great Metal album, and it will be fun trying to see where it falls into my Top 10 for 2017 list.

Hand numbered and limited to 100 on transparent orange colored vinyl.

Dio-cember: Part 7 - Die Young

I had to take the past few days off from blogging, but now we can return to our regularly scheduled postings of Dio-cember. The series is winding down, but before I completely wrapped things up, I wanted to finally cross off one of the classic Black Sabbath singles.

Sabbath released four or five singles from 1980 through 1981 while Dio was originally in the band. Despite the fact that I could listen to both Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules everyday, and not get tired of those albums, I didn't own any of the singles from this period. Since I was neck deep in a Dio obsession, I figured that it was time to finally make a move. Finding the Die Young 12 inch from a US seller, and in excellent condition at a decent price, made the choice easier.

Black Sabbath singles don't really offer anything new...no rare exclusive b-side studio tracks or anything cool like that...most often it is just a live recording of a song...so there has been no real push for me to rush and pick them up. I still want them though...because I'm a record collector, and buying things that I don't really need is kind of my purpose in life.