limited version of the silver medal holder for 2'14

Praise - lights went out LP - 2014 React! Records RXR040

And here they are. The pictures of the limited euro tour edition aka the last record I bought and received in 2'14.

I got #37/50. Perfect. I'm 37. Now I'll always remember the year it was released.

Why did they use red for the special covers  though?
I think they should have used blue to finally give at least those 50 copies out of the blue vinyl pressing a reason why they exist.

Only thing left to say is that Praise are a bunch of great guys. I hope they will continue what they are doing for a long time.

Everything else I already said in this post a few days ago.

12" Rhino 39

Rhino 39 - s/t LP - 1986 Triple X Records XXX1001

When I first saw this record for sale at Hitsville in Düsseldorf, Germany I wasn't sure if I needed it. Mostly because I already had picked a few other things from the bins but when I got home I couldn't stop thinking about it and kicked myself repeatedly for leaving it behind. Fast forward a few months and I'm back at the same store and what do I find? This Rhino 39 record. I thought it was long gone but no. There it still was. How could this be? Ralf, your customers need a lesson or two.
Or am I all wrong and this is a different copy than the one I saw the first time? Well, I doubt that but who knows... or cares. I'm stoked I was able to add it to my collection after all.

One time pressing on black vinyl only. Now I need that original Dangerhouse 7" even more but too many people have gone batshit crazy over the last two years or so. I hope it's just a fad that will fade again soon

sxe sells

V/A - sxe sells LP - 2014 Cobra Records CR-60

I bought this pretty late. It was out for I don't know how long already and I always meant to pick up a copy but for some reason I didn't want to spend postage on it. But then we did a show with Give, Minutes and Echoes. It was a great night. Unfortunately I didn't catch either Minutes' or Echoes' set because I had to take care of other things. The down side of organising shows. You book bands you like and more often than you'd like to you don't get to see them. But what I heard was great. Unfortunately two members of Echoes couldn't make it to the show but instead of cancelling they got Bigma (of Mainstrike and Birds Of A Feather fame) to fill in on vocals and decided to play a sweet cover set. Nice! Of course Give played a killer set as usual. I think it was at least the third time I saw them. If they would play around here every month I guess I'd be there every time if possible.

After the show I grabbed this LP  from Echoes who contributed to it and therefore had a few copies for sale. MDMA, Xwalk awayX and Echoes are really good. Constrict are even a little better if you like that 90s militant vegan sound. But Hangin' Tough and Last Warning are killing it. Definitely the best songs on this 12". As much as I like Hangin' Tough I have to say that the Last Warning track on here is more interesting. Each contribution to this this piece of wax was previously unreleased. Except for one of the two HT songs which was already on the 7" on Good Intentions HC and their other one is 'wound up' from REV 1 so this is why LW got them beat. Their song I didn't know before. The rest of the bands are not bad but somewhat don't hit home with me. All together it's a nice varied compilation but because I'm quite bored with 9 out of 15 bands I will probably not break this out again anytime soon. I guess it's the curse of the compilation.

I think there were 3 different vinyl colors pressed and all of them used the same colors as the layout. I like that. It's the best choice you can make when pressing color vinyl. The wax has to match the rest of the layout otherwise I don't see the point and prefer black. In this case there is no standard black vinyl pressing though and the choices available all looked ok so I didn't mind. Which is why I had  Marc (from Echoes) pull a random copy out of the box and that's the one I documented just now.

blues fix

The Cramps - blues fix 10" - 2014 Big Beat Records BLUE 1

Yet another Stockholm buy. That city is so beautiful and full of record stores. Definitely worth a trip. Next time maybe not in the fall when the weather is not too good. With some more sun it might be up there with Antwerp, Hamburg, London and Vienna.

But whatevers. This tenner is one of two records I picked up at what looked like a chainstore for all things music related. Vinyl, CDs, books, mugs, jigsaw puzzles of legendary album covers and I think even T-Shirts. Naturally I didn't expect too much from this one but of course checked it out anyway and boy was I in for a surprise. Both records I picked up I had no idea even existed. While it was pretty obvious that one was a new Leonard Cohen full length I had no idea what that Cramps record was. Even the guy from the store asked me if I knew anything about that release. He was just as clueless as I was at the time.

Now I know that what I scored is a new Re-Issue of a one time only CD single pressing (or is 'burned' the correct term here??) originally released in 1992 to accompany the 'Look mom no head' album. I didn't know about this one at all because I usually disregard CD releases. It's great they finally made this available on vinyl. All four songs are covers and if I remember correctly those songs have not been officially released anywhere else except for the first one which can also be found on the above mentioned record. 'It's mighty crazy' is a great mid tempo hit. Glad I found this.

not too much and not too soon

New York Dolls - too much, too soon LP - 1974 Mercury ‎– SRM-1-1001

Another one from Stockholm although bought at a different store. The same one I bought this Velvet Underground LP at. We strolled by this store that had all kinds of 'vintage' things for sale and on the street they had 2 boxes of records for about a euro each. So I started flipping through those not expecting anything when I came across this Donna Fargo LP and those by Jim Reeves. When I went inside to pay for those I saw they had more records right inside and in the basement. I felt bad for my wife because I actually didn't want to check out any more record stores at that point but once I was in there I couldn't resist.
So I came across this awesome album. I have to admit that at first I wasn't really into the New York Dolls because they first Dolls record I bought was the 'Lipstick Killers - The Mercer Street Sessions 1972' which was recorded prior to their first LP at a different studio and are probably demo recordings. With a lot of punk bands their earlier or demo recordings are rougher and thus sound way better to me but not those. It was definitely the worst possible introduction to this band. In 2'13 I picked up a sealed bootleg copy of their s/t LP for $10 in New York. I figured I'd give them another chance and when better to do than while being in NY. Back home I couldn't believe how great it was. Ever since I like them as much as their contemporaries MC5, Stooges, The Velvet Underground, The Heartbreakers, etc.

This copy definitely didn't look like a recent Re-Issue or a bootleg and the price didn't hurt too but what exactly it is I had no idea. And actually still don't. It's none of those pressings listed on discogs. I checked each one of those but there are differences to each one of those. It's pretty close to the original US pressing but the labels are a bit darker and the matrix etching is slightly different.
I'm pretty sure it's a legit release and not a bootleg. Who would boot a record down to the matrix and then get the etching wrong? It's probably a pretty small run repress from god knows what year. Not too recent though. It's nice to have a copy of this that not too many people know even exists.

after the lights go out

CH3 - after the lights go out LP - 1983 No Future Records PUNK 7

Early 80s Westcoast hardcore-punk is one of my favorite genres and this is a true highlight of it. Their 2nd full length and not even slightly worse than the first. To be honest I totally forgot about this pressing. I have the original Posh Boy release for some years already and was satisfied with it at first but when I saw this copy in front of me at a record shop in Stockholm on our holidays I couldn't resist. They are one of my all time favorite melodic hardcore-punk bands. How could I have lived without this record after I had held it in my own hands? Well, there was one scenario that would have made me leave this and everything else at the shop behind in order to pick up just one 7". That store put out photocopies of the covers of those singles that are a little more expensive and one of those was of a Minor Threat - in my eyes. Of course you cannot tell anything about the pressing just by a xerox of the cover so I asked to see it because if it would have been a first press it would have been the steal of my life so far at the price they asked. Unfortunately though they couldn't find it and didn't even seem to be to bothered about it. Can you imagine? Other records they also couldn't find were Wipers - romeo and Wide Awake - cthc 2nd press. What a let down. But I did get some great stuff there anyway so it's all good. Still I cannot forget about that Minor Threat.

Anyway. This euro pressing on No Future from the UK was the last out of the two only pressings I know of that I needed. There were Re-Issues on Get Back Records in 2003 and '05 but who needs that crap if you have the real deal. Or maybe at all. This record is not that expensive.