Showing posts with label Test Pattern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Test Pattern. Show all posts

''Litany''


MADE TO BE PLAYED OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN 
(Message on reverse of sleeve)

Sleeve - Front (Test Pattern)
Sleeve - Back (Test Pattern)
The sleeve opens up to poster -size:  Left hand panel shows lyrics below Art Nouveau  swan motif, overlaid onto cemetery image.
Reverse of sleeve - poster of collage by 10K.
 Central Ouroborus (cyclicality) and Scarab beetle (rebirth & regeneration), over microchip, over crucifixion, with western 'imagery' radiating out, also includes man working on circle of bolts and another man with chains. All bordered top and bottom by narrow strip of nature -sun set / rise over coast. Sun looks a bit like a light bulb, probably a coincidence. 


Could you explain the collage that's in "Litany"?

Marbles: Its supposed to be a visual representation of the song. The images in the center symbolize repetition; the man doing work, mouse on a treadmill, a maze, an ouroborous, and a scarab, and Jesus on the cross. The images radiating ourward are the things that we reproduce; work, struggle, chaos, death. Sunrise and Sunset.






No inserts, but this one arrived with a patch, which looks the same as the one that went with the  ''Triumph of Life'' Newcastle version, so maybe this copy was picked up on that tour?

Stats:

General:
Tracks - A: Litany / What Could Have Been  B: Colour Removal / Reset The Ride
Released: 2004
Label: Test Pattern Records TPR 108 (1st & 2nd Pressings) Havoc Records TPR 108 (Later Pressings)
Matrix A: TEST PATTERN-108A - MPWMSLECQRYPQQAPCC
1st Press Matrix B: TEST PATTERN-108B 3=R

Pressing Info:
TEST PATTERN Version:
First Press of 1000 Mar 2004
Second Press of 500 Feb 2005
Third Press of 1000 Nov 2005
8Test Pressings.
6 on Shampoo coloured vinyl (1)

HAVOC Version:
Black Vinyl:
First (4th) press of 3000 May 2006. 
Second (5th) press of 2000 May 2007
Third (6th) press of 1000 Nov 2011
10 Test Pressings
At the bands request there is no limited version of this record. (2)

Inserts:
No regular insert
    Variants:
    White vinyl (Test Pattern)
    Black vinyl (Havoc)
    Shampoo colour vinyl (Test Pattern)
    Limited Reptoid (Havoc)


    Sleeve Variations:
    Front Covers - Left: Test Pattern (Cream paper, No Logo), Right: Havoc (White paper, Logo bottom RHS)
    Back Covers - Left: Test Pattern, Right: Havoc (Record company details on bottom edge)

    Vinyl Variations:
    Vinyl - Side A: Test Pattern did the first two pressings on white vinyl.  Subsequent pressings by Havoc on black vinyl
    Vinyl - Side B: As above


    Limited 'Reptoid' Version:
    From the owner of copy # 3/3: ''I bought it from Felix Havoc of Havoc Records at Chaos in Tejas in 2006. I was standing at his merch table, browsing with a friend, when the guy next to us asked if there was any special edition of the Litany ep repress that Havoc had just released. Felix responded that there wasn't, at the band's request, and the guy said that was too bad because he'd buy it if there was. Felix pulled out a Sharpie, and wrote "LIMITED REPTOID PRESS #1/1" on the record and sold it to the guy for three bucks. My friend Mike and I indicated that we were now interested as well, so he numbered ours 2/3 and 3/3, respectively. So, strangely, the numbering goes 1/1, 2/3, & 3/3 for this "edition". The band had no knowledge of this taking place and, to my knowledge, it's the only "limited" version of the Havoc pressing of Litany that exists. The reason behind the reptoid business is because Felix was in the middle of driving the Swedish hardcore band The Victims around on tour and they'd been discussing and joking about the reptoid/reptilian/anunaki conspiracy in the van.''
    One wet weekend it occurred to me to contact Felix and find out if he'd get the sharpie out and indulge a weird guy from the UK... It turns out he's The Best; here's his reply:
    Ok, sure thing, I don't remember doing this, but it sounds like the kind of thing I would do when bored at a merch table.          

    5/5 available HERE.


    Notes:

    Record has third part of coded message etched into vinyl (see matrix info above).


    From FU online store:
    5th official release by the band and our first real EP. 4 tracks about repetition and cyclicality with more than willing nods to early UK punk and possible motorcycles. Most impressive, the sleeve folds out into a massive 12 panel collage pieced together by 10k Marbs a la Crucifix/Crass/Winston Smith. One of the most substantial singles in the discography. (3)

    Related artwork from 'Epics in Minutes' CD compilation:







    litany

    Pronunciation: /ˈlɪt(ə)ni/

    noun (plural litanies)

    • 1a series of petitions for use in church services or processions, usually recited by the clergy and responded to in a recurring formula by the people.
    •  (the Litany) a litany contained in the Book of Common Prayer.
    • 2a tedious recital or repetitive series:a litany of complaints









    Commodity Fetishism:

    Shampoo / clear vinyl
    Newer pic of shampoo vinyl (6 copies)

    Test Press (Test Pattern)

    Test Press (Havoc)
    Note initials on sleeve giving clue as to which band member traded this





    (1) Looking For Gold Blog
    (2) Havoc site
    (3) FU Webstore

    ''Litany'' (12")

    ...AND AGAIN

    Sleeve - Front: Folds out to form poster as per 7' 
    Sleeve - Back
    Vinyl: Blank silver / grey labels on both sides


    Stats:

    General:
    Tracks - A: Litany / What Could Have Been  B: Colour Removal / Reset The Ride + 1 additional song (see below)
    Released: 2005
    Label: Test Pattern Records TPR 108
    Matrix A: TEST PATTERN-108A
    Matrix B: TEST PATTERN-108B

    Pressing Info:
    1000 (The pressing numbers on that source seem a little 'confused'. Relative availability on second-hand market suggests there were less than 1000)

    Inserts:
    No regular insert

    Variants:
    At least one has hand-written labels.



    Notes

    Sleeve is same as 7" version, but bigger. See Litany 7"  for more infos

    Discogs:
    Comes with an extra, unlisted and uncredited song, and with a huge b/w foldout sleeve. The extra track is a cover of The Younghearts - A Little Togetherness







    Commodity Fetishism 

    From the owner: 
    (I purchased a copy of the Litany 12" from) a fellow from the Czech republic which has writing on the labels, now I know this isn't a hard thing to do all you need is a marker and boom there you go, but I thought maybe there was some connection with the band. On the A side labels it has written: Sudetenland give it up, and on the B side: Fuck Fr. Tiso, in red marker. 
    Sudetenland is the German name for parts of Czechoslovakia mainly inhabited by German speakers, hence the (I thought) connection with the band. Again though I'm probably just a sucker for some kid with a red pen!
    Fr Tiso
    Sudetenland

    Is it Genuine? 
    The 'tour versions' of  ''Black Army'' & ''Black Cross'' often came with hand-written labels and were sold in 2005 on the first Euro Tour. The Litany 12" came out the same year. The tour included visits to the Czech Republic and Germany. The handwriting matches up and the references are typical FU. Of course it's (almost certainly) genuine!