Review: Hailing from London's East End, there's few Oi-punk outfits who were as quintessential or authentic as The 4-Skins. While only releasing a small handful of albums with their definitive 80s line up, this live/demo/unreleased cuts compilation offers an aural fly-on-the-wall experience of being confronted with their signature brand of seething anti-authoritarian, anti-police brutality, anti-fascist, football loving, skinhead sporting, Doc Marten stomping punk in real time. Packed with cuts pulled from radio sessions, Bumper sessions, demos and even two tracks from a previously unreleased 7" 45, including the ska-punk-inflected 'Seems To Me'; offering a more subdued side to the OG Skins than most long-time fans would be accustomed to.
Review: Formed in 1982, New York City hardcore pioneers Agnostic Front left a defining impact on the burgeoning scene with their unmatched ferocity and sonic abrasion as well as their intimidating attitude and skinhead aesthetic, which would lead to them incorrectly being perceived by some as racists or neo-Nazis. Coming up in the rundown streets of Lower East Side Manhattan, surrounded by urban decay in an area battling severe poverty, drugs, and violence, they channelled their anger into a new breed of punk that would serve as both a rallying cry for the less fortunate as well as an urgent, abrasive form of catharsis. This blistering compilation contains recordings dating back to the very beginning of their career, featuring demos of tracks that would eventually appear on their 1983 debut United Blood 7", while also offering other recordings from this period originally left unissued at the time; some of these would later be included on the 1995 Raw & Unleased CD, though several of these cuts have never been made available on wax until now. The band would later be featured as part of Showtime's The Godfathers of Hardcore documentary from 2017, while frontman Roger Miret's autobiography provides a deeply insightful yet frightening firsthand account of an already clearly tumultuous yet integral time in punk history.
Review: Originally forming in 1982, Agnostic Front were one of the pioneers of New York City hardcore punk and they've left an indelible mark on the scene and movement ever since. Inspired by their dilapidated surroundings of Lower East Side Manhattan, then blighted by poverty, drugs, violence, and high levels of urban decay, the ugliness around them would help to chart a venomous new course for the sonic potential of hardcore as an urgent, abrasive form of catharsis. This incendiary compilation offers up recordings which date back to the very start of their career, including demos of cuts that would eventually appear on their 1983 debut United Blood 7", while also featuring other recordings from the period that were left unissued at the time; some of the material would later be included on 1995's Raw & Unleased CD, though several of these tracks are making their wax debut. If you're eager for more homeschooling, the band were featured as part of Showtime's The Godfathers of Hardcore documentary in 2017, while frontman Roger Miret's autobiography offers insightful and frightening lore to an already clearly tumultuous yet integral time in punk history.
Review: LA punks Brat (aka. The Brat) released just one album, Attitudes, in 1980. Despite their terse career, effectively lasting for just three years (indeed, being made up usually of hot temperaments and bright, punk bands don't tend to last that long, though the members of this outfit did go onto flourish under other projects and names), this LP is nothing short of a charmer. Characteristic of the first wave of LA punk - along with contemporaneous albums by X, The Germs and The Weirdos - Atittudes has an up-front, earnest and melodic sound, one that'll instantly chime with anyone wanting to explore the constructive side of anarchy. Echoes of rockabilly and glam rock shine through on jubilant buzzers like 'Starry Night', and its for creative fusions such as this that Attitudes enjoys the cult classic status it has now.
Review: Hailing from Huntington Beach, California, The Crowd arrived in the early 80s as part of the "trash punk" movement, somewhat segregated from the burgeoning hardcore realm that was slowly becoming the most followed path forward for the punk scene. Sporting dayglo beachwear and influencing their own type of proto moshing (or "slam dancing"), their momentum sadly didn't equate to instantaneous success for their 1981 debut full-length 'A World Apart', which can best be described as chaotic surf-punk akin to a scrappier Agent Orange. Dissolving shortly after before reforming towards the end of the decade for their sophomore follow up Big Fish Stories, the band would become an on again, off again labour of love from there on out whilst the members toiled away in a myriad of other groups, yet time and ears syncing up in later decades as always, this debut LP has since been reappraised for its unique and pioneering form of sunny aggro and the vast number of acts it surely inspired, who ironically eclipsed the band during a time where they needed some sunrays the most.
Review: Another year, another vital repress of Scotland's greatest punk export The Exploited's adored yet overlooked fourth full-length Horror Epics. Originally released in 1985 and arriving two years after the career high-point that was Let's Start A War... (Said Maggie One Day), fan appreciation for the project has only ballooned in the decades since, with a myriad of 7" singles and compilations often boasting at least one of the album's essential cuts such as 'No More Idols' or 'Treat You Like Shit'. For both seasoned heads and newcomers alike, who aren't bothered by the piecemeal approach, take advantage of Radiation Records' tireless efforts to constantly keep such punk classics in circulation in their intended form.
Violence In Our Minds (Cassette single version) (3:03)
Held Hostage (Cassette single version) (3:03)
Soul Boys (Cassette single version) (2:50)
Eight Pounds A Week (From Oi! Chartbusters 6) (2:33)
Stormtroopers In Sta-Press (demo) (4:18)
Resort Boot Boys (demo) (1:48)
Working Class Kids (2:52)
King Of The Jungle (Carry On Oi! version) (4:03)
Horror Show (From Oi! Oi! That’s Yer Lot) (2:43)
Wicked Woman (United Skins version) (2:06)
Oi! Oi! Skinhead (LP Out-take) (3:21)
Review: Forming in 1980 in Herne Bay, Kent and named after the famous East London skinhead shop, The Last Resort were one of the pioneering and most highly regarded Oi! punk acts to ever stomp heads. This rarities compilation features choice cuts recorded between 1981 and 1984 including tracks from their seminal Violence In Our Minds cassette single with original vocalist Graham Saxby (who now fronts The Warriors), demo versions of material that would appear on their 1982 full-length A Way Of Life, as well as their contributions to the national chart compilations Strength Thru Oi!, Carry On Oi!, and Oi! Oi! That's Yer Lot. A major influence on the burgeoning hardcore and punk scenes, so much so that the most recent iteration of the band, still fronted by vocalist Roi Pearce (who switched from bass to mic duties following Saxby's departure), features Rancid guitarist Lars Frederiksen. A genuine Oi!-thentic blueprint from the OG pissed off visionaries.
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