Top Tens: Colin's Top Ten Albums Not Pressed On Vinyl

A few weeks ago you might have seen a post on this website where our buddy Chris, who is also an Instagram celebrity known as Vinyl.Systems, told us ten albums he would love to see pressed onto vinyl. This, of course, got me thinking about ten album that I wish were pressed on the wax so this is what you’re about to read.

Like Chris, I figured I could give a brief history of my vinyl collecting story. I’ve always been a big collector of things. When I get an idea in my head, I often get quite locked on and obsessed by it. I used to have a ridiculous collection of DVDs. At one point my tiny box room at my mum’s looked like a tiny Blockbusters. When I started to get into punk music in the early 2000s, I started to buy CDs. At the time vinyl records weren’t anywhere near as popular as they are now and neither of the two music shops in Colchester even stocked vinyl records. After about ten years of seemingly buying every single CD I could get my hands on I amassed a collection of well over 1000. It was a bit silly, particularly because I barely listened to them. It must have been around 2014, when I noticed that more people were beginning to buy vinyl again. Initially I fought against the urge to get involved because I knew what I was like when it came to starting collections. Other than knowing how obsessed I get when starting collections, I was also aware of the space issues, the fact I didn’t own a turntable and I didn’t want to re-buy a load of music once again. Then I met my partner, Emma. She had started her own record collection. I have a distinct memory of the first time I visited her flat and checking out her record collection. I remember loving the extra detail in the artwork and the whole process of putting a record on. It felt like so much more of an event than playing a CD or digital music. This was probably the moment where my resolve and resistance about starting my own collection failed. And, good gosh, it failed in a big way. My collection grew very quickly and it continues to grow at a rate that is probably not smart. At the time of writing this, mine and Emma’s combined collection has 660 items. I’m sure by the time you’re reading this, it will have grown even more though.

This year I set myself a bit of a new year’s resolution/challenge to listen to our collection more and to post a different record each day on my Instagram page. The posting on Instagram is basically a way to hold myself accountable to keep doing it. If you want to follow my progress my Instagram handle is ColinsPRW. While doing this challenge, I’ve really fallen in love with listening to complete albums again and it’s made me listen to some albums that I’ve not listened to in years. I’ve also realised that most albums have a different memory attached to them. I’ll get a record off the shelf, usually picked by using the Discogs app’s shaky shaky feature, and I’ll instantly remember where I brought it, whether it’s from a gig, a record shop, a fair, on a holiday, something I took a punt on – all sorts of great memories. It’s nice to see Colin’s Punk Rock World thanked in the sleeve notes from some of the DIY bands we’ve helped and made friends with. Basically, I really like vinyl records and I love adding to our collection. I also love ordering them properly on the shelves – alphabetically by band and then chronologically in case you were wondering. Anyway, here are ten that I’d love to see pressed so I can add them to my collection.

Disclaimer: These are ten albums that aren’t pressed on vinyl as far as I’m aware. If they are, please let me know so I can track them down and add to the collection.

Disclaimer number two: I could have easily picked ten albums from the late 90s early 2000s era of UK punk rock as not a lot of those albums got vinyl releases. For the sake of variety, I decided to just stick with three from that era though. I’d also love to see King Prawn – Got The Thirst get a vinyl pressing, though. And the entire Captain Everything! discography.

Aerial Salad – Roach

Aerial Salad’s debut album Roach put the Manchester punks on a lot of people’s radars before Dirt Mall began to give them more attention from the entire alternative scene. With Dirt Mall and Salad’s more recent singles, they seem to be stepping further and further away from the Roach sound so I don’t know how likely a vinyl run of the album will ever be. I’d love to see it though.

Allister – Dead Ends And Girlfriends

Allister’s second album, Last Stop Suburbia, is one of my favourite pop punk albums of all time. I’m also very keen on their debut Dead Ends And Girlfriends which came out in 1999. Sixteen tracks in just thirty-two minutes says a lot of what to expect from the album. It’s certainly not as polished as Last Stop Suburbia but it’s got hooks for days as well as a wonderful cover of I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys. Some of the songs from the album got a vinyl release thanks to a best of vinyl that came out a couple of years ago but I’d much prefer the whole album with the original versions.

Chewing On Tinfoil – Get Rich Or Try Dyin’

In the past few years Chewie have released their most recent album and EP, Marrowbone Lane and Moving The Goalposts, on vinyl so here’s hoping they also find the time and – probably more importantly, money – to release their debut, Get Rich Or Try Dyin’, as well. Over the years Chewie have moved away from the ska sounds on this album. I believe the band have been working on a new album so I can’t expect getting this released on wax is anywhere near the top of their band “to do” list, but hopefully one day it’ll happen.

The Exhausts – Leave The Suburbs!

After we published Chris’ list, Tommy from The Exhausts said he would have loved to get Leave The Suburbs released on vinyl. I agreed wholeheartedly. That’s why I put it on this list. The Exhausts were a three piece based in London who played scrappy pop punk. In 2015 they released their final album Leave The Suburbs! and I absolutely fell in love with it. Ten of the catchiest pop tracks about the struggles of being in your twenties you’re ever likely to hear with some superb dual vocals.

Fletcher – My Revenge

London’s Fletcher are the first of my three picks from the early 2000s UK punk rock scene. The band only released one full length album while they were together but what an album – it was amazing. Listening back to My Revenge today, almost twenty years after it was originally released, I can’t help but think it was ten years before it’s time. It features twelve brilliantly crafted melodic gruff punk bangers that if they were released in 2013 would have been huge in the scene.

Jesse James – Punk Soul Brothers

I was absolutely obsessed with Jesse James back in the day. As one of my favourite bands when I first discovered the world of UK punk rock, I listened to Punk Soul Brothers so much that I had to buy a second copy. It was one of those albums where I could sing along to every word and probably still could now twenty years later. The album brilliantly combines punk rock and soul music with a great brass section and ridiculously catchy tunes that will find a home in your brain for absolutely ages. I could have happily picked all three Jesse James albums for this list but chose Punk Soul Brothers because it was the first I heard.

The Johnstones – Word Is Bond

In my essay of an introduction I talked about how music is like a time stamp for memories. You can remember what you were listening to at certain points in your life. This is why The Johnstones – Word Is Bond has a place on this list. The Johnstones were a ska punk band from Canada who released three albums through the brilliant Stomp Records. In the summer of 2010, I broke my leg which meant I spent a lot of time on my own at home. I listened to The Johnstones so much during that summer, I can’t help but feel as if the upbeat, fun, not taking themselves at all seriously nature of their music really helped me not get depressed. I’ll fully admit that a lot of the content on the album probably wouldn’t go down well in the more PC world that we live in today but these songs helped me a lot and I’d love to own it on vinyl.

Just Say Nay – Maximum Effort

Maximum Effort by Just Say Nay is one of the best ska punk albums released anywhere in the world during the past ten years and it’s an absolute catastrophe that it never got released on vinyl. The South London/Kent nine piece released this damn near perfect album in 2019 and it should’ve catapulted them to the very top of the ska punk tree. Combining all things ska, punk, reggae and gypsy-punk and getting stunning results, Maximum Effort is a lot of fun but it’s also full of thoughtful, poignant and smart lyrics and some top notch musicianship. It also features the epic Kuromouri – an eight minute long masterpiece that needs to be heard by everyone. Unfortunately the band decided to call it a day in November of 2021 so the likelihood of a Maximum Effort vinyl release is oh so low but I can dream.

[Spunge] – Too Little Too Late

Of course [Spunge] would be on this list. I’ve spoken about how [Spunge] are my gateway band to punk rock so many times you’re probably bored of it now. I don’t think I’ll ever feel like our vinyl collection is complete until I get the album that started it all for me on vinyl though. The Story So Far was the first [Spunge] album I ever heard and bought and I still absolutely adore it. It’s another where I could easily recite every single word even twenty years later. I do happen to have a Jump On Demand 7” single that the band released in the build up to the album that I found whilst crate digging on holiday in Japan but I NEED Too Little Too late too. Also this year is the album’s twenty year anniversary, so how about an album show at some point too?

Tens – Tens

I would guess that for regular readers of CPRW, Tens are the band you are least familiar with. They are a three piece punk rock band from Chicago. They released their only full length in 2016. I was fortunate enough to be sent an early copy thanks to the fact I do CPRW. Start a music blog folks – sometimes people send you really cool things to listen to! I really enjoyed the album. I’m a big fan of the melodic punk, gruff vocals, a big sing-along style and Tens (also the album title) is packed with it. I was also lucky enough to be able to attend The Fest in Gainesville in 2016 – Tens played and it was one of my favourite sets of the entire weekend. This album would sound great on vinyl.

There’s my list. If you enjoyed it let us know and maybe another member of the team could write their own list and we could make this a series. And, as I said previously, if one of the albums mentioned has been released without me knowing, please send me links so I can buy it!

This top ten was written by Colin Clark.