Pink Handshakes

Let's take a quick dive into a record that I know painfully little about. Everything that I'm going on here is left down to nothing but complete guesswork and assumption, so if anyone can help then it would be pretty cool to know! 

Dear Landlord - Heartbroken Handshakes - No Idea Records - 1st Press - Pink Marble /?

Okay so here's what I know about this record. It was originally given away with 1st press pre-orders of Dream Homes way back in 2009 I think. Maybe a bunch were made on mix and popped in to the sleeve. Fast forward to sometime late last year ish and No Idea found a bunch of these records without a home, made covers up and sold them through their webstore. 

Here's the fun part though. as it was never a record in it's own right and sold purely through another record at pre-order, there is no pressing info through the No Idea Discography page. So how many were made in the first instance is a mystery; how many were left over is pretty much the same. Also, it seems that the only colours left were green and pink, so the new covers were made up to correlate with the variant. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

Both sides play the same songs. Lake Ontario is a demo of the same track that ended up on Dream Homes, and Heartbroken Handshakes is great as you would expect. 

Photocopied quaterfold covers with everything you need to know on the back panel. 

So there we go. A cool little thing that I missed out on the first time round and something I still don't know anything about. 

Thanks for reading!

For God and Country

Here we fall into the section of posts I like to call 'look at all the cool stuff I got at Alan's'. For those that keep up with this blog, you'll probably know that Alan Beningfield runs Different Kitchen records and that every couple of month-ish I take a trip to his house and collect a stack of the best stuff. On this trip I bought back with me a mix of stock from his store, orders from labels that we had split and even a Discogs bag or two. I probably won't write about every record I bought else this set of posts would never end, but a few won't hurt right? 

So let's start with a band that I write about here every now and then, and this variant in particular looked so great I couldn't resist a second copy. 

Cursed - One (Reissue) - Deathwish Inc. - 1st Press - Clear W/ Blood Red, Royal Blue and White Splatter /300 

This variant sold out straight away when it came up for sale on Record Store Day 2013 I believe? Since then it occasionally pops up on the Bay, but I never went completely out my way to get one as I got the distro colour from this press (Silver /2000). However, a few weeks back I got the splatter version of 'Two' and since then I got a hankering to own this. Fortunately it tied in that Deathwish had some kind of warehouse clearance and found a few copies of this kicking around and put them up in the store at the same price they always were, and as Alan was putting an order in for the new Coliseum record (or possibly the Planes Mistaken For Stars reissue?) I asked if he would add this the order. Above and beyond man, thank you! 

Back Cover // B-Side 

The back cover used the original press front cover art I believe, and the front cover is from the Thrash Art press. People got a bit weird about this being called a 1st press as Deathwish had already put it out around a decade before, and then Thrash Art reissued it after. However, I assume that with the new art and the reissue tag, it got a remaster and the art is definitely expanded so it makes it a new record in it's own right I guess? I think they made completely new plates for this press too; as I never had a 1st press for comparison I'm just happy in the knowledge that this press sounds incredible.

Inside the gatefold. 

Chris Colohan draped in an American flag. O' Canada! 

As is the same with 'Two', the reissue came with a big double sided poster. However, this one comes on a glossy almost photo paper type material as opposed to card type stock in 'Two'. Both look great and you probably can't tell from a photo, but nevertheless have a photo of He Goat. 

The other side of the poster came with this photo of Colohan. The intensity of a Cursed show is something I'll most likely never experience but you can hear it in the record and you can see it in this photo. Forever envious. 

The small section of writing from the Colohan side of the poster contains all the lyrics and credits. It seems weird that there is so much space on this reissue and yet they were stuck in the smallest corner of a huge poster. It seems a little odd to me, but for how incredible this reissue is, I'm really not going to call this a fault. 

To put it simply, this band are fucking untouchable and I can't wait to hear what Deathwish does with Architects of Troubled Sleep. 

Cheers! 

Greek Uncle

This year I hope to make a dent in a few collections that are still growing. Dinosaur Jr. are a big priority; I'm hoping to grab some Jets To Brazil stuff and a huge list of other wants. However, a top priority will always be Moz. Today is more of a catch up on my progress here, which is only one LP, but it's a little quirky so we'll dive into it. 

Morrissey - Kill Uncle - His Master's Voice - 1st Press - Black /? 

This is kind of the odd Moz LP out of the early few. Very sparse in the singles department, and almost verging on weird and tuneless in places. However, this is one of the records I find myself getting obsessed with for weeks at a time, unable to play anything else or unable to concentrate. I'll find a hook in any song that brings me straight back here. How it's taken me so long to get a copy on vinyl I'll never know; more so because it's never particularly hard or expensive to come by. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

The cover art to this one always seemed quite odd as to me all of these photos have an almost outtake quality to them. The layout is quite sparse with very little in the way of text; all Moz and clouds. 

Inside the gatefold

All lyrics and credits, with only thanks going to Seymour Stein. I don't know too much about the dude other than The Smiths were signed under Sire by him. If anyone knows the deal behind this then feel free to let me know? 

The only slightly weird thing about this record is that it was manufactured in Greece under EMI. I know that most people get all uppity on getting the 1st UK press when it comes to most artists, but the fact that things like this never really happen now makes it a fun little 'of the era' deal that I can get behind. 

When it comes to Morrissey, I always feel like I own less than what I am chasing, and at this point in the game that is definitely true but I'm okay chipping away here and there for now. There are some real heavy hitters that I'm not looking forward to forking out to own! 

Thanks for reading!

Deathwish Mail Day (kinda)

I like doing mail day posts. I kind of feel they give an idea of where my buying habits are at in a certain point in time. This year, Deathwish Inc. have been killing it consistently, and this post is nothing more than showing a couple additions to the family. At this point I have ran out of storage room and all of these are on the floor by my bed which I'm not too chuffed about. But, buying records over buying record storage any day. 

Cold Cave - Full Cold Moon - Deathwish Inc. - 1st Press - Black / 1742 

This record originally came out on CD through Eisold's Heart Worm imprint, with different cover art. I nearly jumped on that but held out in the hopes of a vinyl version. Thankfully, Deathwish delivered and I am a huge fan of how this turned out, 

Back Cover // B-Side 

Do I own most of these songs on vinyl already? Of course. Was I going to pass on owning the Nausea, The Earth And Me EP on vinyl when it was digital only until now? Of course I wasn't. The centre labels are cool too, the CC logo that frames the track-listing each side is a nice touch. 

Insert 

Originally used for the 'God Made The World' 7'' Picture Disc, this side of the insert is printed on photo paper I think, extremely high gloss. It looks great, but watch out for all the finger smudges that will no doubt get all over this! 

Insert 

Whilst lyrics are cool, I thought I'd concentrate on the small list of thanks and this poem Wes leaves us with. I'm not sure if this has been used previously as I'm not as familiar with his written works as I would like to be. This is definitely spurring me on to grab some stuff as I come across it. 

Finally , this sticker was on the shrink which I clumsily peeled off and stuck on the dust cover. This sticker displays the 5 EP's that make up the compilation. Cool right? 

Self Defense Family - Heaven Is Earth - Deathwish Inc. - 1st Press - Clear /2100

Another quick minute, another SDF release. At any given time I am missing at least 3 or 4 records from this band. I know that I'm missing the Talia 7'' from recent months and weirdly enough the Scotland 7'' too. Not because I lost interest, purely because this band release so much I cannot keep up. However, I saw this and couldn't say no. I'll definitely grab what I'm missing, but this intrigued me to the point of needing to grab right now! 

Back Cover // B-Side 

Although any colour of this would've looked great, the most common colour will do just fine. My favourite part of the layout is how the back cover acts as an insert for this one. As a result, you get a dust sleeve and a download card. Compared to the relatively lush layout of 'Try Me', this one seems a little stripped back, but that's not a problem at all. Some of my favourite SDF songs are here, and with every listen I get sucked in more. 

Again I'm skipping over the lyrics on the back cover for the more interesting part. This record was recorded over 4 different studios, with 4 different producers coming from a range of genres. This small section explains what songs were recorded where. Weirdly, this record seems remarkably consistent and although you can hear a difference in the tracks it doesn't sound remotely disjointed. 

Again this record came with a sticker on the shrink, but after the bodge job I made on getting the Cold Cave one off, I thought I'd leave this one be. 

This post proves another point for me. With how vinyl is coming such a popular thing nowadays and how my love for music is ever expanding, I'm overwhelmed with how much there is to buy. As a result, I don't pre-order every record in hopes of scoring the rarest variant and in this case, I settled for whatever Amazon had and it cost me about 2/5's of what it would've cost in shipping from the label direct. Not Deathwish's fault at all and that's cool, and you can bet that I'll still chase variants a bunch. However, sometimes I would rather settle on a more common variant and buy more records? 

Thanks for reading!

Marietta Mail Day

It seems that I'm constantly playing catch up with Dog Knights Productions' output at the minute. Maybe I fell behind a little earlier this year and as a result I'm not getting everything as it comes out. Thankfully, Darren is a great dude and always managed to sort it out for me. Hopefully before the year is out I'll get back on top of it and just grab stuff from pre-order. However, for now I'm going to shove two records from one cool band into one probably not so cool post, but bear with me because the records are far greater than anything I'll tell you about them. 

First up, we have a full length!

Marietta - Summer Death - Dog Knights Productions - 1st Press - Half Seafoam Green // Half Solid Blue /150 

I think this record hits one of the very few occasions where the physical product for a split variant looks better than the stock photo. I mean, there is no bleed in the colours, it looks great with the artwork and it sounds brilliant to my ears. I can't say on the audio quality of the other variant. but a photo was posted of the White//Blue Starburst /150 variant on the DKP Facebook and it looked pretty mental too. 

Back Cover // B-Side

The art for this one is a little strange, and the stacked photography may look a little weird if you're not up close with the record. But the cover art in particular just suits the feel of the record. I was looking through the insert and art on my first listen through of this LP and 'Cinco De Mayo Shit Show' sounds like it was written just for that cover. It's a strange one to describe but I mentioned this record was way cooler than anything I had to say about it right? 

Insert 

Cover art and credits takes up this side, which is about all you need. 

Insert 

Lyrics. I love this type of font, it always reminds me of inserts found in old CDr demos or an old zine layout. Fitting words here and there just to get them all in. 

On to the 7''!

Marietta - Cuts - Dog Knights Productions - 1st Press - Grey /150

This record (and I know the full length was distro'd) was a split release with Skeletal Lightning over in the US. The Green/350 was for the US dudes, and this one was a Dog Knights exclusive, but maybe a couple copies landed in the US, Who knows right? Kind of a similar theme on the artwork with the stacked photography, and both work just as well. 

B-Side // Back Cover 

Again, a fairly similar layout to the LP, and I hope this theme continues. However, the difference over the two releases is the A/B label change. On the LP, they are near identical save the A/B markings. However, the labels here show different aspects of the respective art on the covers. Neat huh? 

Insert // Spine

The inner sleeve works as the insert this time, which looks great in person but it's pretty hard to get a clear photo of the text with an iPhone and British weather. However, this photo shows my favourite aspect of this release. This 7''comes with a printed spine despite not being a gatefold or double. I remember in an interview DKP did a good few months ago, Darren expressed a love for aesthetics and wanting to up the packaging game (I think he may have dropped a label like Denovali or something for reference). This is a great example of a dude doing what he said he would, and doing it well. Releasing beautiful looking records from great hardworking bands from all over. There is no need to do this other than making the record look better, and personally I can't think of a better reason than that.

Finally, it wouldn't be a Dog Knights post without showing off their mad sticker game. Honestly the best in the world. 

Thanks for reading!

(Orange and) Black Mass

This post fits more into the 'look what I have' category over the 'look how cool this packaging/ variant/ artwork is' deal. Not because these things aren't brilliant on this release. More so because I've written a post on this record before, and not much has changed other than a new bit of card and a different variant. That may not sound much, but I've wanted this record for so damn long that now I have it, I feel I must share it here. 

Our Time Down Here - Midnight Mass - Palm Reader Records - 1st Press - Orange // Black Swirl /100 (W/Pre Order Cover - 24/25) 

I already posted about this record a while back, and gushed over the fact that Chard Heaven helped me out by grabbing me a 'Last Show Cover' variant of this LP. Well, here he comes again saving my arse by finally caving and agreeing to sell me this record. Honestly, the easiest dude to work with when it comes to a private sale, and again - endless thanks bud! 

I love with this variant that the A and B sides look so different to one another. I never knew this record was up for pre-order until this variant had long gone, and I would've settled for any copy of this. However, having the PO cover makes it that little more sweet. 

And finally the obligatory group shot. 

I miss this band so much. I will forever cherish this record, and I'm still hunting down anything I can grab. If anyone has the White cassette of this record, a test press, the elusive zine that came out around this time or any OTDH merch in M/L, please let me know. 

For now though, has anyone heard that new Creeper track? It's a total rager. Expect a post on that new EP whenever it drops. 

Cheers!

(For my previous post on this record, see below)

http://23rotations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-ever-approaching-end.html

Bona for Moz

See what I did there? Anyway; a couple of posts ago, I was mentioning that the amount of Morrissey records I own is pretty appalling and that I was doing my best to do something about that. I guess most stuff is pretty easy to come by, and even the rarer stuff isn't a huge deal as long as you don't mind throwing some decent cash about for them. Today, I'm settling on an intermediate effort; not the easiest record to find for under a tenner, but certainly not Maladjusted or Southpaw... 

Morrissey - Bona Drag - 1st Press - His Master's Voice - Black /? 

I'm under good authority from the seller that this is an original UK press, and although there is nothing blatant to indicate otherwise I really wouldn't have a clue. Variants/ record releases/ test presses/ alternate sleeves are my game. The old nerd way of tracking matrix numbers, hunting down the sleeve manufacturers and stuff like that is another world away and as I am only really bothered with grabbing one copy of each record; I'll be happy in my ignorance this time around and just assume that the seller was a good dude. It's not like it makes it a collector's item as such, there must have been thousands upon thousands of these records pressed. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

When I first heard this record, I had no clue that it was more of a compilation. The tracks flowed together so well, and the artwork seemed so purpose built that I had no idea until a few years back. Some of my favourite Morrissey songs are on this LP and it's great to hear them all together on vinyl for the first time. Also, who doesn't love the look of an old HMV label? 

Insert 

This looks pretty identical save for the lyrics on both sides, so I only photographed it once as I'm sure you'll get the idea. 

Nothing too fancy here, just a record from another time compared to the normal posts you see here. And for the thousandth time - because Moz right?

Capitol Repress or Bust?

So I've come to the conclusion that I can't fucking help myself. Even a little bit. I'm a dude with a terrible habit that shows no sign of slowing down. 

Just shy of a year ago I wrote a post on one of my favourite records of all time: Clarity by Jimmy Eat World that you can read if you didn't catch the first time round here: 

http://23rotations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/big-wheel-or-bust.html

This is useful for two reasons. First off, it details how a BWR press of this was the only way to go and how this coming post makes me a total liar. It'll also prove to be a good comparison article. If you haven't guessed by now... 

Jimmy Eat World - Clarity - Capitol Records - 1st Press - Black - /? (2XLP) 

Again, pressing info here is super hard to find, but as far as I know, black was the only colour of this pressing. I still also count this as a first pressing, as the bonus tracks and new label make it to be a completely new press. The obvious giveaway mark between the two pressings is the vertical lettering on display here with the mirrored 'Clarity' and the omission of the band name this time around. Oh, the bonus tracks kind of make it easy too! 

Back Cover // B-Side 

The back cover art is different from the BWR press, and the enhanced CD art from the '07 enhanced CD version uses this art with a slightly re-jiggled track-listing. This pressing of the album surfaced in 2009, and if memory serves, the band were doing a Clarity 10th Anniversary tour at the time so it all fit together nicely. 

Track-listing 

The only difference between this and the CD order is that Christmas Card and Sweetness (Demo) are past Goodbye Sky Harbor. This means the CD plays the album as intended with bonus tracks at the end. This was not an option with the vinyl version though as Goodbye Sky Harbor takes up the whole D-Side, much the same way as it did previously. 

Inside the Gatefold 

This press includes a gatefold sleeve which is something new! This is the left panel, showing off the original back cover art and some lyrics. This layout is quite stark and easy to follow, and it feels good to open this out and follow it with the LP playing. 

Inside the Gatefold 

More lyrics and credits - both concerning the record and the new art and tracks included in this press. However, my favourite thing here is this photograph. I love seeing stuff like this, and I'll often grab photo books from bands I like a lot as it really gauges the time and place of a certain record or moment in a genre. They look so damn young here! 

Group Shot 

Maybe it's just me, but the BWR press art seems a little more clear and crisp. Maybe the smaller text helps, or maybe the art for the repress was just upscaled from the CD version and it lost some of the fine detail? Maybe I'm completely wrong! 

So a year ago, I said I only needed one copy of this; but when a classic pops up on the 'Bay so cheap, you really have to take a chance on it right? My feelings on this album are already very clear, and my love for this record has only grown since I last wrote about it. I have no intentions of fucking with a Shop Radio Cast repress, but apparently I can no longer be trusted on these matters. I would love to hunt down a coloured copy now too. I have a problem. 

Thank you for reading!