''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

''No Pasaran''

A Stateless Society

Sleeve - Front

Sleeve - Back

Vinyl - A & B sides. Some have pure white labels, others have cream-coloured labels. One of each is shown here. 

Poster / Insert - Front

Poster / Insert - Reverse: Republican Posters and Photos + Lyrics

Three Insert Variants:

Above: Big & Small on glossy paper

Above: Big and small glossy again - the small one is single-sided

Xerox insert

Flyers: Some copies have a small flyer advertising Deranged Records Releases - two examples are shown above, the bottom one has the label-owners 'want list'.

Stats:

General:
Tracks: No Pasaran B/W Circling The Drain
Released: 2002
Label: Deranged Records D-030
Matrix A: DERANGED YOUTH-30-A
Matrix B: DERANGED YOUTH-30-B

Pressing Info:
First Press of 900 or maybe 1100 (Out of press)
Approx 50 with colour photocopied sleeves
Approx 20 with large spindle hole
7 Test Presses.

Inserts:
Three different inserts. 1.Gloss, double sided poster ('Regular' insert). 2.Xerox, double sided poster (same as gloss) 3. Small single sided Xerox paper. (1)
Some also have Deranged Records flyer advertising contemporary releases (various designs)

Variants:
Regular sleeve
Xerox sleeve
Large spindle hole

Xerox Sleeve (RHS): Image is cropped a little differently and is more xeroxy. Also the "B/W" text band in the top right corner of the xerox version is all white, rather than white with black patches.

Notes 1: No Pasaran

''The clip is from the movie Land and Freedom, the 2nd best movie about the Spanish Civil War, and is supposed to be a really stirring intro to the song about the same topic. We've played this song less than 10 times ever, the last being in Barcelona, where we thought it would be appropriate, but was actually just kind of tacky....we generally have weird feelings about this track now.'' (2)


No Pasaran Documentary:

No Pasaran / They Shall Not Pass from Yoav Segal on Vimeo.

(Spoiler: Franco prevailed and replaced the democratically elected government with dictatorship, began executing his opponents and carried on doing so until his death in 1975, by which point Spain's economy had integrated into the western capitalist framework).


Francoist Spain (Cropped from Wikipedia)Francoist Spain, also historically known as Nationalist Spain during the Spanish Civil War, refers to the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975 when the authoritarian dictatorship of Francisco Franco took control of Spain from the government of the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War.
The coup had the support of most factions sympathetic to the right-wing cause in Spain including the majority of Spain's Catholic clergy, the fascist-inclined Falange, and the Alfonsine and Carlist monarchists. The coup escalated into a civil war lasting for three years once Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany agreed to support Franco starting with airlifting of the africanistas onto the mainland. Other supporters included Portugal under Antonio Salazar, while the presentation of the Civil War as a "crusade" or renewed reconquista…

The Francoists took control of Spain through a comprehensive and methodical war of attrition which involved the imprisonment and executions of Spaniards found guilty of supporting the values promoted (at least in theory) by the Republic - regional autonomy, liberal or social democracy, free elections and women's rights. The rightists considered these "enemy elements" to comprise an "anti-Spain" that was the product of a "Judeo-Masonic" conspiracy, along with Bolsheviks, which had evolved after the reconquista of Spain from the Islamic Moors, a reconquista that had been declared formally over with the Alhambra decree of 1492 expelling the Jews from Spain.

For nearly twenty years after the war Francoist Spain presented the conflict as a crusade against Bolshevism in defence of Christian civilization. In Francoist narrative, authoritarianism had defeated anarchy and overseen the elimination of "agitators", those without God and the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy… This discourse obscured the social roots of the war and analysis of its origins. Many Spanish children grew up believing the war was fought against foreigners; the painter Julian Grau Santos has said "it was instilled in me and I always believed that Spain had won the war against foreign enemies of our historic greatness. (3)

Notes 2: Circling The Drain

From 2001 Interview:
What is your favourite song from a lyrical standpoint and why?
Mike: Mine is ''Circling The Drain'', which is a theme that developed from the summer I had. I just had the worst summer ever and whatever could go wrong did go wrong and things kept getting worse. (4)

From March 2010:
This song stood out for us because it was not fast. That's pretty much it. Also we still play this song almost 10 years later. (5)

Sleeve Notes:

Front Cover: Original photo-montage by John Heartfield.

John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a pioneer in the use of
art as a political weapon.

While living in Berlin, in 1917, he anglicized his name from "Helmut Herzfeld" to "John Heartfield," an English name to protest against the anti-British fervor sweeping Germany. In 1916, crowds in the street were shouting, "Gott strafe England!" ("May God punish England!"). (3)

"No pasarán. Pasaremos." (They shall not pass. We will pass) Two Nationalist vultures (i.e. condors), one with a swastika and the other with the Falangist symbol look out over Madrid. Republican bayonets point at them from below.

Heartfield's photo-montages satirising Adolf Hitler and the Nazis often subverted Nazi symbols such as the swastika, in order to undermine their propaganda message. (3)

''The Cross Was Not Heavy Enough''. Positive Christianity. Nothing to do with the ''No Pasaran'' 7", but included because it might be topical...




More Heartfield images HERE.

No Pasaran's reproduction of Heartfield in monochrome is also a nod to seminal UK band Discharge

''After the total disaster known as the first Fucked Up 7" which was a black and white mess, Mike has really improved his layout skills''
(Damian speaking in interview with NOT A GAME Fanzine)

Commodity Fetishism:

Cassette - more info HERE

Approx 20 were 'accidentally' made with large spindle holes.

Test Press - blank labels + xerox sleeve

Test Press - hand-written (misspelt) labels

(1) Discogs

(2) Notes from Fucked Up ''Couple Tracks'' LP

(3) Wikipedia

(4) Equalizing x Distort Zine Issue 1

(5) Looking For Gold Blog