Welcome to Boston: Part 1

I already had plans at the first of December for a trip to Boston when Jeff asked if I wanted to make a trip down for some record shopping at the end of November. At first I declined. I already had plans to for a week later, I shouldn't spend the money, and the real reason was that I was afraid that my wife would kill me if I went record shopping again. In the end I said "fuck it", and took Jeff up on his offer. The guy has been through some rough shit this year, so I figured that if it was a shopping trip that he wanted, then damn it, he deserved it. Thankfully, my wife understood, and I didn't catch too much shit for it.

Our first stop was at In Your Ear Records. The store is packed, wall to wall, with used vinyl. You have to dig through a lot of shit to find any kind of treasures, but that is all part of the fun. Knowing that we had a couple of other stores to go to, I tried to not blow my entire load in the first store, and kept my purchases to a minimum.

• Deep Purple - Burn : This is an album that I would have never expected myself to get into. The main reason is that David Coverdale is the singer...yeah, the guy from Whitesnake. But seriously, this friggin' rocks. Great album, and this copy was in such great condition, I couldn't resist. $10.00.


• Dio - Mystery : A 12 inch single from Dio's Last in Line album. Nothing too special, but I have a small collection of Dio records, so I needed this one. $4.00.


• The Meatmen - War of the Superbikes : Man, The Meatmen are, for better or for worse, classics. Rude, crude and as far from PC as you can get...but I'll be damned it they don't rage. This album isn't as hardcore as We're the Meatmen and you Suck, but it is still a lot of fun. Considering how un-PC this band is, it always struck me as odd that Lyle Preslar and Brian Baker, from Minor Threat, played on this record. $15.00.

Our next stop was at Nuggets. This store was kind of a bust. There was just so much junk...like they hadn't added anything new since I was there last year. I know that the owner sells stuff on eBay, so I'm sure that all the cool shit ends up there, and unfortunately it will probably mean the death of his store. I was prepared to walk out of there empty handed when I found Nothing To Nothing by Tear It Up. I was kind of surprised to find this at Nuggets, as they don't typically carry any hardcore or punk. I already own this one on CD, but the album is so good, I figured that I'd drop the $15.00 to have it on vinyl as well.

On a whim, Jeff and I decided to check out Newbury Comics in Harvard Square. I have a lot of history with this store, as Paul and I used to make annual trips down to Newbury's back in the early 90's. Man, we would save our money for months, and just go nuts, buying stacks of albums and CDs. This was at a time when mailorder wasn't exactly reliable, and Maine didn't really have any kind of independent record store...these trips to Newbury's was all we had. Somewhere down the line, Newbury Comics opened a store in Maine, and the trips to Harvard Square stopped. How long has it been? 10 years? 15 years? I'm not exactly sure, but when Jeff and I walked into the store, it was as amazing as it was all those years ago. It wasn't anywhere near as good as Generation Records in NYC, but it kicked the ass of anything that we have around here. The two of us agreed...if we had come to this store first, we wouldn't have bothered flipping through the dust bins of the other two stores. Since I was already running short on cash, I only picked up two pieces of vinyl...oh yeah, I got a couple of CD's here as well.

• Suicidal Tendencies : I've been meaning to order this directly from Frontier Records for months now. When I saw it at Newbury's, I figured that it was as good a time as any to finally buy it. The bands classic first album, and along with Th' Inbred and Dead Kennedys, one of the first punk albums that I ever bought...of course my original copy was on cassette. This is the 25th anniversary pressing, on red and silver vinyl...which looks absolutely amazing. For this pressing, the LP jacket features a spot varnished logo, similar to what Champion did with their logo on their live album. Nice touch.
• Annihilation Time III - Tales of the Ancient Age : I have fallen in love with this band. No one can touch this band on their blend of classic rock and punk. It doesn't sound like a really appealing mix, but damn, this shit is intense. A great mash of Black Flag and Thin Lizzy. The guitar work on Bald Headed Woman is so friggin' good, and the line in Germ Freak is a complete classic..."Hey baby, you wanna dance? I just shit my pants. Fuck you.". I know it may sound retarded, but you've got to hear it to appreciate the greatness...okay, even after you hear it, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't "get it". Oh well, this album is easily in my top 5 for 2008. This pressing is on Tee Pee Records. At some point, I may need to track down the vinyl that Reflections Records released.