The Misfits - Evilive 7"

You know, for the last 22 years, I was perfectly happy and content with my lousy Misfits record collection. I had a 4th press Walk Among Us, a third press Legacy of Brutality, good old regular mall bought copies of Collection I, Earth A.D. and Evilive and a 3,546,274 press of Die Die My Darling.

I had the songs, I loved the band - I was fine. I always knew that original Misfits records were pricey, heavily bootlegged and you had to have a CSI forensics degree to spot the real deal. Too much work, too much trouble, too much risk.

Then along comes one of the best blogs EVER, Vinyl Noize. Vinyl Noize is run by Bane t-shirt collector extraordinaire and the man behind How's Your Edge?, Brian Murphy. The man knows his business. Between Brian and his contributors, I now literally have experts doing the leg work checking out ebay listings and confirming as far as they can tell, the authenticity and availability of these rare records I was always so leery of.

Well ten days after seeing my first Misfits post on Vinyl Noize, I have bought five ridiculously expensive Misfits records. Let's just say its going to be quite a credit card statement this month.

The second record I bought, and first to arrive in the mail was Evilive. Not just your average run of the mill original Evilive 7", but the limited Fiend Club version.

The Fiend Club version comes with a live band shot on front cover as opposed to the regular version with Glenn and Doyle.

The back cover is different from the regular press as well. The Crimson Ghost is stamped on the cover and each copy is hand numbered by Glenn Danzig himself.

This one is #235. Very evil!

This comes with yellow labels. The matrix etched on the dead wax is for Side A: PL-1019-A For side B: PL-1019-B MASTERDISK

There is a bootleg of the Fiend Club version out there with the number #512 on the book spine. There are a lot out there as 1000 bootlegs were pressed. That is just crazy since there were only 900 pressed of this original.

As with most original Misfits records, you are lucky if you get an insert. This one did come with one in mint condition. Very nice.

Whatever discomfort I had buying this record was immediately gone once I saw who I was buying it off of. As I have previously mentioned in past posts, nothing beats buying hard to find, old original records off of someone who was in the band or part of the early hardcore scene. As luck would have it, this one comes from Jamie Sciarappa, the bass player from the mighty SSD.

Man, how cool is that?

Integrity - To Die For "Red" 2nd press

As promised from the good folks at A389 Recordings (Dom from Pulling Teeth's label), the second press of Integrity's "To Die For" album has finally arrived. This went up for pre-order back when there was snow on the ground, so I am pretty happy to finally have it in my hands.

Just like the first press earlier this year, Dwid designed the theme of the vinyl to follow a specific Manson Family girl. The first press was based on Sandra Good and her nickname "Blue". (My write up of that one can be found here) This time around we have Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme. Guess what Squeaky's nickname was? (Well - in addition to "Squeaky".)

Once again, the record was released on a 10". 500 pressed on clear red vinyl.

The two presses are very similar as they have the exact same A & B side labels with the only difference being the color.

The insert is once again a picture of Squeaky Fromme and Sandra Good together. No liner notes, lyrics or thank yous. At least this time they have their clothes on.

The first press of 500 sold out extremely fast. This one sold just as well, as almost all of them were gone with the pre-order. Checking the A389 webstore, you can still get a copy but only through the "Rarities Vault". Jump on it while you can. Oh and the record crushes, but we knew that already.

Cap'n Jazz - Analphabetapolothology lp

Hello, my name is Doug and I buy 90's emo records.

Back in the dark 1990's, I was a full on banana at heart (I just couldn't buy into the look). I loved the whole backpack and cardigan wearing sensitive male, breaking down crying, emo/screamo "hardcore" that everyone who didn't have Floorpunch tattoos did. I'm just man enough to admit it!

Cap'n Jazz was a very polarizing band. Love or hate. Very little middle ground. Back then my love for this band and the rotation it held in my car stereo actually dictated who would drive with me on road trips or gig runs.
My friend Shawn drove with me from Calgary to Vancouver as my only passenger out of a group of 5 because I was playing nothing but Cap'n Jazz, Still Life, Embassy, Navio Forge and Indian Summer. 12 hours of emo on the way to see the Sex Pistols reunion tour for god's sake! Good times!
I just might break out the Cap'n Jazz at Shawn's bachelor party next month. Aram will love that...

When I saw that the Cap'n Jazz discography (I'm not typing the title again) was finally going to be released on vinyl for the first time (It has been on cd since '98.) I jumped on it despite the hefty price tag. What can I say? I love that Kinsella magic!

The vinyl is (was) available as a first pressing of 2500. 300 on white and 2200 on black. The white sold out from Jade Tree's online store in less than a day. Luckily, I was able to get one.
Oddly, the next day there was a clear version out of 200 available. Whatever. I'm good.


The packaging is really very nice with a full color gatefold sleeve.


It also comes with a huge 8 page insert booklet as well.


One curious thing, the cd of this had a total of 34 songs. This double lp only has 24. I guess they didn't want to go all out and release a triple lp to cover everything. To tell you the truth, the lp and two 7"s are here and that is really that is all you need. Some of their compilation tracks just sucked. "90210 theme" or "Winter Wonderland" anyone?

For kicks here is the Cap'n Jazz 28 word title lp that I have no patience to write out (let's just say it starts with burritos.) that is the primary reason to buy the discography. It has also been called the Shmap'n Shmazz lp from the a side label. This sucker was out of print, rare and expensive back in 1995. A couple years ago one sold for $275. These days $70 will do it.


I would have taken pictures of their 7"s that I own, but I just can't be that bothered. Oh Messy Life...

The Answer - Seven Inch Collection

Just when I thought I had at least one band I wouldn't have to collect anymore, Excursion Records goes and releases another Answer record!

This fancy pants looking set was put together by Excursion for this year's Rain Fest.
The label has been around a very long time and has released a lot of cool NW hardcore music. (If Dave ever reads this; Stovebolt discography on vinyl please - Thanks)

There were a total of 100 of these sets made up containing all three of The Answer's 7"s.

The three records are the self titled 7", the "You Had Your Chance" 7" and the "Getting Even" 7". What is very interesting and cool about this is that all three records were originally released by different labels; Excursion, Anchor and Endwell respectively.

The outer cover is made up of a leather-ish material stitched together at the sides just like my Motorhead "No Remorse" lp. Well, kind of like that.


Included is an insert that lays out what records in what colors and numbers were used to put the set together. There are some pretty rare records used to put this together, but you wouldn't know unless you cracked it open.

That is where things kind of get interesting. No doubt there would be some people who would keep the set intact and not undo the top stitching that closed the set up. To get access to the records one had to unstitch the top seam.

There wasn't much of a question whether I would leave mine intact as the top seam was pretty much coming apart when I got it. The side seams are stitched a lot heavier and are actually pretty sturdy.

Picking this up was kind of an automatic for me as this is my 22nd The Answer record. Yeah, 22 copies of three records. Maybe just a little excessive...

I really appreciated that the set was available for $10 US ($12 to Canada) plus a very reasonable shipping cost. This has the potential to be an ebay priced collector set right off the hop. Like I said, Excursion is a very cool label.

The last time I checked a very small amount were still available at the Excursion webstore. I don't know for how long though. Check it!

D.R.I. - Dirty Rotten ep 7"

I have been hesitant to post this record for almost a year now. It's not because I don't love it, but because I'm not 100% sure of what I have.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know my downright phobia of bootlegs. The older, rarer, and more independent or DIY the record is, the better the chance it was bootlegged.

Case in point, I have no Misfits 7"s. It's not because I can't afford them, it's that I just can't stomach the idea of buying a high priced, very "well done" bootleg over the internet. Who can you trust on ebay? I guess I'd be ok buying them off Jerry Only and Danzig - or Jeff Lasich.

With that in mind, here is the DRI - Dirty Rotten ep 7".

Recorded in two days back in 1982, DRI attempted and somewhat successfully jammed 22 songs on a 33 1/3 speed seven inch record. These songs are pretty much classics. I don't think I have to describe "Who Am I?" or "I Don't Need Society" to anyone.

Unfortunately, fitting 18 minutes worth of music onto one record seriously reduced the overall sound quality. There is an almost under water or muddy sound to the recording and the volume is really low.

The original press of this was self released on their own label, Dirty Rotten Records. For years, the word was there were only 500 pressed. Prices on ebay reflected that big time. Now it is accepted that there were in fact 1000 pressed, and you can pick one up when they pop up for just under $200.

You have to be careful though. The dreaded bootlegs are out there.

For reference, the original record's matrix reads on side 1, "DRI-183-A" and on side 2, "DRI-183-B". The dead wax matrix numbers in combination with the written label style shown here is the only way to know you have an original press.

There is a European bootleg out there with black on white DRI "running man" logo labels. That is your bootleg. Also, the matrix numbers are scratched out. I only mention it because someone paid over $200 for one on ebay in 2007. That just sucks.

Now comes the hard part. The cover.

Well, the cover is a two sided photocopy. The accepted original cover is said to have very little or no white on the top and a large stripe or band of excess white paper on the right side. The bottom folds up to hide some lyrics and thank yous.

Going through the 26 or so accepted originals pictured on popsike, they all look different. The bottom folds are at slightly different spots. (They were hand assembled afterall) The contrast is radically different on each cover. There are different vertical photocopy lines on the front going through the "R" of Rotten EP.

From the accepted online description, I do not have an original cover. I have a thin line of white on the top and not enough on the side. I have avoided posting this record for that fact.

Plus, it would be an admission that I got taken. I paid close to top dollar, in cash, at an out of town record store where I could only recall the reference info for the vinyl. It's been bugging me for years.

I guess in the end though, - ITS A FUCKING PHOTOCOPY. All of them are! As long as I have the original vinyl with the crazy sound, I'm good.

The songs from the 7" were eventually re-released the next year as a 12" called the "Dirty Rotten lp". The songs were remixed and some say even the guitar parts were re-recorded (even more reason to own the original).

Roadrunner Records later combined the "Dirty Rotten LP" and the "Violent Pacification" ep for another repress. All are worth tracking down if you are a DRI fan or collector.

Beer City, who have been repressing DRI stuff for some time now, are re-releasing the 7" with the original mix and master. To tell you the truth, that kind of bugs me. The reason this record ended up sounding and looking as it did was from a combination of factors, at a time and place with a young struggling band that was organic, honest and innocent. To replicate it for widespread public consumption almost 30 years later just feels wrong, even if it is with the band's blessing.

But hey, I'm the loser who frets over how wide a white strip on a piece of paper is...

Verbal Assault - Trial

I thought I would do something a little different for my 100th post (!) and talk about a record that's worth for me is based strictly on the love of the music and not the collecting aspect.

Every once in a while I have a crisis of conscious. I question the money I have spent over the years as I stare at a wall of 3000 records that I am rarely able to listen to anymore. Even more than that, I hold records in my hand that I wonder if I will even remotely like in 5, 3 or even 1 year. Hellnation, A.C., and Capitalist Casualties have all gone through the stress test and failed miserably as I ended up selling them off to the local used record store after only 30 seconds on the turntable.

Then there is the one record that brings it all back and makes it all worth it. For me that record is Verbal Assault - Trial. Verbal Assault are not the first, or even the tenth, band most people think of when it comes to late 80's hardcore, but to me they were sheer perfection and "Trial" is my go to record when I question my music listening future.
All it takes is the first song on the album, "Trial" and I am swinging my fists in the air. This band was way ahead of its time. Not many bands sounded like them at the time, but a whole lot did after. Lots of melody, thought provoking lyrics and one hell of a singer. Christopher Jones had the best scream in hardcore!

The vinyl is nothing to write home about as far as collecting goes. The first press was released on Giant Records back in 1987. The label is home to some of the less popular albums by Dag Nasty, Uniform Choice and Government Issue.

All the vinyl for this release is on black.

Cool simple lyric sheet with a great illustration that they used as a logo and backdrop.

The record was later repressed on Konkurrel Records with a slightly different front cover design.

"ON", "Tiny Giants" and "Exit" don't quite hold up as well over time especially with all the experimental stuff they were doing with reggae and a whole lot of "modern" guitar effects. I guess that is no different than a lot of hardcore bands at the time.

Old school purists look to their first record "Learn" as the definitive VA record based on the time period and who produced it. No doubt, "When I Think" is an amazing song! For my money though, "Trial" is it.

Do me a favor and flip through your collection and pull Trial out for a listen...or go download it I guess. It is well worth it.

"For that day, I stood trial. For my lies and denials. For my lack of discipline and responsibility."

Youngblood Showcase 2009 vinyl

Not much to say on this one. I love special presses. I especially love when they press low numbers of limited vinyl especially for a record release/fest/Showcase.
I am also totally down with labels that make their leftovers available to the rest of us who can't make it half way around the globe to make it to a show.

Case in point, the Youngblood Records Showcase. This is the second time I have jumped at the Showcase vinyl package Sean has put up. I also bought the 10 year Anniversary press a couple years ago. I think its funny that one of the same records was offered at that time too!

First up, Iron Age - Constant Struggle. This press is on clear blue out of 150. This is my 5th version of this record. I think we can stop now.


Next is the Lion of Judah - Number-ology 7". I actually already have one of these that I picked up during the big pre-order Sean did a while back with the Fired Up and Carry On records. Let me know if anyone needs this. It is on clear with a lot of black streaking and is out of 125.


Lastly, we have the Fired Up - Doomed to Repeat 7" on gold out of 100. This was the main reason I jumped at this package offer. I already have the other two colors and wanted to finish this off without having to resort to ebay. Fired Up rule. Well, ruled. Just like the rest of you, I also have 8 copies of "When the Lights Go Out".


As part of the deal, I also got a very cool Youngblood Showcase t-shirt. It will come in handy tomorrow when I jet off with the family down to Mexico. Oh yeah, I'm not posting anything for the next couple weeks. Hola bitches!


Maybe some of the 17 preorders and ebay wins will come in while I am gone and I will have some stuff to post. In the meantime, peace out.