Friday, December 10, 2010

Combat and War with eBay

I won a few records on eBay recently. Picked them up for dirt cheap, but unfortunately, not everything is as good a deal as it seems sometimes.

Sometimes I have bad luck when it comes to the first album that I buy from a band. The first thing that I heard from 7 Seconds was Soulforce Revolution...the first album that I bought from Warzone was their self titled 1989 album. Not great first impressions for either band. With D.O.A., I was introduced to them through their 1990 album, Murder. Luckily enough, I also picked up their Bloodied But Unbowed CD, which contained the bands first couple of releases from the early 80's, so I knew that the band wasn't complete shit. Honestly, when I bought the Bloodied But Unbowed CD in the early 90's, I still didn't give the band much of a shot, and I pretty much shelved the album for about 20 years. For some reason I dusted it off recently and found that I really enjoyed what I heard.

When I found an eBay seller with the original War On 45 12 inch EP, I figured that I'd try and pick it up cheap. The auction was ending soon, and sat with zero bids and a price tag of $6.00. The seller seemed to take pride in his records...when you call yourself a "record collector", I assume that you take care of your shit...plus he listed the vinyl in "great shape". I felt confident, and was happy when I won it. Unfortunately, when I put the record on the turntable it was obvious that something was fucked up. It seemed like the record had warped, and had somehow been flattened back out. The record is flat, but there is something definitely wrong with the grooves for the first song on side two. It plays okay, I guess, but you can see the arm of the turntable bouncing around like the vinyl is warped. I was a bit bummed.

From the same seller I also picked up a copy of Jesus Is Dead from The Exploited. I've always wanted a copy of this record. I love the front cover artwork. As kids, my brother had a Jesus Is Dead t-shirt, while I would opt for my Dead Kennedys In God We Trust, Inc tee. The more offensive the better, and my brother won the battle with this one. I was always jealous of that shirt. Again, the seller listed the vinyl as "great shape", so I didn't mind the $13.00 winning bid for this copy...until I pulled it out of the sleeve and saw all the surface scratches on the vinyl. Man, this thing is full of surface noise, scratches and pops throughout the entire record. Fuck.

Ridiculous that Combat censored the record labels on this. After releasing it with the front cover artwork, what is the point of censoring the Jesus Is Dead record and song title on the record label. Stupid.

Finally, a record from this seller that looks and sounds good. I wasn't a huge Crumbsuckers fan back in the late 80's. I had the Beast On My Back cassette, but it didn't really get a lot of spins. It wasn't until many years later, that I finally downloaded their first album, Life Of Dreams, that I finally started to appreciate this band. Yeah, the vocals are a little different, and I could see how some people might have a hard time with them, but to me, it is all part of their charm. Crossover rules, okay?

You can barely see it on the back of the album sleeve, but it has a promo stamp. Typically, these promo stamps are gold, but it looks like all the gold has flaked off, leaving just the indent.

Man, I feel bad for this guy. Due to the nighttime photography and lighting, he ended up with a spot of light right under his nose. Not very flattering.

So there it is...two out of the three records that I picked up for cheap were fucked up. I was upset, and sent a note to the seller. I wasn't asking for a refund since they were kind of cheap, but I was expecting some response or apology that the condition of his records were not a "great" as he described them. Nope, nothing...no response. Fuck you dude.

No comments: