Attack in Black - The First and Second Efforts of a Band That Died Before You Could Kill Them

 

I have a strange relationship with eBay these days. I don't use it much, and when I do it's almost entirely buying Manic Street Preachers or Jason Molina records. But sometimes I just browse it a bit when I'm bored, and type in the names of bands that pop into my mind whose records I might like to buy. I still long to own a copy of Attack in Black's Marriages LP on vinyl (any version will do, and there have been some nice reissues since the original that I didn't buy when we saw them blow us away supporting Far in TJ's), so I mindlessly typed their name into the search bar one evening. Somewhere near the top of the results was this LP which I don't think I was even aware of, and for only £8 (£10.35 with postage). I put in a-slightly-over-starting-bid offer and waited until the clock ran out.

The record is, as the title describes, the first two releases from the band pressed onto one (45rpm) record - their 2005 debut, self-titled EP and the 2006 Widows EP that preceded Marriages. Apparently there are 750 copies in total, and only 200 on yellow, so I was lucky to find a copy at all, let alone for just over a tenner.

I have a copy of the debut EP from a trip I took to Canada in the spring after I'd seen them in Newport (they were touring, but the dates didn't work with our trip around the east of the country, which is a shame). I found a record shop in Toronto called Criminal Records and bought a lot of music, including two Attack in Black LPs and the debut EP on cd (the only format it was released on). Later that same day, I found a copy of Hum's You'd Prefer an Astronaut on cd; it was a good day. When I got back to Cardiff I popped the cd in and was amazed to hear five scrappy hardcore punk songs thrashed out in under 15-minutes. In hindsight, the inclusion of a cover of Depression by Black Flag should have been a clue, but I definitely expected them to be doing it more in the style of the band I knew from Marriages (as it turns out, it is very faithful to the original). I'd already been caught off-guard by their change in sound between Marriages and The Curve of the Earth, so hearing their hardcore beginnings added to a ridiculously fast change in style. We saw and listened to a lot of hardcore bands when I was in Cardiff, and this version of Attack in Black sounded like pretty much every band we were into at the time. But there were hints of the melody they'd eventually find in the choruses.

I'd not heard Widows before getting this record, but was very familiar with the songs Broken Things and The Love Between You and I from my over-playing of Marriages over the years. However, these recordings are different, and different enough to make the arc from the debut EP to Marriages more understandable. Broken Things is one of my favourite songs (in general, not just by the band), and this version is a bit looser, a bit thrasher in places and feels less polished (in a good way). The bare drums and group vocals in the chorus are every bit as perfect as they are on the later version. Something about the guitars in The Love Between You and I have much more in common with the debut than the album version. Similarly, there's a hint to the vocals that's a bit more hardcore, despite the fact that Daniel's signing is actually singing now. The link between the two eras is much clearer on the other two songs, Cut and Run and 1950, which both would have been the least hardcore thing on the debut, but not sounded out of place - the hints of melody almost doing battle with the older style within the songs themselves. It's nice when those linking pieces fall into place and you can see better how a band's sound developed. If I'd heard this before the debut, I wouldn't have been quite so surprised putting that cd into my player back in 2009.

Format: 12", numbered (50/200)

Tracks: 9

Cost: £10.35 new

Bought: eBay

When: 16/01/21

Colour: Transparent yellow

Etching: none

mp3s: none

Fugazi - 3 Songs

A little while ago I realised I was within striking distance of completing my Fugazi collection - I had all the albums on some format and was just missing Margin Walker. When I picked that up from Specialist Subject, I also picked up The Argument and Instrument on vinyl, meaning the only outstanding release was the 3 Songs 7". Of course, I'd had the three songs themselves since 2005, tacked onto the end of the Repeater cd, an album I loved so much I got the cd two years after buying the vinyl just so I could listen to it on my mp3 player. So I know these three songs very well.

Still, in October 2019, just after the package arrived from Specialist Subject I went on eBay and bought the first reasonably priced copy of this I saw (at £4.50, it's not far off the £6 I spent on my vinyl copy of Repeater). The internet has made record collecting far less exciting for sure, but it's still nice to put that final piece of the puzzle in. These three songs are deserving of their own 7" (something that isn't universally true) - Song Number One is huge, and would easily fit on a best-of Fugazi, if such a thing existed (which it does in my car, and indeed is on there). The bass at the start of Joe Number One sounds amazing, as does the piano. I've never really had much time for it on the end of Repeater, but when you sit down and properly listen to it, it’s great. And finally Break In is just frantic. In just seven-and-a-half minutes, you have a perfect slice of Fugazi.

Format: 7", picture sleeve, insert
Tracks: 3
Cost: £4.50 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 16/10/19
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Manic Street Preachers + The Laurens - UK Channel Boredom / I Don't Know What the Trouble Is

In March 1990 the Manic Street Preachers released their second 7", a split flexi-disc attached to a fanzine. In March 2020, almost exactly 30 years later, I acquired a copy. I never, ever thought I'd own a copy of this record, and it is now sat in my record collection and I'm very pleased to have it.

When I was a teenager falling in love with the Manics, I was given (and still have) a biography of the Manics by Mick Middles. It was an interesting read, even moreso when I re-read it a couple of years ago and understood the references a lot better. But the thing I found most interesting at the time was a comprehensive discography at the back of the book, detailing all the singles, the formats and b-sides. For a long time, I was using that as a checklist with little pencil ticks next to the ones I had. I bought a bootleg copy of Suicide Alley and put a very small tick mark next to that one. As much I as I never thought I'd own this one, I'm incredibly doubtful I'll ever own a legit copy of that 7". I hope to prove that sentence wrong one day though.

The other week I was browsing eBay and saw an auction for this record. In all my years of buying Manics records on there, I'd never seen a copy come up for sale before (I'm sure they have come up, but I've not checked every day and there were certainly large periods of time when I was free of my eBay addiction). I put in a little bid and thought nothing of it. I checked Discogs to get an idea of how high to go and was quite surprised to see that you can get a copy for £60. Near the end of the auction I got outbid a couple of times, so with a few minutes left I put in a bid of £46. I was fully expecting to get outbid, and in my usual, petty way I figured the best-case scenario was that the other person was going to pay a higher price for it, and I could at least take some comfort in knowing that (I am a terrible person). However, I won. I'd had a fairly cheap month, so figured I could justify spending nearly £50 on a 7", so felt pretty happy with my purchase. The more I thought about it, the more pleased I was to have this illusive record in my collection.

The most important thing to know about Uk Channel Boredom is that it is basically a very early recording of the song that became A Vision of Dead Desire, a b-side to You Love Us. We all know this, because the band kindly added it as a track on the Generation Terrorist boxset (albeit omitting the voicemail (or "answering machine", as it would have been known then) recording at the start). I remember being really excited to hear that song, then surprised that it was actually a song I already knew. Not only was it a b-side I knew, it was one of the very first I heard - my first three Manics singles were The Masses Against the Classes (cd), Motorcycle Emptiness (7") and You Love Us (re-release cd). I always preferred We Her Majesty's Prisoners on that cd (and never cared that much for the G'n'R cover), but it was a nice enough punk song. It sounded scrappy compared to production of the album version of You Love Us (but, at the same time, was probably the most appropriate song to be a b-side to), which makes this one sound even worse. Sure, being on a flexidisc doesn't help anything, but it's really not much more than a demo. That first line of "Primary prole MP judge general policeman" is a jumble on both recordings; their writing would come a long way in both the lyrics and the music. Aside from the chorus, most of the lyrics are the same.

It's worth mentioning the other song on this record - I Don't Know What the Trouble Is by The Laurens. Their song plays first, so if anything, the Manics are the double a-side to them, not the other way around as it is almost always listed; I doubt even the members of The Laurens have their sleeves folded such that their side is facing out. It's a fine song, but not remarkable in the slightest. I've played it a few times, but nothing really sticks with you.

Speaking of the sleeve, I sent a picture of it to a friend when I got my copy and he described it as the most punk-looking Manics record he'd ever seen. It's a more-than-fair comment - the cut-out letting of the band name, the bold, large font of the song title and that picture - they look so young and so punk. I've seen countless images of the band in their spray-painted white shirt era, but this one is great. Richey's cigarette is barely still in his mouth and neither James nor Sean can be bothered to look at the camera; so few fucks appear to be given. I love it.

Format: 7" flexidisc
Tracks: 2
Cost: £48.80 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 11/03/20
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Manic Street Preachers - Roses in the Hospital

This was an eBay purchase late last year - I'd gotten back into eBay in a big way and was spending far too much. I probably could have found this record cheaper, but it was in good condition (at least, the sleeve is) and I wanted to fill a gap in my collection, so I put in a bid and won. The record itself sounds like shit - not in a charming "isn't vinyl nice and warm and crackly" way, but more in a "I wonder what damage this is doing to my needle" way. Luckily I have the songs on the cd, so I don't need to play it to hear any of these songs.

Roses in the Hospital is, of course, a standout on Gold Against the Soul (although I love the whole album). The slow drum-and-vocals bit before the outro is a nice precursor to the perfect ending of A Design For Life and the "forever delayed" lines at the very end are (forever) brilliant. The line "We don't want your fucking love" has been replaced with "Roses in the hospital" (just about works if you say each syllable slowly enough) for the 7" version and the fade out is shortened considerably.

Us Against You has a Generation Terrorists b-side feel to it - dirty and punky. I like it. It's at odds with the polished sound of GATS in the best possible way; you wonder how it might have sounded if it'd had the same treatment as the album tracks. James' vocals in the chorus are impossible to understand, and could maybe stand to be a little cleaner. The other b-side here is Donkeys. There are a bunch of slower Manics b-sides that all sound great, and could be a fascinating album in themselves - Donkeys is one such song. Maybe I should make that as a mixtape for the car.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 3
Cost: £8.45 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 15/10/18
Colour: Transparent red
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Rumbleseat - Rumbleseat is Dead

If it seems that I'm constantly writing about Chuck Ragan albums, it's because I have a lot of them. I'm not 100% sure of the timeline, but I think Rumbleseat was the precursor to the solo Chuck Ragan albums, and stands up well against them. In fact, I'd consider it every bit as essential as his other studio albums.

The version of California Burritos here starts a little flat and underwhelming compared to the version that would end up on Feast or Famine, but improves as it goes on and ends up nearly on par (but, let's be honest, little can live up to that version of California Burritos, a song I still consider one of my all-time favourites). That acts nicely as a bridge into what would easily rank amongst the best Chuck solo songs, Cursing Concrete. If you're a fan but haven't heard this song, I recommend checking it out. It has a huge amount of power and a chorus that just soars. Whenever I finish listening to this album, that's the one stuck in my head.

Restless is awesome too - showing a softer side for the first time, but with a heavily strummed guitar (that song, as well as Jackson and Moonshiner make some of the best use of Chris and Samantha's voices). The other highlight here is Saturn in Crosshairs - Chuck's voice sounds incredible and peak-gruff-punk; the last line of each verse he brings it back just a bit so that the choruses hit that much harder. As well as some excellent originals, we also get four covers including two Johnny Cash and June Carter numbers (I have a Johnny Cash greatest hits album from back in the day, but haven't spent a great deal of time with his music).

If I remember correctly, this project started out as a bunch of 7" records that eventually got grouped together here after the band went their separate ways (I could easily Google this, but it doesn't look like I'm going to). I picked up this copy for a bargain £5.50 on eBay (including postage!). I tried to work out what pressing it was once, but pretty much all of them were some sort of grey marble like this one. I also bought the cd for £2 (bargains all round) a while later so that I could have mp3s of it, but as an added bonus it includes four demos and another untitled song, all entirely unlisted, which was a nice surprise.

Format: 12", silkscreened folded sleeve, insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £5.50 new
Bought: eBay
When: 27/10/07
Colour: Grey marble
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Manic Street Preachers - No Surface All Feeling

So here it is, the new holder of the dubious accolade Most Expensive Record in My Collection. Previous holders have included Radiohead's Ok Computer boxset and The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie on triple vinyl. Both of those were albums (landmark ones at that) and contained a large number of songs; this is a 7" with just one song on it. One song that I already have on three cds, cassette, a minidisc (yes, really) and two LPs.

On the other hand, there exist only 100 of these in the world, and each has a different sleeve, so it is unique - along with being the most expensive I think it's also the rarest record I own, so the price should be starting to make (some) sense.

Each year, seven songs are pressed onto vinyl and each given unique sleeves drawn by artists who submit their work to be involved for Secret 7's. The resulting records are then sold with the money going to charity - this year to Mind, a mental health charity, and a cause I can get behind. I've been aware of the project for a couple of years (Max Richter had a 7" of a song from Sleep a year or two ago) and always thought it was cool. This year it was announced that one of the songs would be No Surface All Feeling by the Manics, the closer from Everything Must Go, and a song that has had a bit of a resurgence since the 20th anniversary shows and made it back into regular setlists.

Just to dwell on that for a moment - I'm really pleased that No Surface All Feeling is finally getting the respect that it deserves. I've always had a lot of time for it and thought it was neglected being tucked away at the end of an album that is quite front-loaded (but the positioning of A Design For Life is always going to weight things unfairly). I feel that, unlike a lot of bands, the Manics aren't known for their grand closing statements on albums (feel free to tell me I'm wrong) - they've always written such huge singles that the albums tend to focus around them. That is to say, I don't think the song was positioned last because they necessarily wanted the album to finish with it, or wrote it as a closer; it was just the best place for it. Both times I've seen them play this year, not only did they play it, they played it third, right after Motorcycle Emptiness. That's quite a promotion to go from "last track on the album" to "played amongst the biggest singles". I'm pleased for it, if that isn't a ridiculous thing to say. I always thought it was a great song, and it's nice to know I'm not alone.

Back to the 7". My Manics collection has had it's ups and downs over the years. For a while, I stopped altogether, but in recent years have fallen back in love with the band, and rekindled my love for eBay too, meaning I've been chipping away at parts of the collection here and there. But I've long known my collection will never be complete; I just can't see any scenarios where I have enough disposable income to buy an original Suicide Alley or those excellent looking limited edition Japanese reissues (although I hope I do!). So I was a bit unsure what to do when the news of this 7" came out - I could admit that I was never going to complete my collection and let this be a hole in it, or I could commit to doing the best job possible and buy it. I very much doubt I'll ever have the chance to buy one of these again, and I shudder to think how much it would go for then. This was my best and probably only chance, so I went for it.

However, I didn't go for it to the extent that I travelled to London to buy one when they were exhibited. We were going to a wedding that day, but even if we weren't, I wasn't going to get the train all the way to London for it (plus, I don't think my wife would agree that it's a valid excuse to leave her with the baby for the day). I hoped that all 100 wouldn't sell out on the day and, to my luck, they didn't - 38 were to be auctioned on eBay the following week. The £50 selling price and the £30 train ticket would have put it near the most expensive record anyway.

By some brilliant coincidence, the eBay auctions all finished during the hour in the evening in which I was going to be on the train to London for a gig anyway. Had they finished any other time or day, I might not have been able to stalk the auctions and get an understanding for the market/going-price (this, I think, was key). Had I not been going to that gig, they'd have finished whilst I was bathing and putting the baby to bed, a set of activities that aren't easily done with eBay in the other hand. It was too good a coincidence.

So I sat there on the train (with wifi) and watched the first 7" finish - it was one of the sleeves I liked the most and sold for an impressive £127. The next few had some of the worst artwork in my opinion and all went for about £100. At this point I assumed that maybe the going-price would drop as potential buyers became owners, but I was wrong. Clearly there are more than 38 Manics collectors out there and I suspect some people were buying multiple copies. Prices started to rise to around £110. The next ones I really had my eye on (all with interesting geometric designs) were quite a few auctions away and I was worried by then the prices would be even higher. The bidding was always happening in the last few seconds - classic eBay - luckily I have many years experience of sniping auctions in the dying seconds so was prepared for this.

The next one that came up with artwork I thought was good was the one in the picture above. As the final few seconds rolled around I snuck in with a bid that was a bit higher then the last few had gone for (along with the usual £1.53 I add on top, just to outbid the people who think an extra £1.50, or £1.51, or even £1.52 will clinch it over the people who foolishly bid in round numbers - I'm yet to lose an auction to a person bidding £1.54 extra, but have pipped a few people to the post by just a penny or two). The auction ended a few seconds later and I had won, at an eye-watering £115. I kept an eye on the auctions that followed and prices rose a bit further, but not hugely so; the ones with geometric designs I'd been eyeing up sold for more, which validated my plan.

I think we can all agree that £115 for a 7" is a ridiculous price to pay. Luckily, the proceeds are going to charity, which allows me a pleasing get-out: in my mind, I didn't pay £115 for a 7", but instead gave £115 to charity (the postage was a similarly expensive £7.50, so that was the cost of the 7" in this excuse (which is still pretty pricey for a 7"!)). I try to give to charities from time-to-time, but I'm aware that I don't give often enough and could give more. If a friend does a charity run/cycle/whatever, I try to make sure I donate a decent sum. This 7" is the equivalent of, say, three friends doing a charity activity, but the best part is that no one had to run 26 miles and I got a 7" out of it. I can definitely get on board with record collecting for charity.

Format: 7", insert, unique artwork, single-sided
Tracks: 1
Cost: £122.50 new
Bought: eBay
When: 12/07/18
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Plan B - Kidz / Dead and Buried

Before you judge me for owning a Plan B record (or five, as it happens), it's very important to explain just how incredible he was live the first time we saw him. I use a lot of hyperbole on here, but that show was so, so great that I still think quite highly of him for that gig alone, despite the fact I probably shouldn't.

In 2005 some friends and I went to Roskilde for the first time. On the Friday we'd seen quite a mixture of bands - including Snoop Dogg, Isis, Audioslave and Black Sabbath (that festival really knew how to have a varied line-up). After Sabbath we went back to the tents and some of the group went to sleep. Hugh and I saw there were some British hip-hop acts playing a late-night showcase in one of the smaller tents so figured we might as well check it out. First up was an act called Plan B, who we knew basically nothing about.

He came on stage with an acoustic guitar (which was unexpected) and proceeded to spit the most jaw-dropping rhymes over this angry acoustic music. It was captivating - the stories and characters he strung together over the dense verses had the crowd hanging on his every word. Given that a large percentage of them didn't have English as their first language, it says a lot that a rapper can tell such clearly engrossing stories to such an audience and wow them all equally (I guess it helps that the music was acoustic, as it made it easier to hear what he was saying). The tent was quite empty to start with, but I turned around at the end and it was nearly full; everyone giving him their full attention.

I distinctly remember a few of the songs he played, and a lot of them ended up on his first few 7"s and the first LP. The stories and characters he sang about were so detailed that hearing them again instantly took me right back to that night at Roskilde. In 2005 he released his first 7", a double a-side of Kidz and Dead and Buried, both I remembered vividly from the Roskilde show from the song titles alone. This version of Kidz is musically a world apart from the acoustic show – it's entirely beeps and electronic noises, which is shame – but lyrically still tells us about arrogant, aggressive, modern youths, sung from the first-person. It's hard to not hearing it as the words of Plan B himself, meaning the pairing with Dead and Buried is key – hearing him switch between multiple first-person characters in one song reminds you these are just characters. I remember that night in Denmark he had to remind the audience that they weren't his words, but those of the characters. Given how despicable the character in Kidz is, it's good to be reminded.

Dead and Buried is a welcome return to an acoustic-led song, where he sings about three people who in different ways have found themselves in situations that appear hopeless (HIV, in trouble with dangerous people, in prison for shooting an abusive partner). The last tale is particularly disturbing and told brilliantly. When you listen to that song objectionably, it's easy to see why I was so impressed.

I was living in Australia when this record was released, so I bought a copy on eBay and had it sent over (for a very reasonable £4, including postage to send it halfway around the world). The first two 7"s came sealed, so required careful opening. Evidently, demand for the 7" wasn't high, so it was easy to find a sealed copy online. Part of me wondered if it was worth getting two, and keeping one sealed, but I'm glad I didn't – as an investment, that wouldn't have done much.

The LP eventually came out, but was underwhelming – too many of the songs had been on EPs or singles ahead of the release, and I didn't care much for the new ones. I can see why the album wasn't acoustic, but I wonder if he'd have had a better shot by making an acoustic rap album that would have really set him apart. As it was, the album didn't sell well and his next venture was entirely different, realising that perhaps rap wasn't going to his way to make millions. I never really listened to the music he released later, knowing it wasn't going to be my bag, but it's a shame he gave up on writing and telling stories like he did that night in Denmark.

Format: 7", gatefold sleeve

Tracks: 2

Cost: £4 new

Bought: eBay

When: 09/08/05

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Manic Street Preachers - You Love Us [Heavenly]

This was a recent eBay purchase, but I'm wondering if it was a bad one. Using your phone to browse eBay isn't ideal, and I've been a bit trigger happy of late. The result is that I'm not always convinced I've paid the best price for a particular record (opening many tabs and comparing isn't so easy in the app) and I've not always read the full description.

The reason I'm dubious that this was a wise buy is that I think this pressing might be a bootleg - it is in scarily good condition for a record that is 26 years old. 12" sleeves back then were hardly the sturdiest things, but this one shows no signs of ageing at all. On top of that, I noticed the other day that there's no details on the spine, which is strange. Maybe the description said bootleg. Maybe I got played. Maybe it is original, but I highly doubt that. I'm going to have to buy a more knackered looking copy now to check.

Either way, I paid £13.80 for it, which isn't huge. I don't think it commands the price it used to (perhaps a whole load of bootlegs flooded the market) so I wasn't too surprised to see it for that price. I have all the songs on other releases, so it was really just to fill a hole.

You Love Us is, of course, a classic and the Heavenly version has appeared in various places (including the b-side to Little Baby Nothing and the video was on the Forever Delayed dvd). The Lust For Life outro is always nice to hear. Spectators of Suicide also got re-recorded for Generation Terrorists, but this one is interesting - I think musically it sounds better (perhaps it's just the mixing), but James' vocals aren't a patch on the album version. Starlover is a pretty good song from that early era and could have sat quite happily on Generation Terrorists. The live version of New Art Riot is nice to hear; I can't imagine they've played that song live in a very long time (it was sadly omitted from their National Treasures live show at the O2 Arena).

Format: 12"
Tracks: 4
Cost: £13.80 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 10/04/17
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: ""Buyac happy birthday!"
mp3s: no

Pop Will Eat Itself - X Y and Zee

This record has come up in conversation a few times over the years, but not for the music but more for a reflection on how recent technology has made life simpler.

2003 was a collision of two things: my eBay addiction and my Pop Will Eat Itself collection. This record arrived whilst I was away for a couple of nights looking at universities. I returned to Winchester to find seven parcels waiting for me from eBay sellers. It was a good day (combined with a trip to Nottingham the day before and a surprisingly fruitful trip to Lancaster the day before meant I was swimming in new music). eBay was particularly great back then, as it was just people getting rid of things (rather than professional sellers) meaning there were great gems to be found for very little; one man's rubbish, etc. That was particularly true for bands like PWEI who most people didn't care too much about anymore (unrelatedly, it was also good Laserdiscs, another habit of mine in the early 2000's).

The downside, however, was this was era before PayPal, eBay's online transaction platform. This meant the only way to pay for your eBay purchases was to post a cheque (or cash). I've never used cheques as much as I did back then. For younger readers (ha), the reason why cheques are the worst are as follows: after winning the auction, you'd have to write a cheque then post it to the seller; you'd then wait for the seller to take the cheque to the bank (not always convenient to do - lord knows I'm terrible at remembering to cash cheques these days) and then wait up to 10 days for the cheque to clear and the seller to see that the money is in their account; only then would they post you the thing you'd bought. It would be weeks before you'd receive your purchases. How eBay survived that painful process as long as they did, I'll never know.

In the case of this record, I'd found a bargain, but evidently thought it was even more of a bargain than it was; the auction came to £3 (including postage!) but I'd somehow thought it was only £2 and duly wrote a cheque for that amount and put it in the post. On receiving this, the seller emailed to say that I was £1 short (!) so I had to write him another cheque and post that too. Eventually it all cleared and he sent the record. I can see it from his side, you shouldn't let people underpay you, but £1 when you're only getting £3 in total (minus postage) makes it all seem a bit pointless. On the other hand, as a percentage of what he was actually getting for item, it was quite a lot. I routinely bring up this story when complaining about the bad old days of slow-eBaying. PayPal has made life much easier in that case. You can't pay the wrong amount and you definitely don't have to post two cheques to get your dirt-cheap record.

The record itself is little to get excited about (after all that) - there are three surprisingly similar remixes of X Y and Zee from their Cure For Sanity album. It's a song I have a lot of time for, but already have in many much more distinct mixes in various places. The bright yellow record looks great, but is very thin and has knifed the sleeve over the years. Still, it looks nice.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 3
Cost: £3 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 21/02/03
Colour: Yellow
Etching: Side A: "Ssshhh...don't wake Milky" Side B: "Take your pants off"
mp3s: no

Pop Will Eat Itself - Poppiecock - The Poppies Play 5-a-side

One of the last PWEI records I bought was this 12" from their very early days. I'd bought a copy of Now For a Feast on cd in Bournemouth in 2002 which, along with the early songs on the PWEI Product anthology album, meant I was already very familiar with all these songs. However, it was £3.50 on eBay and I didn't have any of those songs on vinyl, so I guess it seemed like a good purchase.

All those years later, these songs aren't anywhere near as bad as I remember. I mean, they were basically a different band to the PWEI I got into, but that doesn't mean they're not good songs. I don't know if I'd have got into a band that sounded like this without knowing the band they'd go on to be, but here we are. The whole thing plays at 45rpm and is over pretty soon after it starts. Does it show potential? I guess so, although I don't think anyone could have guessed how the band would sound in a few years given how they sound here. The songs are fine, but none I like enough to call a "highlight", although Candyiosis makes me smile.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £3.50 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 02/05/03
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "Play a fast 'un you bastards"
mp3s: no

Manic Street Preachers - Suicide Alley [Bootleg]

I knew this record was a bootleg copy when I bought it - the eBay listing was very clear about that and, for £11.40 (including postage!), it was definitely not priced with any implication of it being the real deal.

But I was fine with that - I was hugely into the band and I'd read so much about that first 7" I just really wanted to hear it. Both of the songs made their way onto other records as b-sides, but I think I had neither at the point when I bought this. I also knew, from the New Art Riot EP, that I shouldn't have high hopes for their musical talent at this early point; that EP was quite the shock on the first listen. Suicide Alley and Tennessee (I Get Low) are similar, if not worse, in how hard they are on the ears. James' vocals on the start of each verse of Suicide Alley are so far off-key it's almost funny; I'm glad he learnt to sing better. I love their passion and dedication to making music at this early point, but I love more that by the time they recorded Generation Terrorists they'd learnt a lot more about how to write and record great songs.

Both songs show huge potential, which I guess is all the 7" needed to show. As a song, Suicide Alley does a few interesting things, the only problem is that it does them quite badly! The bootleg is numbered, which seems strange - mine is #42/480 - and the name of the band is underlined where it isn't on the original. Both labels say "side a" despite otherwise having the correct song titles; I have no idea if the original pressing has the same thing. Looking on Discogs, it seems that this bootleg sells for about £40 these days - I definitely didn't see this as an investment when I bought it, I was just eager to hear the first record they released.

Format: 7", bootleg, numbered
Tracks: 2
Cost: £11.40 new
Bought: eBay
When: 02/12/02
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Manic Street Preachers - Revol

I get the bus to work, which is basically dead time. One morning I decided to use my time more efficiently and try to fill in some holes in my record collection by getting back into eBay. I downloaded the app, browsed a bunch of records, put in a few small bids on some Manics records I didn't have, then pretty much forgot all about that plan. A few days later, I got a series of emails saying I'd won a few items, which was a pleasant surprise. I don't really remember making most of the bids, but I was happy with the prices and glad to add them to the collection.

One such purchase was this 10" single of Revol (#710). I have the Part 1 of the cd, which I paid £15 for in a record shop in Reading in 2002. The band released a bunch of two-part cd singles back in the 90's with these funny double cd-cases (or rather, Part 1 had the funny case to store Part 2), which was part of the appeal. The 10" has the exact same four songs as the cd I have.

Revol is a classic from The Holy Bible. For whatever reason (perhaps because the record is 20 years old), it sounds terrible; I was worried my needle had broken, it's so bad. Too Cold Here sounds clearer and is a nice b-side from the era - it reminds me a bit of Bored Out of My Mind, the b-side to Motorcycle Emptiness in that it's a quiet little song and unlike many that made it onto any album. I guess they share that they're curious additions to the band's back-catalogue that show a different side. I have a few copies of the Heavenly version of You Love Us and here is yet another. Finally we get a live recording of Life Becoming a Landslide from Bangkok in Thailand. It's nice to hear the songs from Gold Against the Soul live, because I love that album and they rarely play anything from it, sadly.

Format: 10", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 4
Cost: £13.80 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 13/04/17
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is, in my opinion, one of the greatest albums ever written. As a teenager and into my early 20's it was my favourite album of all time; it's still firmly in the top 10 and would probably be even without the nostalgia and years of idolising this album. A vinyl copy was for a long time my holy grail of record collecting and four years after hearing the album for this first time, I bought this copy. This is from the first run of triple vinyl - exact numbers seem to vary, but this one is #635, which is fairly low. Let's rewind a bit.

When I was 15 I was introduced to the music of the Smashing Pumpkins in the form of the video for Tonight, Tonight; what a way to start. That song is so beautiful and the video that accompanies it is perfect. I can't imagine a world where I wouldn't have been bowled over by that at any age. 15, however, was the perfect age to discover Mellon Collie. As a teenager I convinced myself that the album was about this huge and eventful night out, the sort you only have when you're a teenager but always seem to have when you're a teenager - the structure of the album reinforces that idea - "dawn to dusk" and "twilight to starlight" and songs like Tonight, Tonight (looking forward as the day begins), In the Arms of Sleep (a perfect song for a love-struck teen) and rounding it off with Farewell and Goodnight. The video for 1979 surely was the visual version of such a night. What an incredible concept album to have and hold as a teenager.

The vinyl pressing takes that idea and really hammers it home in my opinion. The running order here is almost entirely different and takes the ideas above and lays them out for the story to evolve in such a better way. It was a large part in wanting to own the vinyl - to experience an album I already loved in a different way. The sides of the records are named after the parts of the day they represent:

Dawn is a very gentle affair, still starting with the brilliant opening duo of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Tonight, Tonight (as an aside, I remember looking at the cd in my local MVC before buying a copy and wondering what song could possibly precede Tonight, Tonight; how do you go from anything to Tonight, Tonight? It all made sense once I discovered that it was an instrumental intro song). It then goes straight into Thirty-Three, a song that doesn't appear until the second disc on the cd. I like Thirty Three but it was always the weakest single in my mind; there were so many other songs that I would have thought a better fifth single. In the Arms of Sleep (a song I played endlessly as a teenager) is also moved far further forward - it works so much better in this position. To round it off, we also get the cd1 closer Take Me Down sung by James Iha. It's a great combination of five songs and all work perfectly as a dawn to the day of the record.

Tea Time blows away that gentle opening with Jellybelly and Bodies. This chapter is surely about the excitement building up. Porcelina of the Vast Oceans always sat strangely with me on the cd, but here, closing out the tea time section, it works. It's the album's longest song, but sounds heavier surrounded by the other songs here.

When you looks at the songs on Dusk you know you're in for a treat. I'll just get this out of the way first, and it's something of a controversial statement: Muzzle might just be my all-time favourite Smashing Pumpkins song. The first time I saw them live (in Shepherd's Bush Empire 2007) they played a 3-hour set and finished with Muzzle. There's something comforting in a band finishing with your favourite song (it's like you all agree it's the best) but when it's not one of the "big singles" it's a bit unexpected. I wasn't even sure they'd play it and it ended up getting the prime spot on the setlist. I was surprised and amazed. I've not seen them play it since, but I hold that memory close to my heart. (As another aside, a similar thing happened the first time I saw Faith No More and they finished with Just a Man.) I remember on the very first time I listened to Mellon Collie being caught by this song - the lyrics "Have you ever heard the words I'm singing in these songs / it's for the girl I loved all along" grabbing my ears by being so self-referential. I hadn't been paying enough attention. It was the perfect way to get me listening to the end and all things Billy "knew" and all the things the "world is". On later listens I was also taken by the start "I fear that I am ordinary, just like everyone", something that I really took to heart; for a long time that was my worst fear. When I die, I want Muzzle played at my funeral - it's a rather morbid thing to think about but I decided that as a teenager and I feel that changing my mind one day would be like betraying my younger self, and I liked that guy too much to do that.

But this side isn't just about Muzzle, because you also have the "other" big single from Mellon Collie, Bullet With Butterfly Wings. I'd also been treated to the excellent video to this song before getting the album - it's hard to imagine an album that can contain both the delicate Tonight, Tonight and the crazed-rock of Bullet With Butterfly Wings. There's also the long Thru the Eyes of Ruby (which has two truly incredible moments - just before the line "Your strength is my weakness, your weakness my hate" and the climax of "The night has come to hold us young" - and over 70 guitar tracks contributing to the fuzz), Galapogos (the odd-one-out until it reaches it's peak with "Too late to turn back now" - so many of the songs here have changes in the music that match perfectly to certain lyrics) and the blistering fuzzy grunge of Tales of a Scorched Earth. If tea time was the build up, dusk is the expected explosion; the planned highlights of a night that's only just begun.

Twilight is where the night starts to change from being just a regular night to one worthy of a concept album. 1979 is so entwined with the video that's hard to imagine it without picturing some kids driving around having a good time. The Pumpkins released some good songs after Mellon Collie, but I always wished more of them were about people rather than whatever strange ideas they were about. There is something much more relatable to a band singing about people and I like the idea of being able to relate to the Pumpkins. I always thought ending was very abrupt, but I've come to enjoy how unexpected it is. The love songs begin to come out in a way they hadn't before in the form of Beautiful, Cupid de Locke and By Starlight and the album begins to get a bit more surreal.

The night turns a bit more aggressive on Midnight with Where Boys Fear to Tread (which serves as the opener to the second half on the cd tracklisting), Zero, Fuck You (An Ode to No One), Love and X.Y.U - all some of the heaviest songs on the album. The lovey scenes from twilight are knocked away in an instant by fuzz and distortion and Jimmy Chamberlin smashing the drums in his usual way. The transition between Where Boys Fear to Tread and Zero is slightly off and the only time in the album where you feel like you're not listening to it in the way it was produced - the two are a great pair, but the moment it goes from one to the other is just wrong. It's one of those things I spent a lot of time thinking about when making mixtapes, so maybe it's just my over-critical ear. Zero is a huge song and probably better than Bullet in a lot of ways but was somehow over-shadowed by it as the "heavy single". The riff on Fuck You (An Ode to No One) is so fast it reminds you just how incredible these guys were. I love watching old live performances (and they've done a good job of supplying live dvds with the recent reissues) and when they're on form they're just mind-blowing. The moment when X.Y.U. explodes with the line "And into the eyes of the jackyl I say ka-boom" is so, so good (how can an album have so many great moments like that - the sort that make you stop and pay full attention? Just incredible).

Finally, we turn to Starlight to wrap things up. Farewell and Goodnight has to be the closer in the same way that Tonight, Tonight has to be the (proper) opener, but on the vinyl edition we're treated to an acoustic reprise of Tonight, Tonight called Tonite Reprise and a matching instrumental closer (matching to the actual first song) called Infinite Sadness creating a perfect book-ending to the album. Tonite Reprise appeared as a b-side to Tonight, Tonight and in the Aeroplane Flies High boxset but I'd never heard Infinite Sadness until I got to the end of the vinyl - the acoustic guitar and drums lift it above the pomp and grandeur of the opener. It's such a great way to close off a incredible album. Stumbleine and Lilly (My One and Only) also fit perfectly in this chapter, as the night wraps up and concludes. Farewell and Goodnight has a sound throughout that sounds like waves breaking on a beach, so it's easy to picture this incredible night ending on a beach somewhere with just the sound of the waves. The two extra songs provide that reflection to the start that we're missing on the cd and makes the whole experience even more enjoyable.

As I mentioned earlier, Mellon Collie was something of a holy grail for me. I'd seen it come up on eBay from time to time and watched it sell for anywhere between £75 and £125, depending on the condition. At this point I was a student living on £30-£40 a week after bills and rent, so it felt far away. Towards the end of my first year of university, I decided I'd start saving to buy a copy. It's a strange thing to say, but I'd been amazed by the idea that five small £2 coins were the same as a £10 note - I think I've always considered coins to be useless money and notes to be real money (and have always been very begrudging of the idea of breaking a note) - so the idea that a small stack of coins could be real money really struck me. I decided that I'd save every £2 coin that I got given in change and build up the pile until I had enough to afford Mellon Collie on vinyl. A part of it was also that as an adult the idea of saving is very different to how it was as a child. As a child I'd save whatever money I got to buy Lego and it was always really exciting to finally be able to buy it; I wanted that feeling again (and it was appropriate that it was for an album that defined my teenage years so much).

So I saved every £2 coin I received for about nine months. It wasn't too difficult and was quite an easy way to save - if I was on a night out and got £2 in change after buying drinks, then it wasn't too bad to not spend it. I don't remember finding I didn't have enough money for another drink, but it was a good incentive to not buy a dirty takeaway with my change on the way home. After that time I had 41 £2 coins. I'd been watching a few auctions on eBay of copies of Mellon Collie over a few weeks. I'd put in some bids on other copies but got outbid beyond my £2 coin collection. The selling prices were varying dramatically, but I got quite lucky with this one. A strategic last minute bid secured it as mine for £82 (including postage it was a bit more, but that's fine). I think the seller was in Ireland. I can't remember why it went for a more reasonable price than some others but I was very happy. The seller could have packaged it much better all considering, but it survived the journey and only has very minimal damage in general. The records themselves are in mint condition, as is the booklet (photographed below). I've only listened to the vinyl a few times in the 11 years I've owned it (I'm slightly scared to touch it) but they sound incredible, especially considering how thin the vinyl itself is.

To this day, this remains one of my most prized possessions. It's always nice to have albums you love on vinyl, but it's even better when that format gives you a better way of enjoying the album. It is still the most expensive record I've ever bought (by an increasingly small margin) but worth every penny.

Format: Triple 12", gatefold sleeve, 12-page booklet
Tracks: 30
Cost: £87.50 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 12/03/05
Colour: Black
Etching: none
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