kiss me a lot

and a last one for today

Morrissey - world peace is none of your business DLP - 2014 Harvest 378165-7

I religiously bought every one of his releases until he decided to join in the RSD madness and put out stupid picture vinyl for too much money. But a new Morrissey LP is still a new Morrissey LP so I had to buy it.
I love the title, the layout is really beautiful and my copy comes on good old black wax. 3 hits out of 4 so far. So let's get to the 4th. The most important aspect of the new Album. The songs. I don't know what happened but at first I was very disappointed in the whole record. Of course I gave it another try. Listening more closely to each of the songs. Still. Almost all of the tracks don't hit home. Only "Kiss me a lot" is a truly good song. The rest is pretty mediocre. Not totally bad just nothing special. Not a record that will get of the shelf again any time soon. Let's pray for a 7" release of "Kiss me a lot". Then I wouldn't have to break out these 24 inches ever again. The truth hurts. I know.

Cover this

By now you should know I love everything she does...

Anna Calvi - strange weather 12" - 2014 Domino ‎– RUG600T

This ep is another example of how great she is.

Every song on here is a cover version which usually I find pretty boring but not when a musical genius like Anna puts out her own version of Suicide's 'Ghost Rider'. I love that track and was very interested in hearing her interpretation. Of course she didn't disappoint. What she does with the song is as close to being better than the original as possible. As close to being better because nothing will ever be better than an original recording. Not in any case.
Next to this track on the B-Side she also pays tribute to Marianne Faithfull (strange weather, which is actually on the only MF album I own), and David Bowie (lady grinning soul).
Side A features cover tunes of FKA Twigs' "Papi Pacify" and Connan Mockasin's "I'm The Man That Will Find You". Thus shedding light on contemporary Artists she likes, who I had never heard of before and yet have to check out.
With these recordings she combines the past and the future. Showcasing the history of music that helped form her sound and highlighting contemporaries who carry on as she sees fit. Who else does that? There are millions of tribute records out there dedicated to accomplished and recognised Artists but is there anyone besides Anna Calvi directing our attention towards Performers who are not (yet) well established in the way she does here? I can't think of one.

Great minds don't fear competition they feed off it.

Unfortunately my copy comes with a pressing error that causes the needle to vibrate and therefore make a pretty disturbing noise most recognisable during the 1st song on each side. I guess I have to get another copy. You should definitely be aware of that when purchasing your copy. Testplay the vinyl!!!

not killing the music industry

Let's start today....
...with something totally different from yesterday.

Warpaint - s/t - 2014 Rough Trade RTRADLPX680, Rough Trade RTRADLP680

I can't remember when it was that I downloaded the bands debut 12" and who pointed me in their direction but I instantly loved what I heard. Unfortunately I always considered that record overpriced so I never got me a copy.

Fastforward to earlier this year while recordshopping I found this, their latest release, a double 12" with an etched 4th side (see picture below), for a really good price so I couldn't resist.
See. Downloading music is not killing the music industry or harming the bands. It leads to more sales. If I'd never downloaded their music I would probably have forgotten about that one recommendation I got and never picked this up.

Anyway. This is one hell of a dreamy indie pop record. I'm not too familiar with that genre but I guess you would call this Shoegaze. But whatever category you would want to force it into doesn't really matter. If you're into a wide range of music and appreciate a good record regardless of the label people slap on it you should check this out.

Online Battle

On with more craziness

Battle Ruins - s/t LP - 2014 Rock 'N' Roll Disgrace RRD-015

This pair wasn't easy to get for the regular price but I got lucky. While most of the time I cannot be at the computer when limited stuff goes on sale this time I could and it was good that I was. I'm not quite sure how many minutes it took until the clear version sold out but it was definitely in the lower single digits. Of course flipsters made sure it was and still is available for ridiculous prices on discogs but I would not have gone there. I really love the Battle Ruins mix of Oi, HC and cheesy Metal but not enough to pay that much.

For the black vinyl version to sell out it took a little longer but if I remember it right it didn't take even half a day. Currently there are 8 copies for sale on discogs with the most expensive one being the one in the pictures above. That's because I could do without the black version but only if someone is crazy enough to pay that much. Or if someone wants to trade me something good. In that case I'd be more reasonable. If that doesn't happen I will gladly keep both copies. It's a great record and the first press sisters look pretty good on my shelf. The 2nd press on red I don't care about.

Randale Reaper

Ok. Let's go crazy

Sheer Terror - standing up for falling down LP - 2014 Reaper Records RR68 and Randale Records RAN175

Can you tell they're one of my favorite bands? I'm still missing way too many versions of older releases and nearly didn't get the most limited color of this one on Reaper either. Luckily one of those damn flipsters wasn't too greedy so I grabbed it right away and here we are

Top row are the three color variations on Randale Records from Germany.
White w/ blue swirl /250
White w/ red purple swirl /250
Black /?

Bottom row are the Reaper Records pressings
Translucent blue / solid pink split vinyl /700
Purple /1000
Blue w/ purple haze /300
I couldn't for the life of me get that most ltd. color not to look black in the family picture so I took this one:

As you can see there's really just a bit of a purple haze in there. I'm wondering if that's what most copies look like. I know not all do. Maybe I have to get another copy. Damn!

Above you can see the different ways of providing the lyrics. Reaper went for a printed innersleeve with a nice picture on the back while Randale provides a poster-insert which is pretty rad too.

Musically I wasn't really sure what to expect from this release and I have to admit I was a little scared at first because the Spite 7" wasn't their best material but while the LP has one or the other track like that it still came out great. Those few songs sound more like one of those run of the mill nyhc clone bands these days only with a good dose of the genuine Sheer Terror sound which makes them heaps better already. Most of the songs though are true Sheer Terror material with 'Coffee, 5 sugar' being my absolute favorite. It's so good I consider it one of the best songs any incarnation of the band ever wrote. Definitely worth the money although I could easily have lived without a german pressing.

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.