The only 'dope island' I like

A few days ago I already shared my thoughts on the Cramps with you in the post about the 'Bad Music For Bad People' LP (which i just updated btw.). No need to do that again. This time I want to share a bit about how I approach(ed) collecting Cramps releases.

I bought my first Cramps records at a chainstore called 'Zweitausendeins' which is actually a publishing company that sells books, cds, dvds and a bit of vinyl. At the time they had all the Cramps reissues on the bands own label Vengeance Records available at the bargain price of 5€ each. After I had listened to my first Cramps LP and realized how good that band is I went back and bought a copy of each of the other full lengths available. 6 in total. Not a bad start for a collection. But sure enough I wanted a copy of each of the other official releases as well. I just couldn't be bothered with certain pressings as there are A LOT of releases with too many different pressings for about each of them. Thus I picked up a copy here and there not minding the pressing but with every record added to the collection my love for The Cramps grew until I wanted to make a serious attempt at collecting their output. But what to do? Collecting each and every pressing would certainly be the most serious thing to do. Somehow I'd like that but my pockets aren't deep enough so I settled for the next best thing. First pressings! Still quite a long road to travel, yet I consider it doable. This is another step on that journey.

 

The Cramps - fiends of dope island - Vengeance Records 675 - released 2003

One time pressing on clear red vinyl and therefore the most easy to collect release.
No matter what your approach is.

Beautiful Vengeance innersleeve. Same design on both sides.

Is this my beach?

"Cool and strange blend of punk, Beach Boys and Residents. Witty surf punk with a synthesizer and great melodies. It's a novelty, but it's not that bad really. Quite unique."

I never cared for the Beach Boys and I've never knowingly listened to the Residents. Nevertheless the above review from the flex discography got me interested. Being a sucker for late 70s early 80s US west coast punk the attributes 'great melodies', 'novelty' and 'unique' were not needed to be thrown into the mix for me to make a mental note about this record. Always looking for that little something extra that makes a record stand out from the rest I knew I had to check it out even though 'not that bad' would put a negative spin on it in most peoples books. Not in mine. It only means that someone else is not into it. Just like a lot of people around me are not into quite a few bands I love. I'm known to have weird taste so the Surf Punks' 'My Beach' LP could really be for me.

The record was originally released as a self titled 15 track LP in 1979 on Day Glo Records and re-issued as 'My Beach' by Epic Records in 1980 including two extra tracks. Figuring that the original would probably be a lot more expensive and being lured by those two extra tracks I decided right away to keep my eyes peeled for the rerelease even though it comes without a lyric sheet as opposed to the 1st press.

To my big surprise I found a copy that might just be Mint sitting in a cheapo bin...

...next to 2(!) Mint looking copies of their last LP 'Oh No Not Them Again' released by Enigma Records in 1988. Without a listening station available I opted for buying all of them because they were so cheap thinking how bad can it be and that I'd give one of them to a couple I'm friends with, who do surf and are into punk. Perfect gift right there.

The printed innersleeves for both copies of this LP do have those Shirts crossed out in exactly the same way. Seems they ran out of them before the innersleeves were printed.

Right now the tour I'm working on has left Zuerich, Switzerland (where I bought the records) and is now residing in Essen, Germany which is a lot closer to where I live. Due to that I was able to go home and spend a bit of time with my wife. Of course I was eager to listen to all those new records. When it was the Surf Punks turn I naturally started with the first LP and was pretty disappointed. It has all the elements mentioned in the review but somehow it's not leaning quite enough towards punk. At least not in the traditional sense of the associated musical style. So a day or two later I put on the 'Oh No Not Them Again' LP hoping that they'd be one of the few bands in punk that do get better with time. Are they? You might already get the feeling that they are not and boy are you right.Meanwhile though I gave 'My Beach' another try and I have to say it's not as bad as the first time. I hear some Devo in there. Maybe it's one of those records that grow on you each time you give it another try.

Unless the later LP gains a better reputation with me I'm a little hesitant to turn that spare copy into the initially intended gift. What would you do? Present a gift you don't like? Sounds a tad off to me. But then again they might like it. What do I know?

 

The end of silence

I've never been a fan of later Black Flag releases. The demos to 'My War' are ok but that's where it ends for me. I'm not even a big fan of 'Damaged'. 'Rise Above' definitely is a killer but the rest of the songs are not all that good. They're good but not as good as everybody else says. Also Rollins is my least favorite Black Flag singer. Keith, Dez and Chavo were a lot better. Probably that's why I prefer the releases that have any one of them on vocals.

It seems people either think he's a cool genius or a musclehead trying to make the trivia he spews look clever. I think he's a weird freak. To me though that's a rather positive quality in a human being. Maybe what he says is trivial but it's to the point. He's always a pleasure to see live on his spoken word tours (unfortunately never saw him perform with a band). And most importantly he doesn't give a fuck if you, me or anybody doesn't like what he does. To me everything he does spells honesty and I think we need more of that. Roll on Henry.

With all this out of the way we can finally get to the record I bought:

 

Rollins Band - the end of silence 2LP - euro pressing - Imago - 1992

Of course I will remove those ugly stickers.

Printed innersleeves for both records. I like that.Yes, they are a bit rumpled but I think it's not too bad and am ok with it.Especially because I got the record for a good price.

Prior to this purchase I never bothered to really check out the Rollins Band discography but this time I did. What a surprise. There are a lot more releases than I knew of. Right away I felt worried about all those other releases I seemingly would have to chase down. Luckily though (I thought I'd never say this) all of those I had never heard of were only released on CD which means I don't have to bother with them. So it's still 3 more until being satisfied with my collection.

What's missing:Henry Rollins - hot animal machine - Texas Hotel(I already own 3 copies of this record but not the US original)Rollins Band - niceRollins Band - end of silence demos

 

Storming through the age of Quarrel

You probably already know but if you don't now you do.
German dates for the Judge euro tour 2014 with Cro-Mags

See you at one or maybe all of those shows.

 

Never in the night

What's there to say about Blitz? I'm sure you know about their influence on early hardcore bands like SSD and Iron Cross for example and that Judge put a cover of 'Warriors' on their 7". Maybe you also know that their music changed quite a bit after the first 3 Singles and the 'Voice Of A Generation' full length. So with nothing else for me to add here is...

 

Blitz - Never Surrender b/w Razors In The Night - No Future Records - Oi 6

Do you ever get so excited about a record that you don't see the obvious damage to the cover? It's not that this is a very rare 7" which actually doesn't make it that exciting to find one yet the first time I picked up a copy of this record I only realized later that the cover was damaged. Obviously not bad enough for me to notice right away but still too much for me to be satisfied with.

This time I double checked before buying so I can finally move on with one less pebble in my shoe and a shorter distance to travel until completing the most crucial part of my Blitz collection. The most crucial part being 1st pressings of the 4 releases already mentioned above and of their more New Wave sounding 7" with the killer titletrack 'New Age'. Everything else is on the same list as those later TSOL or Circle Jerks records.

Concerning this I am missing left and right while the middle is all set now. Or to be a little more precise I still need the 'All Out Attack' and 'New Age' singles. Doesn't sound too bad.

 

More bad music for bad people like me

Sometimes I wonder if there's a single person out there with a taste in music as bad as mine. Sure there are people with a similarly eclectic approach but I never met someone who likes exactly what I like. Is that even possible? Two people liking exactly the same bands while their likes are spread far and wide? But then again... Who cares?

Yes, I do think about it at times but actually I don't give a damn so here we go again with yet something completely different from what I've posted so far after the 10 month hiatus.

And again it is one of my favorite bands. Formed in 1976 in New York they never disbanded until their vocalist Erick Lee Purkhiser died on feb. 4th 2009. Him and his wife Kristy Wallace pretty much were the band. Everybody else had been replaced more than once in the 33 years of their existance....

I'm asking myself right now if there was any other band associated with Punk that went this long without ever breaking up? Hm, did Social Distortion exist between 1998 and 2004? Did Agnostic Front ever break up after I lost interest in the music they went on to make? What about Bad Religion? No Fx? Anyone have an answer instead of more questions?

Anyway. The Cramps are certainly one of the most influential bands in the history of Punk. They might even have launched a whole subgenre. Although they never thought of themselves as a Psychobilly act as far as I know I can sure see why people would put them there. I'm not too well travelled in that regard but don't The Meteors claim to have coined the term and being the only true Psychobilly band? When they formed in 1980 it is very well possible they had already listened to The Cramps whose Major Label debut 'Gravest Hits' was already out by then.

At a time when everybody wanted to progress. Get away from the same old boring drab. Erick and Kristy better known as Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, who were immersed in NY's Punk scene surrounding CBGB's and Max's Kansas City, took a step back only to get at the world with a sound that wasn't just their own brand of Punk. What they unleashed was so far ahead of their time that even by today's standards their mix of 50s Rockabilly with the raw sound of 70s Punk / 60s Garage topped off with elements of glam, horror movie themes, burlesque and drag is pretty wild. Imagine what an effect it must have had on people seeing them in the '70s.

In 1984 they released the 2nd (or 3rd depending on how you look at it) compilation of previously recorded and released material called 'Bad Music For Bad People' and this is the one I finally got my hands on. Unfortunately though I'm not too sure what I got.

The front cover is the same on all the releases I know of

The back cover of the US pressing is different from the canadian pressing of the same year and early pressings come without a barcode. So it's safe to say it's not the canadian or a later official pressing.

But the record is in such a good shape I'm afraid it is the 2010 bootleg which was released on yellow, white and black vinyl. I couldn't find any info on how to tell the black vinyl boot from the OG pressing or even a picture showing the backcover of the unofficial release. Usually those 'fanclub editions' tend to use the same artwork as the 1st press. Thus it cannot be ruled out that this is one of them.

The labels are grey with black text and maroon I.R.S. logo and info. Just in case you can't tell from these high quality pictures.

Of course there is also no picture of the labels to be found that are used for the latest reissue. Leaving me with only the matrix as a possible way to tell wrong from right. Bootleggers hardly ever use matrix etchings at all or scratch them out. Which is what tipped the scale towards buying the record because my copy does have the same matrix etchings as listed for the canadian pressing. I guess they did a one time press of the LP and only had different covers made.

Still, with everything pointing towards an original US 1st press I'm not totally sure. Is it possible that a bootleg features the same matrix etchings as the original? If so how the fuck do you tell the two apart? Did the OG use thicker cardboard with a glued on cover? I have no idea.

If you know... PLEASE chip in. I'm going crazy over this.

Thanks.

 

UPDATE:

The info I gathered so far points towards this being a bootleg. Very, very well made but still no original. Damn! Silver instead of grey labels seem to be the difference and probably the color of the I.R.S. info is rather purple on the OG instead of the maroon on my copy. Somehow though I'm still not really sure about it. Probably because I want it to be an original. On with the inquiries.

UPDATE #2:

Now I'm sure I got a bootleg. The info on discogs was updated by a guy from London after I asked him about how to identify a 1st press. Thank you very much to that dude and FU to the bootlegger for making it that hard to distinguish between OG and boot.

Differences are silver instead of grey labels on the official release and additional info etched into the runout grooves as opposed to just the catalogue number in the dead wax of the unofficial release.

 

You never have fun

That's what's being said about Straight Edge people. And you know it's true. We are a bunch of moralizers constantly reminding you that we've 'got better things to do'. Perhaps that's why I like the song but maybe it's just a great song.

I always like to dip my feet into uncharted waters. You never know what you're going to find. Sometimes it's a gem like the 7" featured here.

About a year and a half ago I discovered the awesome Shotgun Solution Blog. The person running it pretty much has the to me unknown territory of Power Pop / Pop Punk mapped out while I'm still struggeling to remember the bands I downloaded and like. I never cared much for Pop Punk or Power Pop Everything I heard that was associated with that genre I didn't like. And I really don't know where to draw a line between the two. But at some point I realized there are actually some really great things to unearth from that drawer. Naturally I rejoiced upon finding a fine source.Although it got pretty quiet on her/his blog lately, for a while there were shitloads of posts to check out. Too many actually for me to keep up with. So once in a while when my schedule allowed it I downloaded a bunch of stuff and unfortunately only gave it a quick listen resulting in quite a bit of confusion. Mostly I cannot remember which bands I like and which ones are too pop-y or beatle-esque for me. And yes, that means I don't like The Beatles. In my book they did nothing good for Rock'n'Roll. I'm with the Meatmen on this. '2 down 2 to go'. But let's get back to what I like. You know?! Be postive. Straight Edge. PMA. All that stuff.

My memory works best with pictures and has quite a few downloaded covers stored somewhere in the back of my head which I will recognize should one be sitting in a box I'm flipping through at a store. On the downside I cannot remember if the music is any good. Especially when being somewhere with no possibility to listen to the thing it really bums me out. Lucky me Vinyl Pirate in Zuerich had a listening station.

The Locals - you never have fun b/w yes or no 7"

'You never have fun' rightfully owns the A-Side to this 45.It's a total hit mixing powerfull pop music with the right amount of punk rawness.It's rough edges are sure to catch on to anyone even remotely susceptible to this music.

'Yes or no' is a solid B-Side.It incorporates the same qualities yet isn't as good.Come on. There has to ba a second place.

 

Griffy Records published the original pressing in 1980 and the last one on ebay sold for $86. While that is considerably less than the $315 someone had to dig up for a copy in 2009 before the reissue was released by Sing Sing Records in 2010, I couldn't be bothered to bring up anything close to that.

I'm very happy having found a NM copy of the by now also kinda hard to find repress with a pricetag you'll find on most of the recently rereleased classics.

Next time I take out some records to spin for an audience this one will most definitely be among them.

 

Blue Christmas

With this post I reveal to you one of my pleasures that not a lot of people I know can get behind.

I love Christmas and the music that comes with it!

My collection of that genre includes Crooners like Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, etc. and Country Singers like Jim Reeves, Loretta Lynn, John R. Cash, Glen Campbell, etc. with some Rock'n'Roll compilations like 'Phil Spector's Christmas Album' on the side and of course Elvis Presley.

This year though unfortunately marks the second in a row that I am not able to enjoy Christmas because I have been working since mid November and will be doing so until mid January while having to stay at hotels most of the time. At least last year I had the 24th off but this season the most consecutive hours spent at home and awake were about 6 hours. Not nearly enough.The weeks leading up to this year's holidays I was in Zuerich, far away from home and thus staying at a hotel. While everything around me spelled Christmas in all capitals my room surely didn't. Not a good combination for someone like me so I was feeling rather blue.

With this being said it was probably no coincidence that I found an LP called 'Blue Christmas'. I think I never before came across a record reflecting time and sentiment this perfect. Add to that the fact that it's by Ernest Tubb who is one of my favorit Country singers and you'll have me at my most vulnerable. Totally disregarding the price and overpaying.

The orignal was released in 1964 by Decca in the US. This is a reissue on Stetson from the UK though. No idea when it was released. Chances are most likely at an all time low but if you do have any more info on this release. Let me know.

And for all of you who didn't, utterly disgusted, skip this post right away I do now have a little HC related annecdote.

More than 7 years ago, my memory is a little blurry there, I listened to Ernest Tubb on a beautiful day. The evening of which I went to see MDC for the first time. They played a very small venue in Duesseldorf where I lived at the time so naturally friends of mine were attending too and accidently one of them knew the woman driving MDC on this tour. Hanging out and talking we got to know that the promoter of the show hadn't provided the band with a place for the night. Not at ease with the thought of those ageing pioneers having to sleep in a van my girlfriend at the time and I decided 'What the heck both of us don't have to work tomorrow so why don't you crash at our place'. They were a little hesitant at first but with no other option they gladly accepted in the end.When we arrived at our apartment first thing for me to do was file away that country record. My thought was that they'd probably not want to listen to any of that redneck stuff. But how wrong I was. Despite their leftist politcal stance they do very well enjoy the twang of old country. Ron was the first to take an interest which led to a nice and long chat about the history of music, how important it is to know where you're coming from and to not limit yourself to one genre.The night peaked when Mikey Offender (RIP) gave me his homemade Tape of early recordings by Robert Johnson (an early Blues musician).So Ernest Tubb was the gateway to having a great time with original members Ron, Dave, Mikey and their drummer for the Tour Mike. Leading to me putting up a show for them a year later, having Mikey over for a third time when he filled in on bass for Direct Control and another planned show that was unfortunately cancelled because of Dave's health issues which had everyone involved over here be quite worried. After that the contact kinda faded. The last thing I heard was that Dave is doing better to the point where he can play the odd show but is still too weak to tour. That's been a while ago already and I truely hope he made more progress since. Maybe one day MDC will come over for a final tour. Everyone at the AK47 and I would go more than out of our way to make a show happen.Dave, Ron, Mike if by any odd chance you're reading this. You're always more than welcome.Mikey. You'll always be remembered. May there be plenty of beer in heaven.

 

Dare to feature

I have fond memories of the 'Philly Dust Krew' compilation a friend of mine bought in the 90s. Back then our resources were very limited due to being young and still in school which is why I was satisfied with the tape copy I got and went on to buy other releases. The old school way of sharing music before the internet and downloads.

4 bands were compiled on this various artists CD. Dare To Defy, Starkweather, Hard Response and All Out War. Two of those I really dug and still do while I didn't care about the remaing two. I guess All Out War is the most obvious one of those I liked. The other one being... well, probably not the one you might think if you peeped ahead or are drawing conclusions from the title of this post. No, it's not Dare To Defy. It's Starkweather! Ever heard their 'Into The Wire' album? That's some sick shit. Sooo good!

And yet this post is about a Dare To Defy record. How come? Well, the fond memories of that compilation do include Dare To Defy and Too Damn Hype Records who also released the following 7". This already is a little bit of an incentive to buy. On top of that it was cheap which always helps. The main selling point though are the features. Both Jerry A of Poison Ideand Paul Bearer of Sheer Terror appear on this piece of wax. Now this is something I can't resist. Especially not at the price I picked it up for. Sheer Terror are one of my all time favorite bands and Paul Bearer's stage antics are priceless. Poison Idea are only a tad shy of being one of my favorite bands too. Probably because they released so many stuff and I don't think all of them are on the same level with the classic 'Feel The Darkness' album. In contrast to this I regard Sheer Terror's output as flawless. That's probably why they are one of my favorites and Poison yidea are not. Even though I think 'Feel The Darkness' is one of the best hardcore punk albums ever.

After all this pointless babble I present to you a few pictures of the Dare To Defy 'Tales From The Drunkside' 7" that was released by Too Damn Hype Records in 1992 featuring special guests Jerry A and Paul Bearer.

Inside of the fold-over sleeve.

If you have any pressing info or your own story regarding this record please share...

 

The underark with two 'd'

I guess everybody has an example of a songtext he/she thought was something completely different before actually reading the lyrics. With me one of those is the text to Misfits' 'attitude' where I always hear "Inside your feeble brain there's probably a hole - If you don't shut your mouth you're gonna feel the flow" when it's actually "whore" and "floor". Of course the real lyrics rhyme better but come on... I like my version better and I'll always pretend that's what it actually is.

But the case with this Mayday 7" is a little different. First of all it's not about the lyrics. Somehow I always thought their 1st 7" from 1992 'The Underdark' on Vicious Cricle Records is called 'The Underark'. Maybe that's why it never popped up when searching ebay. Haha.

I haven't even heard any of the songs yet. Maybe that's why I was never inclined to spend the money I saw it changing shelves for when accidently finding it under 'other items for sale' on ebay or listed on discogs. But I doubt that. The split 7" with Integrity, 'Lost In Sabbath' and 'Staplegun' are great releases that made rounds on my turntable regularly in the '90s. Somehow though it's been a while since I listened to any of those. I love the 7" and 10" format. Yes, even the hated by so many 10" format. Still, once they are filed with the rest of the collection they usually stay there. It's a shame but I hardly ever have time to sit down and really enjoy a record. Usually I have LPs spinning while I take care of things that need to be done. And when I have the time to put on a few 7"es and enjoy everything about them there are new ones waiting that I'm eager to get lost in. So once I'm back home I'm sure this one will get some love before being admitted to the family vault.

That being said I am very happy having found this gem for even less than I would have paid for it. Until I can give it the love it deserves these pictures (altgough not too good... hotel... bad lighting... no camera... blah) will have to do

Now I'm down to 4 7"es until a complete collection unless there is more than one version of the 7" on Endless Fight Records (what a great label that was). Let me know if there is.

Last thing for this post:I saw a pink vinyl copy of 'The Underdark' being sold on ebay once which I cannot find any info on. Is it that rare? Anyone have any info?Here's a picture from the ebay auction: