The 411 you didn't see coming

411 - The Side You Cannot See: Complete Discography 1990-1992 - 2014 Workshed WSR-11

There have been a few discography releases the last few years that I never thought would happen. Ressurection is the earliest that comes to mind, then Headfirst and now this one.
The original 411 records don't demand a lot of dough which is probably due to not many people caring about that band. So why do a discography release? Because there ARE people who DO care.
I have two copies of the 7" and a version of the LP which is already most of what they recorded. The 4 compilations they contributed to I don't have and will probably never pick up which is why this release was necessary. It's great to have everything in one place now.

As far as I know there was only this one version pressed. It is out of 500 and was distributed by Revelation who don't seem to have copies anymore. Maybe that means there will be another pressing at some point but I doubt that.

what's that about your dad?

Frantix - my dad's a fuckin' alcoholic LP - 2014 Alternative Tentacles VIRUS 459

The Frantix are classic KBD material and what we have here is their discography which was only just released this year for the first time ever on vinyl. I hesitated for a bit because I had never actually listened to the band but at last thought what the heck when it popped up in one of my favorite stores. How bad can a classic KBD band be?

The title track certainly is a good one. Yet I cannot really get into the whole thing. It certainly is among the weaker material of that genre which is probably why the original 7"es are not that expensive.
Still I'm glad this was made regularly available on vinyl so I could get a copy. It's still a good record for the KBD fan that I am. I guess I would have never spend the money it would take to get the original singles so thank you AT.

Red Spirit

and another one

Up Front - spirit LP - 1988 Smorgasbord Records No.2

I've been after this classic for quite a while. For most people it's not that high up on the list but to me it's one of the best Youth Crew LPs ever and with this purchase I do now own all the old pressings. So glad that's finally done.

On a side not I recently figured why I bought that unnecessary RSD pressing. When I was pondering which one of the originals I should play I realised that this is actually the perfect job for that thing.

And here they all are. Minus test press(ings?) and that other solid red REV version obviously. Yet to me this is what a complete Spirit collection looks like:

Mind you I took that picture when the RSD pressing was still sealed but you all know what that one looks like anyway.

not the VIP you probably think of

actually not even VIP but The V.I.P.'s. They were a Power Pop band that released 6 eps between '78 and '81. This compilation compiles all of these:

The V.I.P.'s - beat crazy! The best of the V.I.P.'s LP - 1997 Waterson Records WAIN 41

Yesterday I listened to a few Power Pop 7"es that I had downloaded and most of these didn't really appeal to me. There is a very thin line dividing the good from the bad and it seems the good section is pretty small. My ears only like those bands that have this certain raw, kinda punk feeling to it. If they don't have that it's just boring Beat or standard Pop music. A few tracks really stood out though. Among those were each song that came on from this record.

It's chock full of hits. As you might guess from a Best of record but it's not really a best of. More of a discography as there is every song on here that I know they released.
The original 7"es are not that expensive but this is a good point to get to know the band and to be honest who puts on all the 7"es? This is way more convenient and in a much better way than any CD or mp3.

ABUSED ABUSED ABUSED ABUSED ABUSED ABUSED ABUSED ABUSED ABUSED

The Abused are the best NYHC band. Period!

Thanks to Radio Raheem records their discography was recently made available once more. Unfortunately their store has vanished from the web but don't worry if you slept on this release. GIHC still have a few copies for sale.
The beauty of this Reissue was already well documented on a lot of blogs so I won't go into detail here.

The Abused - discography LP - Radio Raheem Records RADIO-003

Up Next is the picture Vinyl release of the discography from 1992. This was the first Abused vinyl I owned.

The Abused - discography pic. LP - Lost & Found LF 043

Of course I also had to track down the regular vinyl pressing of that release. People seem to think it's worth a bit more than anyone is actually willing to pay for it so it took me quite a while to finally find one for a fair price and it even includes a promo sheet.

The Abused - discography LP - Lost & Found LF 043

And here it is. My personal holy grail.

The Abused - loud and clear 7" - Abused Music AM-1

Looks like someone wasn't able to hit the folding line correctly so they had to leave a little something at the top of the front cover that usually is not there.

You can clearly see how far off the fold is from where it is supposed to be.

Also the cover is a foldover sleeve rather than a pocket sleeve. I don't want to open it too far as the fold is already cracking up.

It seems though that the cover was at one point glued together as the tear on the inside of the back cover suggests. As far as I know all the copies had the perforation you can see in the picture below so I guess the pocket sleeve came undone and whoever owned it then ripped off the flaps. If that's the case he or she was very careful though. That tear you see is the only damage that was done. And there is some glue left on the inside of the front cover which supports my guess.
Apart from this it's in beautiful condition so I don't mind any of that. Maybe if I ever come across a cheap glue pocket version I'll buy that too but I highly doubt it.

Completing the collection is the bootleg release of their demo

The Abused - new york hardcore 7" - Dick Dance Records DDR07

Another wild bunch - 4 Skins / Chiefs / E-Town Concrete / Judge

it seems that i finally dealt with all the records i bought around last winters tour. but there are still quite a few left to cover on here. the bunch i'm about to present is a haul from one of my favorite record stores. just like the last post again it's nothing too special. just some solid music that everyone should own… well most of it anyway

i'll start this off with the record i'm most happy about:

Cheifs - holly-west crisis LP - Dr. Strange Records DSR-103 2010

The US west coast produced some of the best music in punk and hardcore history. and this band is prove of that. i love that record yet i feel like generally they are just a minor player. their name doesn't come up too often although their one and only original release, a 7" from 1980, seems to be worth quite a bit. 

this discography is available from all over the place which is why it took me so long to finally buy one. i usually find some other stuff that doesn't come up too often to drain my wallet. this time though it was really cheap and i felt bad enough for neglecting it too long already so here it is. another small entry scratched off my want list.

Judge - what it meant the complete discography 2LP - REV 122 2nd press

it took me a while to decide to seek out a copy of my own of this release even though i'm a big judge fan. to me it's somewhat unappealing. the first press was on really ugly color vinyl and there is absolutely nothing on there which i felt the need to own on vinyl which i didn't already. the only half way interesting thing are the demo recordings of songs that appeared on the BID LP. i could do without those but at some point decided i had to have at least one copy of the discography in my collection. luckily Rev decided to give it the good old black vinyl treatment the 2nd time around. and while the 3rd press is exactly the same i still think this is the 2nd. if anyone knows how to tell them apart, if that's possible, let me know.

4 Skins - the good, the bad & the 4 skins LP - Radiation Records

This is among the best Oi records ever but right now i could kick myself for buying it. why? because it's a lame repress and the OG isn't that expensive or hard to find. great record, wrong pressing. i need to step up my game and not waste money on stupid RIs that don't even include the insert. Next.

E-Town Concrete - fuck the world 7" - Cartel Records CRL-2

oh the nineties. i was totally into that kinda stuff back then before everything got way out of hand. or maybe prior to me noticing the downside to all that beatdown stuff. whatevers. the 'time 2 shine' LP still is among my favorites of that genre so when this little gun made itself available for a really good price i grabbed it. so far i maybe listened to it twice and who knows when it will do another round on my turntable. somehow i don't get into new to me music of that genre anymore. so while this is a good record i will put it on my tradelist soon. if you're looking for one get in touch. it's in a beautiful condition.

Discography & Re-issues

On tour during the cold months at the end of last year a then recently released discography hit the shelves at one of my favorite record dealers which i had to order so i felt like throwing in a bunch of re-issues that were on my list for quite a while already. none of it is anything special pressing wise. i see them for sale quite often but usually i find something a little more interesting to waste my dough on. but not this time

ok. let's take a closer look at each one of those starting with the piece of vinyl that got this ball rolling:

Headfirst - the complete recordings 1987 - 1992 3LP - Indecision Records IND90

Discography releases are tricky. Usually I am not too into those. Especially if they press multiple versions right away like they did for Turning Point, Judge, Underdog, etc. I love all of those bands and collect them so on one hand these releases should be in my collection but then again they are somewhat of an equivalent to Best of… records and I really hate those. 

The Underdog one was a no brainer because of the book that came with it and this beautiful thing here also won me over right away. First of and obviously mainly so for the two unreleased songs from the 'back in control' recording session plus the included two demo tapes i had never even heard of. The other reason is that there is only this one pressing, apart from maybe a test pressing that i'm generally not into. That way I don't have to throw too much money at a recent compilation of old releases while I'm still missing a few OG pressings while still being on a good way towards a truly complete vinyl collection instead of just a collection that feels complete to me but actually isn't.

The most needed of the Re-issues I threw in the cart is this one:

Supertouch - the earth is flat - Revelation Records REV21

With all those represses Rev churns out I'm slowly getting to back the 'Revelation can suck it' thing but this one here is a whole lot different. From what I know this is what the record was actually supposed to look like. Maybe not the vinyl itself but the packaging. But due to financial problems the original release looks the way we all know it. I think it's great that after all these years they were able to finally make the vision of how to present their music come true. No way I would pass on this one. Discogs says there were 550 pressed on opaque blue vinyl. Well, mine is clear and not mentioned on there. Anybody know what that's all about? Another one of those cases where they ended up with a lot of different 'shades' of vinyl? Or maybe some kind of transitional pressing? 

Of course Rev already repressed this release on a different color and at first I thought i definitely don't need that but meanwhile I'm not too sure. That white vinyl version looks a hell of a lot better than this blue one.

Followed by this one:

The Make-Up - destination: love. live at cold rice - discord DIS99V remastered 2012 pressing

The Make-Up are one hell of a band. I went to a lot of shows and most of them I don't remember anymore but I clearly remember seeing them on what I think was their first euro tour in support of this, their first full length, release. Definitely one of the best shows I ever saw. Why I didn't pick up this LP back then escapes me. The only reason I can think of is that I didn't have the funds at the time. Took me only about 17 years to finally get my shit together and it's not even the original pressing. Usually I wouldn't mind as I'm not into collecting certain pressing of this band but the fact that this release was remastered somehow doesn't sit too well with me. Looks like I'm in the market for the first mix which to my ears probably doesn't sound any different.

And then this one:

H2O - s/t - Bridge Nine B9R158

This record was a little too melodic for me back when it was released. I liked it but was never bothered to actually pick up a copy until years later. And for an even longer time I didn't feel the need to own any later H20 releases but that changed with the 'Nothing to prove' record. That one I bought and like almost as much as the first full length. 

After I finally decided to pick up a vinyl copy it kept eluding me. It felt like the record was saying 'you neglected me for that long now I don't want to be with you'. And even now that I finally do own one it's on the ugliest vinyl color it was released on. But I'm ok with that. I don't deserve any better.

Last but not least is this killer KBD 7"

Nubs - job / little billy's burning 7" - Last Laugh Records HAW-033

I got a real late pass on everything KBD which is why none of those releases mean anything special to me. I mean I love the music but they didn't influence me like say UC's 'screaming for change' which had me turn straight edge about 20 years ago.
I'm glad I don't have a special connection with any of those releases because otherwise my desire for OG pressings would be a lot higher.
This is one of the best of the genre and one of many re-issues on Last Laugh Rec. If you have a soft spot for this kind of music you need to check out this record and if your pockets are as shallow as mine you should check out the label. Some of their releases you can order from my shop GIHC.



But wait there is one more 7" in that picture.

Trephine - reprogram…recondition 7" - +/- Records PMR-004

This one was a freebie and the only original pressing on this heap. A lot of times those free records are crap that no one cares about and while no one might care about this record too it definitely isn't crap.
Great 90s militant vegan sound in the vein of Green Rage. I almost put this in the distro without even listening to it. Good thing I didn't. I might not take this one out for a spin too often and if I do it sure won't be the first of the genre that comes to mind but once in a while when I'm in the mood for that sort of stuff it will be a great addition to the playlist.

Culture - 90's Vegan Straight Edge

Catalyst Records was one of the best Labels when they started out in the 90's. After that I didn't hear much from them until about two years ago when Sink Or Swim were supposed to be release by that label. But that never happened because they broke up which is a bummer. Now 2 of the core member have a new band that you should know by now. Wolf X Down. And again they are supposed to be released on Catalyst. This time chances are a lot better for it to actually happen. Apart from that the rest of the roster doesn't appeal to me for one reason or another.
So let's get back to their heyday when people would just blindly buy anything that Kurt put out. Well, probably there are still people doing that. It's just I don't anymore so I have to travel back in time.
My mind eludes me when it comes to remembering things from 12 to 15 years ago so I did a quick check up on how many records we are actually talking about here. Unfortunately I couldn't find a decent discography (someone should seriously get on this) but what I came up with is most likely everything I am actually referring to:
CR03 Abnegation - jihad 7"
CR04 Birthright - s/t 7"
CR05 Culture - deforestation 7"
CR06 Day Of Suffering - the eternal jihad CD
Four records in total. That ain't too much. Yet they made and still make me appreciate the label a hell of a lot. For me these records were totally defining. With Earth Crisis introducing me to Veganism in '93/'94 and Hardline polarizing everything it was Birthright that put it all into perspective. To me Birthright got it all right. Kurt's writings in the booklet to the 7" about Straight Edge and Veganism and how it all ties in with politics makes perfect sense and I am still behind the meaning of these words 100%. And although he has put out records by bands that were/are? pro-life it still helped me to make up my own mind. Being pro-choice while being able to see the point of pro-lifers. Saying yes you are right. It is a bad thing to have an abortion but the society we live in forces all kind of bad things upon us and it is upon the woman to make the call what the lesser malady is. In the perfect world that I haven't quite mapped out yet there would be no need for abortions because I genuinely believe that it is not good to kill anyone or anything. For nobody. But until we live this dream where it won't be necessary to do so I won't dispute a womans right to choose. Her body her choice.
But let's get to the actual topic of this post. Ha! All this rambling because of an upcoming discography release. Well. This is how my mind works. When I hear the name Culture this is some of what comes to mind and that to me is inherently connected with the band. So out of pure nostalgia I would be inclined to buy the upcoming Culture discography on American Enemy Inc.
Their 7" on Catalyst, the split 7" with Roosevelt, the 'born of you' lp and the split 12" with Kindred sound as good to me now as they did when I heard them for the first time. These recordings truly stood the test of time and I urge each and everyone who doesn't already own all of these to buy this upcoming release. I know. You are thinking I forgot about the 'heteronome' release. Well, I didn't. I just never liked it too much. But that should not keep you from buying this. The majority of the songs are well worth your hard earned dough. I just don't know if I need it. I have all the releases I mentioned so unless they do something really special I probably won't buy it. Maybe they are going to do something nice like Bridge Nine did with the Underdog discography that I would not have bought if it would not have been for the book that came with the most limited version of the double-LP. Or the remastered Ressurection discography on Deathwish that I am waiting for eagerly since I ordered it from Per Koro. Anyways.
Here's some more info from xSITPx.
Maybe you wanna start following American Enemy Inc. on Facebook to stay on top of the game?
I just saw they are also working on a NJ Bloodline discography. Now that I'm not interested in. All I need is their demo Tape. 'Fist' is such a great song and the sound from that Tape is the best they ever had! So if you're selling... I might be buying.
Peace out - sleep tight!

New Age Records Discography

For quite some time during the 1990s New Age Records along with Conversion Records were the Labels to watch out for. Not one bad release during those years. Of course there were other labels that put out only quality stuff but they didn't put out as many. So for me Nineties Hardcore will always be associated with NAR and CR. Unfortunately though there is not much pressing info to be found on the web. New Age did finally put up some info on color vinyl pressings but the geek that I am this does not at all cover it for me. And Conversion records? Well, I haven't dug too deep into that topic yet but I don't know about any presing info of theirs on the net. If you do let me know. If not... well it definitely is on my list ofthings to be done.
Now if I do love New Age Records then there is no word for how much my old pal Ferry Krop digs it. I've never seen his collection but maybe it's a good thing because I might not be able to catch my breath again. But he does not only collect the good stuff he also put together the most detailed NAR pressing info in the world... I think ;)
Check it out here and if you've never seen this list before you might wanna have some tissues at your disposal because you will probably cry the way I did seeing all those different pressings and realizing how incomplete your NAR collection really is. Dig in.