Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Find the Time

For the past four years I've been a student, and that has heavily involved one of the key student activities - not waking up particularly early. It's been great and I've had some excellent lie-ins. Sadly, that had to end and I've now got a job again, working 9-5 (5.30, in fact). I've adjusted to mornings begrudgingly but mostly because I know that there aren't any more degrees I can realistically do to avoid them any longer.

I had an office job four years ago and, in that time, 7" record were my best friends; I would wake up, shower and have enough time to play a 7" while I got dressed. Every morning I'd flick through my 7"s to find some tunes to set me up for the day. As a student with no real need to leave the house, I'd play an LP and catch up on the world's activities on the internet instead. This past week, 7"s have become my friends again and I foresee an increase in 7" purchases since I'll no longer have so much time to listen to LPs.

This record was one of the first that I rediscovered this week and it's one I'm very fond of, but the main reason for that is the b-side, a cover of A Praise Chorus. I consider myself a casual fan of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and of Jimmy Eat World. I've seen and enjoyed both, but only have a scattering of records by each. That said, of the Jimmy songs I know, my favourite was always A Praise Chorus. I heard it on a Kerrang! sampler back in 2001 and thought it was great (I had mixed feelings about the other singles from Bleed American - I enjoyed the title-track but didn't like The Middle at all) and when I saw this 7" with Sam covering it, I figured it was worth a shot. For £1, I've got a lot of enjoyment out of it. It's slower and more reflective than the original, but it works.

The a-side is pretty nice too, and very fitting with this blog post - since I'm clearly struggling to Find the Time (apologies) to write about my records alongside an eight hour day and a two hour round trip commute (my first ever commute too, which at 28 is quite the achievement). In fact, being out of the house for ten hours a day really cuts into my record listening time, which sucks. Maybe once I've got a more regular routine figured out I'll update this more regularly. For now you'll have to make do with the records I can find the time to play.

Format: 7", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1 new
Bought: HMV Cardiff
When: 09/03/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Frank Turner + Jon Snodgrass - Buddies

This is a strange record. Frank Turner and Jon Snodgrass spent a few days together in Colorado in 2010 and decided to hammer out a record. They'd written a song on the Revival Tour a while before and wanted to follow it up with a record. That song and nine others make up this record.

Some of the songs are pretty good - Buddies and New Orleansy are definitely worth a listen. The Ballad of Steve is fun too, but exactly the sort of song that comes from this sort of writing scenario (Steve was that flight attendant who was very briefly in the news). On the other hand, there are also some songs that aren't very good at all - Shut the Chicken, Mosquitoz and the unnecessary Remember That Time We Wrote This Record (I think there's a lot of irony in their use of the word "hits"). But then does any of that really matter? I guess the point was to document what came out of their few days regardless of whether either of them would consider the songs their best (having seen both of them, I'm going to say they're not, although New Orleansy is a genuinely decent song). I've heard a few records recorded in a similar way, and they're rarely my favourites (although Curve of the Earth by Attack in Black and The Rescue by Explosions in the Sky were both pretty nice). These ten songs are certainly enjoyable enough from a "documenting a time and place" perspective, and maybe that's enough.

A final, small point - it seems the insert was thrown together equally half-heartedly (or possibly equally drunkenly?) because the text about songs 4 and 5 seems to have been deleted or replaced with one of the photos. The front side finishes half way through a sentence about The Ballad of Steve but the following text on the other side appears to be about Old Fast Songs.


Format: 10", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £12.30 new
Bought: Banquet Records website
When: 22/12/10
Colour: Transparent green
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Nine Inch Nails - Things Falling Apart

Nine Inch Nails announced lots of very exciting things last night (a new song, album details and tour dates - sadly the only UK ones are at Reading and Leeds, and I really don't fancy that). Anyway, I thought I'd write about another of their albums, and the only other LP of theirs I have at the moment is Things Falling Apart - the remix album of songs from The Fragile. I'd certainly like to one day have all the Nine Inch Nails albums on vinyl, but that may have to wait until I've got a little more disposable cash.

Things Falling Apart has nearly universally terrible reviews on the internet (0.4/10 must be one of the lowest scores Pitchfork has ever given, not that paying attention to Pitchfork scores or reviews is something anyone should do), but I wasn't aware of that for the first 12 years I owned this album, and only know now because I opened the Wikipedia page on it. I never thought of it as a terrible album. I mean, it's a remix album, what the hell were these people thinking? I don't think anyone bought this record thinking it was going to be ground-breaking. I certainly didn't, and I was only 16 at the time. I only owned The Downward Spiral and £9 seemed like a good price to hear some more Nine Inch Nails (I hadn't even heard The Fragile then, and it was strange finally hearing the originals after being so used to the remixes). There's some truth in the fact that no one needs three versions of Starfuckers Inc. on an LP, and some of the remixes aren't that exciting, but I didn't mind then and I don't really now.

I suppose part of the reason I'm so indifferent to this albums perceived awfulness and strangely sentimental about a largely forgettable NIN remix album is that this LP is the first LP I ever bought. I had a few 7"s at the time (the first of which was this Manic Street Preachers record) and a whole bunch of cds (75, to be exact) but no other LPs. Sadly, my first five LPs were mostly very embarrassing indeed (more on that in the future, unfortunately) but did include White Pony by the Deftones, and it's nice to think that 16-year-old-me had some taste! I almost certainly played this record loads on my parents hi-fi, and even more when I got my first turntable for my birthday that year (it was one of those little compact ones where 12" records would hang over the edge. I even took it with me to Australia, but sold it before I came home; I'd clearly acquired a lot of stuff in that year). I vaguely remember enjoying the song 10 Miles High as a teenager and it's still one of the better songs now. Maybe that's because it's a b-side rather than a remix.

Of course, if I do end up buying the NIN back-catalogue on vinyl, I'll be quite glad I bought this 12 years ago, because somehow I doubt 28-year-old-me will be so pleased about spending his money on this, and even less tolerant of the music on it.

Format: double 12"

Tracks: 10

Cost: £9 new

Bought: Tower Records, Southampton

When: 06/04/01

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

The Computers - We Are Misfits

Like almost everyone, I have a Misfits record. They've got enough catchy songs that you pretty much need at least one record, but not so many you need to seek out their whole back-catalogue (that's my opinion on it anyway). I own a second-hand copy of Legacy of Brutality, which I'll write about on here at some point in the future (maybe I'll save that one for Halloween). I wrote about The Computers a short while back, and I certainly consider myself a fan. Therefore, a limited edition 10" picture disc of The Computers playing Misfits songs definitely seemed like something I'd be into.

Considering these seven songs are of a punk band covering a punk band, you'd never know it. These versions sit somewhere between 50's rock 'n' roll, lounge music and soul and, surprisingly, it works. The first time I played the record I was a bit shocked, but I got into after a few plays. It's also worth noting that if this is how The Computers play punk songs, then their new album was surely going to sound pretty different to the first. I still haven't bought the new record (or any other new records for a while) but I have seen them play the new songs and they sound a lot more like this record (which is fine by me).

Like I said, The Misfits had some catchy songs, and some of the best are here (Halloween, Hybrid Moments and Where Eagles Dare are all fine examples). I hadn't heard the original version of Scream for about 12 years when this record first arrived in the post - Hugh had a video that came free with Metal Hammer (an actual VHS! Needless to say, this was long before YouTube) which had a bunch of music videos on, including the one for Scream. I remember borrowing the video and particularly enjoying the Misfits song (although not enough to buy an album for about eight years). I can't remember any of the other songs on there now.

This record was released for Black Friday Record Store Day, which is mostly bullshit because nobody outside the US even knows what Black Friday is and I can't afford to be financially crippled twice a year. Luckily, there have been very few interesting releases for the November RSD, which is good because no one wants to be queueing down Eden Street in winter. I did stay up, however, and order this one online. I say "stay up", but they went on sale at midnight and I'm often still up then anyway (although I could've waited because they're still available now). It came to £15 including postage and what I can only assume is the usual RSD mark-up (not to be too cynical, sorry), but I think I've had at least £15s worth of enjoyment out of it, so it's all good. The Computers were due to release a similar 10" of Elvis (Costello AND Presley) covers this RSD but it's been pushed back to November. I'm a fan of Costello, so I'll probably pick that one up too.


Format: 10" picture disc
Tracks: 7
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Banquet Records website
When: 30/11/12
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: Side A: "From Exeter they came" Side B: none
mp3s: no

The Bouncing Souls - Hopeless Romantic

The sun is shining today, so I've been listening to a lot of The Bouncing Souls. It was sunny yesterday too and my Bouncing Souls kick started before I went out for the day with my go-to BS record, How I Spent My Summer Vacation.

In 2011, The Bouncing Souls played four shows in Islington over four nights playing working their way through their back-catalogue. I remember being sat with Sarah upstairs at The Forum waiting for Death From Above 1979 to come on (we'd missed out on standing tickets) when I got an email about these shows and we spent a while discussing which shows we should make it to. The Summer Vacation / Anchors Aweigh show was a given and we decided to check out the self-titled / Hopeless Romantic show too. Neither of us are huge fans so our collective knowledge of any other albums was pretty slim. I think I'd heard good things of The Gold Album too, but Sarah was due to be working that night. Anyway, a short while later I went into Banquet to pick up at least one of self-titled or Hopeless Romantic, and a combination of a positive write-up on the sleeve and the blue vinyl convinced me to get this one.

It's a good record and pretty fun too. There's that usual mix of classic Bouncing Souls song (Hopeless Romantic, Night on Earth), stupid songs (You're so Rad and Ole!) and ones that are a bit of both but ultimately very fun (Bullying the Jukebox and Wish Me Well). The show was pretty cool too (I'm a sucker for whole-album shows) and they had some girl from the crowd sing the female vocals on Wish Me Well. I ended up seeing them play an in-store in Banquet the afternoon between the two shows, meaning that I saw The Bouncing Souls three times in 24 hours, a record for any band for me.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 14/07/11
Colour: Transparent blue
Etching: none
mp3s: no