Chicago has been known to produce some fine punk rock bands, even if they may have not received as much attention as bands from California or New York. One of the best bands Chicago ever gave birth to was Articles of Faith. In their career they left us a pair of 7″s and a pair of albums, along with a few compilation tracks.
In 1982 the band released this, their first 7″. It came out on the Version Sound label, which also put out a couple cassette compilations, and 7″s by Negative Element, Die Kreuzen and Rebel Truth. After the first pressing of this sold out, I believe the label had ceased operations so the band reissued it on their own label, Wasteland Records. The same stampers were used for both pressings, the only thing that differed was the label on one side, and the back sleeve was changed to have the Wasteland Records info in place of the Version Sound info.
The first pressing had a black and white sleeve, and Version Sound labels. I would guess there was 500-1000 of them pressed.
It was later reissued on Wasteland Records with 3 different sleeve possibilities. Since the sleeve for all pressings consisted of two printed sheets, some front and back sleeves for this pressing didn’t necessarily match. The variations are as follows.
Blue front and back sleeve,
all the Wasteland variations had this label in place of the Version Sound label…
red front and back sleeve,
and blue front sleeve with red back sleeve.
I imagine the mixed sleeves were a result of leftover parts used to put records in. I have never seen a red front w/blue back though that’s not to say one doesn’t exist.
In 1991 Bitzcore Records released the Core album which compiled all the 7″ and compilation tracks on both LP and CD (the LP had a limited pressing on white vinyl which I am in need of), however all the songs were remixed so they sound different than they did on the original releases. Unlike a lot of remix efforts, they did this one right and the sound is excellent and the songs sound a lot more full.
A couple years ago, the material was released yet again on Alternative Tentacles as part of a two-part reissue series titled AOF Complete.
More reading:
Get yourself some AOF on CD: Volume One
AOF Complete site
Vic Bondi’s website
Excellent post about an excellent band. Chi-town stand up!
This was one of the first punk records I ever bought. I bought it at Record City on Oakton Rd in Skokie. In fact, at the time Eric B was working there!
Along with the “band nostalgia” it would be fun to enjoy “record store”/”venue”/”hangout” nostalgia as well. Record City still exists last I heard (though I’ve been out of Chicago for a year, we’ll see if it’s still there when I come back in July), on Rand Road in Lake Zurich.
AOF, one of the greats to come out of Chicago. It so many greats from this city, they are woefully underappreciated. “Everyday” is my favorite song by these guys. I just wish Vic would let go that old “AOF vs. the Effigies” feud.
Time to admit The Effigies were the better band! I love the AoF shit too though.
Vic’s site said the original Black and White sleeves had 1000 pressings:
http://vicbondi.com/Volume/AOF/AOF2.htm