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7 Inch Wonders of the World
I recently restarted my ongoing 7” digitization project. Here are 10 7“s (new and old) from my collection that I’ve rediscovered in the past few weeks. Special attention will paid to those that have rare B-sides or songs only available on the 7“s in question.
The Raveonettes – “That Great Love Sound” EP (Columbia)
The first single released from their amazing 2003 debut full-length Chain Gang of Love still stuns, though there are even stronger deep album cuts on the album. The B-side “Bubblegum” was recently released on their now already rare and fetching big bucks on eBay double Lp Rarities & B-Sides collection.
The Rezillos – “Can’t Stand My Baby” EP (Sire)
The A-side is a typically amazing track from their only album, 1978’s Can’t Stand the Rezillos, but the B-side is “I Wanna Be Your Man”, a blazing cover of The Beatles tune that didn’t make it onto The (Almost) Complete Rezillos discography disc. At least the title of that disc is honest, as a few tracks from their live album Mission Accomplished were also omitted due to time constraints on the CD.
Real Estate – “It’s Real” EP (Domino)
You probably already know the A-side because it’s on their excellent 2011 album Days, but the exclusive B-side “Blue Lebanon” is a beautiful instrumental track that’s reason enough to pick this up.
Ressurection – “Blindside” EP (New Age)
Along with the now legendary Lifetime, who after solidifying their lineup changed their sound to a speedy pop-punk direction in the mid ’90s and gained an entirely new audience in the process, and Mouthpiece, Ressurection were the standard bearers of straight-edge hardcore in New Jersey back in the early ’90s. This 1991 4-song 7” is their debut and while it suffers from a poor recording and didn’t quite capture the power of their live show, it stood (and still stands) out amongst many generic bands as their style was more in line with later Black Flag or B’LAST! than say, Youth of Today or something in that vein. They recently reunited last year to play the This is Hardcore festival here in Philadelphia.
Rorschach – Needlepack EP (Wardance)
Their only 7” (not counting their split 7“s with Neanderthal and 1.6 Band, both excellent as well) and only release on Freddy Alva‘s Wardance label is also my favorite release by this amazing late ’80s/early ’90s NYC/NJ area hardcore band. Even if you already have their discography CD Autopsy or the recent repress of their 2 Lps (1990’s amazing Remain Sedate and 1993’s disappointing Protestant), there are several exclusive tracks here (“Ugly” and a MUCH better of “Skin Culture” than the version on their 2nd Lp Protestant).
Schwa – “Dr. Mary McClean” EP (Elefant)
Back in 1993, I saw this excellent, Virginia-based indie-pop band (very much in line with a lot of the stuff happening in the DC area at the time like Unrest or perhaps even Tree Fort Angst, the band then led by longtime Big Takeover contributor and future Julie Ocean and Dot Dash member Terry Banks) play in the student center cafe of my college. I bought a tape of theirs that had both of the songs on this 7” (the titular A-side and the B-side “Internalize”). While I have no idea what happened to the tape, I found this 7” in a bargain bin a few years after I saw them play in the ’90s and it still holds up very well.
Tiger Trap – “Supercrush” EP (K)
By far my favorite Tiger Trap release and one of my favorite releases of the early ’90s period in this style, this is perhaps my favorite twee indie-pop 7” of all-time. When I first heard Big Takeover issue #69 cover stars Vivian Girls back in 2008, I instantly loved them because they reminded me of a faster, edgier version of this lovingly sweet and too short-lived band.
Patti Smith – “Hey Joe (Version)” EP (Sire)
Though this (her first single) originally came out in 1974 on the Mer label, my copy is a 1977 UK repress on Sire. Anyway, her “version” (pun not intended) of the ’60s standard “Hey Joe” veers off into completely different, unique territory not unlike her reworking of Them‘s “Gloria”. It’s nowhere near as good, though still worth hearing. The real star here is the B-side, the incomparable “Piss Factory”. What I always associate with this song is the testimonial by Carla Bozulich back in 1996 that I remember reading in Alternative Press (when it was still good). You can read it here.
Portastatic – “Spying on the Spys” EP (Merge)
A relatively early release (this came out in 1996) for this long-running side-project band of Superchunk‘s Mac McCaughan, this feature two 4-track cassette recordings and though the A-side is really good, the definite stand out here again is the B-side, “Do You Want to Buy a Bridge”? I also must add that this one comes from my wife’s collection.
R.E.M. – “Dark Globe”
Last but not least, this one is also a ringer since it’s not a 7”, but a flexi that was given away with an issue of Sassy magazine back in the 1989 and again, this one also comes from my wife’s collection. As such, it’s an excellent cover of a Syd Barrett tune. I had trouble playing it on my USB turntable and had to spin it on top of a 7”. The recording still came out a bit warbly, but tolerable.
