Hipster-free Spex

Let's go back in time another year and change the continent from the last post to this one


X-Ray Spex - germfree adolescents LP - 1978 EMI International INS 3023, EMI OC 062-61 787

This is a classic UK punk record that can not be missing from a respectable collection of that genre. And yet it is not totally up my alley. It's good but somehow I cannot get behind this one as I do with others of the same trade.

It's great to have an original first press in my collection but I guess it will not make a lot of rounds on my turntable. Future collectors might thank me for keeping it in the beautiful condition it's in when they buy it from whoever sells what I leave behind once I passed on to the other side while some people today might not look at it that way. Sorry.

That's a lot of questions

December finally sees things slowing down so I have a bit of time on my hands to do nice things with friends and family and to post some more records. So here we go


Weirdos - Who? What? When? Where? Why? 12" - 1979 BOMP! Records BLP-4007

Those first two Weirdos 7"es are among the best early US punk releases which is why I love that band. On their later material, starting with this release, they lean more towards the Rock in Punk Rock but it's still great. Just not for the punk purist.

This is the original US pressing which is different to the german pressing I already owned before picking this one up. The cover is slightly altered and the labels are nowhere near those of the german pressing. But the main difference is the order of the songs. While the Line Records version has Jungle Rock as the sole track on Side A and all the other songs on the flip the original has Jungle Rock slipped in as the third of the 6 songs which are divided equally between the two sides. No idea why they thought it was a good idea to single out one track and dedicate a whole side of a 12" to it's 3:13 min. duration. An extended version would have made a bit of sense but like that?
Anyway. Now I have a copy that makes more sense to me and only still need the french pressing. And I'm sure once I have that I also want the german repress which I now think I don't really need.

one out of four

For some reason this record was not that easy to come by


V/A - chaos days LP - 2005 Narayan Records ‎– NEUSK 02

I saw this record being sold on discogs a few times but always someone snatched it before I had the chance. Not this time though. This time I got lucky. The price was good too so I didn't hesitate at all. And of course now that I have my own copy there are 4 more for sale and most of them are offered for less than I paid. Seems I wasn't that lucky after all.

This LP was on my want list because of the Down And Out tracks and unfortunately those are the only good ones on here. I was pretty much looking forward to hearing the other bands but they are really not worth mentioning. Too bad. Still I'm glad this one is with me now.

two glass boys

At first I didn't really want to buy this record because their latest 12" I bought was terribly boring but then I saw the video clip to 'sun glass' and that sounded pretty good.


Fucked Up - glass boys 2x LP - 2014 Matador ‎– OLE-1049-8

Fucked Up are a truly amazing band. They managed to progress and evolve as a band without loosing their integrity yet gaining a bigger audience. Not many bands in the history of punk/hardcore were able to do that. Still I was pretty bored with the last 12" release of theirs that I bought of which I don't even remember the name anymore. Year of the something probably. So when I heard they were about to release a new full length I didn't pay much attention. Until I saw that video clip mentioned above. So I ordered a copy and what I got was actually not the record pictured but a single LP pressing of this album. Upon getting it I wanted to update my collection on discogs and... found out about the 2LP pressing which features a slower version of the whole album on the second slab of vinyl. Damn! Who does that? Well, of course Fucked Up do what nobody else did before. At least not that I would know about this having been done previously. I wast and still am not sure how much sense that makes but of course I had to get that version. Luckily a friend of mine didn't care and took the record I ordered first of my hands.

Just yesterday I listened to the fast version again and I think this might really be growing on me. Too bad I didn't have time for the second version. Maybe it does make sense after a couple of spins. We'll see. Definitely one of the most mesmerizing releases I can think of.

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.