Rocket From the Crypt - Shy Fly

A few weeks before Rocket From the Crypt played London last December, a friend sent me a picture of an article she'd seen in the paper saying that Rocket were going to be releasing a tour 7" for each date of their UK tour, each one a cover of a band from that city. Once I saw that, I knew I'd be buying this 7" regardless of what was on it. We got to the gig nice and early (to see The Computers, an excellent choice for a support act) and swung by the merch stand first to get the tour 7". At £5, it's pretty much the most I'm willing to pay for a 7" (especially given that it only has one song) but it's a very nice record to have. Nice one-sided green vinyl, and the sleeve is printed onto a paper sleeve with the title of the song stamped on the relevant part of the UK.

The London band they choose to cover is Status Quo, a band who I've never consciously sought out but I certainly know many songs by. I can't say I've heard the original version of Shy Fly, to the extent that I had to Google it when I got home to find out who it was by. There are plenty of other bands from London I'd sooner hear Rocket cover, but they do an excellent job with this one - the chorus is huge and the piano in the background adds so much. It's a pretty catchy tune and Rocket make it sound like it could be one of their own.

Format: One-sided 7", printed paperr sleeve
Tracks: 1
Cost: £5 new
Bought: gig
When: 06/12/13
Colour: Green
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Rocket From the Crypt - Live From Camp X-Ray

Have you ever seen a more appropriately coloured vinyl than this? Squint your eyes and those black streaks on the vinyl look exactly like the forks on the cover. I heard this one was getting a reissue for Record Store Day 2013 and figured it would be a nice one to have. Sadly, very few copies made it across the Atlantic and I went without. When pictures of that brilliant splatter vinyl started appearing on the internet I was especially gutted.

Fast forward to December 2013 and Rocket From the Crypt were playing their first London show since their reunion and I was very excited to be going. I managed to get into RFTC after they broke up and had to made do with the live DVD of their last show all those years. Looking back at festival line-ups from my youth, they'd played a bunch of times but I'd consistently missed them (meaning that December show would also make up for some bad choices in the past). Anyway, the show was incredible and I had an awesome time. At the merch stall, as well as their tour-only 7" (which I'll write about another time) they had copies of Live From Camp X-Ray and Group Sounds on the same coloured vinyl as had appeared on RSD. I don't know whether these are identical to the RSD version, extra stock or further represses but I jumped at the chance to get them. I only had enough cash for one, so I opted for Camp X-Ray; it's partly for the reasons beneath but partly for that incredible coloured vinyl.

Live From Camp X-Ray was my first RFTC album (in a shockingly late 2007). I was in Paris just after new year and stumbled into the giant Virgin Megastore on the day their January sale was starting. The bargains were ridiculous - boxes on cds and records everywhere and pretty much everything was 5€ (about £3.35 at the time). I left with 15 cds and records that day. I hadn't planned to go record shopping but, as is often the case, the record shopping found me. One of those cds was Camp X-Ray. I enjoyed the album and found myself wishing I hadn't taken so long to get into RFTC. Better late than never. Highlights are I'm Not Invisible, I Wanna Know What I Wanna Know and Too Many Balls (even if the way the song ends always bothered me). Annoyingly, there's a loud pop during Bring Us Bullets and I'm not sure if that's on every copy or just mine. Still, it's nice to have this one on vinyl, even more-so such a well-coloured vinyl.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £15 new
Bought: gig
When: 06/12/13
Colour: Transparent orange with black and white splatter
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Rocket From the Crypt - Paint as a Fragrance

I bought this record from Hugh. I imagine it was one of those many times when he was selling off half his record collection to pay a bill (not that this is a place to discuss his finances). All I can really remember was that it was while we were living in Cardiff. I think he'd bought it not that long before, possibly from Kai, possibly with a whole bunch of other records. Anyway, there's no particularly exciting story to go with it. I'd got the live album R.I.P. for Christmas and the song Velvet Touch caught my ear. I think that's probably why I ended up buying it from Hugh.

The record isn't in great condition, but I imagine its had at least four owners, possibly even more since its been knocking around since 1991. The sleeve is looking fairly healthy all considering. If it ever had an insert, in doesn't anymore. The first side pops and crackles in that way that people love, but actually kinda makes them wish the record had been taken better care of.

Musically, its got some tunes (French Guy, Velvet Touch, Stinker). If it was a cd I'd skip Basturds pretty much everytime. That song does nothing for me. And it is very different to their later albums. I don't know Circa Now except for a couple of songs, but Hot Charity and Scream Dracula Scream are certainly a change (although awesome in their own way - I remember when On a Rope came out. I was only 10 at the time and my sister wanted to buy the single but didn't in the end because it was only on cd and we couldn't play those in the car. I still love that song. A couple of years back they played it a silent disco I was at to the great joy of my friends and I. I should probably stop ranting about On a Rope, but I don't have any other RFTC vinyl, so this is my only chance to do so. Massive tune).

It's another short record. In fact they all have been so far. At some point I'm going to have to make some time to sit down with some of the double and triple (and the one quadruple and one quintuple) LPs I have. Not this week though. I don't have the time. Unfortunately.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £7 second hand
Bought: Hugh
When: 01/04/09
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: no