Octo_Russ

Various Artists [The Sound Of The Suburbs]

This is one of the best compilation discs i own, full of late seventies / early eighties stuff, with a certain Punk flavour to it all, those were the days, when music didn't need to sound pretty, and the singles charts had all sorts of classy acts roaming the top twenty, there was a certain graffiti and urban sprawl to everything, tenement blocks and flyovers as on the back cover.

This compilation has such an eclectic mix of tracks, something here for everyone, plus somehow the compilers have uncannily chosen all my very best favourites!, only the Adam Ant track is a dud, and i do like the booklet / back insert, the front gives off the idea of letters arranged from newspaper cuttings, it really does give a flavour of the music inside.

Listening to this disc again, i was amazed at how many tracks i really rocked to, tracks 1, 3-8, 10-11 & 16-18, that's two thirds of the album!, it's so hard to pick a winner to discuss and link to YouTube, so i thought i would give almost one word highlights, and YouTube links to many.

1 The Jam - Eton Rifles, 'sup up your beer and collect your fags' [0:19+], must be one of the greatest intro lines to a song ever!.

3 Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love, the crazy drums, all over the place, and yet somehow just perfect.

4 The Only Ones - Another Girl Another Planet, when the long instrumental intro really kicks in [0:24].

5 Undertones - Teenage Kicks, Feargal Sharkey's shaky falsetto voice, and the hand claps.

6 Martha And The Muffins - Echo Beach, the flute synths [0:50+], and at the end of almost every verse after that.

7 Altered Images - Happy Birthday, the xylophone echo intro, and then the drum roll when things really kick in! [0:23+], an incredible high.

8 Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army, a full force piano / band intro, straight in, no messing about!.

10 Ian Dury And The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, Dury's emphasis on me! [0:51], and the double saxophone solo [2:04-2:12], with the funky wobble in the background, and the beginning an end of this solo with a whistle blast??.

11 Blondie - Call Me, lovely deep drum intro [0:00-0:01], one second of bliss!, just goes to show what you can do with one second, and how it can change the whole song.

16 Vapors - Turning Japanese, the jangly guitars throughout the whole song.

17 Eddie And The Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do, the hand claps in the chorus, i saw them live at the Lyceum Ballroom in 1979 i think.

18 The Members - The Sound Of The Suburbs, 'this is the sound!' [2:06], sung so breathlessly!, excellent use of emphasis, and later 'this is the souwowowowowowound!' [3:22-3:26], a lovely bit of berserkness!.

Playing this disc today was such a joy, plus it was so nostalgic, yeah i really got into the British Punk scene in the late seventies.