I don’t much care for Marky or CJ, but the speed at which they rip through that set always really amused me. We used to listen to that cd a lot growing up just for the craziness of it.
I wish they did a live album with Richie. I really like those records.

HDM is kind of a prick from what I understand and has done some pretty questionable things. Blood Brothers however is one of my favorite albums of all time. Manifest Destiny is pretty great too.
Did you ever get to Manitoba’s his bar in NYC? I got to go twice when I’ve visited. It was just a cool dive. I also liked 7B across the street. They had plenty of stories about being neighbors.

I didn't see the Ramones for the first time till 1985 (played in my town, but first I drove all the way to NYC, THEIR hometown, to get a Times Square fake ID because I was underage, go back to my town for the show, I didn't even get carded), but their sets were always "ripped through" like that by that point in their career. A friend of mine and I always have these "Green Day vs. Ramones" arguments, as he calls GD a "ripoff" of the Ramones, and I don't necessarily disagree, but I can totally see why one of the two bands are all multi-millionaires and one of them all died in relative poverty. Joey and the boys would rip through a set like they were punching a clock and the sooner they punched out the sooner they go home. Because for all intents and purposes that was their JOB and they played like it. They didn't want to be rock stars, and guess what, they weren't. Billie Joe may mug and smarm the crowd, lots of "get your fists in the air!" crap, but that's the kind of thing you do if you want to play stadiums, have platinum albums, and win Grammys.

Never want to HDM's bar in NYC, like I said, I only started getting into the Dictators a couple of years ago (my NY time ended in 1990 when I moved to Cali) after seeing him play live, and even then I was mostly there for Punk Rock Karaoke but I enjoyed the hell out of his set. I've got the two records you mention, but I still want to get the debut. I Live for Cars and Girls. What a great song.

Well, I arrived early (first in line again) and managed to snag the only copy the store had of the RSD exclusive David Bowie live album Ready Set Go on vinyl, along with Pink Floyd: BBC Live July 16 1970 on multi-colored vinyl, Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson on clear vinyl, and U2: 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (a former RSD release) on transparent blue vinyl. A pretty good day for me, for sure ...









How'd everyone else do?

Just finished at M Theory after swearing I wouldn't wait on line there. Got there 3 1/2 hours after opening and still had a 90 minute wait. Shmeesh.

But I got
Thompson Twins (last copy)
Ramones
Replacements
Talking Heads

I'm off to Record City, but I'm pretty happy with my haul already

And Record City was a good stop too, as they had two records I wanted that weren't at M-Theory: Belly's second record King, and The Dictators record. RC also didn't have the ones I picked up at M-Theory (with the exception of The Replacements), so it looks like I chose wisely.

I got everything except the RockAfire Explosion. Hopefully Terrorvision comes through next week and has some on their page.
Paff, is that the Record City in Las Vegas?

RSD 2025...

Black Sabbath - Eternal Idol


Deicide - Once Upon the Cross (30th Anniversary)


Dokken - Beast from the East Live (2x LP)


Scott Ian - Black Knight Sword of Rage


Judas Priest - Live in Atlanta '82 (2x LP)


Rage Against the Machine - Live on Tour 1993 (2x LP)


Soul Asylum - After The Flood: Live from the Grand Forks Prom, June 28, 1997


The Sword - Warp Riders 15th Anniversary


Eddie Vedder - Save it for Later/Room at the Top 12"


Russell-Guns - Medusa


The Jack Russell-Tracii Guns LP was an impulse buy; I missed it on the RSD list and picked it up off of the rack. I actually didn't know that the album existed.

Overall, a nice haul of items. The only ones I already owned were "Beast from the East" and "Once Upon the Cross" on CD.

Total came to a bit over $300, which isn't too bad considering four of them are double albums and only one was a single, which was kind of over-priced at around $20, but I was already in for nearly $300, anyway.

I added one more via Discogs; I didnt have time to run to all the local stores and pick through the remains.

Sweet - Desolation Boulevard Live and Demos

Even with shipping it cost about the same as what I would have paid in a store. If I could even find it.

Curious how this one sounds and the pressing quality, when you get a chance to spin it. On the Hoffman forums, posters are trying to figure out why the hype sticker says it's from analog tapes even though it was recorded and mixed digitally (the SPARS code on the original CD is "DDD"). Some are theorizing that the digital master was tranferred to analog tape for making the vinyl versions, if that would make much difference. If I can't find the RSD release, this is supposed to get a normal black vinyl release in the summer.

It sounds... okay, I guess. I really don't have anything to compare it to since this was my first purchase of it. Or even the first time I've heard it. I didn't really pick up any problems with it.


I suppose that, back in the 1980s when CD first came out, having a DDD code meant something; a lot of early CDs. Those CDs usually sounded better, but that's probably because there wasn't a lot of effort put into the sound quality of CD releases. Most older albums were probably just rushed out onto CD and that was that. By the early 90s, AAD, ADD, and DDD sort of became pointless when everything was being made for CD.

Kind of ironic how, now, we want to go back to analog.

Thanks!

Yeah, I remember in the 80s, the SPARS code was more of a thing. I can't remember the title, it may have been Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys, but when I got my first DDD CD, I thought "whoa, all digital!". Fast forward a few decades and now I'm chasing down AAA vinyl.

And when your CD was AAD, you felt like you were getting ripped off.

I've always thought vinyl sounded better than CD, and I wonder if that's a major factor in it. The early CDs from the 1980s didn't sound very good; they mostly sounded like cassettes only better, whereas vinyl had a more direct, dynamic, richer, and punchier sound when comparing the same album.

I held out on vinyl as long as I could, but once Columbia House and the record stores abandoned the format around 1989, I had to make the switch over to CD.

The big thing with earlier CDs was the mastering. They were mastered pretty much flat/straight transfers from tape. Later masterings were all about loudness (as well as ham-fisted noise reduction), and as a result were lacking in dynamic range.

I wasn't impressed with a lot of the early CD releases (I started buying CDs in 1987), and some were downright horrible (e.g. Led Zeppelin's fourth album, some of the first KISS CDs). And yeah, later on the "loudness wars" started and dynamic range fell off a cliff. As long as it's a nice, quiet pressing, I always prefer vinyl. Sure, most of it is from digital sources these days, but at least the dynamic range is usually better than the CD versions, even for new releases.

Yeah, there were definitely poor masterings, even in the early days. It's helpful to know who, in particular, was responsible for the mastering.

The really frustrating part is recent remasters where the original artist was involved, yet they still sound much worse than the original CD. Probably because the artists I tend to listen to are getting up there, in years, so their hearing is not what it should be.

Agreed, and the aging hearing is a big reason for that. I've heard complaints about Robert Smith's Cure remasters, and I'm not sure if Jimmy Page should still be supervising Zeppelin remasters at this point.

I was just coming in here to post this ... The mastering from The Cure's European label (Fiction) leaves much to be desired, IMO. Add to that the vinyl itself tends to be quite dirty and it makes for an underwhelming listening experience. I have the 'Robert Smith approved' reissues of both Disintegration and Pornography. They should sound much better than they do AFAIC. It's a bit disappointing, though neither of them are as bad as the GZ Media Czech Republic pressed 2018 reissue of U2's Achtung Baby. That may have been the worst quality vinyl record I've ever owned. Couldn't believe how terrible that sounded.

I've been staying away from the recent Cure vinyl reissues for both of those reasons. For now, I still just listen to my original CD pressing of Disintegration, which from what I've read is still the one to beat, in any format, even all these years later. Oh well...

Just ordered a near-mint copy of Tears For Fears: Live At Massey Hall 1985 from a Canadian seller on discogs, a former Record Store Day release that I've had my eye on for a while. Price dropped by $20 earlier today so I jumped on this. The quality of the recording, dynamic range, etc. is purported to be quite good on the vinyl edition. Looking forward to spinning this.

Picked up probably my favorite album that I didn't already own on vinyl, London Calling, at my local shop.

Nice! Just out of curiosity, what is the spine number on the copy you got?

88875112701 which looks to be a 2015 pressing. Was a sealed copy.

I like to try and pick up at least one used record every time I go in a shop as their markup is better on them but this place had 30 boxes of used stuff I had 0 interest in and three or four first pressings of 90s rap like Liquid Swords which I'd love but not willing to pay for. If it weren't for London Calling probably would have grabbed a mid 80s Ramones album which Id have more to eventually complete their studio catalog than to actually listen to the thing (outside of KKK Took My Baby Away which is great).

Just an FYI, there may be some distortion on Train In Vain (last song on the fourth side). Hopefully not but you may want to give it a spin to see.

Thanks for the heads up! I only got to the first three sides yesterday. Will be listening to the 4th side in a few hours when I can properly play it.

Is Train in Vain even listed on the back cover?

I won't own a copy of London Calling that does.