Blue Faith

What year was it again that Kyle Whitlow of Rivalry Records sold most of his collection? I can't remember but prior to that I didn't have a single one out of the 6 pressings of the record I'm posting about today. Which was pretty embarrassing considered they are not actually that expensive or hard to find. So I stepped up my game and was able to score Kyle's 2nd, 3rd and 5th press. And with the recent trade I obtained the 1st press


Faith - subject to change LP - 1983 Dischord No.11

I chose this to be the top score of this trade because I wanted this for so long already but somehow never got around to picking one up. Now that task is finally completed.

When agreeing on the trade I thought I could now put the other three pressings I already owned on my trade list because I had recently decided to just collect 1st press Dischord releases. But I wasn't aware that the lyricsheet of the 1st press is totally different from the other pressings who all have the same one. Therefore I am keeping two copies of this in my collection. 1st and 2nd press and if I ever find a copy on clear that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg I'll add that to my collection too but I highly doubt that. So if you are looking for a 3rd and/or 5th press hit me up.

flex your tentacles

I'm not sure which one of the remaining two LPs is the top record I got in this trade. Most people will probably say it's the one I decided to post now but I'll go with the other one as my top score because I somehow wanted that one more than this here


Flex your head - compilation LP - 1982 Alternative Tentacles VIRUS 22

Actually I only wanted a US first press of this record but when it was offered to me I couldn't say no. It's one of the most iconic record covers ever. How could I not always have wanted a copy of it?

This version is the UK pressing out of 2000 copies which makes it the most limited variation. The only one I had before that was the french Re-issue from 1985 with the blurry head cover. It's considered kinda lame to collect DC Hardcore and only have a copy of this compilation with the blurry head cover as it is the most common out of all the variations due to at least 3 pressings with that image on the front. I always told myself that at least I had the first of those pressings. Now I don't need to do that anymore as owning the Alternative Tentacles release is quite respectable too in my book.

Aluminium music lover

Life kept me away from this blog for a few days but here we go again.
Continuing with the records a got in the trade I mentioned two posts earlier.
The last (and 2nd post) of the trade was the Split Lip 7" on blue vinyl. I have no idea how many copies of that are out there but I guess more than there are of this record


John Henry Holiday - know the ropes 7" - 2000 Livewire Records LW 5

What we have here is the limited edition release with an actual aluminium fold over cover. They wanted to make 100 of these but fucked up a few so there are only 75. This is number 19. It's beautiful.

Prior to this trade I had only heard maybe one song by JHH on a compilation sometime, somewhere which I think I liked ok. So it was not very high up in priority but I knew I was going to get one or the other copy sooner or later because it has Dan O on vocals and none of his bands are bad. Meaning I kind of collect all the bands he was/is in. Meaning when I see a record he sings on for a good price i'll pick it up but I don't really go hunting for it. Due to this I thought I would pick up this ltd. edition rather later than sooner but there it is. My first copy of this 7" and it's the most limited version I need for my collection. Or is there maybe a pre-order or release show edition or anything like that? I'm not sure if I saw something like that. Discogs says there were 450 copies pressed on clear vinyl. Does that include the 75 with the aluminium sleeve? Was there no black vinyl? So many questions. I need to see a collection shot.

aka soul kill

I guess this 7" is deemed more interesting by the general population


Split Lip - s/t 7" - 1992 Doghouse Records DOG 009

What we have here is the first release by one of the best bands from the 90s. Their evolution as a band is really impressive. At least up to the point where they changed their name. That's when they lost me. On this single their sound is still firmly rooted within the hardcore genre. On "for the love of the wounded" they toned it down a bit. Incorporating more rock elements until they perfected that sound on "fate's got a driver". It's amazing how they managed to evolve from each record to the next always killing it.

Apparantly someone colored in a section on each the front and back cover. Does anyone know if this was done by the band for whatever reason or if some idiot was just bored? Would be nice to know even though I don't mind it at all. It actually looks pretty good and gives it a unique appeal. Like those colored Negative Approach covers. A first thought was that maybe they did that to set apart the covers for the blue vinyl but that doesn't seem to be the case as there are other blue vinyl copies that don't look like this. Until someone tells me otherwise I'll pretend that this one was sold on tour and a band member colored this in thus making it legit.

Now I own two versions of this release, with the other one being on black vinyl and also in a white cover. Does anyone know how many different versions there are exactly? I know about yellow sleeves and white vinyl for sure but wasn't there also a purple vinyl pressing? And do all the different vinyl colors come with both sleeves? Was this a one time or are these several pressings? Discogs states it's a one time pressing and only some of the white vinyl came with the yellow cover but I think I saw a black vinyl copy with the yellow cover on the internet once.

almost november

A while ago I made a trade with a friend.
He got two LPs and I got 3 LPs and 2 7"es.
Starting it off slow here is one of the larger pieces of vinyl.
Don't expect this trade to pick up to much steam though.


Shift - pathos 12" - 1994 Equal Vision Records EVR17

There are two versions out there. One is a single sided 12" that comes with a lyric sheet and the other is the one you're seeing here. As far as I know it never came with a lyric sheet but has songs on Side B too. Too bad it's exactly the same program as on Side A. Why make a difference like that? Does this make sense to anybody?

Anyway. This is one of the best post-hardcore releases I can think of. Or would you say it's emo? I can't remember the term post-hardcore being thrown around that much in the 90s. When I first obtained the CD version of this rocker I thought of it as emo and I bet a lot more kids did so too. What a shame it became such a dirty word. But it doesn't matter what category you want to put this in. Fact is you need this. Just like I want a copy with blank B-Side and lyric sheet.
I love this shit!
I even saw them live once. It was in Belgium at the Cultureel Centrum in Dilsen if I remember correct and I think Earth Crisis also played that night. Or was it 108? Or maybe all of the above? Too many good shows happened there. It became a bit of a blur. Albeit a very fond and beautiful one.

lower east side crew

Last one of the birthday bunch and just as elusive as the other 4.

War Zone - lower east side crew 7" - 1987 Revelation Records REV:1

And also just like the others from the same haul it's in perfect condition.
First press of the first release on Revelation Records. A truly historic piece of vinyl.

I really don't know what else to say about this record. I feel like it's such a classic that absolutely no one into hardcore wouldn't know about it. Then again there are 'hardcore kids' that confuse Insted with Infest and when you try to explain what kinda music Insted plays they draw blanks when you throw in Youth Of Today, Youth Crew or Revelation Records. Times are strange. 

not the wrong choice

Somehow this was not published but only saved as a draft when I initially wrote it. Hence it's now published in-between 4 and 5.
So here we go with No. 2 of the birthday haul:


Confront - payday 7" - 1991 Dark Empire Records

This just might be the hardest straight edge record ever. Cleveland really had something going in the early 90s. Die Hard, Integrity, Confront. The holy trinity of Cleveland Hardcore.
While post-hardcore was the new big thing in other places these dudes focused on the real deal. Not many bands at the time did. Especially not that good.

I've been looking for a copy of this record for many years and was never able to track one down until recently and as I'm writing this I have another version coming my way. 2014 really turned out a great year for my collection.

inside job

No. 4 and also not just recently having been added to my wantlist


Turning Point - s/t 7" - 1989 Hi-Impact Records 1

Turning Point ranks among the top 5 classic youth crew bands for me and just like with the Judge 7" I've had countless 'almost mine' experiences with it. It feels so good to finally have a first press. 3rd and 4th press black vinyl I've had for a while already. Still quite some road left ahead of me before I can close the book on this collection.

While the above pictures show what everybody is very well familiar with the next picture shows why I'm particular happy about getting exactly this copy

It has a fucked up version of the cover printed on the inside. I guess they made a few test prints for the cover and then used the backside of those to print a good version of the cover on it. The nice low number 4 kinda speaks in favor of that. So far I have never seen a picture of another copy like this. Everything I saw was all white on the inside. Except for the address and numbering stamps that is of course.

SKIZ-2

Birthday treat no. 3


Judge - new york crew 7" - 1988 Schism Records Skiz-2

I cannot count how many times i was outbid by just one person on ebay for this record. So when I saw a friend of mine was selling his collection this was the first one I wanted to get. Luckily it was around my birthday so it wasn't the only one I got.

I'm sure you know all about this record. Especially with the recently rekindled interest due to their re-union which I went to New York for with a friend. It was a great trip and so worth it even considering the fact that I could have just waited a little while longer and then see them on their short euro trip. Which I did too, of course. But having seen them on stage for the very first time after all those years was something very special. Especially because it was the first time I ever saw them. The electricity in the venue that night is something I will never forget. People still doubted them actually playing while Sammy was already setting up drums. And then Mike Judge came on stage and all hell broke loose. I'd do it all over again. The Berlin show was great too and Essen was also pretty good but they were miles from that first night at the Black'n'Blue Bowl.

brotherhood against racism

I got money for my birthday and blew it on 5 Singles. Here's the first one in alphabetical order:


Brotherhood - no tolerance for ignorance 7" - 1989 Skate Edge Records #2

So glad I finally have at least one copy of the 7".
And it's an original first press in immaculate condition.

I won't go as far out as xREGANx did with his awesome Brotherhood collection but I would like to at least have a copy of each cover variation so there are 3 more copies left to hunt down.