REVIEW: Various Artists, United Kingdom of Punk II (Music Club)
- Daniel Aloi
A raw, damaged voice, a couple of chords, bad hair and skin, and an attitude was all you seemed to need to be a punk rocker back in the days of safety pins and ripped leather. That's the popular perception, anyway.
Giving the lie to that were the social concerns the bands had, telling angry truths about the grim reality of the young kids who flocked to shows, whether or not the "artists" had a connection with or contempt for their audiences. You can get a taste of what it was really like on this new compilation from Music Club, a budget-line ($9.99) import label that's readily available in Stateside stores.
Like 1997's first volume, U.K. Punk II (not to be confused with albums in Rhino's D.I.Y. series) smartly raids most of its content from obscure 45s, rare B-sides, demos and historic sessions, and live tapes -- making these U.K. Punk discs several knife-cuts above most anthologies of previously released material. Ultimately, it is the only way to capture a scene that burgeoned in live clubs and escaped England's shores via furtively exported slabs of no-nonsense vinyl.
Also like Vol. I, the 16 choices on the new disc will excite the knowledgable punk fan, and show the uninitiated just how diverse, influential and full of talent (sometimes) and energy (usually) the various bands were.
And the underrated are given their due alongside the more infamous acts. Nosebleeds, The Lurkers and 999 (named for the British equivalent of 911) are all fine bands who advanced the form but never had the notoriety they deserved.
The Sex Pistols are here, of course, represented by an early 1977 Dave Goodman demo of their galvanizing "Anarchy in the U.K." So, too, are The Damned, The Fall, and the Buzzcocks.
The Adverts in particular shine live, more than their records ever indicated. While most of the songs - especially the live ones - are longer than the regulation 2 minutes, U.K. Subs' "I Live in a Car" neatly encapsulates the whole socioeconomic thrust of the punk movement in a mere 1:14. But you sometimes want more. When X Ray Spex' teenaged Poly Styrene wails in her full from-the-gut fury on "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo," you wonder why there weren't more garage bands with empowered female singers like her.
One of the legendary singles of its time closes the disc: Bow Wow Wow's then-controversial incitement of home taping, "C30 C60 C90 Go!" The liner notes, by Tucson Weekly writer Ron Bally, mention influences that stretch from the '60s to the '90s (the Stooges on Sham 69, and U.K. Subs on later American hardcore bands - I'd even add that Sham 69's live "If the Kids Are United" sounds like a proto-Chumbawamba anthem), but the music itself is focused on the scene that flourished from 1977 to 1980 and then was no more. Of course, the Pistols reunited, if only for filthy lucre, and The Fall are still going, 21 years later.
Punk always refused to fit the confines of a stereotype or a singular style. The songs ranged from angry two-chord diatribes to sublime moments of near power-pop, prefiguring the sunnier days of new wave and decidedly un-punk bottle-blonde MTV boys like The Police.
Hopefully this well-done series will keep digging up punk's great moments, and even progress to include The Jam, the one member of the class of '77 furthest from punk's low-fi aesthetic at the start, and in the end the truest to its spirit.
Artists on United Kingdom of Punk II: Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, Slaughter & the Dogs, Nosebleeds, The Adverts, The Fall, X-Ray Spex, U.K. Subs, 999, Sham 69, The Lurkers, The Damned, The Ruts, Chelsea, Viciious White Kids, Bow Wow Wow
