Converge - Live at the BBC

I really didn't think I would be doing one of these kind of posts ever again. I thought my "pre-order every color and version" days were well behind me. Even for this record, I really thought it was.

You see, I missed the pre-order by a good 16 hours. I guess I neglected to check twitter or facebook or whatever the fuck message board to find out what was going on.
By the time I read online that it was up, the rarest color was long gone and talk was that the second rarest was as well. On the Deathwish site that would leave only the most common color left, and if that was the case I might as well get that locally. Perhaps it was a sign that it was time to hang this game up.

Then lo and behold, the pink was still around which made it possible to get two out of the three. Then I read that there were exclusive colors pressed for the Epitaph and Converge Kings Road Merch sites making it four out of five. Damn. So I placed separate orders for each of the three webstores and decided to play the ebay/Discogs game for the rarest color that sold out.

So here we are. After a few bucks and the postal waiting game, I scored all the colors. Except I didn't. There was a clear version from Deathwish limited to 100 that was randomly thrown into early orders. Of course that means all 100 ended up with the regulars that post on the Vinyl Collective message board.

Still, I think this looks pretty sweet as is and I am more than happy with what I got. The pressing numbers for each color are on the large side making it pretty easy to find if you were to start now. White was the rarest (except for clear) at 333 and was the one that sold out on the Deathwish site pretty fast. Next comes orange at 550 pressed and that one was available as an Epitaph exclusive. There were 774 of the pink ones, 778 of the blue version which was a Converge Kings Road exclusive and finally a whopping 5304 of the clear green. I don't want to sound like a contrarian dick, but I think the green looks best.

As far as the record goes, I was super excited to hear a live version of Dark Horse as I was absolutely floored seeing Converge open with it at Chaos In Tejas a few years ago. BBC recordings always turn out well, so at least the sound on the entire 7" is audible as opposed to what you might find on "The Long Road Home" dvd.
Packaging is of course amazing as well. I was wondering if the cover might end up a print at some point as I love Jake Bannon's artwork and this one I can hang on my wall without grief from the family as there aren't any skulls involved. But of course, I found out it already was developed as a print and sold out in two hours. Fucking internet.

Black Sabbath - The Next Six

By no means would most people consider these albums from Black Sabbath anywhere near as awesome or important as the first six with Ozzy, but that wasn't going to stop me from tracking down all the original UK first pressings either. There aren't any Vertigo swirls here, but I was still able to cobble together these six Vertigo pressings.
To tell you the truth, at one time or another I loved each of these as much as Master of Reality or Volume 4. Yup, even Born Again!
First up is the UK Vertigo pressing of Technical Ecstasy.

Probably one of the more hated Sabbath albums, I think there are some seriously great songs on here. Dirty Women, Gypsy and Back Street Kids rule. Plus, you want bad Sabbath albums, check out Tyr, Forbidden or the craptastic Seventh Star. Sorry Mike. It's not so good.

Vertigo had switched their labels to these Roger Dean "UFO" ones. That's the guy who did all the artwork for those trippy Yes albums. The swirl image is still there but now neatly positioned above the name at the bottom.

The album came with a two sided color lyric sheet insert instead of a printed inner sleeve. Thank gawd for that.

Next up on the list of Vertigo UK albums is Never Say Die!

This was Ozzy's last album with the band until the live Reunion cd and then the awesome 13 lp from last year. I really like this record and find myself humming the opening riff to Air Dance often. The cover on this Vertigo UK press is really different from the Warner Brothers one. The sky is blue here, not grey and you can see images of pilots in the clouds that they blurred out on the North American version. I have no idea why.

The same labels were used for Never Say Die! as Technical Ecstasy.

This one came with a printed inner sleeve but at least it is as thick as the cover so there are no split seams. Still, it didn't stop me from replacing it with a proper ploy lined sleeve. A man's got to have standards.

The next one up on the list is Heaven and Hell.

This was the first album with Ronnie James Dio on vocals and damn, did he ever help kick the band in the ass. This is one of the best albums of the 1980's if not ever. Sabbath got really heavy with this one. Pure metal. Maybe they should have changed the name of the band as they sound nothing like they did before, but by this point who cares?

With the change in vocalists sound and style, I guess it is appropriate that Vertigo changed direction with the labels around this time as well. They went with these orange/yellow ones that I think look really cool. I like that the swirl is sticking around the bottom of the design as well.

The next album up is Mob Rules.

This was the last studio album with Dio until Dehumanizer. I love this record as it contains a few of my favourite Sabbath songs ever like "Falling Off The Edge Of The World", "Voodoo" and "Sign Of The Southern Cross".

The same orange/yellow labels were used as Heaven and Hell.

Next up is my person favourite live album of all time, Live Evil.

I read that Dio hated this album as he suspected that he was turned down in the mix by Geezer and Tony during some studio after-hour shenanigans. Whatever, I can hear him just fine. The Heaven and Hell/Sign Of The Southern Cross/Heaven and Hell/Paranoid/Heaven and Hell medley is simply amazing. The Iommi solo jammed in there is mind blowing.
This was released as a double album with the same labels as the other two Dio releases.

The record comes in a nice gatefold that pissed Ronnie off to no end as there were only two pictures of him and one of Vinnie Appice. For a small dude - big ego.

The inner sleeves contained this very important message about music piracy. Wow, if they only fucking knew what was coming!

Finally we have the red headed step child of the bunch, Born Again.

Back in 1983, I ate this album up. I loved everything metal and it didn't get much heavier than this. Decades later people have really gained an appreciation for the record with doom metal back in vogue. Vocals were handed over to former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan. The man could scream, I will give him that. Come on who doesn't love Zero the Hero? The sound is muddy and the album poorly produced but I think that just adds to the dark vibe.

The UK pressing featured Vertigo custom labels for the first time in the band's history. I freaking love them! The labels are pretty much the reason I decided to add this to the collection. I knew my cut off was coming really soon with Seventh Star and The Eternal Idol just over the horizon.

Born Again comes with a printed inner sleeve unfortunately, but at least this one comes with no split seams. As anyone with the North American Warner Brothers version can attest, this one has a lot of yellow. I mean a lot of yellow. The WB version is red lettering on white.

Well, that does it for my Vertigo Records UK Sabbath collection. I was thinking of posting Live At Last and We Sold Our Soul For Rock and Roll, but those were originally released on NEMS Records. Yeah, I bought those too. Funny to be spending so much time and money on records I have owned since I was 8 years old!

Pentagram

I guess the reality is if I am going to keep this going, it might have turn into a metal blog. Looking back over the last few months of posts, I think it already has. Whatever. It is what it is.

I don't think there would be any debate that the awesome/scary/sad/horrifying/amazing documentary "Last Daze Here" documenting the history and comeback of Bobby Liebling and Pentagram did more to promote the band than the previous 30 plus years of music ever did. The movie opened the band to a whole new audience and moved the already massive doom metal resurgence forward in a big way.

I knew of Pentagram from the Peaceville records from the early 90's and the later compilations. My favourite was always "Relentless". Easily the best collection of songs the band ever did. While watching the doc, within the first 5 minutes they show this amazing self titled Pentagram album. Purple text on a black cover. What the hell?  For the rest of the movie I was hung up on that record and made it my mission to find out more. After 3 minutes on the internet, it turns out that Relentless is actually a reissue of this original self released album. That did it. I needed one.
Well, that is a lot easier said than done. This damn thing is so hard to find. One thing I promised myself was that if one ever showed up on Discogs, GEMM, Music Stack or eBay, I was going for it. Condition be damned.
When it finally popped up around a month ago on ebay, I entered a ridiculous max bid. I mean stupid. There was no way I was going to lose. I was a little put off by the cover's condition but fuck it, when would be the next chance to get one?

I have to say, it is in a lot better shape seeing it in person. The small creases and seam wear is there but not that bad. The worst thing on the cover is some price sticker damage in the upper right corner. It's really not too bad for a stoner rock/doom metal album from 1985.
On the other hand the vinyl is dead mint. Shockingly so. I dropped the needle and it was quieter than most of the new albums I have bought recently.

This was a big a score from my want list. I'm just thankful no one challenged me for it. That could have been bad!

Late Pass Year End Roundup

Yeah, I know. It's fucking February and I am just now getting around to a year end wrap up? Well, in my defence I was in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a month on vacation. It was awesome but jet lag, time zone adjustment and catching up at work has left very little time for posting anything. That and it took me a while to go through all the records I bought in 2013. Even though there weren't very many posts, I actually bought a ton of records last year and spent an ungodly amount of money. I think it might have to do with the fact first pressing metal albums can run on the expensive side.

Speaking of that, we might as well get into it. 2013 was for me not a very good year for punk and hardcore. Maybe I'm getting old, but a lot of shit sounded so derivative and stale. I found myself focusing on 80's hardcore or wholesale listening only to metal.

Following in the footsteps of my favorite bloggers, and dare I say friends, Mike, Marcus and Mark, here is my 2013 Top 10. But first, here are some honorable mentions.

Gorguts - Colored Sands, Enforcer - Death By Fire, Ghost - If You Have Ghost ep, Holy Grail - Ride the Void, Windhand - Soma, Magic Circle - s/t, Caught In A Crowd - The Fight and Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods.

Top 10

1. Carcass - Surgical Steel
2. Black Sabbath - 13
3. Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed
4. Ghost - Infestissumam
5. The Rival Mob - Mob Justice
6. Ancient VVisdom - Deathlike
7. AFI - Burials
8. Iron Reagan - Worse Than Death
9. Power Trip - Manifest Decimation
10. Orchid - The Mouth of Madness

LOTS of metal! I ended up catching half the groups on my list live, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with what made my top 10.
The one that kind of sticks out is the new AFI album Burials. I may or may not have watched the "17 Crimes" video on You Tube 500 times or so. Damn, I wish I looked like a Guess Jeans model and acted like a horny masochist when I was younger, but I guess that wasn't in the cards. I have been a sucker for Davey Havok's voice forever and Burials doesn't disappoint in that regard. I also happen to be in the minority where I think AFI have only gotten better since they decided to be vampires.

Top 10 Pickups

1. Black Sabbath original Vertigo swirl pressings.
2. Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown 7" 1st pressing with brick background
3. Unbroken - Life. Love. Regret. on blue vinyl
4. The Abused - Loud and Clear 7" original self released pressing
5. Unity - You Are One 7" on blue vinyl
6. Rev 25 Chicago clear vinyl 7" set for regular price
7. Cursed III record release lp
8. Glenn Danzig - Who Killed Marilyn? 7" original first press

Numbers 9 and 10 were just as awesome for me but I never got around to posting them.

9. Black Sabbath - Paranoid on Vertigo Records with swirl labels and laminated cover. I was disappointed with the price tag damage on my first copy, so I knew I would be upgrading at some point. It took a couple weeks.

Dead fucking mint. I couldn't be happier. The laminated cover is so amazing. Sharp corners. Perfect vinyl. It doesn't get much better.

10. Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction; Symphonies of Sickness; Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious

My search for original first press metal albums moved into death metal late in the year and I was fortunate to find these legit Earache first pressings from a single ebay seller. All are on black vinyl (as death metal should be) and in great shape. I had these as cds the first time around, so I was overdue for the real deal.
Next up on my hit list, I need to find an original Heartwork for under $125 and then on to Morbid Angel!

Best shows

Judge - Black and Blue Bowl in New York City. Even though they have played a dozen times since, this was the first and by all accounts the best. Mind blowingly awesome and in the best venue possible.

Ghost - The Republik, Calgary. Nothing like seeing a big league band in a small venue. Papa Emeritus was so on.

Skeletonwitch - The Den@University of Calgary

Noctis 666 Festival - MacEwan Hall Ballroom@University of Calgary. Carcass, Possessed, Sacrifice and Candlemass. One stage on one night in nowhere town Canada. My 17 year old self was stoked.

I considered doing a bottom 10 list as well as I was pretty bummed with a lot of the records I picked up this year, but that wouldn't be fair. In the end, it might have more to do with my frame of mind than the quality of the records or bands. If anyone wants to leave comments or email me, we can discuss it and maybe someone can sway me on revisiting 2013 hardcore.

The Abused - Loud and Clear 7"

The last of my record sell off money has been spent, but it was well worth it. I was able to upgrade my Vertigo swirl Black Sabbath Paranoid album and with the rest, score this little number right here.
When it comes to early NYHC, The Abused's Loud and Clear 7" is right there with Agnostic Front's United Blood ep, Bad Brains' Pay to Cum 7" (yeah - D.C. first, I know) and Antidote's Thou Shalt Not Kill for sheer history and collect-ability.

This record has been near the top of my want list for years, but was hard to commit to due to the escalating price and difficulty in finding one in top condition.
Luckily, this one popped up on ebay with the always advantageous "US Bidders Only" condition. Nothing better than sellers who eliminate half the market right off the start. Plus we all know how Euros throw the money around. This was easy pickings.
I just dropped my main man in all things metal and generic youth crew hardcore Mike an email and set up for him to be the shipping address. I have to say, things worked out great. I won the auction, had the record shipped to Maine in two days, and then had Mike mail it on to me. Three weeks later, touchdown.

This copy is super clean. I don't know if it had ever been played before. There isn't even one spindle mark on the label.

This copy comes complete with the two sided insert. Once again, this is in great shape, if not folded a bit funny.

It never fails that once I buy a super rare expensive record, a repress or reissue is released right around the same time. I see a 12" was just released on Radio Raheem Records recently that includes this 7", their demo and some live tracks. Do I regret spending a ton of dough on an original pressing when a comprehensive compilation is now available? Come on man, what do you think?