FINAL CONFLICT- s/t 7″EP (Reflex Records, USA, 1983) & Bonus Songs!
By request: Here’s FINAL CONFLICT’s one and only 7″, engineered again (see WILLFUL NEGLECT) by Fjelsted. As a bonus, you’ll get the songs from “Lung Cookies” (totally underrated LP comp on Smoke Seven Records). These songs are from the band’s great demo tape. So you have “Self-defeat” in two versions, a calmer first one and the harsher one from the 7″ – decide which session you like better!
Let’s make this an opportunity to make clear why I decided to start my own blog by comparing this posting of FINAL CONFLICT to the 128 kbit rip from a bad audio tape on another blog. It starts off with the title of this record: This is not called “In the Family”. The 7″ has no title. It’s a rather common practique to give untitled records titles by just quoting the first song. This is irregular: If you do this, make it like this: “FINAL CONFLICT: In the family & 3 7″EP”, indicating you’re smart enough to know the diffference between a record’s title and a song title.
Secondly and most importantly: When trying to make rare and out of print records available to a wider audience for whatever reason, at least make sure your rip comes close to the original vinyl. That means clean editing (do not cut off counting or fadeouts etc.) and it also means: Use quality tools (sound interfaces, cables, turntables, amps, all that stuff) and quality encoding. Of course this is subjective, but after years of experience and hours of testing, I found out that 224 kb/s with VBR is a decent compromise you can live with. As I said: if you have a 99.99$ stereo, 128 kb/s rips will do it and you probably won’t even hear a difference. But this is not the point so much: If you’re putting so much work into it (for instance: WILLFUL NEGLECT took me 1 hour of work, this will be around 45 minutes because of more text), why compromise? If you’re making this available (while you still can), why not strive for quality that does the record and your downloaders justice? No question: One could always improve it, posting .wav files and whatever, but let’s be realistic. One point one could discuss is the use of cleaning up programs to remove non-recorded noises such as pops, crackling, hiss etc. I don’t use such because I’m very sceptical about them for various reasons.
Thirdly: Tag your rips accordingly. Keep in mind that whatever you post on a blog will land somewhere out of context sooner or later, so make sure, in the name of the artists, that whoever ends up hearing your rips has decent and correct info.
Fourthly and finally and as trivial as it sounds: Don’t post records you don’t physicaly own. If you still do, make it clear by revealing the source material you used. And if you don’t have one of the high priced originals but a bootleg – say so. Rule of thumb, to sum this up: Post what you have!
Of course my little shit blog is anything but perfect. If I had an LP size scanner, I’d strive for quality cover shots too and include labels and inserts. I kept thinking about this problem and this what I came up with: When taking a photo of an oversized cover (i.e. 12″), I would play with it by adding foreign objects or flashlights. A photo will always distort the image angularly, so I thought this might be a way to deal with the technical shortcomings: Alternate it!
This was just to explain why I do what I do and it’s meant in the most general way (not in any way limited to that FINAL CONFLICT rip). And as I said: This thing here is not perfect, of course. Taking all things into account, Peter’s KBD Records to me is the best blog around. It’s professionally done, it’s a labour of love and he puts a lot of time into it. Sure, his shortcomings in good bad taste are obvious from time to time, but that’s giving it a personal note (of a handicapped sort). Also, he needs to improve sound quality a little, but there’s something in the works, as my sources say.
A good blog should either exclusively focus on a special kind (or maybe two or three) of music – it should then dig into the subject, from an experts point of view. Or else, it should be done with the same passion but more subjectively, by clearly stating “I’m the one who’s pulling the strings here and this is why I want you to listen to this”. What doesn’t work is a mixture of both. 95% of all music blogs I’ve ever seen fall into that category. Or Indymedia-type open posting without a normative frame.
Amen.
The 7″:
In the Family.mp3
The lines have faded.mp3
Your.mp3
Self-defeated.mp3
from the Demo (as on “Lung Cookies” Comp LP, Smoke Seven Records, USA, 1983)
Self-defeated.mp3
Why me & Rage and Frustration.mp3
Ross.mp3
Peter - KBDRecords wrote:
Wow!!! The blow job I gave you surely payed off
. Thanks Erich! PS. You tasted good by the way. Just like old swizz cheese.DS
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 2:54 am | Permalink
Erich wrote:
Yer wellcum!
with the addition of the comp songs, the whole post took me 2.15 hrs of work. Damn, and I didn’t even have breakfast!
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 3:26 am | Permalink
Anonymous wrote:
great record, great rip, great bonus, great reading, great great great. thanks!
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 4:14 am | Permalink
Bernard wrote:
I used to spend a lot of time on Strange Reaction, 7Inch Punk, something I learned, Dressed for the H-Bomb and some more blogs during the past year or two. I think they were all great for what they did since you’re having your blog, I wish they’d change theirs a little. It’s obvious tha blogging rare punk has become a new dimension with Peter and you. Makes me wonder how long you will be able to keep up the work!
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 4:53 am | Permalink
Erich wrote:
Cheers Bernard. I think it’s good that there are many different blogs around, with different approaches and their individual style. I like Something I learned very much, same with Dressed (it should come back, seriously!). Other newer blogs (as is mine) like 1000Aspirins, Last Days and just all the blogs I linked are great too. Some are good in writing, some have rare stuff, some have great comments, others have quality rips, others are so full of passion and have a vision – I don’t think you should limit yourself to just two blogs.
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 5:05 am | Permalink
malfeitor wrote:
Funny, I always thought the foreign objects you added to your 12″ cover shots were kind of like your own personal watermark rather than an attempt to get a better image. I particularly like seeing a nice raw/evil recording with that little stuffed bear next to it.
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 8:28 am | Permalink
Anonymous wrote:
heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell yes. thank you. you are a good dude.
timmy
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 9:42 am | Permalink
fnordboy wrote:
Excellent!! You’re right, though, I don’t think Mr. 7″ is going to like this much — but your post is the much finer product. Thanks for taking the time to do it up right. And the added value of the Lung Cookies tracks — thanks again.
By the way, it’s true – Ross MacIllravie WAS a skritchen’ guy.
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 10:07 am | Permalink
Allan wrote:
Can’t 7inchpunk change name to 7inchsoulseek?
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 10:24 am | Permalink
Eric wrote:
To be fait to Todd, I think someone from the 7″ punk community posted the record – can’t imagine he has too much control over others sourcing – and frankly it’s a matter of personal belief how you credit your source (though the rip was shit) The poster claimed it as there own and it may be – it just happens to sound exactly like the subpar rip I found on Soulseek a couple of months back. Who knows? Thanks for a quality product.
Erich and Peter really are the vanguard now for the ubercollector material. Hopefully they can keep their hands off each other long enough to keep the good stuff coming. Kidding of course! When it takes a couple of hours to rip, write, scan, etc. the process gets old quick. Kudos to the folks that stick it out.
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 2:18 pm | Permalink
h-bomb wrote:
Hi Erich. Thumbs up!
[Reply]
Posted on 04-Nov-06 at 3:15 pm | Permalink
jon manyjars wrote:
I agree with what you posted, but I think there are two things your blog should do that, at least in the past, were unwritten rules in the mp3 blog community: 1) Don’t post records that are still in print, and 2) Include a link to the bands’ websites (if available) so that people can buy their music and support the bands.
[Reply]
Posted on 05-Nov-06 at 5:50 am | Permalink
Erich wrote:
Special rule: I stand above all rules.
[Reply]
Posted on 05-Nov-06 at 5:59 am | Permalink
Suck'n'Fuck wrote:
“unwritten rules” and “blogger community”. whot a prick.
[Reply]
Posted on 05-Nov-06 at 7:19 am | Permalink
Anonymous wrote:
fuck the rules.
timmy
[Reply]
Posted on 05-Nov-06 at 11:42 am | Permalink
fred wrote:
I appreciate all the effort you put into this stuff, but I gotta get my vote down as I don’t care for the attack stuff.
Not that I think everyone should all play nice or anything, but this what burned me out on 60s punk comps way back when. While I appreciate the attempts at better quality, seems silly to get all bent out of shape and competitive about bootlegged recordings of extremely obscure music from a long long time ago.
That said, has anyone found a vinyl rip without scratchs of Puke Spit and Guts amazing lp? (which is better than anything rollins ever sang on)
[Reply]
Posted on 05-Nov-06 at 10:43 pm | Permalink
Erich wrote:
I can’t see any competition, fred. Can you?
A friend of mine has that LP – will ask him to borrow it to me so I can rip it. It’s a killer!!!
[Reply]
Posted on 07-Nov-06 at 11:31 am | Permalink
Charles wrote:
Great write up. No wonder this will piss some people off. I visit many different blogs punk and other and I appreciate the work you’re putting into this. It pays off. Just made a donation.
[Reply]
Posted on 07-Nov-06 at 2:35 pm | Permalink
justin wrote:
I consider myself lucky to have you dropping in every once in a while to give me further insight. Duly noted my friend. I’ve gone through your blog back to the beginning twice and can’t believe I don’t remember seeing this post. A testimony to the fact that prolonged abuse of drugs and alcohol causes brain damage. When you don’t have much to start with that has a great impact. Anyway even going this far back it is clear that from day one you have taken a lot of pride in what you do, but coming from a historian who would expect less. you have taken a stand here and have backed it up with the goods. As a blogger I fall into the category you mention that is lacking. Cheap turntable, inferior ripping programs, not physically owning some of what I post and so on. Actually I do have good cords though if that means anything. I didn’t have a nice turnatable 30 years ago when I first started buying records. At the same time I hope you realize that a person like me is just doing what he can to be a part of this community. We don’t make fun of those kids who got thier clothes at the thrift store. There are all kinds of levels on this playing field. To me the low man on the totem pole is the downloader who doesn’t take the time to comment, but that’s just me. Anyway I could go on and on with this comment that will probably not get a response so I will just say, pleaseeeeeeeeee Erich send me the Pig Champion/Dave MDC 7″. Thanx for being htere and doing what you do.
[Reply]
Posted on 19-Apr-09 at 6:06 am | Permalink