Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

I got this 7" for a free in the same dirty hold-all of old records that yielded Burn to Run, Legend and Marvin Gaye's Anthology. I decided to take this one because it's just a really, really great pop song. I don't think anyone can argue otherwise. It's perfect pop, and sometimes that is something to be enjoyed. I suspect this 7" exists in a huge percentage of record collections from the 80's, since everyone bought this single. The b-side, Feed the World, is just a lot of the stars leaving voicemails saying Merry Christmas, which is a bit strange, but ok I guess.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: free second hand
Bought: Gunnar's attic
When: 25/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Marvin Gaye - Anthology

I'll be the first to admit that, when compared to the full range of recorded music since records were created, my record collection is far from eclectic; the vast majority can described as white dudes playing guitars between 1990 and now. It's not intentional, but those just seem to be the records I buy mostly. And (very importantly), that's not to say that there certainly isn't room for music by people who don't fit into that category. But, ultimately, I like rock music, and a lot of rock bands fall into that category for whatever reasons.

I dabble in other genres but that dabbling rarely goes deep - I guess I just don't like other genres to feel the need to dig as deeply as I do for post-90's guitar music. I also don't feel I have enough knowledge to discern good from bad in most other genres. Anyway, there are some records in my collection that most people would agree are out of place given the rest of it. This is one such record.

I own Marvin Gaye's Anthology because I was given it for free in a hold-all of records my old colleague Gunnar found in the attic of the repossessed house he'd bought (the same hold-all of records that I got Born to Run and Bob Marley's Legend). I'm not exaggerating when I say he literally dragged this filthy hold-all of LPs into work, dumped them next to my desk and let me have a rummage. There wasn't a great deal I wanted in there, although I do sometimes wonder if there any hidden gems in there I wasn't aware of at the time. After I'd taken the few of interest, the rest went to a charity shop (I think) and the hold-all went in the bin (I hope).

I don't know what caused me to take this one home with me. I had a couple of covers of What's Going On, and Let's Get it On and I Heard it Through the Grapevine are just songs that everyone knows are classics. A few things to note about this album:

• It's impossible not to enjoy these songs, pretty much regardless of what music you like. They're just great pop songs. Even that strange one about an onion.
• It's a really long album. I've never known so many songs squeezed onto four sides of vinyl.
• The strangest thing about this record, by a long margin, is something I have never seen before or since - sides 1 and 3 are on the same disc, and 2 and 4 are on the other. That's crazy, right? Is that so I can have the other record queued up on my other turntable for a seamless listening experience? If so, it's a real shame that I only have one turntable (in this room).
• You is a really great song. That one really stood out.

Format: Double 12", gatefold
Tracks: 33
Cost: free second hand
Bought: Gunnar's attic
When: 25/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Cheap Girls - My Roaring 20's

I often forget about Cheap Girls. So much so that I forgot to buy their other albums, which is a shame because I'd probably have enjoyed them. As is so often the way, this LP didn't come with mp3s so I've really not played it as much as I would have if it did; it's definitely the sort of album I'd put on if I scrolled past it on my iPod. According to Discogs, it should have come with a cd of the songs, but mine didn't - that means it probably got wedged into the behind-the-counter sleeve in Banquet, and potentially thrown in with whoever bought the record that got in there next. I hope that person enjoyed it.

I saw Cheap Girls a handful of times and picked this album up in Banquet shortly before their tour with Lemuria came through Kingston. They were already one of those names you just knew - they'd done a split with Above Them and another with Failures' Union, so I was pleased they were touring and I was looking forward to seeing them. I enjoyed them both on record and live. The tour with Lemuria inexplicably came back through Kingston a week later on the same night that Touche Amore and La Dispute played The Fighting Cocks - Lemuria and Cheap Girls played the Hippodrome later on and I think the entry was free having been to the other show. It was a great night (although I'll probably never forget how annoying it was to watch Touche Amore with the house lights on). Those were definitely the golden days of living in Kingston (part of my roaring 20's) - being able to walk home after seeing two gigs of great bands in one night is something I can't imagine happening again.

Cheap Girls play fairly inoffensive, Lemonheads-styled punk-rock, but the singer's distinctive and unique voice is the highlight. There are some nice, memorable songs (in spite of the lack of plays) - Ft. Lauderdale, Hey, Hey, I'm Worn Out and All My Clean Friends - but it's mainly about the general warm feeling you get from their sound. There are similarities to Failures' Union for sure (although I'd say they probably had more songs).

If I saw their other records in shops as often as I used to in 2011 I'd definitely buy them, but that just doesn't happen anymore. Maybe I'm just going to the wrong shops.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £8.25 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 21/06/11
Colour: Pink with white splatter
Etching: no
mp3s: no

William Elliott Whitmore - Animals in the Dark

Animals in the Dark was the first William Elliott Whitmore after released after his "Black trilogy" (as I've heard them referred to) of Hymns For the Hopeless, Ashes to Dust and Song of the Blackbird. Mutiny, the opening song here, immediately sets the album apart with a song that sounds like nothing on those earlier albums - comprising just (gang-)vocals and drums, it was very unexpected when I first heard it, but I loved it. Will's voice is one of my favourites and it works so well against the sparse drums. The outro of "He don't need no water / Let the motherfucker burn" was a surprise too, although tainted by the fact that most people (myself included) know the lines from shitty nu-metal songs around the turn of the century.

After that, we settle back into more familiar WEW territory, but with smaller twists - Johnny Law leans heavily into traditional country and Old Devils builds gradually in speed throughout (and is a highlight for it). The best songs are the ones that would have fit onto any of the previous albums (although that's not necessarily why they're the best songs) - Who Stole the Soul is slow and haunting, Hell or High Water is lovely in the usual Will Whitmore way, and There's Hope For You is uplifting and positive, in a way.

The album ends with A Good Day to Die, which is another lovely song but, if I'm being honest, a bit of a downer. I remember playing this album in the car in Florida as we got near to Gainesville for Fest and Sarah pressing eject somewhere towards the end of the song - she wasn't enjoying it and felt that Will had already expressed his opinion on whether or not today was a good day to die enough times already. My attempts to make her a fan of Will's work clearly didn't work.

I picked this copy up in Spillers just after it was released. 2008 was my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year and I'd only been in once in 2009 before I went in to get this in March; it wasn't intentional, I don't think, it's just that if I wasn't forcing myself to go I tended to be lazy and not go.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 18/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Gameface + Errortype:11 - What's Up Bro?

Errortype:11 were a name I knew because some of the members ended up in a band called Instruction with one of the guys from Quicksand. Instruction supported Hundred Reasons in a great, sweaty gig we saw in the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth in 2003 and mainly made an impression because they had the guy from Quicksand in, and I was (and still am) a big Quicksand fan. A year and a bit later I picked up their album God Doesn't Care and enjoyed about half of it.

Some years later, I found this in Damaged Records and picked it up because I was in a mood for spending money and not really finding much I wanted (I also got a record by The Sainte Catherines, which is equally an outlier in my collection). Gameface are a band I know literally nothing about, other than they did a split with Errortype:11. Their songs are fine I guess, but the crazy catchy hook in the Tom Petty song they do is the only really memorable part of their side (which I guess isn't a great review). It also ends with a pointlessly long drunk phone-call recording, for some reason. Who thought that was a good thing to put on the record, I don't know.

The Errortype:11 songs are nice, but sound appalling; so much so I was just checking my needle to make sure it wasn't broken. Maybe it's jut a bad pressing. I'm no audiophile, but it is hard to enjoy the songs when they sound so flat. I'm guessing the singer was in Instruction, because the vocals are very familiar from that record. Musically, they're a bit more upbeat, which works. They also offer a cover - I Got You by Split Enz - another song I don't know, but is catchy enough. I didn't need this record, but for £6 you can't really complain.

Format: 10", insert
Tracks: 6
Cost: £6 new
Bought: Damaged Records, Cardiff
When: 22/08/09
Colour: Orange
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Descendents - Milo Goes to College

Part of the reason I bought a copy of Milo Goes to College is because it's one of those records people just own, pretty much regardless of how they actually feel about the Descendents. It was also the first record in what would become the monthly-record-from-Damaged year, a companion to my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year, which only really came about because we kept going into Damaged on a Saturday and I felt bad that we'd just chat to Welly for a while and buy nothing. I used those Saturdays to dig deeper into a lot of the 80's punk bands that were so influential and that I was reading about in Our Band Could Be Your Life. Descendents only ticked the first box, but this was a record I'd known about for years, so figured I should pick up.

I don't love the Descendents, but do enjoy what they do. There are some great moments across these 16 songs - Parents, I'm Not a Punk, Suburban Home and Jean is Dead all have huge choruses. And by huge, I mean really wonderful choruses. Their ability to writing such a soaring chorus is really the best thing about this album. Hope is basically a whole song of such moments. I particularly remember putting this album whilst walking around the Statue of Liberty when I was in New York a few months later, just for the song Statue of Liberty; it was a pretty nice moment.

I saw the Descendents twice, and the first time remains one of the worst concerts I've ever seen. I'm not sure I've written about it on here before (can't think why I would have) so here goes. In the April of 2011 Descendents were playing a handful of shows for the first time in a very long time and a lot of people were extremely excited, in particular all of the punks I'd got to know in Cardiff. I was living in London by this point, so figured the shows would be a good chance to see a lot of familiar faces. They sold out pretty quickly, but I managed to grab a ticket on the day from some friend of a friend. It seemed that most of Cardiff had spent the afternoon drinking and smoking on the park into front of Shepherd's Bush Empire and I remember vividly walking through the mess and smell, seeing people we knew and looking forward to the show.

Annoyingly, the ticket was for the first floor area of the venue, but it was more annoying when we realised that Hugh and Chris (who were staying with me that night) had tickets for the third floor. In a story that I feel should have (if it hasn't already) gone down in history, Hugh and Chris managed to smuggle their way onto the second floor when the guy on the door wasn't looking, and I stood at the very front of the first floor, climbed up on the barrier and passed my first floor ticket up to Hugh, so he could come down, give it back to me and then pass it back up to Chris. From the front right balcony of Shepherd's Bush Empire we watched a car crash of a show.

Milo had lost his voice, and quickly became frustrated with his inability to sing songs. From where we were stood, we could see that the front few rows of the ground floor were still having a good time, but the rest of the audience wasn't enjoying it. After just a few songs, Milo threw his mic to the ground and stormed off the stage. The rest of the band weren't sure what to do, went off stage for a bit, came back and did a variety of All songs, Black Flag covers and Descendents songs with singers from the support bands helping out. It was painful to watch and far from enjoyable (but also one of the best Black Flag tribute sets I've seen). I remember Chris reading out some of the best tweets about the show on the train back to my house.

They were due to play again the next night and my brother-in-law's band were (inexplicably) supporting, but stories of how bad the show was began to spread and by early afternoon the show was cancelled. I think Si's band had already begun their journey down from Birmingham, so managed to find another show to jump on somewhere else in the city. I saw the Descendents play a very good show at Reading Festival just four months later. It would have been easy to skip it based on the show we saw, but I was keen to give them another chance and it paid off - they were great fun. However, no matter how great they were, it'll never take away from my main memory of the Descendents being that horrific show in Shepherd's Bush.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 16
Cost: £9.75 new
Bought: Damaged Records, Cardiff
When: 02/02/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Hot Water Music - Never Ender

I consider myself a fairly big Hot Water Music fan, but my ability to remember which order their albums came out in, or which one is which (other than Fuel, Flight and Caution) is shockingly bad. Never Ender was, apparently, the third HWM album I got, after the three I just mentioned (in reverse order). I had no idea I'd started so strong, nor did I know that my fourth album would be a collection of songs from 7"s and not a traditional album; you'd definitely not know by just looking at the sleeve, which was all I had to go on that Saturday in Damaged.

I like Never Ender, but it doesn't get a huge amount of play. As is my usual excuse, I don't have mp3s for the album, but on top of that I couldn't tell you which HWM albums I do and don't have digital copies of, so it doesn't immediately jump out at me when I'm browsing my records as one I should give more time. Still, it's a nice album - I doubt I'll ever reach a point where I'm seeking out all the HWM 7"s and splits, so I'd probably not have heard these songs otherwise.

The first two songs are from the Alachua 7" from 1997, but aren't quite as heavy as their sound on Fuel for the Hate Game, despite being from around the same time (the two songs from the You Can Take the Boy Out of Bradenton 7" have a lot more in common with that album). Both of the title tracks from those 7"s are great and have that perfect mix of huge HWM choruses and both Chuck and Chris singing completely unintelligible lyrics at the same time. Sandwiched between those 7"s are the songs from two splits - The Bitter End is a particularly great song, and sounds like The Loved Ones tried to steal it entirely for the title track of Build & Burn.

Apparently Elektra and Things on a Dashboard are on an 8" record, which I'm quite tempted to try to pick up just for the unusual size (I wonder if there are many 11" records around?). The final four songs are from the Push for Coin cassette from 1995, which are excellent given that they must be some of the first songs they recorded.

I, of course, have no idea what colour this record is. Based on the variants they pressed of it in 2008 (when I bought it), and a rough idea of colours, I'm going to say this is the "pink mix", which is apparently one of 131 in that colour from that pressing. It's pointless getting excited about any particular colour of any particular pressing because there are so many variations it all basically becomes the same. (Update: I asked my wife and she reckons it's the "dark purple with pink", but there were only 9 pressed in that colour, so it seems too unlikely. But I guess someone has to own them.)

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £9 new
Bought: Damaged Records, Cardiff
When: 25/10/08
Colour: Pink mix
Etching: none
mp3s: none