Runaway Girls

Once again those dastardly fiends over at  Rise Above Records drop a Uncle Acid single on me that nearly went completely unnoticed. I think I may have just randomly clicked on the website one day and it caught my eye in the new releases section.

Uncle Acid - Runaway Girls

So yes here we have another track from the Mind Control sessions, a track that didn't make the record in the form of Runaway Girls. It's a good track too but then I love everything this band do so that's really no surprise. It's backed by a previously unreleased acoustic version of Devils Work. This is the 'closing chapter' of Mind Control - I really hope there is still more to come from the band.

I have no idea of numbers for this release, in fact I can't even remember why I picked this blue vinyl version, I think at the time it just sounded the nicest. Love the artwork and theme that the band have kept during these releases too.

Mind Crawler

I didn't even know this new single from Uncle Acid was being released until I saw a picture online and thought 'that's a cool cover'. I then realised it was their just released new single and headed over to Rise Above Records to grab a copy. Of course as to be expected they had completely sold out of the 2,020 copies of the single, that's mental right? Especially as 1600 of them are on black. Anyway luckily for me the non Rise Above colours were still available online at a UK distro. Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats - Mind Crawler

Sorry if the picture is a little hazy I've left the single in the shrink wrap and it proved a little tricky to capture it seems. Anyway this thing looks awesome with it's B-movie style cover and 'R' rating tying in perfectly with the full length Mind Controls' inlay.

The single happily contains an exclusive track too. The rather well chosen and extremely catchy Get On Home originally by Charles Manson. This version stays pretty true to the originals acoustic folky styling, minus the female 'family' members vocals. I can't find any pressing info for this orange colour version but I know there's also a red and a blue version not exclusive to Rise Above.

Mind Control

This was one of my most anticipated records of 2013 after discovering Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats last year and the awesome Bloodlust record. After the teaser that was the Poison Apple single my appetite was well and truly whet for the follow up Mind Control, and I actually thought if I was patient and diligent enough I might have a shot at the die hard version of this record. Pah!! As if, this thing had sold out before I'd even clicked my mouse to head over to the Rise Above store, all 400 copies!! And just as soon some had appeared on eBay! Wankers!

So in the end I settled on the solid orange vinyl version as it's slightly more limited than the other regular copies of the record with it being out of 600 and the other colour versions being out of 700 and the black version being out of 1000.

 Rise Above as per usual did a great job on the look/packaging of this record with the gate fold sleeve not only looking great but going along way to support the concept story that weaves it's way through the album.

It's a good follow up to Bloodlust from Uncle Acid. I have to admit I don't, even after a fair few listens which I've enjoyed, like the album as much as Bloodlust as I feel the band have lost some of the sinister sound that I found so appealing about the previous work. That being said I'm sure that's the entire point of this record so in that Uncle Acid have certainly painted the right musical picture to accompany the theme they set out.

Poison Apple

I'm so far behind it's crazy, I've got loads of records through recently and haven't had the time to listen to a lot of them let alone blog about them. The joys of working and being a father I guess. Anyway, that being said I'm gonna begin my attempts at catching up with the new Uncle Acid (my surprise band of 2012) 7" Poison Apple.

Mark over at Couch Slouch has already done a pretty comprehensive write up about this so I'll try not to repeat what he's said too much. I'd been waiting keenly for this to be released but either forgot the date or got distracted or something so by the time I realised it was available for pre-order the limited to 100 clear vinyl had gone, leaving me with a choice of  the 'purple splatter' or the 'white in solid green' versions limited to 200. I can't remember why I went for the white in solid green, I think something seemed more limited about it, maybe it was one per customer like the clear version and the splatter was two per customer? I can't remember.

As you can see, either way it's probably better described as half white-half green but maybe some of them differ? As usual with Rise Above releases even as I was pre-ordering this, the clear versions were 'available' on eBay for stupid money even though the sellers didn't actually physically own a copy yet. It's pretty disgusting really, especially as like Mark pointed out, that it was limited to one per customer so this was pure flipping. Even this version sells on eBay now for around triple what I paid for it. Rise Above stuff really is hot at the moment.

Anyway, enough about that. The music is more of the same really from Uncle Acid and that's exactly how I like it. Both tracks are good and in fact I might even prefer the B-side Under The Spell. It's a great preview for the new album Mind Control, which I thought was out this month but as there is no pre-order yet (which will be fun), I guess not.

The cover for the 7" just says Uncle Acid where as the record labels say Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats which I think a few people have noticed and found odd. I hope that they don't drop the '& the deadbeats' part, i think that really adds to the name and mythos of the band.

Uncle Acid

Man I like this record! I bought it on Saturday after going to a record store and amazingly they had it. I don't even think I'd normally bother with the 'U' section but I remembered I'd been meaning to check this out after hearing one track a while ago and Mike wrote about it recently too, so i checked and there it was. I've probably listened to it five times since Saturday.

I think if someone described this to me I'd say 'that doesn't sound like my kinda thing', I mean you can make all the Doom and Black Sabbath comparisons you want but this is basically 70's rock just a bit dirtier. I think it's the vocals and how it compliments the music so perfectly to make something totally hypnotic!

The first press and especially the super limited 'ultra die hard' edition have gone for mental money on eBay, which is made even crazier by the fact Rise Above are still pressing this. I got the solid green second press version limited to 500. I think that green actually works quite well, especially with the green sticker on the cover. The laminated cover looks awesome too.