Billy Talent - Fallen Leaves

I wrote about Billy Talent a few years ago with this post about a shaped-7" of Devil in the Midnight Mass. They were never a band I was hugely into, but I do seem to have a lot of their 7" records (three, to be precise). I'd enjoyed Try Honesty from their first album (which I eventually bought, around the time the second one was out) and found myself buying all the singles from the second, despite never hearing the full album.

Fallen Leaves was the third and, thus, the last I bought. I think I knew by this point that I wasn't going to be a huge fan of the band, but it was £1 and I enjoyed the clear picture disc. I found this around the time it was released in my local HMV, a few weeks after buying the shaped picture disc in Paris. The song is catchy enough but a little repetitive. The b-side is a live recording of the same song (lame) from MTV, but sounds terrible. I know picture discs aren't known for their quality, but this is really bad. Still, you can't argue with that price.

Format: 7", picture disc, insert
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1 new
Bought: HMV Lancaster
When: 19/02/07
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Billy Talent - Red Flag

Red Flag was the first Billy Talent release I bought. A few of the singles from their first album had been plastered across MTV a summer or two beforehand, so I knew the name and knew what they sounded like. About a month after buying this, I bought a cheap copy of their debut album. I never heard any of the subsequent albums.

Red Flag has a huge chorus, as you'd expect from the band, but the extent to which I find the singer's voice annoying was stretched on this song. I knew what I was getting into, so that's on me really. The b-side is a demo of what I assume is an album track. It's an ok song, but only a fraction as catchy as the single itself. I went on to buy a few more singles from the second album, but I think they were never really going to be a band for me, so that's about where I left it; everything I own by them was bought within a five-month period, after which I was done. That says a lot.

Format: 7", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1 new
Bought: HMV, Winchester
When: 11/09/06
Colour: Red
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Billy Talent - Devil in the Midnight Mass

Billy Talent aren't the coolest band (unless you're German, they love 'em) but they had some catchy tunes and this record is quite fun. I found this in the massive Virgin Megastore in Paris whilst killing time and buying way more cds than I expected (their January sale was really quite incredible). It ended up being about £2, which is pretty good for a shaped vinyl. The main bit of this record is about 7"s across, hence why I'm including it today. Shaped records always seem like a throw-back from the 80's, which I guess is why no one does them anymore. I suppose they're expensive to make, but I reckon for the right bands kids will go mad for them (maybe they are still about, but I just don't see many of them these days).

The a-side is alright, their usual high-pitched shouty style. They had a handful of tunes and I bought their first album back in the day, but remember being disappointed by the non-singles. The b-side however, is much more enjoyable; they cover Ever Fallen in Love  by The Buzzcocks, and it works well. A straight-up cover, but his vocal goes quite well with it.

The hole in the center of the record is ever-so-slightly too small, making it a real hard effort to turn over. The moral might be to leave it on the second side and not bother, but then you might as well just listen to The Buzzcocks. A fun record, but rarely listened to and far from essential.


Format: 7" devil's-head-shaped vinyl
Tracks: 2
Cost: £2 new
Bought: Virgin, Paris
When: 10/01/07
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: no
mp3s: no