CD-Charts Position 41
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Strawberries

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: The Damned

Release Date February 26, 2008
The Damned are without doubt one of the best bands to come out of the original punk movement. This is because they knew how to write great songs, from Brian James raw writing on the first 2 albums through the brilliant Machine Gun Etiquette, The Black Album and Strawberries where Captain's influence comes to the fore. On Strawberries, The Damned seemed to be at a songwriting peak and found many new fans. There really isn't a bad song on the album, maybe songs that the fans wanting a harder sound may have found too soft but for those there are songs like Ignite. However, the brilliance of songs like Stranger On The Town, Gun Fury, Badtime For Bonzo and Under The Floor Again make this album one of their best. Not as raw as Damned Damned Damned ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 42
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La Folie

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: Stranglers

Release Date August 20, 2001
'La Folie' marks a fundamental change in The Stranglers' approach to albums. Their first five studio albums are uncompromising, sometimes brutal. There are elements of that era here too: 'Everybody Loves You When You're Dead,' for instance, so true in the wake of the passing of Elvis (taken for granted for years until he died) and John Lennon (portrayed as a bitter eccentric in the media for most of the 1970s). The experimentation of 'Ain't Nothin' Too It' and 'Let Me Introduce You To The Family' also belong to the past. Their confrontational stance continues here, but they cease their attacks on whole nations and women as a whole. This is all relative, though, and individuals still come under attack.
Most impressive, however, is their ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 43
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Extras

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: Jam

Release Date September 18, 1995
This album is real quality. I remember being a huge Jam fan when I was younger and actually writing to Polydor in about 1990 asking them to release the abundance of Jam material that I had on my bootlegs. Whether I made any difference, I don't know, but then this album came out shortly afterwards - the first 'new' Jam album in over ten years!!!

Tales From The Riverbank and Butterfly Collector are of course the highlights, as well as Move On Up and The Great Depression (popular live favourites at the end of The Jam's career). We've Only Started is an early reworking of "Riverbank" and you also realise that the band did the best thing choosing Beat Surrender as the last single over Solid Bond In Your Heart.

It appears that Polydor ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 44
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Germ Free Adolescents

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: X-Ray Spex

Release Date February 26, 2008
If you like Bikini Kill, Be Your Own Pet, yeah yeah yeahs, well, they wouldn't exist without this album. Much as the other reviewer don't like Polly Styrene's vocals, they've sure been influential, becoming the standard for girl punk yelping. The difference with the Spex is that they always let you know they were having fun, more than they were raging. See old clips of them, they're smiling, not spitting. The lyrics are funny, the kind of pop culture trash that the B-52s and early Blondie were also into. The difference is that X Ray Spex were British, and they were self aware enough to make fun of themselves as much as anyone else. forget clash, sex pistols, no one wants to sound like them today, the really influential punk groups were this lot, Ramones, Buzzcocks, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 45
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A Kiss In The Dreamhouse

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: Siouxsie And The Banshees

Release Date March 07, 1995
A beautiful little 9-track gem of an album, sadly too often lost in Siouxsie's backcatalogue. This is a floral and avante-garde sort of album, mainly due to the use of string instruments, on which we hear Siouxsie really discover her voice. Until you've heard this you've never heard Siouxsie sing. The album was written at a curious period in Banshees history; the band's line-up was what is largey considered the best (Siouxsie, Severin, Budgie and John McGeoch), the album was engineered by off-the-wall Mike Hedges, and most of the band were taking LSD. And it shows. The album is insanely brilliant. My favourite tracks are Melt! (possibly the sexiest song of all time. It gives me chills), Cascade and Cocoon.

This album can not be recommended highly enough. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 46
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Black and White

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: Stranglers

Release Date August 20, 2001
Fabulous album from 1978!

Ah... I remember when this album came out - bought it with the free EP and played it to death. That September (16th 1978) I went to see the Stranglers at my very first gig at Battersea Park.

This album has stood the test of time. I still love almost all of these tracks.

And Good value cos it includes the extra EP tracks (Old Codger, Mean to Me and Tits) but also Sweden in Swedish and Shut Up (b-side) of 5 minutes.

Also, this cd is remastered and is excellent quality! Buy it - you know you want to!

CD-Charts Position 47
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Rock 'N Roll

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: The New York Dolls

Release Date September 09, 1996
In a now (in)famous appearance in 1973 for the BBC's music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test the decidedly unimpressed presenter Bob Harris dismissively introduced the New York Dolls as pale imitators of the Rolling Stones and as 'mock rock'. Rock 'N Roll, dovetailing the whole of their cocky, confident debut album with the lion's share of its underrated follow-up Too Much Too Soon, convincingly shows Harris's cheap jibes to be fallacious. As Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye remarks in his adulatory liner notes: "They were a bridge between generations, a missing link, a ragged glory that would replicate itself endlessly through rock's successive generations, from the Ramones-Clash-Sex Pistols axis through the Smiths... and Nirvana".

CD-Charts Position 48
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The Gospel According to the Meninblack

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: Stranglers

Release Date August 20, 2001
When this album first came out it annoyed a quite a few Stranglers fans and probably still does. Everyone (including myself) expected a bunch of aggressive pop songs. The first single 'Thrown Away' was quite low key in comparison to what had been released up until then. I was intrigued, gave it a good listen and then moved away.

It was only on it's re-release on CD that I gave it another go. This album has an importance and significance that was simply overshadowed by what had come before. Heard on it's own terms this album really shines out as something of a masterpiece.

I've given it 5 stars because it really is a 'fantastic' album both in terms of it's subject matter and it's sound. It displays everything that made the Stranglers great but in another form. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 49
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Cut

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: The Slits

Release Date October 23, 2000
The Slits debut, with its unforgettable front-cover photograph, is one of the finer albums in the post-punk canon. As music journalist Mark Paytress observes in his sympathetic liner notes: "it was one of a small handful of end-of-the 70s albums that seemed to take a giant step into the future (others included PiL's Metal Box, This Heat's This Heat and the Pop Group's Y)". The skittering rhythm of `So Tough', sassy `Shoplifting' and dub-infused `Newtown' illustrate that point perfectly. Sadly, as lead singer Ari Up points out in those same liner notes - "hardly anyone knows what an influence we [The Slits] had". Hopefully, this CD reissue will go some way to rectifying that imbalance.

CD-Charts Position 50
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The Scream [Deluxe Edition]

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Punk
by: Siouxsie And The Banshees

Release Date October 03, 2005
When I reviewed the original album I said it was 'perfect' and thankfully they hadn't added anything cos how can you improve on perfection? Well the great thing about this is they HAVEN'T messed around with the original, just added a disc with the superb Peel sessions. Genius! :o) Im a very happy man! I agree with the reviewer above though, 'Voices' would have made this complete....... shame.