Running Riot in '84

Here is a Pirates Press repress of Cock Sparrer's "Runnin Riot" LP. Looking REAL sharp on White/Black/Gray Tri color vinyl out of /500. Pirates Press is doing it Revelation style as of late, repressing another classic LP every week on different colors of vinyl. I'm not complaining (I guess). This probably isn't Sparrer's best work, but it's far from their worst. There are alot of good songs on this LP. I'm just glad to have this on vinyl, since the original pressings on Syndicate or even later repress on Link Records are nearly impossible to find.

Cock Sparrer is LIVE and LOUD

Recently I picked this up from Pirates Press Records with some other Cock Sparrer reissues. Pirates Press has pretty much been reissuing everything Cock Sparrer ever did on awesome vinyl offerings with lots of cool extras like 180 gram vinyl, obi strips, and embossed sleeves. This version is out of /500 and came packaged with "Runnin Riot in 84", both for $16. Not bad! 

Here it is next to my old copy on Knockout Records 1998. It was originally released on Link in 1989 as part of their "Live and Loud" series they did with a bunch of other bands like Cockney Rejects, Sham 69, The Business, Exploited, Anti Nowhere League, and all kinds of other well known British Oi! and punk groups. Maybe some day I'll make a run at getting a Live and Loud collection together. A quick search on Discogs shows they can be had for pretty cheap! As you can see the Knockout version is a little darker red, but it is also a little faded over time. Good job Pirates Press, keep those old Oi! reissues coming!

Cock Sparrer - Shock Troops Reissue

Pirates Press out of San Francisco has been reissuing alot of Oi! Classics on color vinyl and picture discs lately. I have been hesitant to pick some of their reissues up, but I threw this one in on my recent Rev order because it is one of my favorite albums ever, and I didn't own it on vinyl. I have always been weary of collecting Cock Sparrer vinyl because all of their albums have been repressed and reissued a million times on different labels, which can be intimidating. Pirates Press did a beautiful job on this, with the embossed sleeve with the Cock Sparrer logo, and the clear vinyl with red and grey splatter and black dots. This is the most common version out of /1000, but whatever it looks great so I'm not too concerned. If you are not familiar with Cock Sparrer, this 1983 release is the album you want to check out. By far their best album, nearly every track on this is a classic. When I was growing up, this album meant the world to me. I haven't listened to it that much over the last few years, but I still like to listen to it every once in a while and take a trip down memory lane. Several years back my band played a sold out Halloween show at the Gilman where all these different bands covered old bands, and we covered Cock Sparrer. The crowd went fucking crazy and it was super awesome, one of the funnest shows we've ever played. Check out one of my favorite tracks from this album, "Watch Your Back":