Originally published in Noise for Heroes #21 by Steve Gardner

Adverts - Costello, Elvis  |  Damned - Hollywood Brats  |  Jam - Only Ones
Radiators from Space - Ruts  |  Saints - Thunders, Johnny  |  UK Subs - Yachts

UK SUBS
Recorded 1979-1981 (Abstract)
I suppose this is unfair since this is a "best of" record that goes well past the 70s, but the early stuff is well represented here, and if I want to listen to a UK Subs record, this is what I'll put on. The Subs were a second generation punk band, and they dropped a lot of the pop tendencies of the first wave and went for a really tough, hard sound that alternates between hardcore and stuff that's like the hardest Ramones music. This record is consistently solid...if you like one track you'll like 'em all, I suspect.
See Also: Another Kind of Blues...Plus (Diablo)

THE UNDERTONES
The Undertones (US copy) (Sire)
Punky pop at its finest, Ireland's Undertones led with their best and never came close again. They were real young and easily influenced by the music press and they tried to mature faster than they really knew how, so it was all downhill from this. But here, singing about everyday stuff like girlfriends and summer vacations that they really related to, they've captured teenage magic in a bottle. There's one track after another of these incredibly catchy songs. I only regret that it doesn't have "You Got My Number", which was their best single ever, otherwise it'd be heaven.

THE VIBRATORS
Pure Mania (CBS)
V2 (Epic)
The Vibrators got a lot of shit for being too old for punk (they were in their early 20s at the time, so it seems like a pretty ridiculous charge now), but they sure figured out how to play it great right out of the chute. Both of these records are among my all-time faves. I give the edge to Pure Mania...it's a little more pop sounding and has some great tracks like "Petrol", "Yeah Yeah Yeah", "London Girls" and "Whips And Furs". Of course V2 has "Pure Mania" (that's right, "Pure Mania" isn't on the LP with that title), "Flying Duck Theory" (a great radio song) or "Destroy", so choosing is tough. But they've both got that cool chugging 4/4 drum sound and you don't lose either way.

THE WIPERS
Is This Real (Park Avenue)
Why didn't the Wipers make more of a splash? 'Cos they came from Oregon and nobody's ever come from there, I suppose. Throughout all the 80s they put out one cool record after another and people barely noticed. This one started it all and it's the best because it's raw and hard and intense as all hell. The guitar used to remind me of Wire on Pink Flag because it's so raw, but the Wipers played much more rocking stuff. Their songs are shorter and more pop structured here than they later became, but they also burn like crazy. Greg Sage's unique guitar style is present right from the start...I could pick him out of any lineup of gunslingers in a minute.

WIRE
Pink Flag (Harvest)
Chairs Missing (EMI)
154 (EMI)
The ultimate art-punk band, Britain's Wire debuted in 1977 with Pink Flag, a pile of songs built like no one had built them before...they started here, they ended there, and they didn't cover any ground twice. Songs lasted less than three minutes, two minutes, even less than one minute. Guitars were brutally distorted to where they sounded like distant cannon fire. It worked brilliantly. Then came Chairs Missing in 1978. It's got some Pink Flag styled songs, but there's also some songs with a twisted kind of pop feel to them...songs that feel soft on top but hard underneath. Then there's 154, by which time the sound had shifted fairly dramatically to where there were keyboards and synthesizers among the guitars and the singing dropped its harsh edge in a lot of places. But it's still compelling. But the first was the best...a classic that has to be in every collection.

X
Los Angeles (Slash)
X looked like a punk rock band and usually sounded like one and they were accepted like one, but I think they were more just a full on rock and roll band. Out of LA, they had traditions that went to rockabilly and fifties rock and roll like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis (listen to that Chuck Berry riff at the start of "Johnny Hit And Run Pauline". The singing combo of Exene and John Doe always made me think of Jefferson Airplane, and they always sang and didn't scream like most of their US punk rock compatriots, but the music doesn't match at all. It's Ramones styled punk rock with a darker feel and these fifties references thrown in. The result has held up well over time...it's still an urgent, meaningful record to listen to.
See Also: Live at The Whiskey a Go Go (Elektra)

XRAY SPEX
Germ Free Adolescents (EMI)
I probably said it all in the review of that bootleg single they just did, but anyway it's worth hearing this record to get the full picture. Some of these songs are kind of fun, but this type of punk music sure didn't wear well...the strident screechy vocals just grate and they sound pretty silly today. This would be a cool album to mine for covers, though, since there are some good tunes that are ruined in the performance. The basic concept behind XRay Spex was a rebellion against the plasticness of life by parody, hence song titles like "Art-i-ficial", "Genetic Engineering", "Plastic Bag" and "The Day The World Turned Dayglo". The result comes off like a high school essay that's trying too hard to be creative.

XTC
White Music (Virgin)
Somebody told me they saw XTC on MTV not too long ago...I can believe it because they were getting pretty bad when I last heard them, but they had a good start with some good snappy power pop. It still has that sort of quirky keyboard feel that renders it a little suspect in my mind, and I'll bet that Oingo Boingo has all their early records, but still I've got room for songs like "Radios In Motion", "Statue Of Liberty" or "Set Myself On Fire". But if you can't find it, don't have a cow 'cos it's not the most important record in this list.

THE YACHTS
SOS (Polydor)
Here's where I get my big rant on the Yachts in. This record is killer power pop and what's wrong with everybody that they can't see it? The Yachts have got this cool cheesy keyboard sound with a nice chunky guitar underneath and in addition to being catchy tunes, their songs have hysterically funny lyrics, like "Yachting Type", where the guy's girl runs off with a yachtsman, or "Mantovani's Hits", which hypothesizes a rock and roll world where Elvis records hadn't been hits but Mantovani's had, or "Box 202", where the guy's girl is killed in an airplane crash so he puts out a classified ad to look for a replacement. The others deal with romance in equally oddball ways, but always rocking and always catchy as hell. My brother got to see these guys open for Elvis Costello in Seattle in 1979 but when Costello hit here all we got was the Rubinoos. It's not fair, I tell you. The second Yachts LP is lame, so make sure you get this one.
See Also: Yachts (Phantom)