Reducers SF Box Set

As evident in my second post ever on this website, I am a huge Reducers SF fan. Reducers SF are West Coast Oi!/Punk rock legends that have been mostly dormant over the last decade. I grew up on this band, and would go see them all the time. They were a huge influence on me to say the least. When Pirates Press records had their 10 year anniversary weekend, they announced a Reducers 20 year anniversary box set (Has it been that long? Jeez...). It came in a nice silver box with all three of their albums and a brand new "B Sides" style collection LP which I was thrilled to get.

There was three pressing versions, with a total of /500 pressed. TKO Records had the most limited press out of /50 with all of the records on gold vinyl. Revelation had the largest pressing with /350 and each record on a solid different color (blood red, bronze, royal blew and piss yellow). I opted for the over the top Pirates Press version out of /100 but by far the most unique.

Here is their debut LP (1999) and my favorite of their work. This is arguably one of the best Oi! releases ever made, a total classic. This version comes on "Bronze and Black A-Side with White & Beer Splatter vinyl B Side".

Here is the bands second release, "Crappy Clubs and Smelly Pubs" (2001). Many consider this is their best work, and this is also considered a classic Oi! album. I absolutely love this album and it has my favorite Reducers song on it (Empty Bottles). Also I love the nod to the Randumbs on here with a "Our Noise" cover. For those of you not familiar with the Randumbs, they were a really fast and angry punk band and the Reducers took the song and made it way slower and catchy, and they sound nothing alike. It's awesome. Randumbs version comes in at two minutes, Reducers version comes in at three minutes and twenty seconds. This is on "Royal Blue and White A side with Gold, Royal Blue, and Black Splatter B-Side vinyl".

On a side note I was lucky enough to go to the record release show for this album at the Pound in SF. Unfortunately, my 14 year old ass got beat up in the parking lot after the show. Oh, the good old days!

 "Raise Your Hackles" was their latest release (2006). This is a good solid release, but I guess I never had the same love for it as it's younger brothers. Looking sharp on "Yellow and White A side with Gold, Yellow, Red, and Black Splatter b-side". This is probably my favorite looking pressing of the bunch.

I was most excited to get this out of everything. First thing I did was rip this thing open to get the digital download of this. Getting a download of Reducers covering "Situations" and "Last Train to Dagenham" is worth the price of admission for this box set alone. All of this stuff was either unreleased or incredibly rare, so I'm thrilled to get my hands on it. It comes on "Red and White A side with Red and Silver Splatter B side."

Looking good Reducers! Great job Pirates Press, and thanks for bringing one of the Bay Area's best Oi! bands to the fore front for a new generation to enjoy.

What it Meant

So I've never been really big on Discography type releases, therefore I never have owned "What it Meant" on vinyl. I've seen some color options come and go, including a hideously ugly splatter one a few years back. When I saw it was pressed again on color, I decided to take a stab at it in my last Rev order. This copy is on a much more appealing blue pressing, with both records being blue. It's not BID on mint green, but it will have to due.

As far as the release, what can you say? One of the best hardcore bands to ever exist's complete discography. You can't beat that!

Nothing But A Nightmare

Here is the RevHQ mail order only light grey vinyl copy of "Nothing But A Nightmare" by Soul Search. The light grey is out of /550 and exclusive to RevHQ, while the dark grey is out of /1110. This EP was originally pressed last year on Back to Back with a different cover. I remember when it came out on Back to Back, the most limited color copies sold out quick so I lost interest and never bought a copy. I figured with Rev repressing it I wouldn't make the same mistake again. This is a good solid release, but it's not necessarily anything that blows me away. If you like hardcore that's heavily influenced by metal then check it out. Keep an eye out for their LP coming out on Rev soon.

Inside Out

Sometimes all of the Rev represses can get pretty over whelming, but I was real excited when I saw that this was finally getting a repress. Some have questioned the color of red vinyl, but blue and white (the most logical colors perhaps) have already been used. This thing is out of /550 and looking sharp on red.  I'm already predicting another press on clear, you heard it here first. Recordo-damus, what's up! 

I've always loved this EP and I was stoked to finally get it on vinyl. I think this is super slept on compared to alot of the stuff coming out back then, but a classic in it's own right. Sometimes I wonder if the Rage Against the Machine connection hurt this bands legacy or helped them. Or was it that they were on that cusp of late eighties and the dark years of the early 90s? 

More importantly what's up with the blonde chick taking pictures?Was that someone in the bands girlfriend? Apparently the hottest girl at hardcore shows back then... shit!

The One Thing That Still Holds Blue

It seems every week Rev has been hitting us with another color repress. The most recent was The One Thing Still Holds on Blue vinyl. Without knowing the pressing info, and since I had already bought the white and the clear versions, I just went ahead and got the blue as well. I'm kind of "too deep until now" (ha, corny I know) to stop buying their color represses. Yesterday I spent most of my day off cataloging my records over the last 6-8 months in my excel spreadsheet and alphabetizing them on my shelves. I have been putting it off forever because it is a huge pain in the ass. I basically note the band name, release, label, color of vinyl and how many were pressed. Also any other little notes like if I know what year it came out, what pressing number, if its hand numbered then I put the numbers etc. So here I sit with all these different labels discography's opened all over my computer and google fu'ing my way around the web trying to find pressing info all day. 

The whole point my diatribe is that a few weeks ago when I bought the blue copy rev had not updated their discography. Yesterday while updating my catalog, I found the pressing info for this and was quite pleased! 

White out of /557

Clear out of /405

Blue out of /240

That kind of makes this blue copy collectable. That is a pretty small pressing number to mix with the words "Chain of Strength"! They are still available at Rev, so I may have to get another copy for trading purposes. I suggest you get one of the blue copies or forever cry about it.

I took this picture of the clear copy last December and never posted it I just realized. I did a long review of the white copy and how it looked compared to my black copy if you want to check that out. 

Mob Justice Collection

It seems I've been sitting on this review for so damn long that I've forgotten what I wanted to say about it. I am pretty much the last blogger to post this shit now. I was going to post it the day I got it, only to find out that a second press on red was put up almost the same day the first press was shipped. I just figured well, I'll wait to post it until the red copy comes in... Then I saw everyone blog about this (I think even my grandma blogged about this shit already), and I felt discouraged and figured I would just wait it out a while. 

There is not much you can say about the hysteria and hype surrounding the Rival Mob. Most of their previous vinyl goes for obscene prices, so I knew I would have to be on top of these pre orders to have any chance at scoring some limited vinyl. I remember the day this was set to be released sitting there hitting refresh on my internet browser like a jackass, secretly hoping I'd score some special pre order out of /100 or something. My vinyl wet dream didn't come true, but I was at able to grab all the limited shit that was available.

So here is the whole collection. According to Rev, it is Seafoam Green /438, Black vinyl /655, Gold Vinyl /1095 and (2nd press) Red Vinyl /958. I hate that rev pressed it somewhat limited on black. All these labels need to stop trying to be all unique and special, and just keep it simple. I like having color vinyl that makes me feel special. Let the black vinyl be for all those non collectors that don't give a shit. 

When I heard Rev went with sea foam green, I thought it was pretty symbolic. Do I really have to say what this immediately reminded me of??? Especially considering this is one of Rev's first truly relevant releases in a long time. That being said, the sea foam green truly does look beautiful. This version of the record sold out almost immediately after it was posted. Considering it had over 400 copies, that means alot of people were all over it trying to score a copy. I'm glad that I scored one. 

For the super vinyl nerds out there I figured I would take a picture of all the stickers (or so you can tell without opening a copy). The first press came with just a black sticker for the black vinyl copy, and blue stickers with hand written notes for the color copies. The 2nd press came with a red and black sticker.

As for the music itself, there is probably nothing I could say that would affect your opinion either way. This will be in the top record of the year spots on most of the vinyl blogs. This is an excellent record and will probably be remembered as a hardcore classic 20 years from now. MOB RULES ALL

Unbreakable Purple

What a low production month so far for my blog. Sigh. I haven't bought or been able to afford any new vinyl for a while now and I just kind of sift through old pictures and try to find stuff that piques my interest. My work schedule has been very demanding and I am gone most the time during the day now, so it is hard for me to get new pictures with good sunlight. Enough bitching, here is a recent Rev color repress (No, you don't say!) of Down to Nothing's "Unbreakable". No doubt a fantastic record and I'm stoked to have this on color vinyl. Even if it is an anti climactic purple vinyl that you can't even see without light behind it. Purple vinyl has to be the most boring color vinyl ever, along with white and clear. This copy is out of /500 and is surprisingly still available, but for how long?

Happy New Clear!

Here we are, New Years Eve. As the sun sets on 2012 and we look forward to 2013, I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years tonight! Will 2012 be remembered as the year of the Rev Repress? How many times is Rev going to repress this thing before I lose interest? Does it matter? Should I just shut my mouth and be a happy consumer? Why am I asking so many questions? Is this an interrogation? Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you? Would you like to talk about what happened?

Okay, moving on. I got side tracked a bit there. The whole point of my stupid story is as long as they pump these out I will keep putting up the coin. However; every time they repress one of these, it feels a little less special. Since I have pretty much zero original Revelation colored vinyl of any actual importance, it's cool that I can add these to my collection. I already did a much more detailed post on their latest white pressing, comparing it to the older pressing so go check that out for more detail on subtle difference.

With that I am out. Thank you everyone that read my blog this year or gave a shit, I appreciate it. Coming soon will be the top ten of 2011 (Yes, a year behind), and then the top ten of 2012 will probably come out after I get my Mindset pre order. Thanks everyone and Happy New Year!

More Rev Represses (Chain of Strength & Side By Side)

Rev just keeps pumping out the classics, with "The One Thing That Still Holds True" of /557 on white vinyl. So apparently the "Final press" on grey in 2001 of /440 was not really the final press. Surprise Surprise (sarcasm)! The white is definitely much more boring than the previous grey and green color releases of this. 

Here is it is next to a copy that I picked up around 2009. According to discogs, this was pressed in 1996 and 2001, but I really have no idea how many on black over the years. If you look at Dobek's 1996 and 2001 copies they are both similar to the newer 2012 release on the left, with the more transparent green bars on the top and bottom. If you notice on the right, the green bar is not really transparent and you can't really see the crowd through it like the one on the left, or in Dobek's pictures. So I'm guessing they changed the cover sometime in between the 2001 pressing and the most recent pressing, and then returned it to the original cover. If anyone knows the real pressing info on this release I would appreciate it! Revelation says that there were only 3023 black vinyls pressed in 1996 which I know can't be true because I have a different cover than Dobek's.

There is also a difference in the insert from the new (left) to my older copy (right). The colors are a bit different, the most notable difference being the newer one has a forest green bars around the C.O.S. logo while the older one has lime green bars around the logo.

I feel very happy to have a color version of this without having to pay a bunch of money for it.

Rev also just repressed Side by Side "You're Only Young Once" on a beautiful red vinyl that looks to be exactly the same as the YOT presses in my last post. The pressing is out of /550. I'm glad they put this out on color because that original 1997 baby blue out of /100 is rather hard to get ahold of. One sold last year for $356, damn!

Here it is next to my old black copy. As you can see the older jacket on the right is a darker blue. The newer jacket is more gray than blue. Stoked on Rev repressing all these heavy hitters lately, and I know that Bringin' it Down has got to be coming up soon. I can only hope! Keep 'em coming Rev!

More Rev Represses (Youth of Today)

Back in May Revelation repressed BDTW on red and WNITA on white. Turns out the Official numbers are /760 on red and /788 on blue for the 2012 repress. We all know the history of the BDTW on red, and if you don't then you should go read Marcus' account of it on Vinyl Noize. Since Revelation repressed it on red, we knew it was only a matter of time before it was released on blue as well. I am glad that I have a chance to own copies of this album on these colors now without having to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for them. However, I am slightly disappointed that these were released because it ruins the mystique a little bit surrounding the original releases of this album. I think it would have been more appropriate if Rev kept the red and blue colors but changed it up by making it a marble or splatter. Something to make it a little bit different from the originals. But hey, I'm just glad to own these so I shouldn't be complaining. Both colors look incredible, but I think I am more partial to the blue vinyl. Red just seems to be a much more common color.

The earlier red copy has a black sticker on the wrapping that says it includes a digital download, while the blue copy has a blue sticker that says limited edition color vinyl. Both jackets look exactly the same with the same barcode number so these stickers may be the only way to differentiate sealed copies of these releases. Little things like these are why I prefer to keep the shrink wrapping on my releases.

I would say this reissue cover is much better then Revelation's last effort.

Here is WNITA on red, looking sharp! I prefer the red color over the white, but I typically just don't like white vinyl that much. This red looks exactly the same as the BDTW on red. The Official pressing info for this is /770 on white and /790 on red. 

Here it is next to the white copy. It should be noted that the more recent red copy also has the blue Rev sticker on the front saying its limited edition color vinyl. 

Here is Rev's most recent reissue of CCME on clear. Looking pretty sharp as well. I have never been very fond of clear vinyl but it seems fitting for this release somehow. This clear version is out of /550.

Here it is next to my red copy out of /443. The newer clear copy also has a an additional white sticker that is not on the red copy. Now that the purple copy of this release is out of press I feel the need to own it. I knew I should have just bought it when I had the chance. 

I'm glad Revelation is cutting out the corny reissue covers already. This ones far superior to the 1997 reissue, which was possibly one of the lamest covers ever!