You Tell Me You Want To Be Different

Man, I love album cover variations for different pressings. I'm not sure what it is, but slight differences, whether it be the change from red to blue with Nothing Done's name on the second pressing, or the change from a blue cover to a red cover for the euro pressing of Planet Mental. Yeah, I geek out about that stuff.

Because a serious Minor Threat collection is way past my means, I never really considered it. However, when Dischord recently remastered and repressed the 12 inch collection of Minor Threat's first two 7 inches, I was struck with the urge to own a couple of copies. It wasn't enough that the new pressing was with a new yellow cover, but throw in the fact that one of the local record stores here still had the older pressing with the green cover in stock...how am I supposed to not buy them both in one shot? What self respecting collector would walk away from that? This album could very well be the best piece of hardcore wax ever pressed, and I'm happy to finally own it on vinyl. But, hey, that just how I see it...in my eyes...so what the fuck have you done?

Not only was there a difference in pressings with the album cover color, but the inserts were slightly different as well. The yellow cover insert is smaller, with some other slight differences in the layout.

And then there is the differences in the vinyl. I bought the green cover first and found that it came with a nice matching mint green colored vinyl. I expected the yellow cover to also have the corresponding colored vinyl, but instead found it was pressed on black.

Nailed to the Golden X

The thing that I love about last.fm, other than the fact that it tracks my listening habits, is the awesome people that I've met through the site. Last year, Rob was going to an SSS show in Europe, so I asked him to pick me up a copy of their ultra limited edition CD that they were selling on their tour, and he was kind enough to get it and send it to me. Then last month Onno sent me a message asking if I wanted the Golden X 7 inch that someone had given him. Since he is not a "vinyl freak", he offered to send it my way if I wanted it. I didn't know anything about the band, so I checked out their myspace page. Other than the really bad name...it doesn't get any cheesier than a name like Golden X...the cover for the 7 inch made me kind of nervous. With the picture of a fist knocking Satan in the mouth, I was really afraid that this was going to be some lame Christian core Straight Edge band. Man, there is nothing I hate more in my music than God. Something about just rubs me the wrong way, and I'll immediately shit on it. Same thing was true when Krishna invaded hardcore. I wanted nothing to do with it. Sure the first Shelter album was pretty good, but by the time they started in with their "defense of reality", I found it to be more of joke. In the end, I couldn't find any overtly Christian messages on this Golden X record. It's just 3 Austrian dudes, pumping out some generic Straight Edge hardcore. I can get down with that. This was released on Positive and Focused Records, and was limited to 250 for the black vinyl pressing, and only 180 of those did not come with a CD. This copy has no CD.

When Onno sent the 7 inch, he also included a CD of his old band Inrage. This some pretty good hardcore out of the Netherlands and probably would have fit in nicely with the youth crew sound that Crucial Response Records was putting out around that time. I just consider myself lucky to have made these connections, and it just goes to show how powerful a tool music can be. Thanks friends.

Haunting The Colored Vinyl

I have been on a huge Hardcore kick lately. All things Metal and Rock have been pushed aside as I find myself interested in only listening to the Core. However, even with this latest listening obsession, I had to make a trip to Bull Moose Music to pick up the third piece in the four part Slayer vinyl re-issues from Metal Blade Records...Live Undead is the only one that I'm missing. Thankfully, Haunting the Chapel is on a nice looking "blood splatter" clear vinyl, as opposed to the shitty looking picture disks (like Hell Awaits). Man, I love this EP...four songs of pure thrashing brilliance.

Getting Down With Swiz

Sometimes when I'm at work, listening to music, I'll do a search on eBay for whatever it is that I'm listening to at the moment. On this particular day it was the No Punches Pulled discography from Swiz. It was then that I stumbled upon their first 7 inch, Down, on green vinyl. I've always loved Swiz, but since I owned the discography CD, I've never been interested in seriously collecting their records. Something clicked when I saw this record up for auction...I needed it. To my surprise, I won the record for only $6.50...and after seeing their first and second LP sell for between $40 and $50, I think that I got a pretty good deal on this one. After winning this, I also found a gold colored vinyl pressing that someone was selling on eBay as well...but the $70 price tag seemed a little too steep for me.

The packaging on this record is well done. The colored vinyl is slick, and the little hand drawn bits on the lyric sheet are a nice touch. The record also comes with a cool Swiz comic book, that according to Jason Farrell in the Radio Silence book, "the gist was supposed to be a kid laying a rose on the grave of hardcore, thereby resurrecting its sleeping ghost, who then shoots him two tickets to a Swiz show where they rocked all...night...long.". Now I know that the singer, Shawn Brown, was the original singer for Dag Nasty, but I never really picked up on how much these two bands sound similar until I was listening to this record. These songs sound like they could have been lifted right off of Dag Nasty's Can I Say album. Great stuff.

Can't Kill What's Inside

Revelation has finally released the vinyl pressing of the Mouthpiece discography. Limited to 343 on "Chung King white" vinyl. With To The Side only available on the Anti-Matter comp, I rarely listened to this song, so it is nice to finally have all the Mouthpiece songs available in one place. While the packaging on this album is good, all I can think about is how it could have been so much better. The band released one album, two 7 inches, plus a couple of comp songs, so I'm not sure how they fit it all on to one slab of vinyl. I would have loved to see them spread things out, and make this a double album with a nice gatefold sleeve. Plus, I would have loved to see some writing from Tim about the band. He did a fantastic job on Double Cross, documenting the stories behind all of their record covers, and they really should have utilized some of Tim's writing for the packaging on this album. The CD version captures all the dates and locations of Mouthpiece's shows, which is nice to have, but it's not really substantial. Over all this is a crucial discography from one of the Straight Edge bands that have really held up over the test of time...in fact I probably listen to Mouthpiece more now, than I did back in the 90's.

Thrash With A Small Moustache

As I had promised, here is another entry for more SSS vinyl. After I received the red vinyl copy that I had won on eBay, I sent him a message to thank the seller, and to let him know that the package arrived safely. Turned out that the seller was the singer for the band, and he mentioned that he had clear vinyl pressings for the Burton 7 inch, as well as the pre-Earache pressing of the LP on Dead & Gone Records. Man, I hate making an offer to people when buying vinyl. Fuck, I'm talking to the singer of the band, and I don't want to insult the man with a low offer, but I really have no idea how much these are worth. In the end, it worked out and he accepted my offer, and let me know what else he had available, so my SSS shopping spree is far from over. And since I seem to have been fucked over by Ian Leck on the Walk the Plank vinyl, I may end up just buying them from Foxy, since he at least seems to be dependable.

The LP is limited to 300, and the 7 inch only had 100 made on clear vinyl. The Burton 7 inch is beautifully packaged, with a nice sturdy cardboard cover, and lots of cool inserts including a comic strip of the band leveling a forest for a skate park. Rad.

Making An Effort

So the day after I received the Mindset records from React, I was headed to Haverhill, Massachusetts to see them play at Anchors Up. They were playing with The Effort and Alert, and I was looking forward to seeing them as well. I took off for the show immediately after Sam's basketball practice, skipping the ritual of shooting around until all the kids have cleared out. I thought that I was getting to the show a little late, but when I walked in the door, I think I was the first one there, and some bands were still bringing in their equipment. Since I didn't know anyone, I didn't want to hang around, so I went back to my car and read the book that I had brought along (total geek, I know). While I was waiting, there was a lady whose car wouldn't start, so I helped her out with jump starting her car. I finally got up to the show, and to my surprise No Shit was already playing. They sounded really good. After that I sat through a couple of bands that did not do much for me. The Effort went on early, and played a good set. The last time I saw them play was Edge Day '07, and there was a lot less people at the show this time around. Still the band played with passion and energy which was cool. I believe that after they played their set, some people took off which left the crowd size around 50 people. Alert were really cool. I like their demo, but like Mindset, I wasn't able to get too familiar with their songs before the show. Thankfully they did a Youth of Today and Judge cover, so I was able to get up front and sing along. I'm looking forward to the vinyl release of their demo. Mindset went on last, and regardless of how many people were there, they just went off and played with such energy. At one point the singer said, "This next one is dedicated to the Boston Crew.", and they then busted into Wolfpack by DYS. Holy shit, I fucking lost it...pushing my way through the handful of people to the front of the stage...screaming along at the top of my lungs. At one point I was moshing across the floor and found someone on the floor under my feet, which sent me sprawling backwards, landing flat on my ass. Shit was awesome, as they ended the tribute covering DYS's (The Girls Got) Limits. Cool show...I'm glad that I made the trip.

Mindset only had white and black vinyl, which I already had, but I did pick up the new 7 inch from The Effort. I got one on clear vinyl with the cloud variant silk screened cover (limited to 200), plus the red vinyl pressing with the fire variant silk screened cover (limited to 225). Wow, the packaging on these is amazing. Damn, I wish that I had pre-ordered this record when it was first released on Hellfish.

R E A L P O W E R

I received my Mindset pre-order the day before I was supposed to go see them live in Massachusetts. Sure didn't give me much time to learn the songs before the show. Man, React! Records can not lose, as they release another quality record. This is a huge step up from the band's Anti-Wasteoids CD. Once again, React! does a great job with the packaging on this one. Limited to 200 on red, 300 on white, and 500 on black vinyl. Like the Right Idea LP, the records came packaged with a cool little piece of cardboard, this time screened with the Mindset logo. One of the first records this year that immediately jumps on to my Best of 2009 list.

Gearin' Up For Gettin' Down

SSS are so cool...I feel bad for you if you haven't heard them. Hands down the best "thrash revival" band around today. The band is so good that even hardcore kids should be losing their shit over this band. I recently won this pressing of their first album on eBay. Red vinyl with the SSS logo spray painted in red as well. On the back, written in gold lettering, is a message from the singer, Foxy....okay it isn't so much a message, as it is a listing of show titles from the season 6 DVD of The Waltons...apparently the dude is a huge fan, as the list ends with the note, "Waltons rips it up!". As it turns out, the eBay seller for this record was Foxy himself, which was very cool. We exchanged a few emails, and the guy has a list of other SSS pressings that he is willing to part with, so you can expect to see more SSS records here in the near future.

Since Foxy also runs Thrashgig, which pressed the Blackspot pressing of the Walk The Plank album, I mentioned to him that I'm still waiting to receive the copy that I ordered from Ian Leck. I paid Lecky many months ago, and I'm still waiting for it to arrive! Foxy said that he also had a copy that he would sell to me. If Ian ever responds to my emails, I may need to get my money back and just buy it from Foxy.

Headed For The Adult Crash

Adult Crash is a book of photographs from Dave Brown, who runs Vicious Circle Records. Even though some of the pictures are a little redundant (there are 4 or 5 of Four Walls Falling from the same show), there are a lot of cool bands are captured in this book. The writing is sparse, but includes different pieces written by various people from the scene (from Sweet Pete to John Joseph) about their thoughts on growing older in the hardcore scene. The selling point for me on this was the 7 inch that was included. Pressed on white, blue and black vinyl, I got the more limited of the three (154 pressed on white). The record features cover songs from Down To Nothing (Four Walls Falling), Cloak/Dagger (Warzone), Kill Your Idols (Token Entry), and Slumlords (Gut Instinct). Nicely done.

While shopping at Six Feet Under Records, I also decided to pick up the Different Needs E.P. from Regulations. I was thinking this was new, but to my surprise it was released on Havoc Records back in 2007. Goddamn, time flies. Regulations play some awesome, snotty punk rock, and this 7 inch delivers. Great stuff.

Crime and Punishment

Back when Youngblood Records released the Police & Thieves 7", I was feeling way too broke to place my order. Months later when the label finally released the CD, and packaged it with the bands first two 7 inches, I decided it was finally time to place my order. Since I waited too long on the vinyl, I was left with the regular black vinyl pressing for the Amor Y Guerra record. I'm disappointed that I missed the more limited pressings for this record, because I'm really liking this band. This is the same singer as Worn Thin, so you can't help but compare the two, but Police and Thieves also has a strong Verbal Assault and Dag Nasty influence as well. Great stuff.

The first 7 inch, on Higher Conscience Records is pressed on yellow vinyl, but I have no idea how many were pressed for this record. This record was originally released back in 2006, and it just proves how out of touch I can be, because I had never heard of this band prior to the Youngblood release, two years later.

Surviving Da Ruckus

Word is born, baby. It has been a while since I really gave two shits about hip hop, as all my musical attention has been focused on three areas...hardcore, metal, and 70's rock. Growing up, I owned a few rap albums from Public Enemy and KRS-One, but it wasn't until I started hanging out with Rob that I really became interested in the style, and even then, it took some time for me to warm up to it. I remember hanging out at his house and playing Magic the Gathering while he would play all kinds of hip hop. Man, I hated it at first...completely closing my mind to songs about sippin' on 40's and smokin' blunts. Slowly, I started to get into the style...first with Beastie Boys, and rappers with a positive message like Jurassic 5 and Brother Ali, and then I became a fiend downloading hip hop albums left and right. Well, that love affair ended with my introduction to 70's rock, and I starting weeding through all those downloaded CD's, realizing that I downloaded a ton of crap...but still holding on to a few that became classics.

One of those groups that I never got into was the Wu-Tang Clan. Rob was a huge fan, and when they had a show scheduled for northern Maine on January 3rd, he wanted to go. We went to see Ghostface Killah a few years ago, and I wasn't impressed, but he offered to buy my ticket, so I figured what the hell, I'd go with him to the Wu. To my surprise the show was a ton of fun. Fights were breaking out all over the place. It was insane, but I guess that is what you can expect when you get a bunch of drunk, testosterone filled, white boys trying to prove something at a hip hop show. If this was a hardcore show, I would have been depressed at all the schism, but here at a Wu-Tang show, it was fun to watch these meatheads go at it. By the end of the show, security had stopped trying to bust up all the fights, and just let people go at it. I really didn't expect to have such a good time, but I got right up to the front and bounced to the beats...good times. A few days after the concert, I dug out the burned CD that I had for 36 Chambers, and again was surprised to find how fun this album is. A few weeks later, I got to work and found a box in my chair with the vinyl for this classic album...a thank you present from Rob for going to the show with him. My first, and possibly only, hip hop vinyl for the collection. Thanks, man.

Cruelty Free

Back when I ordered the new Ceremony album, I also placed an order with Bridge Nine for the new Cruel Hand album, Prying Eyes. To my surprise, they still had the most limited pressing of the vinyl (200 pressed on black). I consider myself lucky on this one, because this album is incredible, and should have sold out long before I got there. If I was more familiar with it when I put together my year-end review, this may have made my top 10 for 2008. Prying Eyes is a huge step up from 2007's Without A Pulse.

Once again, the Bridge Nine mailorder crew went the extra mile with my order. A while back, they really helped me out when the system didn't fully complete processing my order, and by the time we realized it, the last show pressing of Champion's Promises Kept had sold out. They didn't need to do it, but they still managed to pull out a copy for Rob and myself. This time, Matt included a vegan recipe for corn beef hash. I have yet to try it, but it sure sounds good.

• 1/2 cup cooked aduki beans
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1/2 cup diced potato
• 1/2 diced onion

Cook the diced onion in 1 tbs oil until browned and a little caramelized. Next, mash up the beans with a fork in a bowl, and pour into the onion mixture, adding the other tbs of oil. Mix in the soy sauce, tahini, and potato and cook for about 10 minutes until the entire thing is crispy and delicious.

This Is Not A Test

Last night Aram had a bunch of ebay auctions end for some test presses that he was selling. I bid hard for a couple of the Right Idea test presses, but in the end I came up short. I'm not too interested in collecting test presses, as they typically go for a lot more money than I'm able to spend, but goddamn, I was hoping to get my hands on at least one of these.

A few months ago, Aram put out a list of records that he was selling at set prices. There was so much shit that I wanted to take off his hands, but I only settled for two...The First Step's Connection EP on red with white labels (limited to 270 for the European tour), and the Core Values demo 7 inch on gold (limited to 100). These are two of the best bands in recent years, and I was excited to add these to the collection.

We are getting a major snow storm today, so with the kids out of school, I decided to work from home instead of travelling into the office. On my "lunch break" I decided to pull out my collections for both of these bands.

The gold vinyl pressing from React! completes my Get The Most collection.



While my collection for TFS is far from complete, this latest Connection 7 inch was the last one that I needed for my Rivalry pressings. I'm only missing the pre-order cover from Waking the Dead Records to really be complete...and I haven't even started collecting the demo and Open Hearts 7 inches. Either way, it makes for a nice picture.

Soul Out Of Control

Damn, I've had these records for a while now. Soul Control came up with this idea to release four one-sided 7 inches, with each cover being a piece of a larger picture when they all come together. Kind of a cool idea, but one song 7 inches seem like a bit of a waste. Still, when the band announced that the first in the series was up for pre-order, I jumped on it. The bands album, Involution, released on Rivalry, was great record...full of driving songs with a strong Burn influence. Great stuff. Shortly after the album was released, I believe the band replaced their singer, and I don't think that this new 7 inch is as nearly as strong. Still pretty good though. I kind of lost control when I was placing the order, and ordered both the pre-order pressing and the regular pressing. When I got the order, I felt like a moron for ordering both since the only difference between the two is the Triple B Records stamp and hand numbering on the pre-order press. Cool for the collector, but in hindsight, I probably could have done without the regular press, which was limited to 350.

In addition to the new Soul Control, I also picked up the new Foundation 7 inch. I had seen the band play at the Edge Day show back in '07, and I really liked the mid-90's hardcore sound they were playing...kind of like early Unbroken or Outspoken. The 7 inch was a bit of a disappointment when I first heard it, but it is slowly growing on me, and I'm liking it more with each listen. The packaging on this record is quality...great layout and artwork for the sleeve, with the vinyl pressed on a cool blue and green split. Limited to 150.

What Remains

With the Mouthpiece discography being released on Revelation this week, it seemed appropriate that I finally get this record up on the blog. I was on a big Mouthpiece kick a few weeks ago, and so I hit ebay to try and find some vinyl for my collection. I was surprised when I was able to pick up their LP for only $15, and once I received it, I saw why. This copy had no lyric sheet insert. The seller was some ebay store, so I'm sure that the guy had no idea that it was supposed to come with one, so I'm not blaming him...but how did the original owner lose the insert! I can't understand why people don't take care of their stuff, and how stuff like this can even happen. It boggles my mind. I've seen friends that keep piles of of CD's, some without a case, in the backseat of their car. I know countless people that don't keep their shit organized in any kind of fashion...just stacks of CD's in no particular order. Okay, I'll admit that I'm a little obsessive when it comes to my collection, but how these people let their records get scratched to shit, and the album covers beat to hell is beyond me.

Dreams That Move You

Okay, so when I had a dream about Ceremony's new album, Still Nothing Moves You, I figured that it was time to add the vinyl that I picked up last week to the blog. In the dream, I was a concert...not sure who was playing, but Chris Wrenn from Bridge Nine Records was there selling merch. I was the only one at the table and I noticed that he was selling the Ceremony album on clear green and coke bottle clear vinyl. I was so surprised because I had no idea that those pressings existed. I had stumbled upon something special and rare, and I was starting to ask him about them...then I woke up. You know that the obsession is taking over when it starts to infiltrate your dreams!

Anyway, when Bridge Nine put this album up for pre-order, I was feeling too broke to place an order, so I didn't jump on it. A month or so passed before I even bothered downloading the album...I don't know why, but I'm always late to the party when it comes to Ceremony. Christ, I think their last album was out for at least six months before I bothered checking it out. Just like Violence Violence, I fell in love with the album after I decided to give it a shot. I finally placed an order with B9, but they only had the second pressing of the album on olive green vinyl (limited to 1,000, I think). After I received the record in the mail, I noticed that the local record store had the first pressing on grey vinyl (limited to 900). I figured that since Bridge Nine was sold out of it, I better pick it up before I had nightmares about trying to find this color on ebay.

Welcome to Boston, Part 4 (Xmas Finale)

Christmas came around and I got the presents from my brother, Paul. Sure I helped steer him in the right direction, but he did make some great choices. He also spent more than I expected him to, so I'm grateful for that as well. Three classics.

Man, I love me some Jimi Hendrix, and this first album from 1967 is his best. This copy is some new Back to Black reissue, and the packaging on this is fantastic. Nice heavy vinyl with a gatefold sleeve. It also includes a booklet with some reflections on the band.

Another classic reissue is the 1977 Young Loud and Snotty album from Dead Boys. I downloaded this album a couple of years ago, and love the attitude and aggression in these songs. Dead Boys was the band that originally did Sonic Reducer that has been covered numerous times, but the first time I heard it was on Overkill's first album. I've tried to check out other Dead Boys stuff, but this is the only album that grabs me.

The third, and last, classic reissue that Paul bought me was Death's 1987 album, Scream Bloody Gore. This album was re-released on Back On Black Records, not to be confused with the Back To Black Hendrix reissue. A few months ago, I was on a mission to collect a bunch of Back On Black releases, but since they are expensive imports and I can only find them at online distros, my obsession died after only obtaining two albums. Still, I hope to continue to pick up a few here and there. So I was really happy to find a copy of Death's first album at Newbury comics, and thankful that Paul picked it up for me. Great gatefold packaging, with an awesome clear with red splatter colored vinyl.

My Mom and Paul both got me the Radio Silence book, so I returned one of them and put the money towards a new USB turntable so that I can easily rip my vinyl to the computer. Thanks for everything Paul!

Welcome to Boston, Part 3 (The Raw Power of Dischord)

Shortly after our last trip to Boston, Jeff was desperate to get back to the Newbury Comics store in Harvard Square, and pick up some vinyl that he had to leave behind. With Christmas right around the corner, I wasn't too anxious to get back down, since I had no extra money to spend. I happened to be catching up with my brother, Paul, and reminiscing about the trips that we used to take down to that store. I mentioned to him that Jeff wanted to take another ride down, and Paul said that he would be interested in going, and that he could buy me a couple of Christmas presents while we were down there. Sweet! It wasn't long and we had a trip planned. While we were there, I only bought one record, the Four Seven Inches comp from Dischord on clear vinyl. I downloaded this years ago, but for some reason I never really listened to it...just burned it to CD and threw it in the pile. After reading blogs from Marcus and Lins, and seeing each of them post about S.O.A., I figured that I needed to give it another listen. Holy shit, these records are amazing. Teen Idles and S.O.A. are the better of the two, but Government Issue and Youth Brigade were really good as well. So here we are, over 25 years after their original release, and I'm finally getting into these bands. It's a shame that it took me so long to get into them. I guess that's bound to happen, when my mindset used to be to download anything and everything...some great shit gets overlooked. Thankfully, I was reminded to go back and revisit it. Classic D.C. hardcore.

Since Jeff said that it just wouldn't be right for me to leave the store with only one record, he said that he would buy me one. I had seen the Raw Power album on our first trip, but I ended up putting it back so that I could grab something else. This time I wasn't going to leave it behind. Cool Italian hardcore from 1985. It was released on Toxic Shock Records, and back when I was getting into punk and hardcore when I was in High School, I used to use Toxic Shock for all my mailorder. Apparently, Giuseppe, the guitarist died recently, and so the band reunited in his memory and did a couple of tours. Toxic Shock also decided to re-release the bands record to support the tour.

The biggest surprise was that other than what he bought me for Christmas, Paul didn't really find anything that he wanted. How do you spend an afternoon in one of the coolest record stores in the Boston area, and walk away empty handed!?!?! Blows my mind.

End Of A Year

2008 is behind us, and it's time to reflect on another year of music. The year was certainly strong for both Hardcore and Metal. For 2007, I only made top 5 lists, but with so many great releases over the past year, I could easily stretch it out to list my top 10. Even with so many great new records coming out this year, my aquisitions were down in numbers. This year I only added 279 new records and CD's to the collection....down from 362 in 2007. The number of seven inch records (38) and LPs (111) stayed reletively the same from last year to this year, but the number of CDs (55) and burned CDRs (75) took a big hit....dropping by almost 100 compared to last year.

It was a strange year for Hardcore. I expected big things from the big three, Have Heart, Verse, and I Rise, but in the end, only Verse managed to sneak into my top 10. The top 3 were easy enough, but the rest were diffictult to place. So, here you go, my top 10 hardcore records for 2008.

The year also surprised me with a bunch of strong Metal releases. Fantastic "comeback" records from Metallica and Testament top the list, rounded out with some solid new Thrash albums.