Today the ARChive received an incredibly generous donation from a fellow whose marriage was in jeopardy—his wife told him to get rid of his records, or to get rid of her. With that ultimatum, he packed up more than 30 or so years of record collection into more than 40 boxes and called the ARChive.

We have not had a chance to go through the LPs quite yet, but the 45s are very fine–mostly some swell punk and new wave records from the late seventies and early eighties. Included are the French-only 7” issue of The Cramps’ Smell of Female (commemorating a spring ’84 tour of Europe), The Adverts’ “One Chord Wonder” (one of my favorite records) on Stiff, a Joy Division flexi-disc (“Incubation”/”Komakino”), “Bend and Flush” by The Pork Dukes (including an insert advertising for a T-shirt), “Stretcher Case Baby” by The Damned (originally issued as a free first anniversary gift), a German pressing of “Train in Vain” by The Clash (with a picture sleeve I’ve never seen before), “Cheree”/“Ghost Rider” by Suicide (on Red Star),

nearly every single by The Sex Pistols (missing the A&M single, of course) and a complete collection of singles by The Jam, original UK seventies and eighties issues.

Although many of these are already in the ARChive, it will be nice to know that we have second copies of them. Also, the ARChive is happy to help with marital problems.

–Phast Phreddie Patterson