punk/post-punk rewind
Classic Compilation: John Cooper Clarke – The Very Best Of
Lydon, Shelley & Diggle, Strummer and Jones. They were the great punk poets weren’t they? The less cliched among us would cast the net further and point to the genius of Ian Dury, a superior lyricist in every way to his punk peers. And then there was John Cooper Clarke, not a lyricist, but a …
Not Forgotten: Fountains of Wayne – Utopia Parkway
In the years before the tuneful “Stacy’s Mom” seared them into the subconscious of music fans as one hit wonders, Fountains of Wayne were a band enjoying medium-sized success, with a string of modestly charting power pop singles. A self titled debut album charted in the UK in 1996, albeit way outside a top 40 …
Classic Album: Blondie – Parallel Lines
Having previously transitioned from first-wave punks to the cutting edge of the new wave, their third album, Parallel Lines, found Blondie as an unashamed pop band, a fact underlined by a production job by former glam-rock hit-producer Mike Chapman. It opens with a trio of deserved hit singles, putting on a show of surprising versatility, …
Classic Compilation: The Ramones – Greatest Hits
The Ramones are one of those bands it should be impossible to compile, because listening to them for anything more than half an hour outside of a live environment is frankly absurd. The key to the band’s greatness was how direct and concise their songs were, so to string dozens of them end to end …
Classic Album: Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols
While no one would ever dare question Sex Pistols’ cultural impact, such was Malcolm Mclaren’s obsession with publicity stunts, that by the time Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols was finally released in late October ’77, they had very nearly missed the bus. Both The Damned and The Clash had beaten them to …
Not Forgotten – The Waterboys
Quite where Mike Scott the solo artist starts and The Waterboys as a band begins has fluctuated over the years, which is in its own way oddly fitting, given the convoluted formation of the band. The formation of The Waterboys saw Scott split from punk group Funhouse, procure a couple of members of Nikki Sudden’s …
Not Forgotten: Black & White by The Stranglers
Its early 1978 and I’m standing in the horrible brutalist Ryemarket Shopping Centre in Stourbridge, a copy of ‘Sounds’ in my hands (well all over my hands such was the nature of ink in those days) and the proceeds of my paper round in my pocket. I was thirteen and was deep in the thrall …
Not Forgotten – DEVO ‘Duty Now For The Future’
Devo’s first album ‘Q – Are We Not Men? A – We Are Devo’ was by all accounts a messy, protracted birth, brought about in no small way by casting Brian Eno as the midwife. Despite many moments of genius, Eno’s forté of making pedestrian bands interesting had never been more surplus to requirements, his …
Reissue: The Passions – Michael and Miranda
Appearing from the break up of the 101ers, Joe Strummers band pre the Clash, and punk outfit The Derelicts, Barbara Gogan and drummer Clive Timperley formed The Passions in 1978, following their first single release in 1979 the band were signed to Fiction records and recorded their debut album Michael and Miranda released in 1980. …
Soundtrack Of Our Lives: John Cooper Clarke
He’s the Bard of Salford, the original Punk Poet, the Doctor. Evidently, we must be talking about John Cooper Clarke. Revered by many for his acerbic wit and slightly off kilter, but oh so accurate, take on life, hehas been an inspiration to many. His book, ‘Ten Years In An Open Neck Shirt’, is a …