Great Cynics - Beach Access

This is a strange release. Specialist Subject sent it out free with orders a couple of years ago, and as a subscriber, I got a copy along with the Woahnows 7" they were putting out. I've been a fan of Great Cynics since I saw Giles play as Cynics supporting Walter Schreifels, so it was a nice addition. The song was a leftover from a recording session, and Specialist Subject decided to print it on clear green flexidisc, and not cut it - it's the only square record I have.

As you can imagine, it sounds like utter shit, but it's exactly the quality you'd expect from being pressed onto something not far from clingfilm or a carrier bag. That said, the shittiness adds a certain charm to the song - their best songs were always the slightly sloppy, beery, sing-along punk rock songs, and this is one of those. It's a fun song. Luckily, they also put it onto the end of year compilation, which is good because it's exactly the sort of record that gets lost in amongst records with actual sleeves, and I can't imagine the flexidisc standing up to many plays.

Format: 7", one-sided square flexidisc
Tracks: 1
Cost: Free new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 29/03/16
Colour: Transparent green
Etching: none
mp3s: None

Noise By Numbers + The Magnificent - Split

Before I bought any of The Magnificent's albums, I bought a bunch of their 7" records - it wasn't intentional, but I kept finding them before I found either of their excellent albums. This is a split with a band called Noise By Numbers who I know nothing about. A quick google suggests they're related to some bands I've heard of, so I assume a reasonably big deal if you're into those bands. Their two songs are fine, but don't do huge amounts for me. Perfectly listenable, and I imagine they'd be fun live, but I'm almost certainly not going to check out their albums.

Reading the sleeve, it seems that The Magnificent recorded these songs with the guitarist from Noise By Numbers in Chicago, so that explains the connection I guess. Don't Send Me Flowers starts of a bit flat (but that could just be the very thin vinyl), but then has a huge chorus that comes out of nowhere, full of "woah-ohs" and great guitars. It's a great song and would have been perfectly at home on either of their albums. King of Denim Jackets was the closer on Bad Lucky, but this is a different recording. It's another great song. They really were an excellent punk band.

I bought it because I was doing an online order with Boss Tuneage Records and saw it in their distro - no very interesting story there. It came with a download code that never worked because the website that was hosting it has long since closed.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 4
Cost: £4 new
Bought: Boss Tuneage website
When: 03/08/12
Colour: Grey/purple mix
Etching: Side A: "You're so wise. You're like a miniature Buddha covered with hair" Side B: "I'm an IRS agent. Everybody hates me!"
mp3s: Download code

Some Sort of Threat - Not the End of the World

I bought this 7" without really knowing a great deal about it. I was listening to a lot of music that Specialist Subject was putting out at the time (by "a lot", I mean nearly all) and the description on the website made it sound like something I'd enjoy; I like acoustic punk-rock, and being on Specialist Subject it was a fairly safe bet.

It's a nice record, very enjoyable but not life-changing. Rory seems to quite enjoy singing fast tongue twisters (and does it well), and the whole feel is that of a more positive, early-ONSIND. Henman’s Year, The Only Boy Living in Newtown and Soaking Wet are all particularly memorable.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 5
Cost: £5 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 13/03/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Doctor Bison - Dewhursts: The Musical | Bring it On

Every since I started buying records I've had this same problem: I'll be in a record shop and see a few things I kinda like, but it's not until I find something I have to buy that my wallet comes out - then all hell breaks loose. There have been times when I've left record shops empty-handed, despite there being a few perfectly fine additions to my collection; there are other times when I've picked up everything I had half a thought about buying. This problem has stayed with me for nearly 20 years, and it seems to be the case online too (but there I'm also saving on postage!).

The reason I'm telling you this, is that this is one such record that got caught up in the after-effects of me opening my wallet for a record I really wanted to buy and came along for the ride. In 2016 Boss Tuneage was selling off some test pressings and I quite fancied the test pressing of Bedford Falls' Elegant Balloons album - I'd bought the album on cd a few years beforehand. The first album was only pressed on cd so I figured they'd be a "cd band", but was too taken with a bargain test pressing to let that idea continue. I'm not a big fan of test pressings - the idea of hunting them down with any sort of intention is horrifying, so I've mostly just considered them nice additions rather than essential parts of a collection. I'm sure I could still buy that Bedford Falls album on vinyl, but I guess the appeal of the test pressing was what won me over that day. Anyway, that was the record that got me to open my wallet and I set about scouring the Boss Tuneage website for anything else I fancied.

A short while before that, Tim PopKid (who runs an excellent blog about his impressive record collection at an enviable cadence - daily!) wrote about this Doctor Bison album. I had a read and thought it sounded interesting, had a listen and was kinda into it and made a mental note to check them out further. Test press sale day and I added this to my basket because I was in a spending-money mood.

The terrible twist to this story is that I soon afterwards received an email saying they'd accidentally sold more of the Bedford Falls test press than they actually had, cancelled mine and refunded the money. Under any other circumstances, this would be little more than a footnote in a blog post about Bedford Falls at a later date, but I was now buying this record and this record alone (they did very kindly send me a free 7" that I'll write about one day).

Doctor Bison aren't a bad band, but it turns out that I'm not quite as into them as I hoped I would be. There are some good moments - For Yourself has a really catchy chorus and is immediately followed by what I assume is the "Marmite moment" for the band, Fractured Jaw. I say "Marmite" because the chorus is huge, but there's a banjo played throughout which I can't stand. I imagine that is quite appealing to some, but doesn't do it for me. Perfect Madness to Put Me Through and Tied to the Tracks are really good songs too. Maybe I do like this band and it's just that one song I don't like? I should probably play it more often. In my memories, it was all banjo, but clearly that was a bad way to remember the music.

If you are a Doctor Bison fan, this package is pretty lovely and worth seeking out - along with the album there's another LP of the Bring it On EP and four unreleased tracks, as well as all of the songs on a cd. There are also notes from the drummer reminiscing very fondly of the bands' time together, which is nice to read.

Format: Double 12", insert
Tracks: 16
Cost: £11.50 new
Bought: Boss Tuneage website
When: 13/06/16
Colour: Yellow and grey
Etching: none
mp3s: cd

Fucked Up - Couple Tracks

There are a lot of songs on here.

2011 was the year David Comes to Life came out and I couldn't get enough of it. I'd got The Chemistry of Common Life a few years before and enjoyed it, but David Comes to Life blew me away so much more than I was expecting. From that point onwards I was a big fan of Fucked Up and decided to up my game and get some more of their records. I picked up Couple Tracks a few months later in 2011 and, on the surface, it seemed like an ideal purchase - compiling songs from their huge back-catalogue of releases, most of which I'd almost certainly never hear otherwise.

That said, after the continuity and grandeur of David Comes to Life, perhaps 25 disparate hardcore songs wasn't what I needed. I certainly remember thinking that at the time. It's a good compilation and has some great songs, but I remember finishing it and thinking I just wanted to listen to David Comes to Life again. I still get that feeling a bit. For obvious reasons, it doesn't flow like their albums do, and does drag a bit in places. Like I said, there are a lot of songs.

The highlight has to be I Hate Summer; I enjoyed that one from the first play, and like how often they seem to play it live. The opener, No Pasaran, sounds like it could be a Black Flag cover, Toronto FC has a lot in common with the later Fucked Up songs that I was more into and I Don't wanna Be Friends With You is just a great, simple hardcore song. I knew the Daytrotter songs from hearing the sessions a few years beforehand, so knew they were messed up (and not necessarily in a good way - I vaguely remember seeing a video of the show they played in a bathroom in Vienna that they mentioned somewhere too - it was on a website where they'd get bands to play in strange places around Austria). The insert has some comments from the band about each song - No Violins has a particularly funny story about Owen Pallett, who would go on to play violins on a bunch of Fucked Up albums.

I bought this record at the No Idea yard sale at Fest. The person cashing up for me had to look up the price for this one and warned me that it was a bit expensive because it was a distro record rather than one of their own - I can't remember the exchange rate at the time, but it worked out at less than £10, which was crazy cheap for a double LP. It's hard to explain to someone that everything seemed cheap because of the exchange rate without sounding like a twat, so I didn't; of course I wouldn't be laughing now. The records say "non-breakable" on them, which is a promise I'm not willing to test.

Format: Double 12", insert
Tracks: 26
Cost: £9.92 new
Bought: Fest
When: 30/10/11
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Glen Hansard - It Was Triumph We Once Proposed... Songs of Jason Molina

I don't know a great deal about Glen Hansard. I've read a few bits in relation to Jason Molina, so know the back story of how their split record came to be. His is not a name I'd have come across otherwise though.

I didn't buy this record the first time I saw it in Truck Store. On the second time I saw it, I'd already become more of a collector of Molina-related records and decided it had a place in that collection. I'm glad I did, because Glen's take on these five songs is great and I play them often. (As it happens, I've since bought a lot of records of covers of Jason Molina songs and find great enjoyment in many of them).

Being in Love is from my favourite album, The Lioness, and Glen and Jennie Benford bring it to life in a wonderful way. Hold on Magnolia and Farewell Transmission are from The Magnolia Electric Co. The former comes across in a very different way - more reflective than Jason's. An interpretation might be that he was willing himself to hold on; Glen is then reflecting to the sad fact that he couldn't. It builds to a huge crescendo which Glen's voice carries brilliantly. Farewell Transmission is almost obligatory, and this is a nice version - slow and gentle, but allowing itself to drift into the big rock sound of the original towards the end; I've lost count of the number of covers I've heard of this song, which is a great problem to have. Vanquisher is a song from a 7" (and appears on the Journey On boxset), but also reappeared as Cabwaylingo on the debut album, along with the final song here, White Sulfur. The early days were pretty lo-fi, but Glen's voice works equally well with these songs - less soothing, but still strong. I remember someone remarking that White Sulfur was a curious note to end on, but perhaps choosing that because it means ending on the line "So then, I have to be going / Ok", a very casual way to leave it.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 5
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 06/07/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

La Pince - La Simple

I mentioned La Pince last summer when I wrote about a record by Casse Brique, a band who I think are related to them - I was given the Casse Brique record when I bought this one at a La Pince show with Silent Front in London, so I assume so. I've probably listened to the Casse Brique record more, but I'd be lying if I said either were in heavy rotation. Neither are easy listening, although La Pince are the harder on the ear.

The music is quite angular and jagged punk rock. The singer maybe has most in common with Jello Biafra in singing style; that is to say, I'm not a big fan. Live they worked much better - I remember him contorting around on the floor and being hugely energetic. That style rarely translates well to record. As far as music like this goes, it's not a bad record, but nor is it one that does much for me. The 13 songs are all quite similar - discordant, heavy on bass and slightly unintelligible vocals - so I couldn't call out any highlights.

I enjoyed the show a lot that night and I'm glad I got the record, even if I don't listen to it much. They were a good match with Silent Front, although a leaning a little closer to punk than metal, so probably a reasonable recommendation if that's your thing.

Format: 12", insert, cd
Tracks: 13
Cost: £7.20 new
Bought: Gig
When: 06/10/12
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: cd

Broadway Calls - Toxic Kids

I really had no intention of buying this record, or seeing Broadway Calls, but Banquet Records had other plans.

In December 2011, they put on a show in The Fighting Cocks featuring PJ Bond, Great Cynics, Into It Over It and Broadway Calls. Tickets were £8, or if you bought a copy of the Broadway Calls EP Banquet were putting out for £10, the ticket was free. Since I wanted to go to the show, I decided that £2 was probably worth it for the record and picked up a copy instead of just the ticket. Broadway Calls aren't a bad band, but they do play very generic pop-punk and it doesn't do much for me. I played a song when the show was announced and decided I wanted to go anyway because the other three bands were a great line-up as it was.

We'd seen PJ Bond play a great acoustic set late night on the Friday between Koji and Make Do and Mend in a bookshop; Great Cynics played all the time, but always put on a good show (that said, the show they played at Fest remains the best Great Cynics show I've ever seen, and ruined all future ones - if they're not playing to a room of Americans all going nuts then it's underwhelming in comparison); Into It Over It had released a split with Koji and we'd heard good things, so wanted to check him out. The headliners then were the only band I had no real connection to or desire to see.

It hammered with rain that night, and I got pretty drenched on my walk over from Surbition, but I was new to the area and still enjoying being able to walk to shows in general. I remember really enjoying PJ Bond, and enjoying IIOI's stories (turns out, I enjoyed those more than the songs). I've seen Great Cynics so many times in Kingston it's hard to recall a particular time. I don't really remember much of Broadway Calls, but definitely stayed to watch them.

The EP is fine. The title track is by far the catchiest, but still not really my thing. If I'm being critical - and it seems that I am - the singer's voice is a bit annoying. But maybe it's just a pop-punk voice and that's what I don't like about it. The last song is the obligatory acoustic number. I've not played it a huge amount over the years, but for £2 I don't mind too much. My fiend Sarah opted for the £8 ticket without the record - I guess her thinking was that she didn't need records in her collection that had no purpose being there; clearly I'm more of a hoarder of any vinyl I can get my hands on. It's not an important or interesting record, but it reminds me of that gig so I'm happy enough to hold onto it.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 6
Cost: £2 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 06/12/11
Colour: Transparent blue
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

The Good Life - Help Wanted Nights

Help Wanted Nights was the first Good Life album I bought, but was maybe not the introduction to the band I needed at the time. I was (and still am) a big fan of Cursive, so wanted to check out Tim's other work. In 2008 I bought three The Good Life albums between April and December - Album of the Year is my favourite of the three and neither this or Black Out particularly struck me. Both have bars and heartbreak as a common theme, but that could be said about a lot of Tim Kasher's albums (after seeing him play a solo set at Fest whilst blind-drunk does make me believe the stories a bit more).

On the Picket Fence is slow starter, but A Little Bit More pick up the pace and has a nice and memorable chorus. As with almost all of Tim's albums, there's a song I'd skip every time if this was a cd; in this case it's Keely Aimee. As with Album of the Year, the female backing vocals add a lot throughout - even if it's just a whisper like in You Don't Feel Like Home to Me (one of the strongest songs on the album). A lot of the songs finish abruptly - it seems like an intentional device, but I'm not sure to what end. The closer Rest Your Head is another highlight and has some of Tim's best vocals.

I found this copy in Generation Records in New York on my first trip there (my second was two days later). I knew I wanted to hear the band and figured it was as good a place as any to start. Also the exchange rate was ridiculous at the time - for £8 a pop I'd buy pretty much anything. I think it's fair to say I was disappointed when I first played it because it was so far from Cursive, but now I know what the band are like I can see the album in its own right. I obviously enjoyed it enough to get two more albums, although I think that might have been for other reasons - I knew Album of the Year was the most renowned one, and Black Out was £2 for the cd - I clearly bought that because it was so cheap.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £7.59 new
Bought: Generation Records, New York
When: 11/04/08
Colour: White
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

The Dwarves - Blood, Guts & Pussy

When I was doing my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year, sometimes when I'd get back to the office my colleagues would ask what record I bought; they mostly knew very little about the music I was into but liked to look at the covers and ask what sort of music it was. When I came back with this LP that summer, I remember praying that no one would ask me - I snuck in and hid it by the side of my desk. How do you explain that cover to anyone? The band name alone would raise some eyebrows, let alone the album title. What if they looked at the song titles and saw songs like Let's Fuck, Insect Whore or Gash Wagon? Thankfully the lyrics for Let's Fuck aren't printed because I definitely don't want to be doing any explaining around that (I'll let you Google that one if you're not familiar with that particular slab of punk-rock).

This is the only Dwarves record I own. I knew roughly what I was getting in for and get some enjoyment out of it - Drug Store is actually quite a good song - but I very rarely ever think "yes, I want to listen to the Dwarves". There are many uneasy-listening hardcore records in my collection, and most of them are recorded better - the quality here varies from just about ok to appalling - Detention Girl is just a smudge of noise for the first half. On the other hand, it's a very short record, so at least you're not listening to it for long. I've definitely had £8 of enjoyment from it over the years, so I can't complain. On the other hand, I do worry my children will see it one day and judge me.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 11
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Spiller's Records, Cardiff
When: 03/06/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Rise Against - The Unravelling

There was only a fairly short period of time when I considered myself a Rise Against fan - it started with seeing them in 2003 and ended sometime between 2005 and 2006. They had two albums out when I saw them in 2003, and those are the only two albums I have. The third they released in 2004 and I remember not being at all impressed by the song I heard from it. I couldn't tell you much about it, but I remember thinking they weren't a band for me anymore; I was at university and getting into American indie-rock bands like Hum and Modest Mouse (shortly afterwards I'd hear Broken Social Scene and the Canadian indie-rock phase would begin). I remember it sounding too polished, and I wasn't into that. I saw Rise Against again in 2006 and 2011 (at Leeds and Reading festivals, respectively). They were still a fun band, but I don't remember feeling bad that I'd given up on them. They've now released countless albums and my brother has most of them. Maybe I should give them a listen one day.

All that aside, I still have a lot of time for their debut, The Unravelling, as well as the second album, Revolutions Per Minute. Alive & Well is a huge opener and they keep the momentum going across all 16 songs (in true-punk style, they barely give you a moment to take a breath between songs). Six Ways 'til Sunday and One Thousand Good Intentions are particular highlights, as well as The Remains of Summer Memories which treads the line between metal-breakdown and Fat-Wreck-style punk seamlessly. The title-track is probably the slowest moment and painfully emo, but in a thoroughly enjoyable way. Everchanging was always a favourite too with the slowdown in the middle crying out for a sing-a-long. Following it up with the two shortest and most traditional-hardcore songs on the album was a good move.

When I was introduced to the band at college, my friend Steve loaned me his copy of this album and I recorded it onto a minidisc (that I still have somewhere). At the start of the second year of university I decided to blow a bunch of my student loan on a big order from Interpunk, a website I'd been stalking for a while realising I could fill some gaps in my The Paper Chase collection much more easily than I could by just relying on UK shops and eBay. I got a lot of great stuff, including End Transmission and an excellent Glassjaw t-shirt. I also took advantage of the ridiculous exchange rate and picked up this copy of The Unravelling to go along with my copy of Revolutions Per Minute. They'd released that third album by then, so I knew they were never going to be part of a bigger collection, but I wanted a copy nonetheless. Neither album gets a great deal of play these days, but they represent a certain period of time nicely. It's still a fun listen.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 16
Cost: £7.50 new
Bought: Interpunk
When: 06/11/04
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Songs: Ohia - The Magnolia Electric Co.

I've been slightly putting off writing about this record because I just don't think I can do it justice. In the five years I've had a copy, this album has continued to grow on me and I still find new parts I love with each listen. Whilst I consider The Lioness to be my favourite Jason Molina album, I think it's safe to say that Magnolia Electric Co is the greatest. If people ask me where to start, it's almost wrong to suggest anywhere other than here; sure, he has released some incredible albums aside from this, but this is surely the canonical Molina album. Both ends of his career are represented here as the turning point from Songs: Ohia to Magnolia Electric Co. Start here. Play the album over and over again. Fall in love with it.

The second Farewell Transmission starts I get shivers down my spine. I've heard so many covers of this song that it's become a treat to hear the original. If this album is the starting point, then it's pretty fitting that the first song people will hear is his most famous and one of his best. I'm sure some would say it's over-rated, but I think it gets the praise it deserves for very good reasons. It's a perfect moment spread across seven minutes. The transition from that into I've Been Riding With the Ghost is perfect too, with the ghostly backing vocals brilliantly at odds with the hints of country throughout. Just Be Simple rounds out the trio of opening songs, all of which have become fan-favourites. When the first three songs in row are all easy additions to a theoretical Greatest Hits album, you know you're listening to something special.

Side B starts off a bit strangely with country singer Lawrence Peters taking on the vocals on The Old Black Hen followed by Scout Niblet singing Peoria Lunch Box Blues. It possibly shows that Jason wasn't necessarily thinking at the time that this album would be the landmark or turning point it would become; who would make such a choice on an album that would be hailed (by me, at least) as his greatest? The demos show how the songs sound with Jason singing - his voice sounds different on The Old Black Hen, perhaps a sign that it made sense for someone else to sing it; his version of Peoria is nice, but Scout's vocals add so much to it. The studio version hints back to Jason's lo-fi days, but with some drums tastefully brought to the front of the mix.

After the quiet end of Peoria Lunch Box Blues, John Henry Split My Heart opens up with a bombastic riff, briefly giving way to a few bars of piano and the opening lines, before launching back into the huge sound of the intro. The demo holds very few clues that the studio version would hit so hard. The outro, reprising the lines of "Long dark blues", is another perfect moment. Hold On Magnolia is the gentle closer that no one knew the album needed. Part of me wonders how the album would feel if it and John Henry were swapped around - perhaps it would have been too much to go from Magnolia into that start of John Henry. It's a reflective ending, and feels like a goodbye for the Songs: Ohia of old before fully becoming Magnolia Electric Co. Maybe it would have felt too forced to have both opener and closer feature the same lines. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Jason's vocals are incredible on it either way.

There are moments throughout the album where you can hear Jason urging the other musicians on through the way he sings - halfway through Just Be Simple, towards the start of Almost Was Good Enough and, famously, at the end of Farewell Transmission. Much like with Ghost Tropic, you can picture them in the studio together at those exact moments, with Steve Albini doing some fine work behind the mixing desk.

You can dwell on the meanings of Jason's lyrics for endless amounts of time, but I've always found myself most strongly attached to individual lines - "Real truth is no one gets it right / Real truth is we're all supposed to try" and "I will be gone / But not forever" from Farewell Transmission (the latter the name I picked for my Jason Molina best-of I made for in the car - it was incredibly tricky boiling his work down to 80 minutes!). Also "If Heaven's really coming back / I hope it has a heart attack / When it sees how dangerous it is for guys like that", "Half I'm going to use to pay this band / Half I'm saving, cause I'm going to owe them" and "Hold on Magnolia" for its willing and repetition, but also when it's paired with "I think it's almost time". He was a great lyricist.

Anyway, I eventually bought a copy on my first trip to Truck Store in Oxford. I'd just accepted a job in the city and came up from London one Saturday morning to look at flats. Once I was done, I made the trip over to Truck to see what I was in for from what would become my new local record shop. I'd had a look at the website and knew that Karl, the guy who runs it, was a big Molina fan, so wasn't at all surprised to find a copy there that morning. Over the following years I filled a lot of gaps in my Molina collection there and have had some nice chats with Karl about them.

The reissue is lovely and much-needed - albums like this shouldn't be only available as second-hand first-pressings; they should be in every collection. William Schaff's artwork looks incredible and the demos, as mentioned, are not some fodder for the collectors, but fascinating alternative takes and nearly as important as the album itself. I was too late to get a copy with the bonus 10" (but will one day hunt one down), but luckily the mp3 download code includes the two songs from there. This is really very lucky because The Big Game is Every Night is another of Jason very finest songs. To think it was abandoned to be a Japanese bonus-track is mind-boggling. It's one of his longer songs, but feels effortless in its ability to keep your attention. It's a hidden gem in a career of countless gems.

A couple of years later I picked up a copy of the original cd pressing (in Amoeba Records) which also included the demos here, but with different names and in a different order - Farewell Transmission is called The Long Dark Blues (arguably a better name? Certainly a grander one),
I've Been Riding With the Ghost is I Made the Change and John Henry Split My Heart is You Can't Save Everything; Almost Was Good Enough is missing from both, but we have demos of Whip Poor Will (a song that would appear again years later on Josephine) and The Big Game is Every Night instead. I didn't know that they were the same demos when I bought it, but it makes sense that they would be, and I would have still bought it anyway.

I say this a lot, but I thoroughly and whole-heartedly recommend this album. No good record collection is complete without it.

Format: Double 12", gatefold, picture sleeves
Tracks: 17
Cost: £20 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 15/03/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone is Not Enough

I didn't go to my local record shop on Record store Day in 2017. I've written about it before (at length) and you can read that here, but the reasons were basically that I only really wanted a couple of records, and I couldn't bring myself to wait in the cold for 5 hours with the usual strangers who are all excited about records that I have no interest in; I visit record shops routinely and came to the conclusion that RSD isn't about people like me, and that's fine. If it keeps record shops open then I'm all for it. If there are no records I really want, then I will very happily stay in bed for as long as possible.

That said, there were three records I wanted in 2017 - Snapcase, Dirty Three and this Manics 12". My Manics collection hasn't always stayed up-to-date, but I'm back on it and this record had to get bought. As it happens, Send Away the Tigers represented the start of me drifting away from the band so I think I felt the need to over-compensate to make up for it.

In the ten years that followed, Your Love Alone is Not Enough has become something of a classic. I certainly get excited every time I hear them play it live. It wasn't clear that it would go that way when it came out - it's instantly very poppy, which runs the risk of feeling dated quickly. Ten years proved that not to be the case. The speed at which James and Nina begin harmonising still catches me off-guard, but I guess that's part of its charm. The chorus absolutely soars though and Nicky's lines are brilliantly unexpected every time, even though I know they're coming.

The b-sides are three demos, each different to the version that appeared on the reissue of the album. All three show the songs in different states, working backwards in arrangement and complexity to Nicky's very basic version. The first has James vocals dubbed over themselves instead of Nina, which is equally strange. James' demo is nice and simple, and Nicky's is interesting to hear how the song sounds at almost half the speed.

Anyway, I didn't buy a copy that cold April morning. However, my friend Sarah lives very near to Banquet Records and was able to grab a copy for me - they get in huge amounts of stock for RSD and often a good percentage of the stuff I'm after is still available after the queues have gone or in the following days. (I was able to get a copy of the Dirty Three record online a few weeks later too - Sarah wanted a copy for herself so couldn't buy me one of those). I took delivery of the record from her when we went to see Deftones in Alexandra Palace. This is number 1458 out of a few thousand I'm sure. There's not a great deal more to say about the release. It's a nice way to pay appropriate tribute to a enduringly great song though.

Format: 12", numbered #1458
Tracks: 4
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Sarah
When: 05/05/17
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Rope - Manteision Bodolaeth or the Perks of Being

I don't remember being blown away by this album the first time I heard it, nor do I remember the exact point I realised it was brilliant, but it happened sometime between March and December 2016; March was when I bought it and December was when I placed it at number 4 in my albums of the year list. I have distinct memories of being sat at my desk and thinking "I want to listen to that Rope album" and, more often, "I really want to play that Rope album again".

The reason I got into Rope was quite simple - I knew the singer, Kai, from my Cardiff days and have been listening to his various bands for many years. He was good friends with my old housemate Nicky, in a band and a regular at all the local punk shows. He was a few years younger than us so his enthusiasm definitely helped us get more excited about some shows. Plus, he had a car and would drive us back from Le Pub. The first band I heard he was doing after I left Cardiff wasn't a punk band but doom metal, which I was not expecting but enjoyed. They were called Hunger Artist, wrote a three-song 44-minute album and released only one cassette, which I duly bought. I liked the music that happened when Kai went metal.

Some years passed and I heard he was in a new band called Rope. The album came out at the start of 2016 and I bought a copy when I was in All Ages a short while later. I'd heard only two things about the album - it was heavy but pretentious. The first is certainly true, and based on the number of quotes, literally references and some of those song titles, I could see how someone would reach the other conclusion. I don't mind it - in fact, being a Manics fan means I've got quite used to seeing quotes all over album sleeves.

Regarding the heaviness, Rope are brilliantly slow and heavy. It's less metal than Hunger Artist, but the result is a sort of doom-Shellac - the songs are quite sparse and at times angular, but everything is played so slowly and thoughtfully; songs shift at unexpected times. Highlights are The Perks of Being (seamlessly blending in some sports commentary) and Crisis on Infinite Earth, although it's only six songs so you might as well listen to them all. The drums on Ignatius (A Plague of Dunces) are particularly excellent.

2018 brought around another Rope album, and another entry in the top half of my end of year list (at number 3). I'll write more about that one another time, but I thoroughly recommend checking both albums out.

Format: 12", insert, poster
Tracks: 6
Cost: £11 new
Bought: All Ages Records, London
When: 25/03/16
Colour: Clear
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Rumbleseat - Rumbleseat is Dead

If it seems that I'm constantly writing about Chuck Ragan albums, it's because I have a lot of them. I'm not 100% sure of the timeline, but I think Rumbleseat was the precursor to the solo Chuck Ragan albums, and stands up well against them. In fact, I'd consider it every bit as essential as his other studio albums.

The version of California Burritos here starts a little flat and underwhelming compared to the version that would end up on Feast or Famine, but improves as it goes on and ends up nearly on par (but, let's be honest, little can live up to that version of California Burritos, a song I still consider one of my all-time favourites). That acts nicely as a bridge into what would easily rank amongst the best Chuck solo songs, Cursing Concrete. If you're a fan but haven't heard this song, I recommend checking it out. It has a huge amount of power and a chorus that just soars. Whenever I finish listening to this album, that's the one stuck in my head.

Restless is awesome too - showing a softer side for the first time, but with a heavily strummed guitar (that song, as well as Jackson and Moonshiner make some of the best use of Chris and Samantha's voices). The other highlight here is Saturn in Crosshairs - Chuck's voice sounds incredible and peak-gruff-punk; the last line of each verse he brings it back just a bit so that the choruses hit that much harder. As well as some excellent originals, we also get four covers including two Johnny Cash and June Carter numbers (I have a Johnny Cash greatest hits album from back in the day, but haven't spent a great deal of time with his music).

If I remember correctly, this project started out as a bunch of 7" records that eventually got grouped together here after the band went their separate ways (I could easily Google this, but it doesn't look like I'm going to). I picked up this copy for a bargain £5.50 on eBay (including postage!). I tried to work out what pressing it was once, but pretty much all of them were some sort of grey marble like this one. I also bought the cd for £2 (bargains all round) a while later so that I could have mp3s of it, but as an added bonus it includes four demos and another untitled song, all entirely unlisted, which was a nice surprise.

Format: 12", silkscreened folded sleeve, insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £5.50 new
Bought: eBay
When: 27/10/07
Colour: Grey marble
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Kevin Devine - Live at St. Pancras Old Church

I very nearly went to the shows these songs were recorded at, but I didn't. What a thoroughly lame sentence. Years in the future, my children will be looking through my record collection and the best I'll be able to say about this one is "oh yeah, I nearly went to that, but didn't". My laziness knows no bounds.

Kevin Devine played three nights in St. Pancras Old Church in London, playing songs from his first four albums the first night, second four albums the next and then requests on third. It's a very cool idea and, I imagine, an incredible venue to see him play in. There are a bunch of reasons why I didn't get round to buying tickets or going, and here are the ones I can recall:

• To be honest, I was a bit torn about which night to go on. I know the second four albums better, but that's because I got into his music just after Brother's Blood came out. But that also means I've heard those songs live a bunch, so maybe the first night would have been better? Or go rogue and go to the third? I live in Oxford and going to London more than one night in a row is a pain. My indecision resulted in me going to none of them. 
• The August beforehand I saw Kevin Devine play in the All Saints Church in Kingston and it was awesome. I saw a few shows Banquet put on there and each was amazing. So not only had I seen Kevin recently play in a church, it was one I knew and liked (although possibly a less grand church? I've not been to St. Pancras Old Church so I can't say for sure). That show was incredible - Tellison supported and when Kevin asked for requests "Every Famous Last Word" came out of my mouth before I knew it; Kevin played it straight away and I smiled like a loon. It was a great moment. Perhaps I was worried these shows wouldn't live up to my expectations or memories.
• I'm just incredibly lazy. This is a recurring theme and if I checked how often that's come up in these blog posts I'd be horrified I'm sure. Probably not horrified enough to do anything about it though.

But, luckily, Big Scary Monsters put out an album from the shows, so I got to enjoy the audio at least. As an added bonus, they included another 17 songs as mp3s so we could all enjoy even more of the nights. It must have been hard to cut the highlights from so many great songs, so it's nice that we can still hear the others - some of my favourite songs didn't make the LP but are included there (Cotton Crush, Private First Class and She Stayed as Steam in particular).

As I mentioned above, I have so much time for the song Every Famous Last Word (and the album, for that matter) and the version here is great - appropriately slower and still excellent. It's a great example of the perfect use he makes of the echo in the building, although not quite as much as Brother's Blood - a song surely made for stepping away from the microphone and screaming into the air. Needless to say, the version of that song here is incredible. I used to watch the video of him singing it in Banquet Records on YouTube whenever I couldn't think what to watch; I now play this version.

A fair amount of chat between songs is included which adds a lot of flavour to them - the dangers of condemning war in Texas on No Time Flat and stories about his somewhat chequered past on Not Over You Yet and a couple of others in the mp3s. I'm a big fan of the artwork here too - simple representations of his eight albums, but choosing to represent them by their titles rather than the original artwork. It's a nice idea and luckily his album titles are quite distinctive, so it makes for a cool idea.

It goes without saying that anyone thinking about getting into Kevin's music would be wise to start here. Not only is this a great selection of songs (whilst still leaving plenty of highlights for further digging) it shows them in a spectacular setting and style. 

I really should have gone to these shows.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 13
Cost: £14 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters website
When: 07/03/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code