TKO ROUND 185: Pick Your King 7" reissue

The fine folks at TKO Records have been working on a bevy of PI reissues for the coming months (years?), and to keep everyone pacified till the next round, they pressed up this handy little reissue of Pick Your King to coincide with Record Store Day 2012. It's cool to see this back in print... albeit in sold out, limited edition form [aka true collector scum form (i.e., love it or leave it)].

-----

TEST PRESS - 20 copies

Black vinyl with xerox-printed foldover sleeve, numbered on the back with some fine print for future owners: "don't be a dick by selling this on ebay!"

 

-----

FIRST PRESS - 1000 copies

All copies on clear vinyl, to mimic the original pressing of the 7". Front/back covers are faithful to the original clear vinyl pressing, but the inside artwork has been updated slightly with the addition of a nice vintage live shot. The sound has been remastered and is a bit thicker on the low end compared to the original.

 

Thanks to Mark TKO for hooking up copies!

IV 19: Religion and Politics 2x7"

PI's final studio material before their break up in 1993, released as a double 7" on the Australian label Insipid Vinyl. You get three new songs, a RIPPING live version of "Say Goodbye" (which imo blows away the LP version), and a slick cover of Devo's "Blockhead". I've always assumed these songs were recorded at the same time as We Must Burn, but since there's no recording information on any version of this record — this 2x7", the 10" version or the CD — I couldn't say for sure. Grab the CD version or the split 7" with Babes In Toyland if you want to hear PI's destructive version of GISM's classic "Death, Agonies and Screams".

-----

TEST PRESS - unknown amount

No known sleeve.

-----

FIRST PRESS - unknown amount

I swear there used to be pressing amounts around for this one floating around online, but I'll be damned if I can find it anywhere. At any rate, there are a limited amount on green vinyl and a larger amount on black vinyl (how's that for useful pressing info?). Someone on Discogs says "The second record of the two is in transparent green vinyl" so I'm assuming there must be at least one mismatched copy out there.

Back for more...

I was in Portland over the past weekend hanging out with some like-minded, pretentious assholes and decided I should probably make some new posts here. Live In Vienna 7" added below, Pick Your King 7" updated, and more to come soon (I promise).

AL-007: Live In Vienna 7"

Cool little 4-song ep recorded live in Vienna, Austria, 2/28/1991, and released later that year. The songs on here rip pretty hard even for a live recording, but I have to admit that this record falls into the for-collectors/completists-only camp due to all of the pressing variations and the fact that there are no exclusive tracks. I always really dug the cover designs of this 7" and Agnostic Front's United Blood 7"; both using the band's live banner in lieu of a printed logo.

-----

TEST PRESS - unknown amount

No known sleeve.

-----

FIRST PRESS - 3000 copies

The first 500 copies are on clear vinyl with yellow splatters, housed in a xerox copied card stock sleeve which is signed on the inside by all five members and and numbered at the bottom center (see last pic). After that come 500 clear/red/yellow splatter (unnumbered) and 2000 black vinyl (numbered), both in offset printed sleeves on a thinner, glossy stock. A few years ago an alleged "mispress" copy surfaced on ebay on completely clear vinyl (clear clear vinyl?) with no splatters. The seller claimed very few were made, and I believe it as I've never seen another copy. If you have one that you want to unload, hit me up!

AL-008/VS 32: Punish Me b/w Mario The Cop 7"

The one and only single off of the Blank, Blackout, Vacant LP, featuring PI's ode to sexual domination backed with PI's other ode to sexual domination. The A-side appears to be the same as the LP version, and the B-side, "Mario The Cop", is unreleased elsewhere. USA and UK versions exist as well as a UK 12" that includes a third track "Endless Sleep" (I'll post this record some other time). Check the video for "Punish Me" if you get bored.

-----

USA PRESS - AMERICAN LEATHER RECORDS 1991

TEST PRESS - unknown amount

No known sleeve.

-----

FIRST PRESS - 3000 copies

According to the official discography, 1000 were pressed on solid pink and 2000 were pressed on black. Sleeve is a foldover with no border, and the pink copies are signed on the inside of the sleeve by all members of the band. Some copies are also signed by cover artist Chris Warner.

-----

UK PRESS - VINYL SOLUTION RECORDS 1991

TEST PRESS - unknown amount
Need a copy of this if it's out there (a scan would be cool too).

-----

FIRST PRESS - 2200 copies

All copies are color vinyl, with some on clear pink/purple (top), and some on solid pink/purple (bottom). Color breakdown is unknown. It was hard to get a good scan but the clear copy only has a very slight pink tint to it and is almost completely clear. Sleeve is a glued pocket with a thin border around the edge.

FK-001: Filthkick 7"

The first and only release on the band's own Shitfool label, done themselves as they were "tired of being fucked over by bullshit labels" who I can only assume were Pusmort and/or Alchemy Records. IMO this is the peak of their mid period metallic output, everything is just spot on — the riffs, the production, the vocals — it's all perfect. And like Getting The Fear, I love the built-in collector's item aspect of releases like this.

-----

TEST PRESS - ??? copies

One of the few PI tests that has eluded me over the years, I'm still looking for this one if anyone out there is holding (a scan would be cool too).

-----

FIRST PRESS - 2000 black vinyl

Most all copies are numbered on the back cover in black marker, presumably in Pig's handwriting. Some oddball sleeve variants exist, including a very small amount color paper covers (see below) and an unknown amount of unnumbered copies (2nd back sleeve pic below). I also have an unnumbered copy with a xerox sleeve which I was told was original by the person who previously owned it, and the quality of the print is equal to the original printed sleeve, so it seems plausible. Additionally, some copies came with a 7"x7" offset printed crack-n-peel sticker of the cover art.

UNNUMBERED BACK COVER

-----

COLOR PAPER COVERS

Apparently these were run off by the printer just for the hell of it, and were not officially ordered when the covers were made. Malcolm from Fatal Erection told me that there are no more than 4 copies each of three different colors — red (which is more of a hot pink), blue and light green — with his best recollection being 4 each of the red and blue, and 3 of the green. I'm still on the hunt for a green copy, or even a scan if anyone out there has it. My red/pink copy came in a plastic baggie with "one of 25" written on it, I'm now sure who wrote that though. I got it from a friend who used to trade records with Pig.

AL-006/VS 29: Official Bootleg 2x7"

In response to the crummy Plastic Bomb bootleg 7" from my previous post, the band pressed up this "official bootleg" — two songs from the Plastic Bomb cassingle doubled up with a second 7" of covers (Jimmy Cliff and Lloyd Price) — and released it on American Leather with Vinyl Solution (UK) running the distribution. While "The Harder They Come" is actually one of my favorite covers they do, let's not forget the main attraction on this record which is the absolutely scorching alternate version of "Plastic Bomb". Why they chose to release this version as a cassette single and not on Feel The Darkness is a real head scratcher, but either way I'm glad this record exists. My head still spins every time that Maiden-style harmonized guitar lead kicks in after the second chorus.

-----

TEST PRESS - ??? copies

Not sure how many of these are made but there must be a ton, I've seen a LOT of these for sale on ebay over the years (and they tend to sell really cheap). Some come with a white paper folded sleeve, but the majority I've seen sold were sleeveless. I'm guessing they were used for promo like most Vinyl Solution releases.

-----

FIRST PRESS - ??? copies

Not sure how many of these are made either, as there's no amount listed in the discography on the Pajama Party insert. Cool gatefold sleeve, the inside live photo has so much ridiculous stuff going on it's not even funny.