YOUTH OF TODAY - BREAK DOWN THE WALLS LP, WHITE

Reissued in 1997 by the good folk at Rev and originally released on Wishingwell Recs (86) and Rev Recs (88). This was the record that made me realise how good YOT were and how powerful their message was. I vaguely remember it taking a while to get used to the parrot like vocals but eventually everything clicked into place and a classic in it's genre was found. This reissue isn't anywhere near aesthetically to the original which I guess is a good thing because what's the point in creating a carbon copy, however I do find the layout to be pretty bland and uninteresting. Saying that it's a classic rev release so in that respect definitely worth collecting. Breeeeeaaaak ....... downnnnn....thhheeeee.....walllllllsssssss!

VOORHEES - SPILLING BLOOD, CLEAR/RED SPLATTER

So last night saw one of only two Voorhees reunion shows (1 in Amsterdam, 1 in Leeds Uk) and to mark the 20th anniversary of their existence Grot ecords re-released Spilling blood without reason on colour vinyl. Their were two colours on offer a clear red splatter that I picked up limited to 100 (which all sold out) and a clear red limited to 500. The record is a faithful reproduction of the original sleeve and the vinyl is awesome thick wax. I'll be picking a red version pretty soon and if you get the chance, try and get hold of this record as it is one of the best ever that this tiny island has produced.

I guess I'm biased having seen many different incarnations of the Hees over the years and being friends with the band members for many years but to me Voorhees was more than a band but a group of friends that did well playing the music they love. Last night proved that even 20 years on they still have the passion, anger and skill to blast out their extensive catalogue brilliantly......MORE VIOLENCE IN HARDCORE!!!

DAG NASTY 85-86 EP BOXSET, VARIOUS COLOURS

It's late and I'm tired, so I copied this from Flex!!! Great band, love Shawn Browns vocals over pretty much all of the other dudes.

4 x 7” on colored vinyl (white/green/purple/pink), 3500 made; 5-6 test pressings. + info sheet.

The first two EPs of this set contain the legendary demos with Shawn Brown (later with Swiz) singing: vocals are a lot rougher and less pop oriented than on the first LP. The 3rd EP has demos with Peter Cortner, very similar to the versions on Wig Out LP. The 4th EP contains goodies, two nice unreleased songs w/ Peter Cortner and Dave Smalley, a live track and a second version of Another Wrong.

WIDE AWAKE - S/T EP, SAMMY COVER

So the story with this one is that I had the first press cover and unfortunately one of my cats decided that she would use it as cat lit and proceeded to golden shower the record. Yup had the damn record for near on 20 years and in an instant it was no more. So after much searching I located a spare that a friend had and we traded.

As an aside the last time I saw Sammy was around 7-8 years ago whilst he was on tour with Rival Schools, I actually bumped into him as I was on my way home from work having absolutely no intention of going to see his newest band. Anyway we ended up going for a Chinese meal and after much reminiscing over past tours (esp Youth Of Today in 89), records and other stuff, he pretty much told me that I was on the guest list and that I had to go to the show. To be honest I actually enjoyed it although to this day I still own zero Rival Schools records.

Wide Awake what a great yet underated youth crew band....awesome.

AGAINST THE WALL - IDENTIFY ME EP, GREY MARBLE

One of Mike Hartsfield's (New Age Recs) many bands and boy does this one rage. Although hailing from S Cal these boys have a harder NY influenced sound mixd in with that OC SXE vibe. Released on Nemesis Records (you know the label with that horrible baseball logo), this ep comes on a grey marbled wax. Definitely a band to check out if you haven't already. Sadly Travis Hunt the drummer for ATW and later Mean Season died in an automobile accident in 2006 at the age of 34. RIP Bro.

DANZIG - MOTHER 12"

Danzig's Mother 12", only released in the good old UK and although not particularly rare a really nice looking slab of vinyl. Which in turn leads me on to my "one" Danzig encounter. Back in 1989 Danzig supported Metallica at Newcastle City Hall and much to my good fortune I managed to be front row when the master of evil and shortness played on his debut UK tour. Anyway can't actually remember the song but whilst I was enjoying being so close to the man himself his mic chord managed to wrap itself around my head and before I could free myself the man himself decided to yank the chord which promptly tightened behind my neck and the next thing I knew I was face down on Danzig's boots and partly on stage with him! Fuck yes beat that!!!!

This 12" was released in 94 and the only interesting fact is that he live version of "Mother" supposedly taken from Thrall-Demonsweatlive is actually just the '94 remix with live crowd noise. "Mother '94" is identical to "Mother '93."

HAIL DANZIG !!!!

SICK OF IT ALL S/T EP, RSD, CLEAR

Well this one was a bit of surprise considering a) I hadn't realised that it was world record store day and b) that Rev had planned to reissue the first SOIA ep on clear vinyl. Anyways thinking I was gonna be too late to pick one up (as only 550 are in circulation world wide) I made a trip to one of 3 local record stores that I thought might have actually had a chance of ordering them in. Luckily for me the only one open on a Sunday in Newcastle had one copy left and I quickly bought it up. Now to the interesting facts....apparently there are 4 different covers one of which is a black and white version which was previously seen on the original 80's "Gilman Street" press and one like mine which is from the original pressing run and has the old New Haven Revelation Records address on it (see pics). Some inserts (like mine) seem to be old original 80's ones and some are from the last press with the "fake paper clipping included". Anyway for more pics see the related thread on the Livewire Records Board and happy hunting.

MISFITS - DIE DIE MY DARLING, CLEAR PURPLE

5OO only on clear purple, released in 84 and is the first press of about 5! So many different colour permutations on the logos and back photographs you'd be better off checking misfits central out. Got this in an Ebay deal and spent probably too much for my measly budget to sustain but luckily I'd sold some shit previously that came to this price..bada bing! Unfortunately the down side to paying a fair whack for a rare record is that you can be hit by a customs charge if the stupid seller puts it's actual value on their customs form. Tip to record buyers....always make it a habit to ask sellers to mark no value and gift on their customs form or be prepared for customs to tax your ass!

MISFITS - COLLECTION II CLEAR RED

My other installment of Misfits Collections appeared to day and its the least rare one. See below for more info!

MISFITS - COLLECTION II CLEAR GREEN

I've never really been that bothered about picking this up before now but came to the swift conclusion that a) it's colour vinyl and b) its the Misfits. Seems like yesterday when this was released but infact it was 95 and god knows why I didn't pick this up at the time. Only 3500 on clear green world wide with 6000 on clear red and only a mere 100 on clear. this variant and the clear red are the easiest to find and pick up without spending mega bucks. The most interesting fact about this record is that six of the tracks are not songs the Misfits recorded as a functioning band. They were recorded in 1986, several years after the Misfits broke up, by Glenn Danzig and Samhain bassist Eerie Von for a sequel to Walk Among Us.

YOUTH OF TODAY - CAN'T CLOSE MY EYES 12"

Youth Of Today's debut ep reissued by those German reissue experts We Bite Records. Got this from Volume Records circa winter 89 and was just stoked to have the songs again on vinyl. If my memory serves me right I got the Caroline Records reissue the summer before. Anyway it was rumoured to be on colour wax and once opened indeed I found a nuclear clear yellow version. Really nice looking vinyl that these pictures don't really do any justice to.

ARTICLES OF FAITH - WHAT WE WANT IS FREE EP

Articles Of Faith from Chicago but prolly wished they'd come from Washington DC as their sound was very much camped in that scene. For me personally the song My Fathers Dreams embodies all that is great about this band. Fast, melodic harmonies and intelligent lyrics. Included with this ep was a crimson ribbon with the band name printed on it which were apparently given out as arm bands at a new years eve show. There are different pressings of this ep the first being on Version Sound and the second on Wasteland. The very first pressing came with a black and white 2 piece sleeve (500), with subsequent red and blue paper sleeves to follow for the second press on wasteland (500 each).

COWS AND BEER

Not the reissue recently done on Barbarian Records but the original version sound copy. This was a weird score because initially I bought the ep minus a cover for $20 with the the intention of somehow getting a xerox of the sleeve (Which I did). Luckily tho I had a contact who informed me that his copy of the record had been damaged and he couldn't be bothered searching for another but e was willing to give me the og sleeve and insert for $10. Obviously I snagged them and put all of these components together. Saved me about $90 - 100!! Great mid western hardcore from a band that redefined their own sound on every subsequent release. This and the first lp are essential listening pieces.

NEGATIVE APPROACH

I can't begin to explain how stoked I was when I secured this bad boy in a deal recently. Ok so it's a second press but its a NEG APPROACH ep and that's pretty much all that matters to me. This fuels memories of seeing NA 4 times over the last couple of years. London at the Tuffnell Park dome, Belgium at Antwerp w/ Discharge, Christ On Parade and Warcry, played infront of 2000 rabid fans going ape. I can honestly say I've never seen as many injuries at a gig than I did at this one it was pure unadulterated bedlum. The next day with Agent Orange at a secret gig (announced to 2000 the day before!!) at the world famous and now sadly defunct Lintfabriek club in front of a cosy 200 punters, where I witnessed Brannons scowl from about 5 foot!! and finally Manchester. I've longed to own a NA ep for a while and I scored a decent deal on this. It's in great nick especially considering its age with a flawless insert and heavy card stock cover complimented by a near mint piece of shiny black vinyl. Definitely one if not my favourite hardcore ep ever. I'm happy!!!

MISFITS - HALLOWEEN

Been after this for a while and hit lucky with a guy on ebay who decided that he would pull the auction when I offered him some loot. Luckily for me I offered him way below what this normally goes for and got myself a great deal. Then I thought shit what happens if this guy renegades on this deal and decides not to send the record! Well I need not worry because it literally arrived a week after payment. Sometimes you've got to spend big to attain that goal and here is the proof. I love the Misfits and I love this song, both versions of it. Yes!

BLACK FLAG - TV PARTY EP, CLEAR RED

Got this in an extremely cheap Ebay visit. I love it when the listing is so badly written no one even knows the record is actually for sale! Anyway $2 for this reissue of the classic Flag ep is worth being rather pleased about! Comes on standard clear red and is hopefully the start of more coloured Flag vinyl!

FINAL CONFLICT - SELF TITLED EP, TEST PRESS

Another pretty impressive score with this ep. This Final Conflict hailed from Minneapolis (home of Husker Du) and should not be confused with the other Californian Final Conflict! Now that my introductions have been made I can tell you that this ep was part of the first wave of US hardcore and was released in 1983 on Reflex Records which was part owned by Bob Mould of Husker Du. If Negative Approach had hailed from Minneapolis they would have sounded like this! Not too sure how many were pressed but It'll be low. I've very rarely seen this on trade lists etc so it's definitely in the hard to find category. I guess if you look at it that say 500 were originally pressed in 83 then by the year 2009 I'm sure less than half of that number will actually still exist. Below is a test of this very record which was created at Rainbo Records, California. A truely underrated classic.


Check Final Conflict out here:
http://www.7inchpunk.com/?p=427

WHITE CROSS - SELF TITLED EP

Been after this gem for a while now and luckily got a decent score on this one. Raw as hell hardcore that would sit well with your Negative Approach records. Also features a fella that went on to be a part of the spectacle that is GWAR! This record typifies the hardcore spirit in music and aesthetics, raw and simple. Infact I'm sure if my memory serves me right that this was actually recorded live. If you haven't heard White Cross do yourself a favour and soulseek them, this is raging!

BAD RELIGION - RECORD STORE DAY

To coincide with the world record store day and to honour the fact that the first Bad Religion ep was sold primarily through small indie records stores Epitaph have reissued this ep in a press of 400 records per colour worldwide. I do know it has been pressed on black, white, clear red (US pressing), pink and red (Euro pressing), but I don't know of the numbers. Anyway a nice addition to my collection and its already selling for 2 times the amount I bought if for on Ebay! score!
Update - Thanks to Marcus I now have the US pressing on white and oddly enough it comes in a fold out poster sleeve and also with a lyric sheet which makes it totally different to the hard card sleeve of the European version.

And another addition is the European press on Hot pink wax. Nice!!!!!!

WOLFSBLOOD, SILVER LABELS

So I was browsing through records at what can only be described as a pretty crap record fair when I came across a very small Misfits section hidden amongst a plethora of hideous rock records being sold by a guy that could only be described as the worlds biggest Beach Boys fan!!! Anyway after checking the vinyl I instantly noticed that this was a German first press version of the Earth Ad, but with the hard to find silver labels! I couldn't believe my luck because not only is this scarce in numbers but the seller had priced it at £15 which considering I've seen it sell on Ebay between $120 - $150 was an absolute bargain. Not being phased I calmly took the record in my hands and approached the seller and said "hey I'll give you £10 for this, its a German bootleg"! He looked at me and I thought haha he may be stupid for selling it at a ridiculously small price to start with but he really isn't that stupid! He said "ok" and I quickly paid up, left the fair and laughed! Its times like this that makes record collecting so much fun. The real info on this record is that has 15,000 copies were pressed. This pressing is available with two different center labels: a common black label with silver writing, and a less common silver label with black writing.