epitaph records. brep-1 / 6 tracks / 1980

RI: D: no label. suff 001 / 1989 (bootleg)

RI: D: epitaph / fire engine. e-001 / 1989

#1 - First press, 500 made: Runout grooves say: A-Side - “We’re not Bad Religion…”, B-Side - ”… you are”. Strangely enough, in all the Ebay auctions, this never shows up. Maybe it doesn’t exist after all, or it’s a lot rarer than the assumed 500. #2 - Second press, 1500 made: Runout grooves say: A-Side - “We’re not Bad Religion…”, B-Side - “Elipses U.R.”. + poster sleeve and a lyric insert for the original pressings. Address on back of the sleeve is “Woodland Hills”. #3 - German bootleg, red vinyl, comes in folded sheet cover, 1000-2000 (??) made. Different back sleeve with the Burbank address; probably taken from the 12”. As far as I know there is no original 7” pressing with that back sleeve. Volume of the bootleg is a little low. #4 - Reissue by German distributor Fire Engine, given away free with the first copies of No Control LP in Germany. Although Fire Engine was supposed to be the exclusive distributor for Germany, Semaphore distribution sold the LP as well, so Fire Engine was throwing in a goodie to sweeten the deal. No sleeve issued for that version. All songs rereleased on “81-85” CD.

Their debut EP shows their potential, although everything is a lot rougher and simpler than their later melodic stuff. Mid-tempo west coast HC with some nice melodies, but too simple sometimes. Good debut nonetheless. [7]

Mittelschneller HC, der manchmal schöne melodische Momente hat, aber oft noch ein bißchen im holprigen Kellersound hängenbleibt. Ein gutes Debut mit ein paar poppigen Momenten.

Tracks: bad religion / politics / sensory overload // slaves / drastic actions / world war III

no label. rb-01 / 4 tracks / 1993 (bootleg)

Clear vinyl EP on printed sheet in plastic packaging. Plastic sleeve suggests a Japanese pressing (or maybe US, defini­tely not European). 500 (?) made.

Four cover versions; three of them taken from the “All our yesterdays” LP (live Sky­light Club ’83), Riding the Storm Out (orig. by REO Speedwagon, nice version) recorded at Olympic auditorium 1984. Sound quality is about average. But I suppose nobody would listen to this if the band’s name wasn’t Bad Religion. [6]

Vier Coverversionen, drei davon sind allerdings schon auf der All our Yesterdays LP, Rock’n’Roll-Zeug, das sich kein Mensch antun würde, wenn die Band nicht Bad Religion hieße. Riding the Storm out ist von einem anderen Gig, na ja, ganz witzig. Sound ist mittelmäßig, Musik so la la. Keine Jahrhundertplatte.

Tracks: rock’n’roll / riding the storm out // johnny b. goode / louie louie