When I moved to Australia one of the first things I did was buy a cheap hifi on eBay. I'd been browsing the local record shops and was keen to start work on a little collection to keep me going over there. The hifi I bought ended up being a similar model to the old Sony hifi I bought when I was 16 (only without the MiniDisc player). It ticked all the boxes - line-in for my mp3 player (a classic 20gb Creative Zen jukebox which was the size of a small brick), remote control and, most importantly, the alarm would play whatever cd (or tape!) was in the player. I'd used the same function on my old one for years and loved waking up to music.
Of course the collection of cds I had out there wasn't huge, so there weren't many choices and it meant that I woke up to a few of them many, many times. Two stand out in my memories more strongly than the rest - Kyuss's ...And the Circus Leaves Town (I used to have very strange dreams about rodeos if I snoozed through that one) and this album, Wiretap Scars. I'd found the cd second hand in a shop called Revolution CD in Canberra for about £6 (or whatever that was in AU$ at the time), which seemed like a bargain. I knew Sparta were the guys from At The Drive-In who didn't end up in The Mars Volta and I was keen to hear it; I'd heard they were playing post-hardcore, which I was loving at the time.
The highlight of Wiretap Scars, and the reason why this album acted as such a great alarm clock for months, is the opener Cut Your Ribbon. It's such a fine example of post-hardcore from that era and I love the slight intro before the scream of "Wake up / Can you hear me? / You're so clever, did you find me?". I honestly can't count the number of times I've woken up to that line. There are some great songs throughout the rest of the album too, like Collapse, Light Burns Clear and RX Coup, although none quite hit the high of Cut Your Ribbon for me.
A few months ago (and over 10 years since I bought the cd) I found this reissue in Truck in Oxford for a mere £13, which these days is something of a bargain for an LP. I know a lot of these reissues are dubious in that the band often has little to nothing to do with it but I can't see myself stumbling across the original pressing very often (it hasn't happened yet) and I'm happy to have it in my collection in some form. This pressing is numbered (out of 1500) and mine is #1128. The number is just stamped on the back, so nothing to get very excited about. Otherwise, it's a nice release - gatefold sleeve, lyrics sheet and red vinyl.
Format: 12", gatefold sleeve, insert, numbered (#1128)
Tracks: 12
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 23/02/16
Colour: Transparent red
Etching: none
mp3s: no
