While you might have a low s.o., chances are high you don't own a copy of Rollins Band's 1987 debut album Life Time on vinyl. That's all about to change, as Henry Rollins' hard blues and hardcore fusion group are about to serve up a vinyl pressing of the LP for the first time in over 25 years.
Rollins' own 2.13.61 imprint, via Dischord, will have the repress out on November 18, with the recordings coming remastered for vinyl by TJ Lipple. Additionally, a download code will be included that offers up digital files of the original release's nine songs and an additional five cuts recorded live in Kortrijk, Belgium, in 1987.
While CD copies have been pressed over the years through Texas Hotel, Intercord, Fundamental, Buddha and 2.13.61, this is the first time Life Time has been pressed onto wax since Fundamental first released it in 1987. Life Time now also features newly updated artwork from Jason Farrell (Bluetip, Red Hare), working off the original illustration by Stephen Myers.
According to a press release, after forming in the spring of 1987 Rollins Band undertook a lengthy tour around the U.S. and Europe wherein they wrote a number of songs that would later make it onto Life Time . At the end of the trip, they hit a studio in Leeds without a producer, so Rollins called up good buddy Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) to help out with the recordings.
In a statement, Rollins had this say about Life Time:
Life Time is the first studio record by the Rollins Band. We did our first practice on 04-07-87 and went out on a long tour of America and Europe. On the road we wrote songs and put them into the set. By late October we finished the shows in London, UK. We went up to Leeds where Chris had a place to live and booked studio time at the same place that he and I did the Hot Animal Machine recordings a year before. I had no producer for this record and feared that since everyone in the band had strong opinions on how it all should be done that if we tried to do it ourselves we would do more harm than good. I called Ian MacKaye and asked for help. He got on a plane and came right out. That's Ian. We got straight to work as we had little time or money. All twelve songs were cut and mixed in a few days. We would do a take and Ian would tell us that it was good and we were moving on. When someone would say that they wanted to do it over again, he listened patiently and then asked again which song we wanted to do next. We got it all done and dragged it back to America for about 3,200 dollars. My, how things have changed. The album cover was drawn on the back of a diner place mat by Stephen Myers as a gift for my then roommate, Laura. Only the offset reproduction of the piece remains as the original went with her when she gave up her room. She shot herself a few years later. Special thanks to Ian for coming to the rescue on such short notice. Thanks to you for checking this out.
Life Time:
1. Burned Beyond Recognition
2. What Am I Doing Here?
3. 1,000 Times Blind
4. Lonely
5. Wreck-Age
6. Gun in Mouth Blues
7. You Look at You
8. If You're Alive
9. Turned Out
10. What Am I Doing Here? *
11. intro *
12. Burned Beyond Recognition *
13. Move Right In *
14. Hot Animal Machine II *
* digital only
Rollins' own 2.13.61 imprint, via Dischord, will have the repress out on November 18, with the recordings coming remastered for vinyl by TJ Lipple. Additionally, a download code will be included that offers up digital files of the original release's nine songs and an additional five cuts recorded live in Kortrijk, Belgium, in 1987.
While CD copies have been pressed over the years through Texas Hotel, Intercord, Fundamental, Buddha and 2.13.61, this is the first time Life Time has been pressed onto wax since Fundamental first released it in 1987. Life Time now also features newly updated artwork from Jason Farrell (Bluetip, Red Hare), working off the original illustration by Stephen Myers.
According to a press release, after forming in the spring of 1987 Rollins Band undertook a lengthy tour around the U.S. and Europe wherein they wrote a number of songs that would later make it onto Life Time . At the end of the trip, they hit a studio in Leeds without a producer, so Rollins called up good buddy Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) to help out with the recordings.
In a statement, Rollins had this say about Life Time:
Life Time is the first studio record by the Rollins Band. We did our first practice on 04-07-87 and went out on a long tour of America and Europe. On the road we wrote songs and put them into the set. By late October we finished the shows in London, UK. We went up to Leeds where Chris had a place to live and booked studio time at the same place that he and I did the Hot Animal Machine recordings a year before. I had no producer for this record and feared that since everyone in the band had strong opinions on how it all should be done that if we tried to do it ourselves we would do more harm than good. I called Ian MacKaye and asked for help. He got on a plane and came right out. That's Ian. We got straight to work as we had little time or money. All twelve songs were cut and mixed in a few days. We would do a take and Ian would tell us that it was good and we were moving on. When someone would say that they wanted to do it over again, he listened patiently and then asked again which song we wanted to do next. We got it all done and dragged it back to America for about 3,200 dollars. My, how things have changed. The album cover was drawn on the back of a diner place mat by Stephen Myers as a gift for my then roommate, Laura. Only the offset reproduction of the piece remains as the original went with her when she gave up her room. She shot herself a few years later. Special thanks to Ian for coming to the rescue on such short notice. Thanks to you for checking this out.
Life Time:
1. Burned Beyond Recognition
2. What Am I Doing Here?
3. 1,000 Times Blind
4. Lonely
5. Wreck-Age
6. Gun in Mouth Blues
7. You Look at You
8. If You're Alive
9. Turned Out
10. What Am I Doing Here? *
11. intro *
12. Burned Beyond Recognition *
13. Move Right In *
14. Hot Animal Machine II *
* digital only