outspoken - a light in the dark

when i bought the two outspoken 7"es 'survival' and 'the current' from willem almost two years ago, i knew that i would go for the full length as well at some point. when i searched the relevant vinyl sections at core tex webshop for interesting stuff, i came across a marbled orange copy of 'a light in the dark' for eleven bucks and i was floored. i thought it was difficult to get hold on a copy and to get it for the regular price was pretty cool in my book.

i later learned that it was not even that hard to obtain a nice coloured copy on the usual second hand markets. you get them for quite reasonable money. whatever, i have a copy and that's the point. i really like the full length. when i feel like listening to some outspoken i rather grab the twelve inch instead of the two 7" formats. i know you already heard that classic before but just for the hell of it, check it out in its full bloom.

when my copy arrived, the vinyl looked flawless but the cover was a little beat up. it has some dents and surface wear, which the pictures hide quite charmingly but are still definitely to be seen. i asked core tex for a replacement but they said that they just had a bunch that were all looking this way because they bought them from the band and the records probably had been on tour. i don't know if this can be true, but i like the idea of my copy being on tour with the band, so i stay with this version of the story, ha! second pressing and 275 copies made. new age records/conversion records. 1992/2011.

outspoken - the current 7"

so this is the second piece of vinyl i ordered from willem. again he let this go for a very reasonable price. i had the chance to snag a clear vinyl version from 1994 (500 copies) on ebay but missed it. so i was happy to get the far more limited '77 pressing with the walk and proud labels from 2011.

i really love the three songs here. nineties hardcore in perfection. even though the band re-united several times in 1998, 2003, 2005 and 2011, including a european tour, they never made it to a new album or ep. i don't know about the current status but if an album was as solid as the latest strife record, i would be satisfied.

the packaging is a bit lame, though. i don't mean the cover picture, which is nice hardcore standard, but the 'sleeve' is just a photo-copied piece of cheap paper. probably there is an idea behind that i'm unaware of but it feels like a rushed job. the vinyl however looks fantastic. marbled green vinyl. 77 copies made. new age records/conversion records. 1994/2011.

outspoken - survival 7"

outspoken was never as present on my mind as other bands from that time, like strife for example. i knew them by name and knew vaguely that they were standing for animal liberation, which is always very likeable in my book, but that's it. so as i looked through willem's discogs stuff i knew it was time to make a change about that.

willem had one copy of the third press to offer for a very reasonable price and so i took the chance. i think sound wise this is closer to 80's hardcore but there is definitely a 90's vibe going on, which is more recognisable on 'the current'. but that's because of the year it appeared, i guess. pretty good cover artwork here too. one can see that this began to get more important.

as i said before, this copy is part of the third press that new age pressed in 2010 if memory serves. like the colour way, nice marbled orange vinyl which new age called 'burnt orange'. agreed. there are 77 copies for the '77 pressing' (ingenious name) on 'bubble gum red' vinyl and 207 copies on my 'burnt orange'. new age records. conversion records. 1990.