Chain of Strength – True Till Death Complete

Okay so if you keep up with my blog you might remember that I was lucky enough to recently pick up a copy of Chainof Strength – True Till Death Clear with Silver Sleeve. Well this is a bit of a late post, but when I recently picked up a couple Youth of Today 7”s I also was lucky enough to pick up a copy of Chain of Strength – True Till Death Clear with regular green sleeve. This was the last copy I needed to complete my TTD collection and I am so stoked, I never thought I would own all versions.

Here it is, clear vinyl with regular green sleeve. As most people reading this will know this version is part of the 3^rd press which was out of 500 in total.

Out of the 3^rd press 300 were given regular green covers and given to the band to sell on tour. The remaining 200 were given the silver sleeve, most of which are still at the Rev warehouse, but some were sold through mail order.

So here is my complete Chain of Strength – True Till Death. First press on green vinyl out of 2000. Second press black vinyl out of 2000. Third press clear vinyl green cover out of 300 and clear silver sleeve out of 200.

Again so stoked on being able to finally complete my collection (I’m not even going to bother entertaining the idea that I would one day have a test press, I’m happy with my collection). 

Youth Of Today – Can’t Close My Eyes

So I recently got my last two major Youth of Today wants in the mail the other day (as well as another major want).  Now before I get to the actual records I want to talk about the shipping of the records. First off the guy I bought these off, Sam, got these shipped out super fast for me. He told me he would "pack these 7"s like they're going to the moon", and boy did he! Now when the records arrived I was amazed at the level of care that went into packing them.

So the package was a much larger box than I was expecting. As you can see below the box (on the left) was filled with styrofoam and contained a smaller box (the box on the right). This was also filled with Styrofoam.

The records were then wrapped in bubble wrap as you can see here.

Then under the bubble wrap the records were actually SEALED in plastic, making them water proof. This blew me away. Then the records were separated from the covers and placed in-between cardboard AND foam.

This is easily the best that anything has been packaged that I have received. It was a good thing that it was packaged so well as when I picked it up from the post office, the post office worker droped the box and KICKED it with me standing in front of her, i was not happy to say the least.

Since I have had some pretty bad experiences with getting records deliver (I’ve seen the posties try to bend 12” records to fit them in the mail box and I’ve had numerous records left on my doorstep or on top of my mail box in the rain), I was amazed to have records packed so well. Thanks again Sam, your a champ!

Ok now onto the records! I was luck enough to pick up 3 of my top wants. Two of these were Youth of Today 7”s. I picked up Can’t Close My Eyes - Some Records and Can’t Close My Eyes - Gold vinyl with Batman stamp.

Picking these up now almost completes my wants for the Can’t Close My Eyes 7”. Here is my collection so far. There are so many different variations of this 7” I’m not crazy enough to try and collect them all, just the main versions.

Here you can see the first press and what is sometimes called a second press or a later pressing. As you can see here the first press on the left has the red letters on the sleeve and black and white labels. All later presses have white writing on the cover. My second press has the blue and white labels, but there are also ones with black and white labels (like the first press), this is where the confusion with if this is a second press or not comes in.

The next copy is one I picked up on eBay last year. As part of a pressing plant error part of the second or third press had a bunch (apparently around 12-20 copies) with blank b-side labels. These had either random messages written on them, pictures drawn them or some had stamps on the label.

Now I bought this copy for pretty cheap because it is significantly water damaged. The cover and insert are water damaged as is the b-side label.

The b-side label on my copy has “RAY Lost the scissors!”. Unfortunately the label has actually come off from the record.

The A-side label is in fine however.

This version actually comes with a different insert from the other presses. As you can see here the regular insert is on the right and insert for the blank b-side record is on the right.

And the other side.

Now here is my copy of the 3^rd press Some Records 7”. There were 100 of these made, 47 of them were numbered, leaving 53 un-numbered. My copy is not numbered.

Instead of having stamps on both labels, my copy has a stamp and handwriting on one side and just handwriting on the other label.

Now the cover of my Some Records pressing is pretty beat up and someone has stapled the corners of the cover. I’m not really sure why as this makes it harder for the record to fit in the cover.

Last, but definitely not least, is the 4^th press, Can’t Close My Eyes on Gold vinyl with a blank b-side with Batman stamp. This was one of my top wants for 7” and I never thought I would actually own a copy. I can’t even find the words to describe how stoked I am that I actually own this record. My copy is in incredible condition, it looks amazing.

There are actually 4 Batman stamps on this copy. One on the b-side label and one on the dust sleeve.

Then there are also 2 on the cover. One under the album name.

And one on the other dudes face.

I still can’t believe that I have 4 of, if not the 4, most sort after Youth of Today records and not only that, but that I have picked them all up in less than a year. At this rate I will almost complete my entire want list in a year or two.

No Tolerance - Update

So almost a year ago to the day I previously posted my No Tolerance collection at the time. You can check it here. No Tolerance are still one of my favourite current bands, and since the last post, they have released a couple other presses, most of which I have managed to pick up.

Here is my No Tolerance collection, it is almost complete, I’m just missing two test presses. 

Since my last post, No Tolerance released a second press of the No Remorse, No Tolerance 7”. There were 200 on clear blue pressed for TIHC and 500 on black. Like the Pre-Release (for the Youngblood Showcase) of the first press, the second press has a silver screened cover.

The regular first press has a glued cover and a glossy insert. However the Second press is screened in silver, instead of white, and folds out. Also as you can see below the lyrics are on the inside of the cover, instead of on a separate insert.

First press on the left, second press on the right.

First press cover.

First press cover with insert.

Inside of second press cover.

For No Tolerance’s recent European tour Quality Control Records pressed the two No Tolerance 7”s and an addition track form the No Remorse, No Tolerance recording session. The tracks have all been remastered. There are 100 on green and 400 on black. I believe all of these sold on tour. I was lucky enough to pick up the black LP from my friend Ola, from Quality Control. And I picked up my green copy from Straightand Alert.

Although I’m not really a fan of Euro pressings generally, or 7”s made into LPs for that matter, I actually like how this turned out. As you can see the same artwork from the Boston Straight Edge 7” Test Press was used for the LP. The green vinyl looks really awesome as well.

Love the message on the insert.

I now have a complete No Tolerance collection, except for the test press of the LP and the test press for the No Remorse, No Tolerance 7”. If you have one of these hit me up!!

Youth of Today – Break Down the Walls, Second Press

So if you read this blog at all, you will know that I have been picking up a lot of Wishingwell records recently. I have even been lucky enough to pick up copies of Youth of Today – Break Down The Walls on both Red and Blue. The other week I finally found the last piece to my Youth of Today Wishingwell collection. Youth of Today – Break Down The Walls second press with Black and Yellow cover.

I saw this on eBay with a BIN for a reasonable price. I took no time in snagging this and completing my collection. (I’m not crazy enough to try and track down a test press).

Now the story behind this press is that Revelation was about to press Break Down the Walls, but Wishingwell wanted to sell some more copies before Rev re-pressed the record. So Wishingwell made one final press with an alternate Black and Yellow cover, instead of the original Red and Blue cover.

Apart from the cover being different colours, the insert and labels are also different. To be honest I prefer the original Red and Blue colour scheme much better. 

Here is the second press label.

And to compare here is the regular first press.

And here are the inserts. Of course first press is on the left, second on the right.

This record arrived just before 2012 ended. Making it so I picked up my copy on Red vinyl, Blue vinyl and Second press all in the one year. Hopefully in 2013 I can finish off my other Wishingwell wants, there really aren’t that many left. 

In 2012 I was lucky enough to fly to the US and see Youth of Today for the first time at the Rev 25 Cali shows. Actually seeing them has made my love for this band grow so much and has made me so much more siked on their music. Now, I am even more determined to track down more of their records that I'm missing. 

Here is one of the nights I was at (I'm the dude from Australia!). Check me stage diving at 2:15 and many other times lol.

Chain of Strength - True Till Death, Clear Silver Sleeve

So 2013 is off with to a great start! On the first mail day of the year, one of my biggest 7” wants, if not the biggest, arrived in the mail. Chain of Strength – True Till Death, Clear Vinyl, Silver Sleeve. I never thought I would own this record. As previously mentioned, I have been trying to extend my Chain 7" collection. Well I contacted Tim McMahon and after a few emails back and forth, I was lucky enough to work out a deal with him for one of his copies. Again thanks so much mate!! So here it is - my Chung King of 7"s.

This is such a crucial record, it really doesn’t get much better than this. I’m not going to go too much into the story behind this, as everyone knows it. But pressing info is as follows. There were 500 clear vinyl pressed for the 3^rd press. Of the 500, 300 were given regular green covers. The remaining 200 had the Silver Sleeve made. Some of these were sold through mail order, though most are still in the Rev vault. Making this very difficult to come by. My copy is in amazing condition, I feel really lucky to have got one in such good condition. 

I love seeing all the differences in the silver cover from the regular green cover.

I actually don’t have the Clear vinyl with regular Green cover. But here is my first press green, second press black and third press clear with silver sleeve.

Hope you enjoyed reading. There will hopefully be many more crucial records to come for the rest of 2013.

Rejected Chain

So previously I posted about my Chain of Strength LPs that I had picked up recently. Well now that I have completed my Chain LP collection I have been working on my Chain of Strength 7” collection.

This week I got two Chain 7’s in the mail. Both of these happen to be from the Foundation Records rejected press. (Again sorry for the bad quality photos!)

Everyone reading this knows the story about the Chain pressing, but he’s is a bit of info. There were 500 records pressed. This press was rejected. Of the 500 rejected press, 100 went to each band member. Now out of the 500, 100 were given the highly sort after Chain Crew covers (which I still need!!). Some of the 400 have obviously gotten into circulation.

Here is a regular copy of the rejected press. It has a photocopied cover and insert of the first accepted press.

Here you can see the rejected press on the left and accepted press on the right.

This is the inside of the covers, again the rejected press is of course the photo copied black one.

Interestingly the labels on the rejected press are a lot darker than the later accepted press, as you can see here. Again rejected is on the left hand side.

SIDE ALEX:

SIDE PAIN:

My copy of the accepted press has the large inset/poster. There are accepted pressings with smaller inserts and I believe all are numbered out of 100, though I don’t have one of those.

Now I also picked up another rejected press recently. This one is, however, much more sort after. The rejected press with ‘booted’ Confusion sleeve.

Now there isn’t a whole lot of information about this one. But consensus seems to be that this is a 'booted' copy of the actual Confusion sleeve, which i don't have a copy of. (This is based on the fact that the cover is much darker).  

Now this is actually printed on cardboard and has the correct glossy Mindpower records insert. So it is thought these were made by someone close to the record label. Again, this is just speculation, but it seems to make sense. I have no idea of how many of these actually exist.

Here is the insert.

Hope you enjoyed reading. More Chain and other records to come soon so stay posted!