Various Artists - Holidays In The Sun [12", 2LP]

Bumped into this HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN compilation on my way out of the Utrecht record fair a few weeks ago. A double LP for a ridiculously cheap price (just over 1 euro per side) and in mint condition, or at least the records are. Clearly never played. I've never seen this compilation before but that is probably because it was only released in Greece, and those albums rarely show up in the western parts of Europe. It's from 1994, which means there are probably not many copies floating around, since vinyl was already clearly on its way back at that time. But for this price and with the tracklisting on the back i knew i couldn't go wrong at all, even though i already have a lot of these songs on other vinyl releases. It covers alternative rock, (post-)punk, new wave and synthpop - and all of them hits! Just check below and you'll see what i mean.
By the way, Gary Numan's "Cars" is the '93 Sprint Mix version. It's not credited like that on the cover though.

Label: Mercury / Polygram Greece
Cat.nr.: 516 849-1
Year of release: 1994

SIDE A:
01. SEX PISTOLS - Pretty Vacant
02. BAUHAUS - She's In Parties
03. XTC - Making Plans For Nigel
04. JOE JACKSON - I'm The Man
05. GRAHAM PARKER & THE RUMOURS - Hey Lord Don't Ask Me Questions

SIDE B:
01. SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - Christine
02. MAGAZINE - Shot By Both Sides
03. THE JAM - Going Underground
04. P.I.L. - This Is Not A Love Song
05. GARY NUMAN - Cars

SIDE C:
01. VIOLENT FEMMES - Blister In The Sun
02. IGGY POP - Real Wild Child (Wild One)
03. MADNESS - Baggy Trousers
04. NEW ORDER - True Faith
05. HEAVEN 17 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
06. LES NEGRESSES VERTES - Sous Le Soleil De Bodega

SIDE D:
01. NICK CAVE - Deanna
02. THE HOUSEMARTINS - Me And The Farmer
03. THE LA'S - There She Goes
04. THE HOUSE OF LOVE - Shine On
05. INSPIRAL CARPETS - This Is How It Feels
06. THE MISSION - Butterfly On A Wheel

Various Artists - The History Of Rock, Volume Thirty One [12", 2LP]

If you see something like this in the sales bin dirt cheap, you can't let it lie there. Such was the case with this HISTORY OF ROCK VOL. 31 compilation album that i ran into at record store Örat in Uppsala, Sweden. Actually they had a whole bunch of these series in the sales bin (everything more or less ranging from Otis Redding to Motörhead), and i ran into a couple more at other stores throughout the country a few days later. It seems like these compilation LP's from UK origin were well-distributed in Sweden, when they came out. I've never seen them in record stores over here in the Netherlands though. Discogs says that there are 40 volumes, and after i did some research i found out that they belonged to a weekly magazine that came out in the early '80s. There were 120 of these magazines, all 20 pages thick, and altogether they would form 10 volumes in some kind of Rock Encyclopaedia. A pretty nice project if you ask me, especially because there were LP's that belonged to it as well. Except for The Stranglers, Sex Pistols and Wire i didn't have any of these bands on vinyl so far. So i couldn't go wrong for just 10 SEK (less than 1.20 euro).

Label: Orbis
Cat.nr.: HRL 031
Year of release: 1985

SIDE A: The Stranglers
01. Get A Grip On Yourself
02. Peaches
03. No More Heroes
04. Nice 'n' Sleazy
05. Walk On By
06. Golden Brown

SIDE B: Punk
01. The Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK
02. The Damned - Smash It Up
03. The Buzzcocks - Have You Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't Have)
04. Generation X - Your Generation
05. Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster
06. Wire - 12 X U
07. The Banned - Little Girl

SIDE C: Squeeze
01. Take Me I'm Yours
02. Cool For Cats
03. Up The Junction
04. Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)
05. Tempted
06. Labelled With Love

SIDE D: 2-Tone
01. The Specials - Gangsters
02. The Beat - The Tears Of A Clown
03. The Specials - Too Much Too Young
04. Madness - The Prince
05. The Selecter - On My Radio
06. The Specials - Do Nothing
07. The Bodysnatchers - Let's Do Rock Steady