For a long time, and partly because of that cd, I couldn't really distinguish between the two albums (maybe it's just because I've not been driving so much recently, I couldn't even tell you which is first on there). I don't mean that to be a bad thing - both are incredible albums, truly unique together - by which I mean I have nothing else that sounds like this, which itself is a shame. A lot of bands can only strive to write two excellent albums then break up.
It strikes me as strange that I can't tell them apart better, especially considering that I bought Right Now You're in the Best of Hands back in 2012, and a full three years passed before I finally got Terrorhawk. I got the reissue of Right Now that Big Scary Monsters put out and eventually loved it - it was a bit of a slow-burn at first, because I don't think I was listening to it loud enough. I remember thinking that it'd be nice to have Terrorhawk on vinyl too, but didn't fancy paying the second-hand prices it was going for; in the end I decided I'd be happy enough to just have it on cd, and then picked up a copy for very little on eBay (during a short-lived period of buying very cheap second cds on there). I paid £1.83 for it, a bargain for sure. (I think sometime between those two events, I found a cheap copy of Right Now on cd in San Francisco, but gave it to my friend Sarah after copying the mp3s - she described it as sounding "like Hundred Reasons", a comment I still think a lot about - what was she hearing?)
A while later the two albums got re-issued together as a double vinyl, and I ended up picking one up from Specialist Subject. The last year I subscribed to their year-long subscription they ended up releasing fewer records than expected, so gave everyone a voucher at the end of the year. I'd already decided against renewing for the next year (breaking a very long run of subscriptions) as they were drifting further away from the music I was into (or I was drifting further away from the music they were releasing), so I put it towards this pair of albums. I hadn't even noticed they'd had it stock before that point. There are more interesting colours out there, but this is just the plain black version. To add to my confusion between the albums, the sleeve lists Right Now as LP01 and Terrorhawk as LP02, but Right Now plays on sides C and D, and Terrorhawk on sides A and B (the matrix numbers suggest that the labels aren't wrong too). I began making notes about the wrong album when I first started writing this.
However, I have now firmly come to the conclusion that Terrorhawk is my favourite - over those 15 songs there are so many huge, huge moments and brilliant songs. They manage to write incredible fast songs (like 5, 6 Kids) and equally incredible slow songs (like Song About Old Roller Coaster), which is quite a skill. But the real gem of Terrorhawk is the pairing of The Great Dinosaurs With Fifties Section and Baranga Embankment on the first side - the former starts off so strongly and builds to a truly mammoth ending, and the latter brings in horns and keys perfectly and is so wonderfully slow. When those two hit, I always think "yeah, this is my favourite of the two".
But Right Now can't be faulted - Ma Jolie has one of those rare moments you can actually sing along to, and I love the "yo yo yo" breakdown in The Employees. The lines "Pull yourself out of the gutter, motherfucker" in Broken Dog Leg are another great moment. This pressing doesn't have the bonus tracks that a lot of others include - to be honest, I'd forgotten my BSM-reissue did have the extra songs.
Format: Double 12"
Tracks: 27
Cost: £29.75 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records website
When: 21/11/18
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
