V/A - "Inspirit" benefit compilation 7"

This record has a lot to it. So much in fact, that I took a total of 207 pictures of it before selecting the 20 that you see below (props to Sean and his adorable dog Lulu for the help, yo!). I owned this record years ago, but either misplaced it in a move (this is highly doubtful, folks) or it was physically lifted by someone without my knowledge. Let's go with that, because I don't lose any members of my vinyl record family...a 10" isn't exactly something I'd ever forget what I did with. My entire record collection sat shotgun in the U-haul truck while covered in a blanket during both my move down to Georgia and then back again to The Keystone State six years later. I've noticed over the past couple of months or so that random cds and cassette tapes of mine, some of which I had owned for a very long time, just don't seem to be in my hands anymore. Anyway, as I was bummed due to the dispossession of this seven inch, my main homie Sean eventually learned of my sadness and was kind enough to trade me one of his copies for a Thou t-shirt*. What a fucking guy, I gotta say.

Released in 1995 as a split effort between State College, Pennsylvania's Ancestry (run by Sam from Spirit Assembly) and Static Records from the great little college burg that is Princeton, New Jersey. It evidenced four awesome bands in total: California's emo superstars Amber Inn, Boston's straight forward, nasally and epically harsh female-fronted troupe Coleman, another (Santa Cruz) Californian band The Fisticuffs Bluff, and finally southeastern Pa's very own Elements Of Need, who of course features one of the guys from the now-famous comedy duo known as Tim and Eric. The Elements Of Need song which appears on this comp (here called "Untitled") is actually the final song from the bands side of the most excellent split 7" with Jasmine, a classic jam previously released by NY's Kidney Room and entitled "I Bet You'd Look Great In Silicon". This was very clearly not the song originally intended to find its way on Inspirit, a gigantic mix-up on someones part. The band makes a pretty noble effort to remedy this for whoever purchased the record via their info page in the layout of the compilation.

There are contributions from people who've been negatively impacted by sexual assaults on women, whether those victims were friends and loved ones, or themselves, and is both an informative yet sometimes difficult read. The artwork incorporates a few drawings of a penis having the foreskin removed, so just in case you were wondering if that type of graphic detail was included (all in the name of education, of course)... the answer is yes, it sure fucking was.

The etchings in the vinyl runout grooves oddly features the name of the guy who ran the aforementioned Kidney Room Records: R.Spooner A and R.Spooner B on each of the two corresponding sides.This makes the think that Kidney Room lent a helping hand in releasing this, or was originally supposed to put it out to start with. All of the songs included are quite good, and each band has its own style which distinguishes them clearly from the others on the record. This reinforces the fact that the American hardcore punk scene circa 20+ years ago never had a singular definitive style, but was made up of many different varieties of bands that always seemed to find some sort of common ground to work together on. This sums up the Inspirit compilation good enough for me.

The Coleman song was recorded live in January 1995 by Susan Barnaby and Bill T. Miller.

As mentioned earlier, the E.o.N. song originally appeared on a previous release, and no recording information appears on either record. The Fisticuffs Bluff recorded their contribution during June 1994 in San Diego with Matt. Lastly, Amber Inn's song was recorded at Enharmonik Studio by Eric Stenman in November 1994.

Overall, this is a genuinely important and gratifying achievement from the mid-90's. No catalog number is given from either involved record label. They just don't make 'em like this anymore, kids.

* That's not how it went down, actually. This trade only occurred after months of me badgering the shit out of him, as I'd been trying to unload my Chokehold and Thou shirts on him forever because I'm not as skinny as I used to be and they just won't fit me anymore. But yeah, It's safe to say we both walked away happy from the deal, or whatever.

Tracklist:
1) Coleman - "Mother"
2) Elements Of Need - "Untitled" aka "I Bet You'd Look Great In Silicon"
3) The Fisticuffs Bluff - "The Logistics of Things"
4) Amber Inn - "With Regrets"

- the act is done, now why can't the memories go away? -