W
ell this is it! The box set on which The Sex Pistols somewhat
famously refused to allow any of
their songs to appear. At the end
of the lush booklet included, the
producer apologizes for this and
then recommends that people go and buy The Sex Pistol's album
first, then get this box set.....
Of course, knowing that before you
get the box set home and open is a bit tricky. Bastard! This is
not even the booklets worst feature.
Actually its pretty nice, the first third being devoted to a brief
history of punk. The second third providing brief history of each
of the 100 songs spread over the 4 disk set. However, it does suffer
from a number of inaccuracies. "The
social climate could not have been
grimmer: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government
had mired the nation in a recession." Of
course she only got into power in
79 when punk was all but dead, the Labour government of Jim Callaghan
had led the country into recession and the winter of discontent.
Similarly, The Clash were not formed by Joe
Strummer as suggested, but by Bernie
Rhodes, who had been taking lessons
from Malcolm McLaren. There are several
others too. Still, it's not all bad, the booklet does give a nice overview
and contains some
cracking images. But, to read about Punk you would be better off picking up Please
Kill Me , and for images there is PUNK, The Definitive Record of a
Revolution .
But getting back to the music, there are 100 songs, by about 70
different artists. No Sex Pistols, but as if to compensate there are 3 songs by the somewhat
similar sounding Buzzcocks, more than any other artist, which
is fine by me. A quick perusal shows all the key bands are here, Television, Ramones, The
Clash. Along with some of my personal favorites by more obscure bands,
like ?Another Girl, Another Planet? by The Only Ones, and ?Sounds
of the Suburbs? by The Members. This is looking good. But
there are plenty of bands on here that are less worthy, say Sham 69,
and a number of songs that by the widest of margins I still fail to see as
being punk. These include ?Boys Don't Cry? by The Cure and Joe
Jackson's ?Is She Really Going Out With Him?? Perhaps The
Television Personalities and MC5 would have been
better inclusions?
Still, there are plenty of odd songs
here that only the most devote punk
fan would have already. Thus the box set serves as a great introduction
to Punk for the uninitiated. And even to the wise I am sure there
is plenty left here to learn. A good mix of American and British
acts really helps in this respect. What is not so good is the track
order. I don't know if its me, but the songs sound and look like
they have been sequenced at random. It would have been a lot more
fulfilling to have tracks ordered by release date and to hear the
progression and regression of the movement. Alternatively it could
even have been split up into NY, London , LA and post punk/new wave
and those that did not fit the other three categories. As it is,
it makes for a somewhat j-j-jarring ride. How very punk. But, whilst
punk aimed to shock, the most shocking thing here is how great the vast
majority of the songs here are.
.
