Flex Your Head

Maybe you could consider Flex Your Head one of the most important hardcore compilations of the early eighties; it pinned down the essence of the 2nd generation of DC punk bands. Together with This Boston Not LA and All Quiet On The Western Front, Flex Your Head is are the compilation records that everyone should own.

Needless to say I was beyond stoked when I first heard Flex Your Head and what really struck me that none of the bands sucked or at least didn’t interest me. So many good tunes, from so many great bands that stood the test of time with ease.

Long before the CD version came together, Flex Your Head went into his fourth pressing on vinyl already. The CD version comes with a nice sleeve, which you could change yourself, so you basically have four different sleeves to choose from.

Normally it is pretty tough to figure out the pressing info for a Dischord release but luckily, Dischord provided it on the insert of the reissue and in the CD-booklet of Flex Your Head. This counts for the first pressing with the different sleeves but when the Blurry photo came, it all becomes a bit fuzzy. I personally prefer the Flex Your Head with the mock DC flag cover in black, it looks so cool. The first two pressings are hard to find without a decent amount of ring wear, so praise yourself if your copies looks pristine.

Test press:

Unknown amount pressed, but if you look at the other pressings, I would say either 50 or a 100 copies, since most of them were send out as promos. Underneath you can see several different test pressings that were posted on the internet over the years.

1st press:
Violin cover, released in 1982, 4000 pressed.

2nd press:
Wheat field cover, released in 1982, 3000 pressed.

3rd press:
DC flag cover, released in 1982 in cooperation with Alternative Tentacles records in the UK, 2000 pressed.

4th press and subsequent presses:
Blurry photo cover, released in 1985, lots and lots pressed.

Here it becomes a bit hard, to track down the different presses, the oldest one I could find was with the 5.00 dollar price domestically and 6.00 dollar price overseas printed in the lower right corner of the sleeve

Here is another one with a 6.00 dollar price printed in the lower right corner of the sleeve.

I also found this sleeve with 8.00 dollar prince printed in the lower right corner of the sleeve.

Yellow vinyl press:
Blurry photo cover, but on yellow vinyl. I read about 2000 pressed, but no official confirmation from Dischord. This comes with the 8.00 dollar prince printed in the lower right corner of the sleeve but with yellow vinyl instead of black.

Remastered press:
This time they reused the DC flag cover, but changed the colour from black and white to red and white. Remastered the recordings and pressed it on red vinyl.

Which make wonder two things, was Flex Your Head ever released on tape? I have State Of The Union compilation on tape, but I have never seen Flex Your Head. Also if anyone has another variation of the Blurry photo cover, please leave a comment.

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