KINGS OF PUNK

This reissue was only available through the Reflex Records mailorder for those lucky enough to have remembered to order it and ltd to 100 only! I was one of the unlucky ones and had to secure this a year later whilst delving around Phil Reflex's basement. Luckily I'd already secured the Negative FX test press that his label had put out when I saw a spare copy of this classic bit of plastic. I chanced my luck and said "Phil how about I give you 15 Euros for this", luckily my fellow Euro was in a giving mood and said "no, no, 10 Euros" to which I gratefully agreed, took the record and ran to my car and locked it in the boot before he could change his mind! This is another of Reflex Records official reissues of classic early 80s Lps and again another sterling job. The lyric sheet also serves as a band history and interview piece and the blue vinyl is amazing, really bright and just plain nice. I think my only gripe with these releases was that the Lp sleeves were a tad bit on the thin side but other than that a great effort. On a historical note the cover art was not a gimmick, singer Jerry A. actually carved that into his chest for the cover photo. Ouch!

CONQUEST FOR DEATH

Necros - Conquest For Death Lp:
? pressed w/ blue writing
? pressed w/ green writing
1st press, Touch and Go Records lp2 , released 1983
1st press, Aggressive Rockproduktionen Records 21, released 1984

Two versions of the basically same Necros Lp. The first is the US pressing on Touch and Go with the Blue writing and has 13 songs, the second is the German version that has green cover writing and an extra track which is the b side to the Conquest For Death ep. Both Lps have huge fold out lyric sheets with the German version being darker ink than the US counterpart. Classic band, classic songs!

POWERHOUSE - SELF TITLED EP

I had to include this ep on my blog solely for the reason that it is an excellent record from a very underated and little known straight edge band. Hailing from Florida which wasn't exactly the hub of all things edge in the late 80's Powerhouse (not to be mistaken with the 90s Oakland based tough guy band!) released via New Age Records this gem. Fast youth crew inspired core that has to be heard to be fully appreciated, I just wish a label would reissue this for the todays youth to get a chance to hear it. Thick card sleeve and a huge lyric sheet plus a dust sleeve that is stamped with the pressing info. I have seen a clear blue variant of this at some stage during my constant ebay trawling.

SLAPSHOT - STEP ON IT LP, CLEAR GREEN

Ah Slapshot...what a great band, I remember catching them on their first UK tour in 1990 at Newcastles now defunct Riverside venue. This was the gig that everyone was talking about. Would Choke hit the kids with his hockey stick, would the crusty punks v local straight edge schism kick off? Well Choke did bring his stick out and unfortunately he did not hit anyone, the crusties also did not show and all in all a good time was had by all in attendance. This is a limited (if you believe the front cover sticker) variant of the 1st press of this Lp and comes in a nice clear green. The Lp dust sleeve also acts as a lyric sheet and the front cover photograph pretty much sums up this band to a tee. Hard as nails and absolutely no frills. I believe that there were 500 pressed on this colour and I have seen another variant on clear red.

CHAIN OF STRENGTH - WHAT HOLDS US APART EP, MINDPOWER PRESS, YELLOW SLEVE

And here is the Mindpower Records version of WHUA ep. So what we have here is basically the 2nd press of the Foundation Records WHUA ep that Mindpower Records bought from them and issued with either a light blue card sleeve (200) or like this variant with a gold card sleeve (800). I recently watched one of the light blue sleeved copies go for over $150, which basically shows the collectability of Chain records. Note the glossy Foundation Lyric sheet that is included, so other than the sleeve its mostly a Foundation release! I'd love to know why Foundation sold 1000 of the second press, did the owner give up on hardcore, give up on Chain....someone give me an answer on this one please! I recall buying this from a 2nd hand record store around 93 for the pricely sum of £1, little did I or the store owner know how much in value these would rise to!

Check this link http://vimeo.com/1669873 for a video of Kevin Finns Chain WHUA collection. Seriously mindblowing!!!

CHAIN OF STRENGTH - WHAT HOLDS US APART EP, CONFUSION PRESS

Chain to me was the quintessential "Youth Crew" band in my formative years, I loved everything about this band, their music, their style, their coolness. Ok so there have been an abundance of rumours and stories about the flakiness of Chain dudes but one thing you cannot fault is their musical ability, which to me has always been grade A. This ep is a weird one because it's the second press of the "non rejected" Foundation Records version of WHUA ep. I'm really not sure how many were issued with this sleeve, but the ebay price of this is getting higher each year. Apparently 1000 pieces were pressed for this second press with the majority being sold to Mindpower Records (see the other WHUA ep post) and a small number being given the "Confusion" sleeve. This variant has exactly the same Foundation small glossy lyric sheet as the Mindpower press.

ADOLESCENTS - SELF TITLED LP

The "Blue" Lp, a classic in its own right and was the blueprint that influenced thousands of bands that followed. Its one of those catchy records that has you singing along whenever its played. This Lp is another true 1st press that includes a lyric sheet with later reissues came on clear red and blue vinyl and did not include the lyric sheet. Not really sure of the numbers for this variant but I can imagine them to be pretty high.

SOCIAL DISTORTION - MOMMY'S LITTLE MONSTER LP, GATEFOLD SLEEVE

Damn I love Social D, something about the way they blend hardcore punk and rockabilly drum beats. Every song is so catchy and as far as people I'd like to meet, Mike Ness has to be up there. That guy oozes charisma and attitude which is weird because Kevin Seconds told me that he was the most shy person he'd ever met! This variant of the record is the true 1st press that 13th Floor issued in 83, with gatefold sleeve with lyrics and photos printed on the insert. I know that the second press had a normal sleeve and the reissue done by Triple X Records came on clear vinyl.

CHRIST ON PARADE - SOUNDS OF NATURE LP, EURO TOUR PRESS

Great politically charged hardcore punk, and featuring one of the Neurosis guys. This Lp was originally released on Pusmort records in 1985. I picked this one up at a Negative Approach gig in Antwerp, Belgium in 2007 that Christ On The Parade supported at. The sleeve and lyric sheet is pretty much an exact copy of the original. The vinyl is pretty cool to, I guess Prank wanted to stay with the colour scheme on the cover when deciding on the vinyl. The major difference on this Lp is that side one is the Sounds Of Nature lp tracks and side two has tracks from Thrasher magazine's Skaterock, Vol.3 Compilation, The original, unreleased version of the "Isn't Life A Dream" 7" and an Unreleased Avengers cover. I know when this was bought there wasn't a mass rush to grab one of these so just maybe if you check with Prank they may have some spares available.

AGNOSTIC FRONT - VICTIM IN PAIN LP

Agnostic Front one of the forefathers of NYHC and a band that has released a slew of records over the years, but none better than the United Blood ep and this their debut Lp. Fast short bursts of powerful yet simplistic hardcore punk. Kinda makes me think of that old saying "hardcore is a simple music form but complicated by fools"!!! I picked this up from a friend of mine who worked in a record store and had bought a collection off some older guy. He obviously didn't know the value of the record and I wasn't going to let on so after exchanging £8, I left his house with a grin the size of his garden path fixed to my face! The cover is thick heavy stock card with the lyrics, song titles and pictures on the inner part. The bottom picture shows that infact this variant is a 2nd press as it has the logo for Important distributors directly underneath the Ratcage records logo. I could tell you a great story about how I interviewed Vinny Stigma for a fanzine I was doing in 92 and him getting his pants belt loop stuck on the door handle of the room we were in and Roger Miret having to help him off...

U.C.

Man I love UC, the link between Minor Threat and the second wave of straight edge bands. Everything about this record is flawless, even the ridiculous spoken word bit! I remember buying this record from Volume Records in Newcastle around 1989 and thinking that I wanted to move to Orange County, California immediately. How cool did the band look on the poster and back cover photos, I wanted to be Pat Dubar, he looked tough as fuck and someone people would listen to! Just a pity that 2 years later I got to meet the man himself at a Mindfunk (his band after UC/Unity) gig and was gutted to find that he smoked pot and looked like an ageing hippy!! Oh for those early UC days, the power, the message..the bald head!!! This record is the 1st press variant that has the yellow cover writing and huge poster. Not sure if the vinyl is from a later press as it has green labels and I've not checked anyone elses copies to see if they were yellow to match the cover.

DESCENDENTS - RIDE THE WILD EP

Yup the first release by the Descendents and without Milo on vocals which is a bit strange but hey this record is 28 yrs old! I got this from a local record store for £2 which again is an absolute bargain because it is a true 1st press. How do I know this you may ask, well after a bit of research I found that the first press was on Orca Records (Named after a fishing boat that one of the band members owned and fished in) and the reissue was on Orca/Pinsicato Records which was released in 1985. Its funny how for years you can scour the globe/web for great deals on rare records and not find a thing then all of a sudden some guy sells his entire collection and you find it when cash is tight or you least expect it! I guess thats the real beauty of collecting, finding something like this that is hard to find but very cheap to buy. Its a strange record that doesn't really give an indication of the path that the band would take, one side is slightly punk and the other full on surf!!

*Update* (From Lecky)

I've been trying to figure out what is going on with the Descendents 7" pressings for a while now, I've asked a lot of people but I can't get a definitive answer. First the FACTS. The cover of the first press makes no mention of any record company, it's just identical on both sides.The cover of the re-press has the Pinsicato address and "an ORCA production" on the back.The second press came out in the mid 80's, I bought a second press in 1989 from a guy called Martin who lived with me and Sean in Belmont who had it from new, it has the same centre labels as your copy on your blog (I'll explain the differences in a moment). I traded for my first press in 1992 with guy called John Abram from L.A. who said he had it since the early 80's. I trust him to have told the truth as I traded UK punk for US hardcore with him over a four year period and I never had anything from him that wasn't genuine. It has different centre labels to your copy.The differences in the centre labels are this. One of them has the same Font/Logo as the front of the sleeve(but it's a bit more bold than on the cover), the other one has the later Font/Logo which is on all their LP records. The easiest way to spot the differnce is to look at the letter "C".Both of the pressings use the same pressing tool and the vinyl is identical in every way.I have seen both of these versions of the first press sell on ebay in the last couple of years and no-one has made any note about the centre labels. Now my THEORY I think that the TRUE first pressing is the same as mine, as the Font/Logo on the sleeve match the centre labels.I also think the version you have is a second press vinyl in a first press sleeve, there are probably many copies like this (I don't think the sleeve has been faked, which would be realy easy to do, otherwise you would have had to pay a lot more for it if someone was deliberately trying to make it look like a first press). There was probably a print over-run on the 1st press sleeves and a pressing over-run on the second press vinyl, seeing as this wasn't a sought after record in the mid 80's they would have just put the extra sleeves and vinyl together to be able to sell them without printing extra sleeves. People only seem to differentiate the first and second pressings of this via the cover and totally overlook the centre labels, which I find strange given the way most other collectible records are much more closely scrutinised.

So there you have it, I now own a Descendents - Ride The Wild ep that has a first press cover and a second press vinyl. Thanks to Ian Leck (record collector and chief analyst extraordinaire!)

LOST CAUSE - SELF TITLED EP, CLEAR RED

I picked this up in a bargain bin in a local record store not so long ago. I kinda knew who the band were through name only but had never heard them. Being a fan of everything early 80s and KBD stuff in general I paid the £2 for it and took it home eagerly anticipating something great. To be honest its good but by no means a classic, nice melodic, simple early 80s west coast hardcore punk from Los Angeles, nothing flash just consistent. Kinda flimsy paper cover that unfortunately was sellotaped down both sides and a really thick clear red vinyl, but no lyric sheet. Not even sure if it was issued with one!

NEGATIVE FX - SELF TITLED LP, TEST PRESS

This is the reissue test press of the classic Neg FX lp done by the now defunct Reflex Records straight outta Belgium! Reflex did a slew of classic lp official reissues, incorporating the original cover art with an indepth double sided lyric sheet that contained a band history and interview. I was lucky enough to snag this test whilst visiting Belgium for an Insted show that was held at the legendary Linfabriek club. The owner of Reflex a crazy but righteous Belgian by the name of Phil was gratious enough to put us up after the show and showed us his basement which housed most of the Reflex catalogue including tests. He said I could have this test for 15 Euros and a bag of Fries!! Of course how could I turn this offer down and the deal was concluded that evening! Phil Reflex rules....

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES - SELF TITLED LP

Well not much to really say about this record that you don't already know. A classic in its own right and one that paved the way for the whole crossover/skatecore genre and the "Suicidal" look, which I and millions have others have sported at one stage in their adolescent life! This variant is the 1st press and although it prolly has been repressed a million times, this is definately a 1st press that includes a lyric sheet, two original Suicidal Tendencies stickers and a Frontier records order form. Its crazy to think that this Lp is 25 years old and to celebrate that fact Frontier have released a special 25th anniversary edition of it. Check this link for details http://frontierrecords.com/31011.html .

CITIZENS PATROL - DEAD CHILDREN EP, CLEAR RED

Second release by this raging dutch band and again its on No Way Records, which is possibly in my opinion releasing some of the best bands in the hardcore scene at present. Again another excellent record of early 80s inspired core and a top class job on the packaging and vinyl. No Way Records have definately got their pulse on the new bands that have that early 80s feel to them. Red is the theme on this one and I love the fact that the lyric sheet is absolutely huge for an ep. I remember selling a bunch of Koro shirts a while back and selling one to Ronny the bass player. Anyway I ended up at forgetting all about it and some 3 months later attended a Negative Approach gig in Antwerp, Belgium wearing my Koro shirt. Much to my amusement I heard some guy shouting "Lins, Lins" in broken English, I turned and saw this guy wearing the exact same shirt and instantly knew who it was....Ronny!! Anyway great guys, great band, check them out!

UPFRONT - SPIRIT LP, CLEAR BLUE

I always classed Upfront as being part of the second tier of youth crew bands that didn't quite create as big a stir as the likes of Youth Of Today, GB, Chain etc...But to be fair I think this record can hold its own and is a good example of well played straight edge hardcore. I fronted a band called Break It Up which a considerable amount of people thought was named after the "bad" SSD Lp when infact it was named after an Upfront song of this Lp. The amount of times I had to correct people was unreal haha! I know that the the first press of this record was on black and had a black cover and was released in 88 whereas the 2nd and 3rd presses were released in 89 with the 2nd press sporting a red cover w/ black vinyl and the two 3rd presses having the black covers w/ both white and clear blue vinyl.

ANGRY SAMOANS - QUEER PILLS EP, STAMPED COVER

This band sums up the term snotty, angry punk rock. You know how sarcastic and sometimes controversial the Samoans could be and this record is part of their ongoing feud with Rodney Bingenheimer the influential DJ of KROQ radio station in Los Angeles which resulted in the band being avoided by clubs booking hardcore punk bands in the early 80s. Check out the song "Get off the air" for further proof of their hatred of all things Rodney! Anyway the first copies of this ep came unstamped and the band was titled The Queer Pills so as to try and fool Mr Bingenheimer into playing them on his radio show. Not too sure if it worked but a valiant effort nonetheless! Later copies came stamped just like mine so that fans of the band knew it was an Angry Samoans release. Another of my £3 bargain buys that I've mentioned in previous posts.

7 SECONDS - BLASTS FROM THE PAST EP, CLEAR, CLEAR BLUE, CLEAR GREEN

Originally these four songs were meant to be on the unreleased United We Stand Lp that was due out sometime in 1983. Two original songs and 2 covers, I love this ep. The cover art is great, the vinyl looks good and 7 Seconds rule, well the hardcore punk 7 Seconds does! The true 1st press of this release was on clear which was a "friends club" only release. Represses on clear blue and clear green of 1000 pieces each followed. I picked the clear green variant up from a bargain bin some 10 years ago for the pricely sum of £1 which obviously is a bargain! Not too sure if a lyric sheet was ever issued with this record but mine doesn't have one and the other copies owned by friends are also minus one. The clear blue I got off ebay and this one does have a lyric sheet as shown in the pic.

NEGATIVE FX - SELF TITLED LP, CLEAR ORANGE

The true beauty of hardcore punk is contained within this band and its releases. Six gigs (including the infamous Mission of Burma one), one 18 song Lp and a whole load of fury! I guess the grindcore and power violence genres have a lot to thank Mr Jack Kelly and co for inspiration wise. This Lp was actually recorded at Radio Beat recording studio, Boston in 1982 but didn't see the light of day until Taang put it out in 1984. Everything about Taang releases is minimalistic and this record is no exception. From the very familiar Manson cover art to the non inclusion of a lyric sheet. The vinyl is nice though! I remember hearing Neg FX for the first time and thinking to myself this is brutal, but then finding that they carried an almost neo conservative stance and I quote Choke "I would like to make hardcore a thing that I could take my mother to and not be embarrassed", you know you're on to a winner here, haha!!! Only 500 pressed on this colour with a further 500 pressed each on clear blue, clear red and clear vinyl.