V/A – Jersey Interchange – C1

The pandemic, for better or worse, led to a lot of interesting musical endeavors. One of them, which was finally physically released in 2023, was Jersey Interchange, which features some of Jersey’s finest covering some of Jersey’s finest.

The Jersey scene was a formidable force in its heyday. It wound up spawning many renowned acts, arguably the biggest being My Chemical Romance. And there are so many bands with New Jersey roots that wound up inspiring countless others; Saves The Day, Lifetime and Thursday being the three that stick out the most. Midtown, The Early November, Senses Fail, The Bouncing Souls, Hidden In Plain View, The Gaslight Anthem, Bigwig also stand out. Tucked in between those are the countless bands that sprung up around that time; the late 90s to early 2000s, and this comp honors them.

Growing up in New Jersey, I was immersed in the New Jersey scene. And it wasn’t until much later that I grew to truly appreciate its significance. I went to shows at Stingrays, M & M Hall, Birch Hill, Hamilton St. Café, Bloomfield Ave Café, and too many VFW Halls and American Legions to count. There was even a firehouse (Wayne Firehouse for those who know) that held shows. I was at all the Skate & Surfs and later the first Bamboozle. I’ve been fortunate to experience a lot of great and what turned out to be significant shows. I was at New Found Glory’s first New Jersey show, saw The Early November perform when it was just Ace and Jeff on stage, saw Jimmy Eat World (also on the bill was Jebediah, with both bands releasing a split together in 2000) and At The Drive-In (before they released Relationship Of Command) at Wayne Firehouse in the same year, saw Thursday in basements around New Brunswick.

I remember the days when No Milk Records flyers would be the equivalent of spam these days. And that is what this comp focuses on. The lesser known acts that helped fuel the Jersey scene. Many precursor bands and members who went on to form or join bands that ultimately went on to be big are featured on C1. The comp/album has lots of collaborations. As such, because it’s not a traditional band, the comp/album gets the moniker Jersey Interchange. It’s essentially a covers/tribute album because it has the aforementioned collaborators giving their take on old school Jersey scene tunes. Rather than list them all out, here is the track listing break down with all the credits (copied and pasted from Bandcamp):

1. “Flavor Ice” by Heath Saraceno (Senses Fail, Midtown, Town Liar & Nowhere Fast)
   Originally performed by Bigwig
   
   2. “The Kids Still Have A Lot To Say” featuring Alf Bartone (Ex Number Five), Ed Brown & Kevin Lynch (Shades Apart), Dan Cav (Nine Lives) & Mike Wolff (Damn This Desert Air)
   originally by Vision
   
   3. “Punk Rock Academy” feat. Mikey Erg (The Ergs!, Early Riser, The Unlovables) and Alex Burton (Paulson)
   Originally performed by Atom and His Package
   
   4. “My Best Friends Live Inside My Head” featuring John Maiello (Dead Bars), Anthony Wille (Folly) & Joe Pulito (Break Away)
   originally by Highstrung
   
   5. “Drinking Alone” featuring Dave Flores (Taxicab Samurais) & Dan Pence (NJ Joystick)
   originally by Douglas
   
   6. “Fearless” feat. Craig Cirinelli (Damn This Desert Air), Justin Carter (The Holy Terror), Ti Kreck (Errortype:11) & John Stanley (For The Love Of)
   Originally performed by Shades Apart
   
   7. “Everything Falls Apart (And More)” feat. Shawn McGovern (The Youth Ahead) and Heath Saraceno (Midtown, Senses Fail, Town Liar)
   Originally performed by The Ergs!
   
   8. “Just Like Kurt” feat. Chris Gethard and Joe Pulito (Break Away)
   Originally performed by Weston
   
   9. “Cynical” feat. Shannon Perez & Kevin Poznanski (Erotic Novels) and Peter Tabbot (Vision)
   Originally performed by Sticks and Stones
   
   10. “Pink (New Jersey’s Alright)” feat. Jon Tummillo (Folly), Patrick Tummillo (Right Turn Eddie) and Joe Pulito (Break Away)
   originally by Mohawk Barbie and Fear
   
   11. “Taxicab Samurais” feat. John Castaldo (Bigwig), Nick Afflitto and Mark Rendeiro (both of One Cool Guy)
   originally by Taxicab Samurais

Sinking Ship Records, a small New Jersey based indie label, released C1, which is limited to 300 copies on half “Grimace” purple/half Kelly green. The single LP comes with an insert but no download card/code, which would have been a nice touch instead of having to buy another copy of the album if you wanted digital files to take on the go. The comp cost $18 before shipping, which in this day and age is on the affordable side.

And yes, you read that track listing right; comedian Chris Gethard, New Jersey native Chris Gethard, lends his talents. Action Park.

V/A – 7″s For Planned Parenthood

Politics aside, this box set was released in 2017 and was done so to raise funds for Planned Parenthood. It features a star studded track list, and includes 10 7” records, all pressed on pink vinyl. When it was first released the only place to buy it was a directly from Planned Parenthood via their website, and it cost a whopping $100 before shipping. Over the years they never lowered the price, never ran a sale; nothing. Then all of a sudden it was removed for sale for whatever reason. I’m not sure when it was pulled for sale however. I stopped checking in on it after several reputable indie record stores started listing copies for sale on Discogs.

 Not only was music featured; but stand up comedy was as well, which was all recorded at the same club. The likes of Foo Fighters, Björk, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Elliott Smith, Chvrches, and Bon Iver all contribute songs. With Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Silverman, Tig Notaro, Pete Holmes and Janeane Garofalo contributing stand up tracks. Only a handful of songs were released digitally. I bought this for the Foo Fighters song, which is exclusive to this release. Though it was one of the songs released digitally. Their song is “Soldier.”

Regardless of the fact that this was a charity release, it was expensive, but not overpriced. It cost $100 and has 10 records in it; so $10 per 7”. And that is not even counting the massive book that is included; a fact that is inexplicably not mentioned anywhere about this box set. Nor is that break down factoring in the box itself, which people often forget does cost money to not only manufacture, but design as well. Though odds are since this was a charity fundraising release, almost everything involved in the artistic side of was donated, and Planned Parenthood likely wrote off all their expenses regarding this box set because they are a 501c tax exempt, non-profit entity. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the $100 price tag included shipping, which would have been a lot considering this is a heavy box set. But again, Planned Parenthood would have wrote that expense off too.

I mentioned above that after a while some indie record stores started selling copies. I’m not sure what happened here. Sure, some people likely traded in copies in various conditions. But for a while there were far too many copies listed for sale by indie record stores to account solely to people trading in copies. The copy I bought, in September 2022, was listed as used (I don’t remember what the store graded it), but it was still factory sealed. The store had it listed for $50 before shipping, which was surprisingly less than $4. Since Planned Parenthood pulled this for sale, it’s likely OOP. Prices on the secondary market have begun to catch on to this, as sellers are asking for more than double original retail price. But the going rate is actually far less than original price as of posting this.

Pressing info was not released, and likely never will be. All copies had every 7” in the box set pressed on pink vinyl. Each of the 10 records come in their own sleeve with unique artwork on each side of the sleeve to reflect each artist. Some of the artwork on each side is very similar to each other, while others are drastically different. All of the records feature two songs; the track listing on Discogs is wrong. Yet another reason that Discogs is not the end all be all. For example; whoever submitted it has the 7” featuring the Foo Fighters song being single sided (M), when in actuality their song is found on the a-side of disc 7 with the b-side featuring Zach Galifianakis’ contribution, which Discogs has listed as the first track on the disc 8 (N1). And the best part is, this entry has been wrong for going on five years. And odds are nobody (myself included) will ever edit the release info to make it correct and/or accurate because Discogs is so tedious and cumbersome to submit or edit releases.

V/A – Keep Shining On: A Tribute To The Music Of Tim Landers

When Tim Landers (Transit) passed a handful of his friends released a tribute EP in his memory. The likes of Man Overboard, Casa Loma, The Story So Far, Elder Brother and Misser all contribute cover songs to the EP. Keep Shining On: A Tribute To The Music Of Tim Landers was pressed on three variants, with only one of them sold out. All proceeds from sales of the EP (vinyl, CD, digital) goes to Hope For The Day, a suicide prevention and mental health charity.

The record is only available online via Pure Noise Records’ stores hosted by MerchNow. It’s on the affordable side, costing $15 before shipping. There are 300 copies on white and grey a-side/b-side, 500 on coke bottle clear w/ grey and white twist (featured in the photo gallery below) and 700 copies on half white/half coke bottle clear. The a-side/b-side variant was listed as a Pure Noise web store exclusive, but considering to date this EP has only been sold in their store within the U.S., that point is moot. The more important thing to note about that variant is that it was only available in bundles. Also, this variant looks pretty much the same on both sides despite it being an a-side/b-side. Both sides are swirled.

All copies come with a double-sided insert, which has notes from band members reflecting on Tim Landers on one side, with the reverse side being a collage of photos. A download card/code is also included, but it’s for terrible quality 160 kbps MP3s. There is a hype sticker on all copies, which celebrates Pure Noise Records’ 10 year anniversary, also mentioning the record is on “limited edition color vinyl” without actually mentioning the specific color, and that there is a download included.

V/A – Now That’s What I Call ’90s Alternative Rock

Sometimes bullshit gets pressed on vinyl. There isn’t a better description of this shameless comp. Not much more needs to be said about this record. This type of stuff has been clogging up pressing plants for years now. Not only that, but most of this type of crap is overpriced; this comp being no exception.

I feel like the Now That’s What I Call compilation has been around longer than I’ve been alive at this point. Never did I expect to see the day where I’d feel compelled to buy one on vinyl. Well, that day came and went, quicker than I expected to boot. I found out about this comp sometime in October (2022) and bought it around Thanksgiving. Granted, it was released in August 2022, but I thought I had to wait a long time before being able to snag this for a somewhat decent price.

The biggest hurdle when it came to getting a good deal on Now That’s What I Call ’90s Alternative Rock was the fact that it’s a Target exclusive. Not a variant, but the release itself is only being sold by Target. So there is zero opportunity to shop around to get the best deal possible on the retail front. But even the secondary market, as of posting this, has yet to see a drastic undercutting or deals.

To put things in a bit better perspective here, in the grand scheme of things this is not a outrageously overpriced release. Sure, it’s on the high side considering what you get, but it’s $25 before shipping (should it apply) and taxes. Personally, I just refuse to pay that much for a comp like this. Well for double LPs in general, which is getting harder and harder to abide to with inflation and flat out greed on labels’ and stores’ parts. But because this was a Target exclusive I (along with hopefully many people) lucked out, because it came out just ahead of their latest buy two get one free sale; which is essentially 33.3% off.

Laying all the cards on the table, I bought this comp for only three out of the 18 songs featured on it, which is actually more than I buy most comps for. The Eve 6 (“Inside Out”), Third Eye Blind (“Semi-Charmed Life”) and 311 (“Down”) songs were what I felt warranted this purchase in order to add to those respective collections. I will add that this comp, for whatever reason(s), has the radio edit version of “Semi-Charmed Life.” Not a total turn off since I already own multiple copies of Third Eye Blind’s self-titled record. If anything, it’s yet another excuse to buy this because technically it’s not a song I have in my collection.

All copies are pressed on black vinyl and come in a single pocket jacket. There is no insert either. So this is as no frills a release as possible. A ‘Target exclusive’ hype sticker is affixed to the cover.

V/A – 1 Love

Lots of things have been done to raise both awareness and funds for the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. I say conflict simply because I don’t think a formal declaration of war has been declared by Russia, who is clearly the aggressor in this situation. One of the many benefit/charity compilations released is this one, 1 Love, which I think is one of the few to actually see a physical release. This comp was arranged by British magazine NME and War Child Records, which is a charity with the aim to protect, educate and stand up for children of war.

This comp was originally released in 2022, but was re-released in 2022 to support Ukraine. 2022 marks the first time this comp was released on vinyl, and it was pressed on three variants; red, yellow and black. Pressing info has not been released, and it probably never will be. If you’re that hell bent on pressing info for a charity comp you’re barking up the wrong tree entirely. But with that said, both colored variants are being advertised as “limited edition.” Both the red and yellow variants are opaque.

Prices vary depending on where you buy the record from, but the colored variants cost more than the black variant. The official War Child web store is selling the red variant for $36 and the black variant for $34, both before shipping. I stumbled upon this comp from Juno, a UK record store, for $17 plus shipping. Juno is also selling the yellow variant for a little over $22 before shipping.

To be perfectly honest, I bought this comp for one song, which I already own on its original format/release, a split 7” released back in 2001. It’s Jimmy Eat World’s “Firestarter.” This comp is billed as a who’s who of British music. So I have no idea how and why Jimmy Eat World appears on it.

V/A – Home Alone Christmas (6th Press)

For whatever reason this holiday compilation has been highly sought after. At times it’s been hard to find and even sold for ridiculous amounts on the secondary market, until it was re-pressed for the countless time. Even during the summer months, when Christmas is the furthest thing from most people’s minds.

Let’s get this out of the way before we dive any deeper. This is not a traditional soundtrack or score. It features songs off the Home Alone and Home Alone 2 Soundtracks and Scores, thus making it a compilation.  This comp does include the iconic “Somewhere In My Memory” composed by John Williams featured in the Home Alone film. There are other tracks by John Williams, but overall this is an eclectic track listing that features Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Alan Jackson, TLC, Darlene Love and Mel Tormé.

I mentioned above that Home Alone Christmas has not only gone through quite a few pressings, but in rapid succession. It’s currently in its sixth pressing, which came out in September of this year. The first pressing was released in 2019. The first five pressings were released by Real Gone Music, who licensed it from Fox Music (part of the 20^th Century Fox umbrella because the films were released by 20^th Century Fox) and Sony Music Group. For whatever reason, likely due to the contract running out, the current pressing (featured in the photo gallery below) was not released via Real Gone Music.

Only a handful of the pressings have pressing info released, but thankfully they were all done on only one color. The first pressing was limited to 1500 copies on “holly” green. Apparently the powers at be have never seen a holly bush, because the green the first pressing turned out being was an opaque Kelly green. The leaves on holly bushes are an incredibly dark green. One nice aspect of the first pressing is that it comes with a color coded hype sticker that says how many copies were pressed.

The second pressing was also limited to 1500 copies, this time “in” red & white “candy cane” vinyl.  I say “in” instead of on because that is what the hype sticker erroneously states as part of its verbiage. Once again the hype sticker is color coded and says how many copies were pressed. Well, it’s at least party color coded because there is no white. The white portion you see is part of the bar code area, which was done the same way on the first pressing, and is an intentional design feature to have the barcode be more visible. The red & white “candy cane” actually turned out matching a candy cane very well. The color is essentially a white w/ red splatter,  which does have some blending of the red splatter into the white, creating some pinkish areas.

The third pressing, the only one released in 2020, throws the color coded hype stickers into a loop. This is also the first of the pressings to not have pressing info officially released. So there is an unknown amount of copies on “Santa” red. The aforementioned hype sticker is white and red striped, which would have gone much better with the second pressing. The fourth pressing continues the trend of not having pressing info released. The first pressing to be released in 2021, it was pressed on clear with red & green “Christmas Party” This color actually turned out being translucent yellow with red and green swirl/smoke. I want to point out the fact that Discogs has this color listed as a swirl, but that is not part of the official description given anywhere for this pressing.

For the fifth pressing, Newbury Comics was chosen as an exclusive retailer. So needless to say, as of posting this, there are still lots of copies left because Newbury overprices all their vinyl, but especially their exclusive variants/pressings.  There were 1,000 copies pressed on “Christmas Slush” vinyl, which is simply white. This is also the first pressing to have a hype sticker that differs from what essentially amounts to a stock hype sticker used on all the previous pressings. It’s the typical Newbury hype sticker.

I already touched a bit on the most recent pressing, which is the sixth overall and featured here. It’s the only pressing to be released in 2022, and it’s a Walmart exclusive on translucent red vinyl. Which leads me to believe that the third pressing on “Santa” red is opaque. To be honest I can’t tell if the third pressing ins translucent or opaque based on the few photos of it I’ve seen. Pressing info has not been, and most likely never will be released for the sixth variant.

All copies, regardless of variant come housed in a single pocket jacket. And that’s it. It’s just  single LP stuffed into a jacket. This is about as no frills a released as you can get. This comp was initially released in 1993 on CD only. It took almost 30 years for it to be pressed on vinyl.

Prices on this are tough to pin down. There is definitely a seasonal swing, as the closer it gets to December you can see the prices start to climb higher and higher. But prices still remained high (just not a premium price) in the warm weather months as supply could not meet demand What I will say is that retail price on all the pressings, except for the fifth (thanks Newbury Comics) is $25. The fifth pressing costs a whopping $40. So no wonder why that is still sitting around over a year after it was released, despite the high demand for this comp and all the previous pressing selling out. But with that said, the demand has started to get watered down as more and more copies get pressed.

The high mark for this comp was set at a little over $100, which was for a copy from the first pressing that sold in 2021. Copies from the second and third pressings were not far behind, as the high mark for them was $100, again in 2021. After the first three pressings, prices on the secondary market plummet off a cliff; literally sliced in half. Sadly though, there are some idiots who are paying more than retail price for the fifth pressing, which is still readily available from Newbury Comics. I hope, but I have my doubts, that most of those buyers are from overseas and it’s the only and/or cheapest way they can get a copy for whatever reason.

I want to add one last tidbit about this record. I wanted a copy ever since it was first released, but refused to splurge on it. Simply hoping it would be discounted after the holidays, come like June when most Christmas related albums get marked down. That never happened for whatever reason(s). Then the first pressing went OOP and I saw prices soar. Same thing happened with the second pressing. And then once I saw a third and then fourth pressing announced/released, I decided to just wait it out. I hedged my bets and it paid off. I didn’t care which pressing I bought. I’d obviously prefer as early a pressing as I could get, but price was the main determining factor. Fast forward to November 2022, when Walmart ran another $15 sale on all vinyl in their physical stores, which was only on their exclusives online. I cleaned house the last time Walmart ran this sale two years ago, and while I didn’t do as well this time, I did hit several Walmarts and one of the records I  left with was this comp; for $16 (yay taxes)!

Fall Out Boy – Believers Never Die: Greatest Hits

For whatever reason, Island Records decided to release the first Fall Out Boy Greatest Hits album on vinyl after the second volume, which was a brand new release when it came out. This Greatest Hits album is more worthwhile in my opinion, as it’s from the pop punk era as opposed to the pop garbage era the band has evolved into.

At least for this record they didn’t press a ton of variants. Only two for Believer Never Die: Greatest Hits yellow neon and black. The yellow is a Euro exclusive, who also get a black vinyl option. Everywhere else only gets black as the domestic option. Pressing info has not been released for any variant or pressing. Retail price on it is between $25-30 for the U.S. pressing. The Euro yellow variant cost over $30 for anyone having it shipped to the U.S..

Just to illustrate how much better this era of Fall Out Boy is/was; this first Greatest Hits record is a double LP, as opposed to the second volume which could fit on a single LP. Believers Never Die: Greatest Hits encompasses the Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, Take This To Your Grave, From Under The Cork Tree, Infinity On High and a portion of the Folie a Deux era, as well as featuring a couple exclusive and/or new songs. There is a great cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” their original Christmas song “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out” and a new tune titled “Alpha Dog.”

Surprisingly, Island Records did not cheap out and actually went with a gatefold jacket for this record. There is no insert, download card (probably due to legal reasons since multiple labels are involved and own rights to various songs on this compilation album). But Island does make it a point to have everyone know this is part of their 60^th Anniversary celebration, which is signified by an unnecessary, gigantic hype sticker on the cover. On my copy it’s haphazardly slapped towards the center of the cover. There is also an additional, more traditional hype sticker that advertises some of the songs featured on this Greatest Hits record.

V/A – Lawbreaker: Dear Who?

Despite going back to using the Onelinedrawing moniker, Jonah Matranga snuck one more release under his own name in. It’s a compilation released by Sell The Heart Records. The same label that released another comp Jonah appears on, Fugazi. Just like with that comp, this is another tribute album featuring cover songs by a wide range of artists/bands. This is for Jawbreaker’s album Dear You, with its tribute comp titled Lawbreaker: Dear Who?.

This comp is actually a joint release with Lavasocks Records. And a as a result, each label has their own extremely limited, exclusive variant. The Sell The Heart exclusive is on silver vinyl limited to 50 copies, with the Lavasocks exclusive on green vinyl limited to 50 copies. The third, and final variant, which is shared by both labels, is cream limited to 250 copies.

For whatever reason, this comp is not selling well. The Lavasocks exclusive is still available; while the Sell The Heart exclusive is sold out. Both are limited to only 50 each, so it’s perplexing to see one sell out while the other has not. The price is the same from both labels; $22 before shipping, and this is not a widely, if at all, distributed release. As far as I can tell only 1-2-3-4 Go Records is the only other outlet selling this in a retail setting; meaning they have no copies from the label, not copies they took in via trade (when customers sell items to a record store). And 1-2-3-4 Go is in Lavasocks area as they’re both Bay Area based.

To be perfectly honest, the only reason I did not buy a copy on green vinyl is because I had a coupon code from Sell The Heart. Otherwise I would have bought a copy on green due to the rarity of it. The timing of my purchase also coincided with a 5% cashback promo from my credit card company. And if it weren’t for that, I would have simply waited for a better sale than the 15% off I got. Because all in all, this is an overpriced released.

For $22 before shipping (my order totaled $28 with shipping) all you get is a single LP stuffed in a single pocket jacket. There is no insert and no download card/code included with physical caopies. If you order from either label’s Bandcamp you will get a download provided in the format of your choice. But that is likely a stipulation Bandcamp forces upon any entity selling on their platform. Ironically, Sell The Heart included a bunch of download cards/codes for random releases in my package, and with them included one for this comp. My guess as to the reason why they didn’t include them with all physical copies of their release by sliding it into the jacket is beyond me is because the records came sealed from the pressing plant. The download card/code I had thrown in my package is one of the typical small rectangle slips of printer/copy paper that all releases who offer digital downloads via Bandcamp utilize.

Jonah Matranga covers “Basilica.” The other bands/artist on the comp I’ve never heard of. And with many of them, this is their only release listed n Discogs. So interesting choices were made with the lineup for this comp; especially considering it’s overpriced.

V/A – Sellout Songs

It’s not often that something comes completely out of left field these days. Sure, a seemingly dormant band can announce a new album; which is something that has been increasingly happening ever since the pandemic. But usually there are rumblings of something like that happening, or the band starts teasing new music before an official announcement happens. This compilation surprised many. Which is highlighted by the fact that a song that was recorded way back in 2011 and has not been released up until now is included on it.

Sellout Songs was self-released by Dan Ozzi, author of bestselling books, as an accompaniment to his stellar book; Sellout:  The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007), which was re-released/printed on paperback in 2022 with 50 extra pages of new interviews with only some of the bands featured in the book. If you haven’t picked up the book at this point, it’s a highly recommended read. And that is coming from a writer who literally has not read, let alone bought a book, in at least 15 years. A brief synopsis; it chronicles the major label debuts from bands such as Green Day, Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, Thursday and Against Me!, Rise Against and At The Drive-In, and the so-called sellout process.

As cool as it would be to have never before released material from some of those aforementioned bands, this comp features their contemporaries covering some of their songs. Artists featured on it include Chris Farren, Murder By Death, AJJ (formerly Andrew Jackson Jihad), Laura Stevenson and Ratboys. I bought this for the Chris Farren song; a cover of My Chemical Romance’s “Teenagers.” None of the songs have been made available digitally as of posting this. The only format this comp has been released on is vinyl. So the only way to hear any of the songs is to spin this record.

Pressing info has not been released for this record. I’m not sure it ever will be. People have speculated at it, but nothing official has been said. Murder By Death was the only act featured on the comp to be selling copies of it themselves, and they were apparently given only 100 copies to sell. Dan Ozzi was selling and shipping copies himself via his web store. Price on it was $25 before shipping, which is a bit high considering it’s a single LP in a half fold sleeve printed on glossy card stock. But without knowing any fees and/or royalties being doled out, that price may be a bit more justifiable. Comps are a notorious mess to get released due to red tape. Which may or may not be ironic given the subject matter of the book this comp was released in conjunction with.

All copies were pressed on black & white “galaxy,” which turned out being grey w/ white marble/swirl, likely because the whit bled into the black and watered it down to the point where it appears grey instead.

V/A – Forget Me Not Compilation Volume II

A year after holding the first benefit show in New Jersey for Alzheimer’s research, the second annual benefit show was held in 2019. A comp was also released in conjunction, entitled Forget Me Not Compilation Volume II. Just like with the first comp, it was pressed on two variants; a wax mage show exclusive on light blue w/ white & clear smoke cloud limited to 25 copies and light purple w/ opaque blue swirl limited to 200 copies. I guess the folks who organized these benefits and released the comps realized the records from the first go round didn’t sell as well as anticipated and pressed 100 fewer copies.

All copies come in a single pocket jacket with a double sided insert. A download card/code is not included. I want to add that it’s odd for a Wax Mage variant to have a description, because they’re all basically one off records that are handmade/ hand poured by one guy who operates out of Gotta Grooves pressing plant. But that is the description given by the folks who handled this show and comp.

Just like with Volume I, I don’t know how much the Wax Mage show exclusive originally cost. But the light purple w/ opaque blue swirl variant is still being sold online via the web store for $25 before shipping. Due the extremely limited nature of the Wax Mage variant, the lone copy that has sold on the secondary market went for $100.

The lineup for the second benefit show was larger than the first show. Some of the bands playing did not appear on the comp. I bought this for the Keep Flying song, who played and appeared on both shows/comps. They contributed “Misbehave” off their Walkabout EP. Other bands featured on the comp include Neck Deep, With The Punches, Real Friends and Boston Manor.