Restorations - Little Elephant Session

Tonight I should have been going to see Restorations play in London. They were playing the arse-end of London and the journey there and back from Oxford is a huge pain, but it was going to be worth it. I love Restorations; every time I've seen them play they put a huge smile on my face and I just can't get enough of them. Last time they played, I drove to Newport to see them and dragged some friends along too - the band commented they didn't know when they'd get a chance to play here again, and I worried it might be the last time I'd see them. When they announced their little tour I was so pleased. Bloody coronavirus. This show being cancelled, along with the Vile Creature and Bismuth show in the Black Heart, really hit the hardest. I miss live music, even if as a parent I don't get to go to anywhere near as many shows as I'd like in normal times.

To make up for not seeing Restorations, here are three live songs from their Little Elephant session in 2016. All are from the first half of LP3, an album I adore (number 4 in my albums of the year in 2014). A few years later I was on holiday (back when holidays were a thing) and I only had a few albums on my phone, and no iPod; LP3 was one of them and I played it to death. We'd not long found out we were expecting our first child and I remember sitting on the balcony one evening, reading my parenting book and listening to these songs. I think of that evening every time I hear Separate Songs.

All three songs are great examples of why I love this band so much - great, earnest rock songs with one moment where it all comes together into something absolutely huge - on Separate Songs it's around the lines "Imagine that focus in real life / Imagine going outside / Imagine not waiting for something to come along" (the middle line being very apt right now); on Tiny Prayers it all comes together around the lines "I don't know what's worse / No opinion or no thirst"; on Wales it's in the chorus (and the abrupt ending).

This is the only Little Elephant record I have, although I'd definitely buy more if the exchange rate wasn't so shitty and international post and customs so expensive. They've recorded a lot of great bands. The sound isn't great at the start of the record but soon clears up, so might just be this copy (each one is lathe-cut, which I don't really understand). I ordered this one from the band when they were selling off a bunch of stuff, I assume to fund the recording of LP5000. I also got the Jena Berlin album and 7" at the same time. I got stung on customs charges, so the whole lot proved expensive, but I'm glad to have this record in my collection. Right now I'm just happy to be listening to Restorations play live in any setting, even if it's just three songs and no way near as fun as singing along with a bunch of strangers in a bar in deepest south-east London.

Format: 12", one-sided, lathe-cut, hand-stamped and numbered (#35)
Tracks: 3
Cost: £22 new
Bought: Band's website
When: 03/08/17
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

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

Manic Street Preachers - Ocean Spray

Know Your Enemy represented, among other things, the era of the dance-remix-for-b-sides for the Manics. I can see why - they had a wide fan base at the time, and it made sense to take as many in-roads to other genres as possible, at least from the record label's perspective. I guess the band listened to and approved all these remixes, but I imagine most of them they could take or leave. (That said, the band had been dabbling in remixes from the start and had seen a fairly wide range from Everything Must Go onwards, although I dare say the quality there was somewhat better than here.)

This is a one-sided promo of the Medicine remix of Ocean Spray, which I found in a second hand record shop in Bournemouth for £5. It was a lot to spend for one song, especially a remix that I knew would probably be shit, but I was buying everything I could find by the band back then. The remix here is terrible. I mean, really bad. If it wasn't for the fact it says it on the sleeve, I'd barely be able to tell you it was a remix of a Manics song, let alone Ocean Spray. They appear to have sampled about 10 seconds of the original song and dicked around with it for what feels like an eternity. Really nothing to enjoy here at all; basically just another record sleeve on the shelf.

Format: 12", one-sided promo

Tracks: 1

Cost: £5 second hand

Bought: Bournemouth

When: 30/10/01

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Grappler - Callow

I got this 7" for free, which is always nice. I ordered the Gnarwolves Fun Club double 7" and, if I remember correctly, this 7" was a freebie to sweeten the deal as the double 7" was taking longer to come together than planned. Sounds about right. Not sure if everyone got the same record though.

I think in it's fullest form, this record has a screen-printed b-side and a sleeve. Mine has neither - I guess they had an excess of the 7" and didn't screen-print them all. It's also incredibly warped - I've tried the normal approaches to smooth it out, but with little luck and, eventually, a lack of desire to bother.

Grappler have the sound of a lot of post-hardcore bands of the early 2010's. If I closed my eyes, I could equally believe this was a Goodtime Boys record. It's a fine example of the genre, but ultimately it's a genre that I don't need to spend a whole lot of time listening to; I certainly don't feel the need to expand my collection beyond the few bands I've already tried. The first song, which Discogs tells me is the title-track, Callow, builds up for quite a while but, disappointingly, goes nowhere. It's quite exciting whilst it's building up though. Neon and Trials are much the same, but shorter, which feels like a shame because it was the things they did when trying to make a song last a whole three-and-a-half-minutes that did the most for me.

Format: One-sided 7"
Tracks: 3
Cost: £0 new
Bought: Internet
When: 20/05/13
Colour: Transparent green
Etching: none
mp3s: no

One Minute Silence - Revolution

In 2003 One Minute Silence released their follow-up to 2000's Buy Now... Saved Later, an album that was hugely popular amongst my friends and me. Quite a few months before the album coming out, they released the first single from it, Revolution, on a one-sided 10" with laser-etched b-side. I only had a couple of 10" records at the time and none of my records had any etching beyond text in the run-out groove. I really had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised to see the OMS logo on the reverse. I ordered this copy into my local HMV and remember asking so often whether it had arrived that they told me to stop asking and they'd phone when it finally arrived.

Revolution is one of the highlights of One Lie Fits All and has aged surprisingly well. I've listened to that album a few times in the last 10 years or so, and still get some enjoyment from it. The production was slick and the songs sounded great, which helped a lot - their particular segment of nu-metal could have easily sounded shit in 2017, but actually still kinda works. Or maybe it's just so steeped in nostalgia that I can't separate the two. I always really liked Revolution so it's hard to say if it's objectionably a good song, but I like it so that's all that really matters. I think people were put off by the slick sound of the album at the time, and you can kinda see why. But it's still a heavy song, and if you crank it up loud enough you can hear the bass line well enough to hear that.

After that we get We Bounce, a song that would eventually be an album track and another single, much closer to the album launch. It always did less for, but gets going after a slightly uneven opening. Finally there's a live recording of Holy Man one of the singles and highlights from the second album. Listening to it now brings back so many memories of going absolutely fucking mental in the pit at their shows, something we did almost routinely in our teen years. That breakdown in the middle makes me feel tired now thinking about how I used to throw myself around to it. My body definitely could not handle that anymore.

Format: One-sided 10", laser-etched b-side
Tracks: 3
Cost: £3.60 new
Bought: HMV Winchester
When: 03/02/03
Colour: Black
Etching: Band logo etched on b-side
mp3s: no

Apologies, I Have None - Black Everything

A few years ago Apologies, I Have None released their debut album, London. I was quite the fan - so much so, I picked it as my album of the year. Three and a half years later, I'm still a fan, although I don't listen to it quite as much as I used to - I know the songs very well. After that album, it felt like the band slipped on the momentum they'd built up. I remember a few line-up changes and a shows that all felt very different. I've increasingly realised that AIHN are something of a chameleon band - whatever bill they're on they'll sound like the bands they're playing with - whether it's punk with Calvinball and ONSIND, or metalcore with Pianos Become the Teeth.

Having seen them on that second bill above, with Pianos Become the Teeth and Touche Amore, it wasn't too much of a surprise to hear AIHN go dark and heavy on their follow-up EP, Black Everything. The opening track, Raging Through the Thick and Heavy Darkness of a Bloodlust, is brilliantly heavy and sounds nothing like London, a comment I mean in the best possible way. It wasn't what I'd come to expect from the band, but I enjoyed it. The chorus is pure sludge. With a title like that, there was no way the song couldn't sound the way it does. The only problem was that it was the only song that sounded that way. The other three songs couldn't stand up to the beast that is ...Bloodlust - Two Bombs in a Box in particular always pains me as a way to follow on; the intro feels strangely triumphant (given the previous song) and grates a little. It's also something that came across live for a while - I remember seeing them at the Dead Punk All-Dayer and the first song sounding very different to the rest. It's settled these days, especially with their new album. The other two songs are both fine.

I was very excited to get the new EP, having enjoyed the album so much, and ordered a copy to pick up from Banquet. The artwork - or lack thereof - is nothing to get excited about but the 12" is one-sided with lyrics printed on the reverse - the only place where there are any words at all other than the sticker on the sleeve. It certainly fits the theme of the EP. The internet tells me that it was supposed to be black lettering but a mistake mean it ended up being bright white, which is a hilarious mistake all considering.

Format: One-sided 12"
Tracks: 5
Cost: £9 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 24/05/14
Colour: Black
Etching: Screen-printed lyrics
mp3s: Download code

The Arteries - Restless

Last weekend marked the return of The Arteries after a number of years without playing any shows. They played the Deadpunk all-dayer in Bristol which I've been going to every year for a few years now. It's always a good day, but the presence of The Arteries was reason alone to make the trip. There were loads of bands I love on the bill, but I was most excited to see The Arteries. I used to see them all the time when I lived in Cardiff and they seemed to be on a fast rise.

Three years ago in March, only a few days apart, I saw them for the last time (before last Saturday) and they released their last-so-far record Restless, a 6-song EP. I've been listening to The Arteries since the Sweat EP and I've been excited for every release since. Their style of punk is fast, energetic and quite unlike most of the other punk bands from South Wales. Restless does everything I want from an Arteries record and my only complaint is that six songs is too few, especially if they were planning to tide me over for three years.

It was fantastic seeing them play live again and I'd totally forgotten just how much I love them. It might have been a particular treat given their long-hiatus, but the set hit all of the classics from Blood, Sweat and Beers and everybody seemed very pleased to hear them; I know I wasn't the only one for whom they were the highlight of the day. I've spent most of the last week playing their records and it has been a very good week indeed.

All of this begs the question: are The Arteries back or was this just a one-off treat? I really hope the former. I imagine they might not have decided themselves yet (and I hope the warm reception on Saturday was enough to convince them). I really hope they're planning to play and release more - my main conclusion after last Saturday is that the world is definitely much more enjoyable with The Arteries in it.

Format: One-sided 12", etched
Tracks: 6
Cost: £9.80 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 18/03/13
Colour: Black
Etching: etched image on b-side
mp3s: no

Thursday - Five Stories Falling

It's now been long enough since Full Collapse came out that we can all agree that it is amongst the finest albums of the 2000's. It was great at the time, but I'm pleased to see how well it has aged. I still listen to it regularly and have very fond memories of the time I saw them play it in full (and the excitement and joy I felt when they casually mentioned that they were going to be playing it in full that night).

This EP contains four live songs from Full Collapse and one new song, Jet Black New Year. As a huge fan of Full Collapse and these songs in particular (especially Understanding in a Car Crash and Paris in Flames), I'm happy to have these live versions. The introduction to Standing On the Edge of Summer reminds you just how many Thursday songs are about people Geoff Rickley knows who have died. The band have essentially broken up (but are playing a show this year?) so it's nice to have a live document of the band.

Jet Black New Year is one of the best songs the band wrote and I know I'm not alone in thinking that. In the albums that followed Full Collapse I remember people often using the phrase "the best thing they've done since Jet Black New Year". It's certainly one of their heavier songs and the lyrics are great, especially the countdown at the end. The insert with the record contains five stories - one from each band member about new year, except for the last which is about the recording and tension in the band at the time. I can see the tension in the song, but the song is all the better for it; the anger works for them.

I always thought it was strange to pair up one of their best songs with four live recordings rather than any other new songs, like you'd normally find on an EP. By the sounds of it, the band only just managed to record this one song, so perhaps the pressure to record any more to go with it just then would have been too much. I'm glad that the song exists in some form. This is the original vinyl pressing of the EP, which has different artwork to the cd and recent re-press. The sleeve is a folded bit of cardboard as a lot of the Victory Records releases were at the time. The a4 insert is numbered out of 2000 (mine is #1015) and the vinyl is one-sided clear vinyl. One-sided clear vinyl is the strangest thing, because you can see the groves on the other side but feel how flat the b-side is. I've tried to photograph it below, but it doesn't come out in the picture.

Format: One-sided 12", a4 insert, numbered (#1015/2000)
Tracks: 5
Cost: £11.50 new
Bought: eBay
When: 23/03/04
Colour: Clear
Etching: none
mp3s: no