Top 12 Record Acquisitions of 2006
In no particular order, these are the dozen best records I bought or
traded for this past year.
Dicks - Hate the Police 7"
This might be the record that's been on my want list longer than any
other. I first knew the song from the Mudhoney cover in the early-90s,
and when I got into collecting KBD records a couple years later, it was
already impossible to find and way above my head dollar-wise, a status it
still holds to this day. But thanks to what I can only describe as an
elaborate three-way trade, it cost me some rare posters I had previously
gotten cheaply and didn't care about. Crossing this off the want list
after 10+ years was extremely satisfying.
Elton Motello - Jet Boy Jet Girl 7" (porno sleeve)
I might be late to the trend, but in the past year or two, I've become
obsessed with this record. Besides being lyrically over-the-top, and
catchy as anything, it's hard to think of a punk single that was released
in more countries, and with more sleeve variations. And in general they
are cheap, so it doesn't require the typical deep pockets of collecting
overseas punk sleeve variations (anyone want to sell me a Japanese Dead
Boys "Tell Me" for $20? I didn't think so.) I'm most of the way towards
having all of the Jet Boy Jet Girl 7" variations, but this so-called
mystery pressing was the one I wasn't sure I'd be able to find.
Low Down
Kids covered this one pretty well so I won't
repeat the details here. This was one of the first things I bought at
this year's WFMU Record Fair, and as soon as I found it, I knew that even
if I bought nothing else at the fair, I'd be happy with my haul.
Nubees - Crosswalk 7"
I was going to restrict this to all 70s/80s records, but this is too good
to leave out. For the back-story, see Dave Hyde's first T-B column (Ed.: and here) , which turned me on to
this. I recall always seeing the record in the Existential Vacuum
discography, and being curious about it,
but I unfortunately never bothered to ask Ryan about it. I'm even more
loathe to spend serious money on a "new" record than an old one, so I
wasn't sure how I'd get one of these, but thanks to a big trade with extra
cash coming my way, I basically got the record for free, plus some walking
around money.
Village Pistols - Big Money 7"
I first bought this record about 5 years ago, and in retrospect it was a
pretty great deal, but at the time was the most I'd ever spent for a
record. A short time later I was buying my house and thought I needed
more cash. I felt guilty about spending so much for a record, and when
presented with a really great offer, sold it. Ever since then I've
regretted it. This was the year I was able to cross it off the want list
again, hopefully permanently. It cost me more than the first time, but
was less than I sold the other for, so I figure I've still come out ahead.
Vomit Pigs - Take One 7"
If it had an original sleeve this would have been my top score of the
year. I seem to recall a Japanese seller on eBay in the last couple years
who unloaded a totally trashed and unplayable copy with a respectable
sleeve. If anyone knows where that ended up, please get in touch.
News - Dirty Lies / Chop Chop Chop 7"
Thanks to a trade in previous years with Australian super-collector Henry
Weld, I already got the Babeez single, but this one, after they changed
their name to the News, had always eluded me. Against all odds, two came
my way this year, and one was a ridiculously underpriced eBay buy-it-now.
But good spares never hang around long, and this one let me cross another
Aussie monster off my list...
Leftovers - Cigarettes and Alcohol 7"
It's so hard to find a good trade - too often you just need to sell your
spares on eBay and buy other records with the proceeds - which is why I
was so happy to get contacted by an Australian collector out of the blue
who needed my spare News, and with the addition of a more minor Aussie
punk record (which was not in my trade pile, but I'm sure I'll find it
again) was willing to send me his spare Leftovers. I'll call this my
trade of the year.
Erratic - I Wrecked Myself 7"
This is definitely the oddball on this list and easily the least sought
after (and least valuable?) of all these records. I had gone to the
apartment of a pretty well known local punk scenester who had been in
bands since the early 80s and wished to sell his collection. It quickly
became obvious that (#1) most of the older and better stuff was long gone
and (#2) a lot of really, really shitty punk records came out in the 7"
glut of the 90s. But somehow the Erratic single was in there. I'm a huge
fan of Mike Rep, who has been doing great psych/punk/garage recordings in
Ohio since the mid-70s, and this sleeveless 1980 single from just outside
Los Angeles is about the closest I've heard another band come to his
style.
Hubble Bubble - S/T LP
Ivy Green - S/T LP
Kids - S/T and Naughty Kids LPs
I'm listing these all together as they all fit the theme of top-notch Euro
punk albums. These records, along with the Vomit Pigs, Village Pistols,
and one copy of the News 7" listed above all came from the same incredible
collection of a major punk collector who decided to get out of the
collector scum rat race this year. A handful of his records landed on
eBay, many more were sold at a pair of NYC record fairs, but the majority
of the good stuff went through private sales, and in thanks for a previous
favor, I was able to get first dibs. I only wish I had more to spend, but
had to cut myself off at about 20 records. I always hate buying LPs from
overseas as you get killed on shipping, and there's a higher chance of
broken or lost packages, so it was really nice to get these all at once in
person.
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