No Tolerance - No Remorse, No Tolerance 7"

This post is seven months in the making as I finally received my huge Youngblood order I made back in December. The Youngblood Records preorder contained new records from Police and Thieves, Give, Face Reality and No Tolerance. At the same time, a few leftover 2011 Showcase packages were made available for order as well. I immediately jumped on both just to get all the versions of this one record, the No Tolerance - No Remorse, No Tolerance 7".

We all know how crazy fast the Boston Straight Edge 7" sold out a couple years ago. I scrambled to get just a black vinyl copy of that one and I am still looking for the gold vinyl. So when the opportunity arose to score all of these in one shot, I took it.

Well, with the inevitable manufacturing delays of some of the other records in the package, we were left waiting... and waiting. Months past and I even started emailing Marcus and Mike to see if they had heard anything about when these might be coming. Finally, Mike had received his order and I immediately jumped all over Sean Youngblood asking him where mine was. I asked nicely, but I am sure I was still a pain in the ass. A couple months later and here we are, up to my neck in records and posters. It's all good.

No Tolerance is one of those Boston buzz bands like The Rival Mob, Boston Strangler or Step Forward that through word of mouth and message board hype end up "THE" band of the moment. T-shirts and vinyl sell out immediately and everyone is left scrambling. Luckily, with this Youngblood order, everyone was able to get their No Tolerance fix. Well, for about an hour until it sold out.

First up is the Youngblood Showcase 2011 version. This comes on black vinyl with blank red labels. There were only 85 of these available. The cover is a fold over screened print with a large lyric sheet on red paper. Obviously the covers and vinyl weren't ready yet at the time of the show. How it didn't sell out at the show is a mystery.

Next up are the versions that came as part of the preorder. First up is gold vinyl out of 128.

Next is red vinyl out of 330.

Finally there is good old black vinyl. I assume this is the most available color. No idea how many were pressed, but there couldn't have been that many as it is sold out too.

These regular versions all come with a glossy insert.

Musically this is exactly what you would expect if you have the first seven inch. Fast, agressive, pissed off hardcore with plenty of old school Boston straight edge influence. The usual cast of characters are involved so you know this isn't just hype. These dudes can play. This is easily my mid-year contender for record of the year. Hopefully everyone who wanted one got one. Ebay can be a bitch.

Mindset - EP Collection : Deluxe Edition

It seemed kind of silly to want to buy the super special fancy deluxe version of a band's discography when I already own five copies of each 7" and three copies of the live lp, but I did it anyways.

Despite my age and leaning towards "older" hardcore, I still dig Mindset a lot. With the break up of most of the posi straight edge bands I love in the last couple years, Mindset have taken over the top spot.

The EP Collection of course contains both the REALPOWER and Time & Pressure 7"s. The big hook is that they have been remixed and remastered. The results are impressive.

The deluxe edition also throws in a second press of the LiveSET album that was originally released on Upside Down Records. I think all the versions are gatefold, but this one actually uses it.

The deluxe was released on red vinyl with only 200 pressed. The red has a lot of black mixed in. I'm not sure if all of them are like this, but I suspect they are. Not surprisingly, they sold out pretty quick.

The LiveSET lp is also on red vinyl, but came out pure solid red with just a little white in there.

As you can see, compared to each other the reds are very different.

There is also a two sided full color 12"x12" insert which nicely distinguishes the two separate eras of the band with the member changes.

Also included is this really cool booklet. It has a lot of pictures and whatnot on the history of the band, different members and friends/crew, etc.

The last time I checked, there are regular EP Collection versions on white and black vinyl still available through the React!/Hellfish store if you were interested. I am glad I got the red vinyl deluxe version though. There was also a record release version on gold vinyl, but I didn't even know it existed until I saw it sell for huge bucks on ebay. Oh well.

Manliftingbanner - The Revolution Continues

Now this is how you do a discography!
I was really on the fence about picking this up when I first heard that there would be a Manliftingbanner discography. I mean I love and support the band, but honestly, I already own the Myth of Freedom 7", the near impossible to find 10 Inches That Shook The World, plus all the Crucial Response comps that they were on. I figured I was set. Then I heard there would be "new" material on the discography as well. Say what?

I had a couple friends point me in the direction of some of the new 2011 songs online. I checked them out and I was sold. I knew I would pick the album up, but I wasn't going to go as far as pre-order it alone. I figured I would wait until it showed up locally or see if it would pop up on one of the regular distros I check out. A little while later, I saw the album was available from RevHQ and I ordered it along with some of the new Rev color represses.

What I got in the mail a few weeks later was quite the surprise. Judging from the vinyl, packaging and artwork from the band's previous material, I figured this discography would be done along the same lines. You know, political, plenty of reading, but kind of done on the cheap. I wasn't expecting this.

I never checked about any limited color vinyl available because of how long I waited to order. I got good old black vinyl. I have no idea how many are pressed either. What I do know is that with this layout, yellow and orange splatter on clear green would have been a bad idea. I think aesthetically, solid black works best.

What really seals the deal for how awesome this record is, besides the new material, is the full color booklet insert. They went above and beyond.

 

 

 

If that isn't enough writing and artwork for you concerning the struggles of the poor, disenfranchised or oppressed masses, then there is also a large poster thrown in as well. Here's some Occupy Wall Street vibe for your wall. Eat the rich.

 

No matter what your personal political leanings, or whether you agree with the communist message Manliftingbanner throw out there, it's still cool to see that someone cares about something so passionately. I think that is something that is missing in hardcore today and applaud them for it.

Boston Strangler - Primitive

I consider myself an educated man. A person who is intelligent and savvy enough not to get caught up in trends or hype. To see things the way they really are, and not what others tell me it is supposed to be.
Yeah, that's pretty much all bullshit as I got caught up along side everyone else in the collecting world with the hype band and record of the year, Boston Strangler's Primitive lp.

Everyone is pretty much caught up with the story on this one, but here is a skewed, bitter recap.

Super buzz on a relatively new band featuring members of every Boston band since 2000 (well DFJ anyway). The band plays old school Boston hardcore in the vein of SSD, Negative FX and Slapshot. They have the 80's hc revival sound down and do it very, very well. The demo tape makes it's rounds and everyone is stoked for the album to come sometime in the next year. Cool. That's when things get screwy. The album is put out by Fun With Smack initially at a record release show and they disappear immediately. The remaining copies are released to the rest of the world, but only to select distros. No one has one after 5 fucking minutes. There are rumors of some online distros having a couple, but are sold out or unavailable the minute anyone went to the site. Of course, copies show up on ebay with ridiculous Buy It Now prices and on Discogs for even higher prices. People are pissed. Punk and hardcore purists ruin auctions by bidding the price up into the hundreds of dollars and then purposefully don't pay as protest to the rampant flipping. Things die down in time and some copies show up on ebay with low starting bids. People end up getting them for around $40. Still high for a new lp, but better than the shit that was happening. A second press is planned for release and everyone is happy once again as people will be able to get the album without resorting to the second hand market.
All is good in the world. Well, except for the European economy and the imminent fall of the western world's financial system, but that is a story for another time...

I'm sure I fucked up the story up somewhere along the line, but that is pretty much what I went through to get a copy. Through all the hype and shenanigans, I am still super happy with it. This album shreds. Period.

There are different numbers out there for pressing info. I have seen 500, 750 and even 1400 for the first press. The identical second press is rumored to be in the 600 pressed range. That's a lot of records! All are on black vinyl.

The album also comes with a very cool insert/lyric sheet with the only bit of color in the whole package.

 Wait, is that Choke?

Ceremony - Zoo

This post is a long time coming. I really should have been on top of this months ago considering that pre-orders went up early in the new year. I guess I was just waiting for all the pieces to fall in place. It took a while but I'm just glad I got there.
I am not going to review the album or try to describe the new sound Ceremony have gone in. I did that already with the posts I did on the Hysteria 7" and Adult 7"s.

Pre-orders for the new album went up while I was on vacation in January. I would break away from the family once a day to use the hotel business computer where people would check flights or make bookings and I would check message boards and label sites. I caught more than a couple dirty looks for my frivolous browsing. Well fuck them, I got records to buy!
Once pre-orders went up, the only information on the Matador site was that there would be a limited color version, first come first serve. As it turned out, the pre-order color was clear red. There were 300 pressed.

For a while it seemed that there would just be the one color and standard black vinyl. Then on some message board everyone found out there would be more color vinyl coming.

The next rarest color was clear blue. This was the record release/tour version that was rumored to have sold all 300 out on the first night. As it turned out that was not true at all as Mike was able to grab me a copy when he saw them in Boston a month or so ago. What is so impressive is that he gave me the color version and kept the black for himself. That my friends is one swell guy. Thanks again Mike!

Clear green was the next color available and this was only available at independent record stores. I was a little worried that since there were only 500 pressed, not many if any would end up in Canada. My worries were unfounded as I can still find the green ones around town.

Finally is good old black vinyl or I like to call it, the play copy. I'm not sure where I heard it but there might be as many as 1900 on black. I found this one in a local indie record store that I guess wasn't cool enough to make the cut for green vinyl. Funny enough, this was the last one for me to get and hardest to track down.

All the versions come with this huge 24" x 24" foldout insert/lyric sheet. Very cool and complete overkill.

If anyone knows if there was a special record release show cover or any other variation out there, let me know. I always like to try to collect everything I can from Ceremony. I should find a cheaper hobby.

Youth Of Today 2012 Revelation Represses

 To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how I feel about this recent re-release of the two Youth of Today albums from Revelation. For anyone just getting into the band, record collecting or just can't afford the originals, this is a great idea and will make tons of Youth Of Today fans very happy. For those of us who busted our asses tracking down the originals, it's still cool. Just maybe not as much.
As you can see, they decided to re-release both albums with artwork as close as possible to the originals. We also know, both were not originally released on Revelation.
I might as well do these one at a time, so age before beauty and first up is Break Down The Walls.
 

Now honestly, going for the original Wishingwell cover art looks great, but I would have preferred another direction. The first Revelation pressing of the album with the yellow and blue theme was just as iconic and awesome as this one in my opinion. If they would have released this with that artwork and the two tone color Rev labels, I would have been more stoked.

The other thing that makes me uneasy is the use of clear red vinyl. That is just too close to the original, iconic, legendary, search your whole life white whale, WW vinyl that thousands of hardcore kids would give their left nut for. I think I would have liked a different color completely.

 

 Revelation also used labels close to the original WW ones, making only the obvious name and logo changes of course.

 The insert is close to the same except for the band name in red and the removal of the Wishingwell logo (of course). Now it is a double sided 12"x12" insert instead of a one sided 12"x24" foldout.

 There are a lot of differences between the Revelation and Wishingwell versions so really, it's not like anyone is going to be confused by the two so I guess it's cool. It's not like I wasn't going to buy it!

Next up is one of my personal favorite albums of all time, We're Not In This Alone.

 Of course this album was originally released on Caroline Records and had at least two original mixes. Go check out Dobek's site if you want more info on all that. The dude is crazy meticulous when it comes to that stuff.
This repress was on white vinyl which looks great and is the first time white was used for this particular record. I think it looks amazing.

 Revelation also stay very close to the original Caroline labels, making only the necessary label name and address changes.

 The insert is a lot closer to the original than Break Down the Walls is, but they do include color in the text this time around.

Just a note on the music, they use the 1997 Revelation remix on both these releases so it is still worth hunting down the Wishingwell and Caroline versions to get the original sound and vibe from these two crucial and necessary albums. In the end, there was no way I wasn't going to pick these up. It's what I do. If there was ever a band that deserves to have their stuff in print forever with new twists to keep it fresh and exciting, it's Youth Of Today.