Champion | Come Out The Truth

I'm not a man very original. Champion is one of my favourite band and Promises Kept is one of my favourite record ever. Yes, like many people. But I never really collect Champion's vinyl. I have my european press copy of Promises Kept, one anonymous pressing from each two classics singles and I bought the two LP repress from Bridge Nine this year.

I'm ok with that, I spend a lot of money in my various collections like The Effort, Have Heart or What Feeds The Fire singles and it's enough.

But, last time I thought : why not at least buy the discs that I miss. So I took this two singles and I'm fuckin happy with that.

First this is the one shot pressing of The Truth, a single released by Bridge Nine in 2004. One song on each side : The Truth on side A and an unreleased cover of SSD's Glue on side B.

This record came with the Bridge Nine 7" pre-orders in Summer 2004 : Give Up The Ghost, Ramallah and The Distance.  If you ordered all three records, you got a copy of this 7" for free.

Exept the Test Press, Bridge Nine made only 500 copies of this on Black vinyl.

Then, I bought a copy from the first press of Come Out Swinging. I already have the Bridge Nine repress, but I also want the first edition by Platinum Recordings because, hey, different covers !

Phyte Records released the first Champion’s record only on CD, so Platinum Recordings, from Germany, released this on vinyl in 2001.

There is only one press with 12 Test Press, 143 Clear White with Tour Cover, 157 Clear White with regular cover, 900 Black and 20 very rare Clear White / Black with blank labels.

I got the Clear White with regular cover. Platinum released 300 copies and used 143 of them to the tour edition. So, the others Clear White are out of 157 copies. 

Finaly, Bridge Nine repress the single in 2003 with a brand new cover.

Have Heart | What Counts (Winter Tour 2004-2005)

Today we talk about my brand new Have Heart's 7". Yeah another one ! The postman has deposited in my mailbox a few days ago.

This is the Winter Tour 2004-2005 Edition of What Counts EP with the famous Calvin & Hobbes cover. I'm so happy because now I have all the four variant covers of this record (Scorpion, Bonds Of Bro-Ship, Winter Tour and Posi Numbers Fest).

This Winter Tour edition was the first alternative cover made by Think Fast Records. She's come from the second press with the classic Clear Green vinyl, who is the only color avalaible from this press.

200 copies were made. It seems that 160 copies were used with the regular cover and only 40 with the Clavin & Hobbes cover. I'm not sure about the number 40, but a lot of people make a mistake when they say that the Winter Tour Edition is out of 200 copies. Think Fast picked some 7" from the 200 and put the alternative homemade cover on the regular cover.

The homemade paper cover is quality shit, but hey, the design is so cool ! Inside, the regular cover came with navy print like the label. Credits and lyrics are on the insert.

Don't forget to take a look on my website dedicated to all Have Heart's vinyls !

Unfun / Despite Everything | Split Single

I bought this 7" yesterday at Unfun's show in Marseille. They played with a new cool local band named La Flingue. Unfortunately, I can't see Unfun because it's too late and I'm an old guy now... I'm 30 years old and I got a dog. So hard.

Well, I doesn't have many thing to say about this band or this record because I does'nt know them before yesterday. They come from Canada and played a cool Pop Punk music.

This Split Single shared with the greek band Despite Everything is their last release. The disc came out on three label : ADD, Drunken Sailor and Ha Ha Ha Cool ! Records. This is a one shot press of 500 copies but with five different colors : Dark Green, Blood Red, Pink, Black and Purple.

If I understood correctly, each colour is out of 100 copies. Mine is Puprle.

The Turbo A.C.'s | 1-800-Eat-Shit

These days I'm in the mood to exhume a few antiques from my 7" collection. Especially Punk Rock stuff. I bought this record a long time ago. Maybe in 2005. If my memories is correct, it was in Montpellier during a show of Tagada Jones and CondkOi, two greats Punk bands from France.

I saw The Turbo A.C.'s at a show in my city, Marseille, a few weeks before my purchase. I liked The Turbo A.C.'s, it was a really great band from New York City with a fast and furious Punk Rock. Famous in the 90's.

I don't know if the band still exists, it's been a while that I haven't heard about them.

So, I bought this 7" for two reasons : one, their new album, Avenue X, was excellent and the two songs from this Single come from this album. Two, I love the cover. I don't know who is the penciler but it's look like J. Scott Campbell or Jim Lee. Their is no mention about that inside the cover, too bad.

The 7" has been released in 2005 by Be Fast, a french label which is better known for his many amazing shows in a little student town like Montpellier.

Whatever, this record is limited to 500 copies, only on Black vinyl, and numbered on the back cover. I got the n° 266.

Seriously, this cover is amazing !

Credits are inside the cover.

After checking it seems that the band still exists. Crazy. 

 

Hope Defeated | 2010 Demo

Today I hang on We Will Bury You, one of the coolest blog about vinyl collection. You probably know it, Doug do a really good job with some great pictures and a lot of cool stuff.

So, I hang on this blog, jealous in front of some huge rarities and I think : "why not talk about Hope Defeated on my blog ?". 

It's been a while since their 2010 Demo was released. A year exactly.

Hope Defeated is a canadian Hardcore band with the particularity to includ one "famous" (what a dirty word) blogger... Doug from We Will Bury You.

Marcus from The Endless Quest, a other "famous" blogger, released this four songs demo on his own label, The Endless Quest Records, in october 2011. Two regular edition were available : White, out of 95, and  Black, out of 150 copies. Naturally I preordered the rarest one.

The design is really cool with a beautiful cover. Lyrics are inside the cover, but as usual I'm too lazy to scan those.

Fun fact, this pressing supposed to be out of 100, but 5 copies were not quite white, so there also a third regular edition out of 5 copies : the "not quite white vinyl". Funny.

But, hey, we talk about vinyl addicts ! So, the band released a special Blog Nerds pressing for the blogs followers.

And this stuff is really neat ! Alternative rip off cover, exclusive label, colored innersleave, handnumber, insert, ... All we love.

The cover is a rip off cover of the famous Chain Of Strenth 7", What Holds Us Apart.

The vinyl is Clear Red out of 60 copies, handnumbered on the pink innersleave. Mine is n° 24 of 60.

You probably notice the exclusive label with logos of the two blogs.

This edition comes with a special insert who explain why they made a Blog Nerds edition. Very interesting.

When the record came to preorder, Endless Quest offer a deal : if you buy all the three edition, maybe you can win one of the 15 Test Press.

Unfortunetely, when I preordered the record, I doesn't have enough money to buy the three. So, I ordered only the rarest edition and, of course, the Blog Nerds edition.

Mike, from The One Thing That Still Holds True, got one. So check his excellent blog to see it. The Test Press comes with a great alternative cover.

Anchor | Recovery (Tape)

This month I talked about my Anchor collection and my tape collection. What better way to conclude ? The tape version of Anchor's last album, Recovery !

I completely forgot I ordered this tape, so what a surprise to find in my mailbox a beautiful package from the mailorder of Live And Learn Records, a really cool belgian label.

This tape was released by Learn To Trust Records, a label from Kuala Lumpur. Yes, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

 

 Clear is the only variation, limited to 60 copies. Manufactured tape, but homemade cover.

If you still don't know Anchor, it's a fuckin' great Hardcore band from Sweden (and probably Norway). They have some great records and given huge shows around the world. Go take a look on their amazing album A Quiet Dance.

Cool stuff !

Neurotic Swingers 7"

There is no only Hardcore in life. So, let's talk about Punk Rock and one of the most sexy and mysterious band ever : the Neurotic Swingers. In Marseille, we had some really great Punk Rock band and a sens of inbreeding.

The Neurotic Swingers was created in 2001 by former members of great fuckin' band like Gasolheads, Sugarfix or Dollybird. They released a lot of cool records including those three Split 7".

This Split with the japanese band Dogmatic Salamander was the first real record of the band after a CD-R demo. He came out on Lollipop Records, the best label record from Marseille created by the guitarist of the band, with collaboration of the japense label Myrmecoleo Records.

The Neurotic Swingers put two amazing songs with a lot of fury on this 7". The three titles from Dogmatic Salamnders were not bad too. They're lot of cool band in Japan like Guitar Wolf or Teengenerate.

I don't know how many were pressed, maybe 500, but Black is the only color.

Two years later, the Neurotic Swingers released a new Split with Kevin K & The Real Kool Kats on Lollipop and In Cold Blood Records. Two songs for each band and an unreleased title for the Neurotic Swingers (You).

Again, I don't have any information about the pressing, but Black is the only color too.

The last Split is the last records of the band. A split with two german's band (The Shoemakers and Motras) and the crazy Hatepinks from Marseille. Only one songs for each band. 

Wanda Records released this only on Black vinyl. Maybe 500 copies...

All the three covers are designed by Olivier Gasoil, Hatepinks singer.