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 Customer Reviews
Punk rocks owners, 29 Oct 2007
Whatever people tell me about the ramones: i always say that these guys defined punk music. Still today The Jam is a classic band that will always have a place in my album collection. This CD however is overdoing everything. Punk rock albums are usually very short and having to listen to 20 songs that do all sound extremely simmilar can get tedious. More than this I believe that punk bands very designed for live performances: they had a great attitude to live acts which made them amazing to listen to. The CD takes the heart out of this genre and for that i mark it down. Also there are a few songs could have done without.
81/100
MOD ANTHEMS, 07 May 2007
This album is the soundtrack of my youth - and it still sounds great twenty years on.
Weller was better than DYLAN - wrote better songs than LENNON and wore sharper suits than STING.
Classic anthems that will never die...
BRILLIANT, 11 Apr 2007
A great collection from the best band of all time.
Weller amd the boys looked the part and always talked the walk.
I want them to reform - but till that day this collection will keep me happy why I wait.
Top JAM fan Garry Johnson of Buzz Kids fanzine says he heard a rumour of a one-off gig this summer at Hyde Park - fingers-crossed a...
Get SNAP SE instead, 10 Aug 2006
There's no doubt this is an excellent collection of singles but why buy this when you could buy the SNAP special edition double CD £1 cheaper. That has every song on this "best of" CD plus another 8 including "Away from the numbers" and "English Rose".
Great Singles Act, 26 Mar 2006
This is basically a singles album; not that the Jam didn't produce some excellent albums but if you're a casual or new fan this is probably the one to go for. Most of these songs are great, full of energy and sound as good as they did when the band was kicking, between 1977 and 1982. Personal favourites are When You're Young, Precious, Eton Rifles, A Bomb In Wardour Street and the underated News Of The World, a rare Foxton outing. Paul, mate, you never bettered what you did in this band, then again, few did.
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Raw Power
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The Stooges;
Columbia / Legacy;
1997-04-28;
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Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £2.97
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Product Description
After releasing The Stooges and Fun House--two LPs of brutally elemental rock--the Stooges split, reforming three years later with the encouragement of David Bowie to produce Raw Power. If, at the time, Iggy's music seemed primitive and crude, it also foreshadowed heavy metal at its best and the energy and nihilistic attitude of punk--an energy somewhat tamed by Bowie's original production on this record, which emphasised Iggy's voice and the tunes at the expense of the band's trademark powerhouse riffs. The celeste line on "Penetration" and the guitar and piano on "Gimme Danger" show how adept the band were at using melodic detail to sweeten the bitter thrill of the songs--but most of the other tracks launch straight into a sublime frenzy, with guitarist James Williamson soloing almost before the first few chords have sounded. The Stooges' first three albums, and the live LP Metallic KO (which captures the band at their most blisteringly confrontational) are excessive, supremely exciting, awe-inspiring rock records. --Burhan Tufail
Customer Reviews
Punk rocks owners, 29 Oct 2007
Whatever people tell me about the ramones: i always say that these guys defined punk music. Still today The Jam is a classic band that will always have a place in my album collection. This CD however is overdoing everything. Punk rock albums are usually very short and having to listen to 20 songs that do all sound extremely simmilar can get tedious. More than this I believe that punk bands very designed for live performances: they had a great attitude to live acts which made them amazing to listen to. The CD takes the heart out of this genre and for that i mark it down. Also there are a few songs could have done without.
81/100
MOD ANTHEMS, 07 May 2007
This album is the soundtrack of my youth - and it still sounds great twenty years on.
Weller was better than DYLAN - wrote better songs than LENNON and wore sharper suits than STING.
Classic anthems that will never die...
BRILLIANT, 11 Apr 2007
A great collection from the best band of all time.
Weller amd the boys looked the part and always talked the walk.
I want them to reform - but till that day this collection will keep me happy why I wait.
Top JAM fan Garry Johnson of Buzz Kids fanzine says he heard a rumour of a one-off gig this summer at Hyde Park - fingers-crossed a...
Get SNAP SE instead, 10 Aug 2006
There's no doubt this is an excellent collection of singles but why buy this when you could buy the SNAP special edition double CD £1 cheaper. That has every song on this "best of" CD plus another 8 including "Away from the numbers" and "English Rose".
Great Singles Act, 26 Mar 2006
This is basically a singles album; not that the Jam didn't produce some excellent albums but if you're a casual or new fan this is probably the one to go for. Most of these songs are great, full of energy and sound as good as they did when the band was kicking, between 1977 and 1982. Personal favourites are When You're Young, Precious, Eton Rifles, A Bomb In Wardour Street and the underated News Of The World, a rare Foxton outing. Paul, mate, you never bettered what you did in this band, then again, few did.
Jon Savage said in England's Dreaming "if you only hear two punk records make it Never Mind The Bollocks and this one..", 17 Nov 2008
This record is brutal. This record comes smashing up through the floor boards. This record is essential.
Catnip for the soul, 16 May 2008
If you could distill rock music all the way down to it's most basic essence then you'd probably end up with something similar to this. From it's sheet metal production to Iggy's yelps and trills this album is rock in it's most purest form.
This record, though, is about more than sound. A feeling is generated by this record, a feeling that starts somewhere in your abdomen and shoots up to your chest and back down again. If these songs don't make you want to rip off your top, grab your crotch and scream then you are dead inside. Catnip for the soul.
Raw Power Iggy Pop and the Stooges 1972, 18 Apr 2008
Raw Power, the Greatest Album of all time, followed closely by, Pere Ubu, '390 degrees of simulated stereo'.
Raw Power - every track is a great invention.
Live in a detached property and play loud.
It's fantastic. 'Raw power has got no place to go... Raw power is laughin' at you and me'
the best rock album ever. EVER., 21 Feb 2008
all im going to say is this is £3. buy it, you really wont be disappointed. and if in the unlikely case that you are.... you've only spent the aforementioned £3. buy it now!
Classic album but ...., 02 Aug 2007
Giving this four stars for the kick ass songs on it, but the mastering? Ouch! I got the re-mastered version in the hope of more depth compared to the tinny, bass light original. Frequency wise, these are definitely more balanced mixes, but they're blighted by being pushed into the digital extreme.
I totally agree with another reviewer here. A hot ANALOG mix pushing into the red would've been good and kicking and could've then been transferred to the digital medium and mastered at a reasonable loudness level preserving some nice 'grungey' harmonics. Sadly, though, these seem to be digital re-mixes mastered far beyond the digital threshold. The first track averages -4dB (CDs have a dynamic range of more than 90 db meaning that this track has only 4db). The result is BAD DISTORTION with clips everywhere and an overpowering mid range. Maybe this is some global irony? The raw power is always there in the songs themselves, but you have to dig it out from either bass weak or saturation drenched versions? A classic album nonetheless.
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Product Description
The Sex Pistols' only proper album has become one of those records that is far more talked and written about than listened to. Only a handful of rock & roll bands can genuinely claim to have changed the world, and only one of those can claim to have done it with such a tiny discography (though any number of retrospective albums have been issued since the band met their messy end, this was the only one released while they were still a going concern). It is impossible that any serious fan of modern music is not familiar with at least the singles collected here ("Pretty Vacant", "Anarchy In The UK", "God Save The Queen"). Jamie Reid's lurid yellow-and-pink sleeve artwork is also an enduringly influential cultural artefact. Mostly, though, what should never be forgotten about Never Mind. . . is that when all the mischief and mayhem it inspired or caused has been stripped away, it is a truly great rock & roll album: guitars as angry and adrenalised as any ever recorded, killer tunes, and Johnny Rotten's inimitable voice--the definitive articulation of disgust. Altogether perfect. Every era, and every home, should have one. --Andrew Mueller
Customer Reviews
Punk rocks owners, 29 Oct 2007
Whatever people tell me about the ramones: i always say that these guys defined punk music. Still today The Jam is a classic band that will always have a place in my album collection. This CD however is overdoing everything. Punk rock albums are usually very short and having to listen to 20 songs that do all sound extremely simmilar can get tedious. More than this I believe that punk bands very designed for live performances: they had a great attitude to live acts which made them amazing to listen to. The CD takes the heart out of this genre and for that i mark it down. Also there are a few songs could have done without.
81/100
MOD ANTHEMS, 07 May 2007
This album is the soundtrack of my youth - and it still sounds great twenty years on.
Weller was better than DYLAN - wrote better songs than LENNON and wore sharper suits than STING.
Classic anthems that will never die...
BRILLIANT, 11 Apr 2007
A great collection from the best band of all time.
Weller amd the boys looked the part and always talked the walk.
I want them to reform - but till that day this collection will keep me happy why I wait.
Top JAM fan Garry Johnson of Buzz Kids fanzine says he heard a rumour of a one-off gig this summer at Hyde Park - fingers-crossed a...
Get SNAP SE instead, 10 Aug 2006
There's no doubt this is an excellent collection of singles but why buy this when you could buy the SNAP special edition double CD £1 cheaper. That has every song on this "best of" CD plus another 8 including "Away from the numbers" and "English Rose".
Great Singles Act, 26 Mar 2006
This is basically a singles album; not that the Jam didn't produce some excellent albums but if you're a casual or new fan this is probably the one to go for. Most of these songs are great, full of energy and sound as good as they did when the band was kicking, between 1977 and 1982. Personal favourites are When You're Young, Precious, Eton Rifles, A Bomb In Wardour Street and the underated News Of The World, a rare Foxton outing. Paul, mate, you never bettered what you did in this band, then again, few did.
Jon Savage said in England's Dreaming "if you only hear two punk records make it Never Mind The Bollocks and this one..", 17 Nov 2008
This record is brutal. This record comes smashing up through the floor boards. This record is essential.
Catnip for the soul, 16 May 2008
If you could distill rock music all the way down to it's most basic essence then you'd probably end up with something similar to this. From it's sheet metal production to Iggy's yelps and trills this album is rock in it's most purest form.
This record, though, is about more than sound. A feeling is generated by this record, a feeling that starts somewhere in your abdomen and shoots up to your chest and back down again. If these songs don't make you want to rip off your top, grab your crotch and scream then you are dead inside. Catnip for the soul.
Raw Power Iggy Pop and the Stooges 1972, 18 Apr 2008
Raw Power, the Greatest Album of all time, followed closely by, Pere Ubu, '390 degrees of simulated stereo'.
Raw Power - every track is a great invention.
Live in a detached property and play loud.
It's fantastic. 'Raw power has got no place to go... Raw power is laughin' at you and me'
the best rock album ever. EVER., 21 Feb 2008
all im going to say is this is £3. buy it, you really wont be disappointed. and if in the unlikely case that you are.... you've only spent the aforementioned £3. buy it now!
Classic album but ...., 02 Aug 2007
Giving this four stars for the kick ass songs on it, but the mastering? Ouch! I got the re-mastered version in the hope of more depth compared to the tinny, bass light original. Frequency wise, these are definitely more balanced mixes, but they're blighted by being pushed into the digital extreme.
I totally agree with another reviewer here. A hot ANALOG mix pushing into the red would've been good and kicking and could've then been transferred to the digital medium and mastered at a reasonable loudness level preserving some nice 'grungey' harmonics. Sadly, though, these seem to be digital re-mixes mastered far beyond the digital threshold. The first track averages -4dB (CDs have a dynamic range of more than 90 db meaning that this track has only 4db). The result is BAD DISTORTION with clips everywhere and an overpowering mid range. Maybe this is some global irony? The raw power is always there in the songs themselves, but you have to dig it out from either bass weak or saturation drenched versions? A classic album nonetheless.
Youthful angst and rebellious messages, 08 Nov 2008
With its lurid fluorescent sleeve N.M.T.B. is one of rock `n' roll's greatest debut albums. Johnny Rotten's lyrics and sneering vocals fizz with youthful angst (`Liar', `Problems' and `No Feelings) and sizzle with rebellious messages (`God Save The Queen', `Anarchy In The UK' and `EMI'). On the mordant `Bodies', the terrace-chant taunt of `Seventeen' and the exhilarating `Holidays In The Sun' the Pistols make obvious their love of the simple, primal, effective three-chord rock which Chuck Berry, The Stooges and the New York Dolls produced. These songs are all tightly structured and well-considered; they never venture far beyond 180 seconds and are sharp and snappy in sentiment and expression.
a one off, 29 Oct 2008
Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
evan if you dont get this genra of music - its still a stand out album , a great album / i remember having a copy on wax many years ago [ i was i think 12 - my mum herd me playing it - dident like it . etc ec - any way one day she found out the opening lines to bodies - played it to my dad / the lp got broken - i got a big big wolopping from dad , i cried a bit - then went to my mates house to listen to his copy / this is one of the greatest english punk albums ever / my opinion - regards
Never mind the others, here's the one you need, 28 Aug 2008
A cursory listener to "Never Mind The Bollocks" might, just possibly might, wonder why this LP is one of the few records that truly merits the term "essential". After all, isn't Steve Jones' guitar work merely speeded-up heavy metal laced with licks lifted from Chris Spedding? Isn't Paul Cook's drumming efficient, powerful even, but essentially monotonous? Isn't Glen Matlock's bass playing submerged in the mix to the point it hardly registers? As for Johnny Rotten's vocals; well, is that really singing?
But it's unlikely that even a cursory listener could miss the rage, frustration and venom in Rotten's delivery. If that listener also took in his words, which skewer the disintegrating society that was late 1970s Britain, and if that listener considered the wider context in which The Sex Pistols operated, then "Never Mind The Bollocks" would emerge as being amongst the most important records in the history of rock music. In fact, it is arguably the most important of all for reasons that go well beyond music.
This review is not the place to catalogue the chaos The Sex Pistols' manager, Malcolm McLaren, wrought in the British music business, though his situationist ideas and the Pistols' public viciousness turned the tables on EMI and A&M, making for the first time in years a group and their manager the master of their record label and not the other way around. After the Pistols the business would never be the same again. Their scarification prepared the ground for seminal labels like Rough Trade, Stiff and Factory and the entire "indie" movement that followed, both in Britain and America.
Neither is this review the place to describe the turmoil and foment the Pistols induced in late 1970s Britain. The media, local councils and the staid British establishment had no idea how to handle a phenomenon that was by turns disgustingly rude and dangerously critical of their institutions. From the perspective of thirty years later it is clear that even if the Pistols were degenerate themselves (McLaren's introduction of Sid Vicious, who was a drug-addicted fool and later a probable murderer, starkly illustrated it) the society around them was worse. In a sense the Pistols helped consign the long 1960s of Britain to the dustbin, clearing the way for something different (that this turned out to be Margaret Thatcher was hardly their fault).
This review is the place to point out that Rotten's angry, screaming, scathing dissection of a moribund British society lifts the music on "Never Mind The Bollocks" out of the league of the likes of The Jam, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Ramones - even The Clash - and takes it somewhere else entirely. There had been protest records before but nothing as furious, nothing so nihilistic and, most importantly, nothing even as remotely dangerous as this record felt.
Nothing has come close since. Boy, you had better look at Johnny.
Should be 10 stars, 24 May 2008
Forget all the hype & rubbish that surrounded the Sex Pistols & remember that this album changed music. The reason is that it simply is a truly great album.
I have owned it for nearly 30 years & it is still an album that is exciting to play.
Inspired - buy it !
Shockingly Brilliant, 23 Apr 2008
This really was punk - instead of signing to an indie label like "true punks" lets go with a major & take them for all their worth TWICE OVER -nice one SP!
Socially & musically this album cannot be underestimated. It is without doubt one of the most important & influential albums ever recorded.
Every track is a punk gem, as fresh now as it was then, a powerhouse of multi-layered guitars and scowling vocals with astute and witty lyrics,
Anachy & Pretty Vacant in particular, contain two of the greatest intros of all time.
For all these modern bands who pretend to be punk, Oasis, Artic Mondays & a multitude of American bands spring to mind, this is the real deal.
Most importantly of all, it is the album that finally killed off disco & progressive rock and for that we should all be eternally grateful
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Inflammable Material
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Stiff Little Fingers;
EMI;
2001-10-22;
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Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £3.34
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Product Description
Originally released in 1979, this digitally remastered reissue of Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material comes complete with two bonus tracks, including the original single version of "Suspect Device", plus the first part of a Jake Burns interview. Taking their cue from the Clash's politicised attitude, SLF' self-penned (inflammable) material, articulated their frustrations with "the troubles" in Northern Ireland. Unlike many punk debuts, Inflammable Material manages to meld high-octane potency, with a varied musical palette. Thanks partly to the influence of Don Letts, the regular DJ at the Roxy, the punk fraternity had embraced reggae, identifying strongly with its spirit of protest and, like the Clash, SLF included a reggae cover on their debut LP. Their eight-minute-plus raggedy version of Bob Marley's "Johnny Was" transports Johnny to Northern Ireland, "A single shot rings out in a Belfast night and I said oh Johnny was a good man". Equally eclectic, though slightly less serious, is the doo-wop surf pastiche "Barbed Wire Love", a warped tale of love in Belfast's No Man's Land. Of course, as the rest of the tracks readily attest, SLF are principally purveyors of furious fusillades of guitar-snorting punk rock. And let's face it, any album that includes "Alternative Ulster" and "Suspect Device" has to be considered a bona fide classic. --Chris King
Customer Reviews
Punk rocks owners, 29 Oct 2007
Whatever people tell me about the ramones: i always say that these guys defined punk music. Still today The Jam is a classic band that will always have a place in my album collection. This CD however is overdoing everything. Punk rock albums are usually very short and having to listen to 20 songs that do all sound extremely simmilar can get tedious. More than this I believe that punk bands very designed for live performances: they had a great attitude to live acts which made them amazing to listen to. The CD takes the heart out of this genre and for that i mark it down. Also there are a few songs could have done without.
81/100
MOD ANTHEMS, 07 May 2007
This album is the soundtrack of my youth - and it still sounds great twenty years on.
Weller was better than DYLAN - wrote better songs than LENNON and wore sharper suits than STING.
Classic anthems that will never die...
BRILLIANT, 11 Apr 2007
A great collection from the best band of all time.
Weller amd the boys looked the part and always talked the walk.
I want them to reform - but till that day this collection will keep me happy why I wait.
Top JAM fan Garry Johnson of Buzz Kids fanzine says he heard a rumour of a one-off gig this summer at Hyde Park - fingers-crossed a...
Get SNAP SE instead, 10 Aug 2006
There's no doubt this is an excellent collection of singles but why buy this when you could buy the SNAP special edition double CD £1 cheaper. That has every song on this "best of" CD plus another 8 including "Away from the numbers" and "English Rose".
Great Singles Act, 26 Mar 2006
This is basically a singles album; not that the Jam didn't produce some excellent albums but if you're a casual or new fan this is probably the one to go for. Most of these songs are great, full of energy and sound as good as they did when the band was kicking, between 1977 and 1982. Personal favourites are When You're Young, Precious, Eton Rifles, A Bomb In Wardour Street and the underated News Of The World, a rare Foxton outing. Paul, mate, you never bettered what you did in this band, then again, few did.
Jon Savage said in England's Dreaming "if you only hear two punk records make it Never Mind The Bollocks and this one..", 17 Nov 2008
This record is brutal. This record comes smashing up through the floor boards. This record is essential.
Catnip for the soul, 16 May 2008
If you could distill rock music all the way down to it's most basic essence then you'd probably end up with something similar to this. From it's sheet metal production to Iggy's yelps and trills this album is rock in it's most purest form.
This record, though, is about more than sound. A feeling is generated by this record, a feeling that starts somewhere in your abdomen and shoots up to your chest and back down again. If these songs don't make you want to rip off your top, grab your crotch and scream then you are dead inside. Catnip for the soul.
Raw Power Iggy Pop and the Stooges 1972, 18 Apr 2008
Raw Power, the Greatest Album of all time, followed closely by, Pere Ubu, '390 degrees of simulated stereo'.
Raw Power - every track is a great invention.
Live in a detached property and play loud.
It's fantastic. 'Raw power has got no place to go... Raw power is laughin' at you and me'
the best rock album ever. EVER., 21 Feb 2008
all im going to say is this is £3. buy it, you really wont be disappointed. and if in the unlikely case that you are.... you've only spent the aforementioned £3. buy it now!
Classic album but ...., 02 Aug 2007
Giving this four stars for the kick ass songs on it, but the mastering? Ouch! I got the re-mastered version in the hope of more depth compared to the tinny, bass light original. Frequency wise, these are definitely more balanced mixes, but they're blighted by being pushed into the digital extreme.
I totally agree with another reviewer here. A hot ANALOG mix pushing into the red would've been good and kicking and could've then been transferred to the digital medium and mastered at a reasonable loudness level preserving some nice 'grungey' harmonics. Sadly, though, these seem to be digital re-mixes mastered far beyond the digital threshold. The first track averages -4dB (CDs have a dynamic range of more than 90 db meaning that this track has only 4db). The result is BAD DISTORTION with clips everywhere and an overpowering mid range. Maybe this is some global irony? The raw power is always there in the songs themselves, but you have to dig it out from either bass weak or saturation drenched versions? A classic album nonetheless.
Youthful angst and rebellious messages, 08 Nov 2008
With its lurid fluorescent sleeve N.M.T.B. is one of rock `n' roll's greatest debut albums. Johnny Rotten's lyrics and sneering vocals fizz with youthful angst (`Liar', `Problems' and `No Feelings) and sizzle with rebellious messages (`God Save The Queen', `Anarchy In The UK' and `EMI'). On the mordant `Bodies', the terrace-chant taunt of `Seventeen' and the exhilarating `Holidays In The Sun' the Pistols make obvious their love of the simple, primal, effective three-chord rock which Chuck Berry, The Stooges and the New York Dolls produced. These songs are all tightly structured and well-considered; they never venture far beyond 180 seconds and are sharp and snappy in sentiment and expression.
a one off, 29 Oct 2008
Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
evan if you dont get this genra of music - its still a stand out album , a great album / i remember having a copy on wax many years ago [ i was i think 12 - my mum herd me playing it - dident like it . etc ec - any way one day she found out the opening lines to bodies - played it to my dad / the lp got broken - i got a big big wolopping from dad , i cried a bit - then went to my mates house to listen to his copy / this is one of the greatest english punk albums ever / my opinion - regards
Never mind the others, here's the one you need, 28 Aug 2008
A cursory listener to "Never Mind The Bollocks" might, just possibly might, wonder why this LP is one of the few records that truly merits the term "essential". After all, isn't Steve Jones' guitar work merely speeded-up heavy metal laced with licks lifted from Chris Spedding? Isn't Paul Cook's drumming efficient, powerful even, but essentially monotonous? Isn't Glen Matlock's bass playing submerged in the mix to the point it hardly registers? As for Johnny Rotten's vocals; well, is that really singing?
But it's unlikely that even a cursory listener could miss the rage, frustration and venom in Rotten's delivery. If that listener also took in his words, which skewer the disintegrating society that was late 1970s Britain, and if that listener considered the wider context in which The Sex Pistols operated, then "Never Mind The Bollocks" would emerge as being amongst the most important records in the history of rock music. In fact, it is arguably the most important of all for reasons that go well beyond music.
This review is not the place to catalogue the chaos The Sex Pistols' manager, Malcolm McLaren, wrought in the British music business, though his situationist ideas and the Pistols' public viciousness turned the tables on EMI and A&M, making for the first time in years a group and their manager the master of their record label and not the other way around. After the Pistols the business would never be the same again. Their scarification prepared the ground for seminal labels like Rough Trade, Stiff and Factory and the entire "indie" movement that followed, both in Britain and America.
Neither is this review the place to describe the turmoil and foment the Pistols induced in late 1970s Britain. The media, local councils and the staid British establishment had no idea how to handle a phenomenon that was by turns disgustingly rude and dangerously critical of their institutions. From the perspective of thirty years later it is clear that even if the Pistols were degenerate themselves (McLaren's introduction of Sid Vicious, who was a drug-addicted fool and later a probable murderer, starkly illustrated it) the society around them was worse. In a sense the Pistols helped consign the long 1960s of Britain to the dustbin, clearing the way for something different (that this turned out to be Margaret Thatcher was hardly their fault).
This review is the place to point out that Rotten's angry, screaming, scathing dissection of a moribund British society lifts the music on "Never Mind The Bollocks" out of the league of the likes of The Jam, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Ramones - even The Clash - and takes it somewhere else entirely. There had been protest records before but nothing as furious, nothing so nihilistic and, most importantly, nothing even as remotely dangerous as this record felt.
Nothing has come close since. Boy, you had better look at Johnny.
Should be 10 stars, 24 May 2008
Forget all the hype & rubbish that surrounded the Sex Pistols & remember that this album changed music. The reason is that it simply is a truly great album.
I have owned it for nearly 30 years & it is still an album that is exciting to play.
Inspired - buy it !
Shockingly Brilliant, 23 Apr 2008
This really was punk - instead of signing to an indie label like "true punks" lets go with a major & take them for all their worth TWICE OVER -nice one SP!
Socially & musically this album cannot be underestimated. It is without doubt one of the most important & influential albums ever recorded.
Every track is a punk gem, as fresh now as it was then, a powerhouse of multi-layered guitars and scowling vocals with astute and witty lyrics,
Anachy & Pretty Vacant in particular, contain two of the greatest intros of all time.
For all these modern bands who pretend to be punk, Oasis, Artic Mondays & a multitude of American bands spring to mind, this is the real deal.
Most importantly of all, it is the album that finally killed off disco & progressive rock and for that we should all be eternally grateful
One of the best Punk albums ever, 30 Jul 2008
I first heard this album in 1982 it was a punk rock masterpiece then and has stood the test of time to this day. Anyone with even a passing interest in punk rock needs to own this album , its as simple as that.
Belfast Calling., 22 Jun 2008
Let me take you back to the days before this iconic album was released. The whole british music scene was giving a right royal boot in the jugglees circla 76-77. The punk movement in Britain had exploded causing massive social and political shockwave to reverberate thru the fixed class structured british system. The Government of the day were faced with the British youth suddenly having a powerful voice, as well as having a mean to communicate their viewpoint and anger. The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Jam et al. seem to be singing about all aspects of British mainland life. However, I remember coming home from school eating my evening meal in front of the TV. Night after night after night, reports would flash into our living rooms about the latest killings, shootings, bombing and maimings be carried out in Northen Ireland.
It was this enviroment that SLF decided to sing about. Although The Undetones came from NI their songs seem to focus on more fizzy punk pop than Fuse lit Punk Rock ( "Barbed Wire Love" V's "Get Over You")
It wasn't until after they played a gig in the seaside town of Troon near to my hometown of Kilmarnock that I first was hooked on SLF. SLF were due to play in Kilmarnock. However, such was the fear of punk in those days that the local council under pressure from highly up the political ladder. Refused the promoters a lincense for the Gig. thus, forcing the promoters to move the gig to nieghbouring county. They used the song " White Noise" from "InFlammable Material" as an poor excuse for their refusal. You can read a Newcastle newspaper article from the liner notes of "All The Best" for further info.
Make no mistake "Inflammable Material" Is an Iconic Punk Album. It sounds as fresh and raw today as it did when I first heard it way back in my school days of 1979. It easierly stands beside " Never mind...," "The Clash," "Machine Gun ...." and "In The City."
You Will Find out, when you hear it why SLF are still held in High Esteem today. This Album is as good an example of what the British Punk Movement was all about !!! It simple conveys the feeling of what it was like to grow up in a area where death could be just waiting around the next corner. It gave a voice to the forgotten youth hidden behind the daily headlines and reports of "The Troubles" on the street where Stuff Luddle Fingus walked and lived.
"Barbed Wire Love"
" I met you in No Man's Land
Across the wire we were holding hands
Hearts a-bubble in the rubble
It was love at bomb site
All you give me is barbed wire love
All caught up in barbed wire love
Tangled up in barbed wire love
Throw my leg over barbed wire love
Barbed wire love snags my jeans
When I fell it was awful nice
Caught when not suspecting vice
The night was rife with wasteland life
You set my arm alight
[Chorus]
Blasted by your booby traps
I felt the blow in both knee-caps
Your eyes did shine
Your lips were fine
And the device in your pants was out of site."
Beware it ain't Duran Duran!
BEST PUNK ALBUM EVER?, 22 Mar 2008
Any one who has never heard SLF before buy this album you will not be disapointed.Ibought this album when I was 11 years old which was over 25 years ago and it is still my fav punk album ever.From suspect device to johnny was all classics.Only bad track closed groove absolute pish.SLFhave never been better but HANX is close enjoy.Catch them live if you can never dissapoint.
The Dogs Ballocks, 28 Sep 2007
When I first heard Inflammable Material in 1979 it started a nigh on 30 year love affair with the band. It is just the most powerful album you could buy. The album was and still is unique in the way the band express their anger and frustration at the "troubles" in Northern Ireland.
30 years on and they are touring the country playing the album track for track...and I'll be there to enjoy listening to an album that is up there with the Clash's London Calling as one of the all-time classic albums of the punk era.
The original and the best, 29 Jun 2007
This has been one of my favourite albums since it was released in 1979 (when I must confess I was 15). I bought it then, have now updated it to CD and still love it as much as ever. I saw SLF half a dozen times between 1979 and 1982 (don't get me started on a trip down memory lane please!), and their music just oozes rawness from every pore. Jake Burns' voice is so amazingly distinctive. This album is their first and for me remains their best - it is just so powerful and sounds just as good today as it was in 1979. I am so glad to see that so many new fans have come to SLF in the last few years and the comparisons to Green Day are apt. So many bands today are endebted to SLF. Jake and the boys - we salute you!
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Product Description
Smash It Up revisits the decade-long career of the Damned, who famously hitched a ride on the early Sex Pistols bandwagon and then beat them to releasing the first UK punk single, a crazed little beat ditty called "New Rose", in November 1976. Based visually around Dave Vanian's (aka Dave Letts) proto-goth vampire trappings and Captain Sensible's (aka Ray Burns) tutu-wearing wackiness, and musically around Rat Scabies's (aka Chris Miller) Keith Moon-like drum mania and Brian James's (aka Brian Robertson) high-speed thrash guitar, they followed up with the even better "Neat Neat Neat", a punk high point. Artistically, it was also The Damned's, as James left, Sensible moved to guitar, and they embarked upon a career of pub-metal anthems and cabaret punk nostalgia. The critics ignored them, but the hits kept on coming, including "Love Song", "Smash It Up" and their biggest, a ludicrous cover of the Paul and Barry Ryan's 1960s MOR hit "Eloise", which reached No. 3 in January 1986. They spilt the following year, leaving behind a legacy of making a little go a long, long way, the salient parts of which are all included on this two-CD, 35-track set. --Garry Mulholland
Customer Reviews
Punk rocks owners, 29 Oct 2007
Whatever people tell me about the ramones: i always say that these guys defined punk music. Still today The Jam is a classic band that will always have a place in my album collection. This CD however is overdoing everything. Punk rock albums are usually very short and having to listen to 20 songs that do all sound extremely simmilar can get tedious. More than this I believe that punk bands very designed for live performances: they had a great attitude to live acts which made them amazing to listen to. The CD takes the heart out of this genre and for that i mark it down. Also there are a few songs could have done without.
81/100
MOD ANTHEMS, 07 May 2007
This album is the soundtrack of my youth - and it still sounds great twenty years on.
Weller was better than DYLAN - wrote better songs than LENNON and wore sharper suits than STING.
Classic anthems that will never die...
BRILLIANT, 11 Apr 2007
A great collection from the best band of all time.
Weller amd the boys looked the part and always talked the walk.
I want them to reform - but till that day this collection will keep me happy why I wait.
Top JAM fan Garry Johnson of Buzz Kids fanzine says he heard a rumour of a one-off gig this summer at Hyde Park - fingers-crossed a...
Get SNAP SE instead, 10 Aug 2006
There's no doubt this is an excellent collection of singles but why buy this when you could buy the SNAP special edition double CD £1 cheaper. That has every song on this "best of" CD plus another 8 including "Away from the numbers" and "English Rose".
Great Singles Act, 26 Mar 2006
This is basically a singles album; not that the Jam didn't produce some excellent albums but if you're a casual or new fan this is probably the one to go for. Most of these songs are great, full of energy and sound as good as they did when the band was kicking, between 1977 and 1982. Personal favourites are When You're Young, Precious, Eton Rifles, A Bomb In Wardour Street and the underated News Of The World, a rare Foxton outing. Paul, mate, you never bettered what you did in this band, then again, few did.
Jon Savage said in England's Dreaming "if you only hear two punk records make it Never Mind The Bollocks and this one..", 17 Nov 2008
This record is brutal. This record comes smashing up through the floor boards. This record is essential.
Catnip for the soul, 16 May 2008
If you could distill rock music all the way down to it's most basic essence then you'd probably end up with something similar to this. From it's sheet metal production to Iggy's yelps and trills this album is rock in it's most purest form.
This record, though, is about more than sound. A feeling is generated by this record, a feeling that starts somewhere in your abdomen and shoots up to your chest and back down again. If these songs don't make you want to rip off your top, grab your crotch and scream then you are dead inside. Catnip for the soul.
Raw Power Iggy Pop and the Stooges 1972, 18 Apr 2008
Raw Power, the Greatest Album of all time, followed closely by, Pere Ubu, '390 degrees of simulated stereo'.
Raw Power - every track is a great invention.
Live in a detached property and play loud.
It's fantastic. 'Raw power has got no place to go... Raw power is laughin' at you and me'
the best rock album ever. EVER., 21 Feb 2008
all im going to say is this is £3. buy it, you really wont be disappointed. and if in the unlikely case that you are.... you've only spent the aforementioned £3. buy it now!
Classic album but ...., 02 Aug 2007
Giving this four stars for the kick ass songs on it, but the mastering? Ouch! I got the re-mastered version in the hope of more depth compared to the tinny, bass light original. Frequency wise, these are definitely more balanced mixes, but they're blighted by being pushed into the digital extreme.
I totally agree with another reviewer here. A hot ANALOG mix pushing into the red would've been good and kicking and could've then been transferred to the digital medium and mastered at a reasonable loudness level preserving some nice 'grungey' harmonics. Sadly, though, these seem to be digital re-mixes mastered far beyond the digital threshold. The first track averages -4dB (CDs have a dynamic range of more than 90 db meaning that this track has only 4db). The result is BAD DISTORTION with clips everywhere and an overpowering mid range. Maybe this is some global irony? The raw power is always there in the songs themselves, but you have to dig it out from either bass weak or saturation drenched versions? A classic album nonetheless.
Youthful angst and rebellious messages, 08 Nov 2008
With its lurid fluorescent sleeve N.M.T.B. is one of rock `n' roll's greatest debut albums. Johnny Rotten's lyrics and sneering vocals fizz with youthful angst (`Liar', `Problems' and `No Feelings) and sizzle with rebellious messages (`God Save The Queen', `Anarchy In The UK' and `EMI'). On the mordant `Bodies', the terrace-chant taunt of `Seventeen' and the exhilarating `Holidays In The Sun' the Pistols make obvious their love of the simple, primal, effective three-chord rock which Chuck Berry, The Stooges and the New York Dolls produced. These songs are all tightly structured and well-considered; they never venture far beyond 180 seconds and are sharp and snappy in sentiment and expression.
a one off, 29 Oct 2008
Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
evan if you dont get this genra of music - its still a stand out album , a great album / i remember having a copy on wax many years ago [ i was i think 12 - my mum herd me playing it - dident like it . etc ec - any way one day she found out the opening lines to bodies - played it to my dad / the lp got broken - i got a big big wolopping from dad , i cried a bit - then went to my mates house to listen to his copy / this is one of the greatest english punk albums ever / my opinion - regards
Never mind the others, here's the one you need, 28 Aug 2008
A cursory listener to "Never Mind The Bollocks" might, just possibly might, wonder why this LP is one of the few records that truly merits the term "essential". After all, isn't Steve Jones' guitar work merely speeded-up heavy metal laced with licks lifted from Chris Spedding? Isn't Paul Cook's drumming efficient, powerful even, but essentially monotonous? Isn't Glen Matlock's bass playing submerged in the mix to the point it hardly registers? As for Johnny Rotten's vocals; well, is that really singing?
But it's unlikely that even a cursory listener could miss the rage, frustration and venom in Rotten's delivery. If that listener also took in his words, which skewer the disintegrating society that was late 1970s Britain, and if that listener considered the wider context in which The Sex Pistols operated, then "Never Mind The Bollocks" would emerge as being amongst the most important records in the history of rock music. In fact, it is arguably the most important of all for reasons that go well beyond music.
This review is not the place to catalogue the chaos The Sex Pistols' manager, Malcolm McLaren, wrought in the British music business, though his situationist ideas and the Pistols' public viciousness turned the tables on EMI and A&M, making for the first time in years a group and their manager the master of their record label and not the other way around. After the Pistols the business would never be the same again. Their scarification prepared the ground for seminal labels like Rough Trade, Stiff and Factory and the entire "indie" movement that followed, both in Britain and America.
Neither is this review the place to describe the turmoil and foment the Pistols induced in late 1970s Britain. The media, local councils and the staid British establishment had no idea how to handle a phenomenon that was by turns disgustingly rude and dangerously critical of their institutions. From the perspective of thirty years later it is clear that even if the Pistols were degenerate themselves (McLaren's introduction of Sid Vicious, who was a drug-addicted fool and later a probable murderer, starkly illustrated it) the society around them was worse. In a sense the Pistols helped consign the long 1960s of Britain to the dustbin, clearing the way for something different (that this turned out to be Margaret Thatcher was hardly their fault).
This review is the place to point out that Rotten's angry, screaming, scathing dissection of a moribund British society lifts the music on "Never Mind The Bollocks" out of the league of the likes of The Jam, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Ramones - even The Clash - and takes it somewhere else entirely. There had been protest records before but nothing as furious, nothing so nihilistic and, most importantly, nothing even as remotely dangerous as this record felt.
Nothing has come close since. Boy, you had better look at Johnny.
Should be 10 stars, 24 May 2008
Forget all the hype & rubbish that surrounded the Sex Pistols & remember that this album changed music. The reason is that it simply is a truly great album.
I have owned it for nearly 30 years & it is still an album that is exciting to play.
Inspired - buy it !
Shockingly Brilliant, 23 Apr 2008
This really was punk - instead of signing to an indie label like "true punks" lets go with a major & take them for all their worth TWICE OVER -nice one SP!
Socially & musically this album cannot be underestimated. It is without doubt one of the most important & influential albums ever recorded.
Every track is a punk gem, as fresh now as it was then, a powerhouse of multi-layered guitars and scowling vocals with astute and witty lyrics,
Anachy & Pretty Vacant in particular, contain two of the greatest intros of all time.
For all these modern bands who pretend to be punk, Oasis, Artic Mondays & a multitude of American bands spring to mind, this is the real deal.
Most importantly of all, it is the album that finally killed off disco & progressive rock and for that we should all be eternally grateful
One of the best Punk albums ever, 30 Jul 2008
I first heard this album in 1982 it was a punk rock masterpiece then and has stood the test of time to this day. Anyone with even a passing interest in punk rock needs to own this album , its as simple as that.
Belfast Calling., 22 Jun 2008
Let me take you back to the days before this iconic album was released. The whole british music scene was giving a right royal boot in the jugglees circla 76-77. The punk movement in Britain had exploded causing massive social and political shockwave to reverberate thru the fixed class structured british system. The Government of the day were faced with the British youth suddenly having a powerful voice, as well as having a mean to communicate their viewpoint and anger. The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Jam et al. seem to be singing about all aspects of British mainland life. However, I remember coming home from school eating my evening meal in front of the TV. Night after night after night, reports would flash into our living rooms about the latest killings, shootings, bombing and maimings be carried out in Northen Ireland.
It was this enviroment that SLF decided to sing about. Although The Undetones came from NI their songs seem to focus on more fizzy punk pop than Fuse lit Punk Rock ( "Barbed Wire Love" V's "Get Over You")
It wasn't until after they played a gig in the seaside town of Troon near to my hometown of Kilmarnock that I first was hooked on SLF. SLF were due to play in Kilmarnock. However, such was the fear of punk in those days that the local council under pressure from highly up the political ladder. Refused the promoters a lincense for the Gig. thus, forcing the promoters to move the gig to nieghbouring county. They used the song " White Noise" from "InFlammable Material" as an poor excuse for their refusal. You can read a Newcastle newspaper article from the liner notes of "All The Best" for further info.
Make no mistake "Inflammable Material" Is an Iconic Punk Album. It sounds as fresh and raw today as it did when I first heard it way back in my school days of 1979. It easierly stands beside " Never mind...," "The Clash," "Machine Gun ...." and "In The City."
You Will Find out, when you hear it why SLF are still held in High Esteem today. This Album is as good an example of what the British Punk Movement was all about !!! It simple conveys the feeling of what it was like to grow up in a area where death could be just waiting around the next corner. It gave a voice to the forgotten youth hidden behind the daily headlines and reports of "The Troubles" on the street where Stuff Luddle Fingus walked and lived.
"Barbed Wire Love"
" I met you in No Man's Land
Across the wire we were holding hands
Hearts a-bubble in the rubble
It was love at bomb site
All you give me is barbed wire love
All caught up in barbed wire love
Tangled up in barbed wire love
Throw my leg over barbed wire love
Barbed wire love snags my jeans
When I fell it was awful nice
Caught when not suspecting vice
The night was rife with wasteland life
You set my arm alight
[Chorus]
Blasted by your booby traps
I felt the blow in both knee-caps
Your eyes did shine
Your lips were fine
And the device in your pants was out of site."
Beware it ain't Duran Duran!
BEST PUNK ALBUM EVER?, 22 Mar 2008
Any one who has never heard SLF before buy this album you will not be disapointed.Ibought this album when I was 11 years old which was over 25 years ago and it is still my fav punk album ever.From suspect device to johnny was all classics.Only bad track closed groove absolute pish.SLFhave never been better but HANX is close enjoy.Catch them live if you can never dissapoint.
The Dogs Ballocks, 28 Sep 2007
When I first heard Inflammable Material in 1979 it started a nigh on 30 year love affair with the band. It is just the most powerful album you could buy. The album was and still is unique in the way the band express their anger and frustration at the "troubles" in Northern Ireland.
30 years on and they are touring the country playing the album track for track...and I'll be there to enjoy listening to an album that is up there with the Clash's London Calling as one of the all-time classic albums of the punk era.
The original and the best, 29 Jun 2007
This has been one of my favourite albums since it was released in 1979 (when I must confess I was 15). I bought it then, have now updated it to CD and still love it as much as ever. I saw SLF half a dozen times between 1979 and 1982 (don't get me started on a trip down memory lane please!), and their music just oozes rawness from every pore. Jake Burns' voice is so amazingly distinctive. This album is their first and for me remains their best - it is just so powerful and sounds just as good today as it was in 1979. I am so glad to see that so many new fans have come to SLF in the last few years and the comparisons to Green Day are apt. So many bands today are endebted to SLF. Jake and the boys - we salute you!
Damn Good Stuff!, 10 Sep 2002
This is the Damned album that all fans should have especially if they are more into the old styles of Punk with more resmblance to that of The Clash and Sham 69 to name a couple, which is definitley more to my liking. With great songs like New Rose,Smash it up, Neat Neat Neat and Love Song that break through into your head like a demon that just won't go away.Great guitar work and vocals that help echo the words "Pure Punk" and it is nothing less...The Damned hepled bring Classic Punk kicking and screaming into many peoples lives, and this double Cd covering probably the best years of this fantastic band is a definite Must Buy for the "Punk Obsessed".
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Peepshow
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Siouxsie And The Banshees;
Spectrum;
2007-12-03;
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Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon: £2.98
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Customer Reviews
Punk rocks owners, 29 Oct 2007
Whatever people tell me about the ramones: i always say that these guys defined punk music. Still today The Jam is a classic band that will always have a place in my album collection. This CD however is overdoing everything. Punk rock albums are usually very short and having to listen to 20 songs that do all sound extremely simmilar can get tedious. More than this I believe that punk bands very designed for live performances: they had a great attitude to live acts which made them amazing to listen to. The CD takes the heart out of this genre and for that i mark it down. Also there are a few songs could have done without.
81/100
MOD ANTHEMS, 07 May 2007
This album is the soundtrack of my youth - and it still sounds great twenty years on.
Weller was better than DYLAN - wrote better songs than LENNON and wore sharper suits than STING.
Classic anthems that will never die...
BRILLIANT, 11 Apr 2007
A great collection from the best band of all time.
Weller amd the boys looked the part and always talked the walk.
I want them to reform - but till that day this collection will keep me happy why I wait.
Top JAM fan Garry Johnson of Buzz Kids fanzine says he heard a rumour of a one-off gig this summer at Hyde Park - fingers-crossed a...
Get SNAP SE instead, 10 Aug 2006
There's no doubt this is an excellent collection of singles but why buy this when you could buy the SNAP special edition double CD £1 cheaper. That has every song on this "best of" CD plus another 8 including "Away from the numbers" and "English Rose".
Great Singles Act, 26 Mar 2006
This is basically a singles album; not that the Jam didn't produce some excellent albums but if you're a casual or new fan this is probably the one to go for. Most of these songs are great, full of energy and sound as good as they did when the band was kicking, between 1977 and 1982. Personal favourites are When You're Young, Precious, Eton Rifles, A Bomb In Wardour Street and the underated News Of The World, a rare Foxton outing. Paul, mate, you never bettered what you did in this band, then again, few did.
Jon Savage said in England's Dreaming "if you only hear two punk records make it Never Mind The Bollocks and this one..", 17 Nov 2008
This record is brutal. This record comes smashing up through the floor boards. This record is essential.
Catnip for the soul, 16 May 2008
If you could distill rock music all the way down to it's most basic essence then you'd probably end up with something similar to this. From it's sheet metal production to Iggy's yelps and trills this album is rock in it's most purest form.
This record, though, is about more than sound. A feeling is generated by this record, a feeling that starts somewhere in your abdomen and shoots up to your chest and back down again. If these songs don't make you want to rip off your top, grab your crotch and scream then you are dead inside. Catnip for the soul.
Raw Power Iggy Pop and the Stooges 1972, 18 Apr 2008
Raw Power, the Greatest Album of all time, followed closely by, Pere Ubu, '390 degrees of simulated stereo'.
Raw Power - every track is a great invention.
Live in a detached property and play loud.
It's fantastic. 'Raw power has got no place to go... Raw power is laughin' at you and me'
the best rock album ever. EVER., 21 Feb 2008
all im going to say is this is £3. buy it, you really wont be disappointed. and if in the unlikely case that you are.... you've only spent the aforementioned £3. buy it now!
Classic album but ...., 02 Aug 2007
Giving this four stars for the kick ass songs on it, but the mastering? Ouch! I got the re-mastered version in the hope of more depth compared to the tinny, bass light original. Frequency wise, these are definitely more balanced mixes, but they're blighted by being pushed into the digital extreme.
I totally agree with another reviewer here. A hot ANALOG mix pushing into the red would've been good and kicking and could've then been transferred to the digital medium and mastered at a reasonable loudness level preserving some nice 'grungey' harmonics. Sadly, though, these seem to be digital re-mixes mastered far beyond the digital threshold. The first track averages -4dB (CDs have a dynamic range of more than 90 db meaning that this track has only 4db). The result is BAD DISTORTION with clips everywhere and an overpowering mid range. Maybe this is some global irony? The raw power is always there in the songs themselves, but you have to dig it out from either bass weak or saturation drenched versions? A classic album nonetheless.
Youthful angst and rebellious messages, 08 Nov 2008
With its lurid fluorescent sleeve N.M.T.B. is one of rock `n' roll's greatest debut albums. Johnny Rotten's lyrics and sneering vocals fizz with youthful angst (`Liar', `Problems' and `No Feelings) and sizzle with rebellious messages (`God Save The Queen', `Anarchy In The UK' and `EMI'). On the mordant `Bodies', the terrace-chant taunt of `Seventeen' and the exhilarating `Holidays In The Sun' the Pistols make obvious their love of the simple, primal, effective three-chord rock which Chuck Berry, The Stooges and the New York Dolls produced. These songs are all tightly structured and well-considered; they never venture far beyond 180 seconds and are sharp and snappy in sentiment and expression.
a one off, 29 Oct 2008
Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
evan if you dont get this genra of music - its still a stand out album , a great album / i remember having a copy on wax many years ago [ i was i think 12 - my mum herd me playing it - dident like it . etc ec - any way one day she found out the opening lines to bodies - played it to my dad / the lp got broken - i got a big big wolopping from dad , i cried a bit - then went to my mates house to listen to his copy / this is one of the greatest english punk albums ever / my opinion - regards
Never mind the others, here's the one you need, 28 Aug 2008
A cursory listener to "Never Mind The Bollocks" might, just possibly might, wonder why this LP is one of the few records that truly merits the term "essential". After all, isn't Steve Jones' guitar work merely speeded-up heavy metal laced with licks lifted from Chris Spedding? Isn't Paul Cook's drumming efficient, powerful even, but essentially monotonous? Isn't Glen Matlock's bass playing submerged in the mix to the point it hardly registers? As for Johnny Rotten's vocals; well, is that really singing?
But it's unlikely that even a cursory listener could miss the rage, frustration and venom in Rotten's delivery. If that listener also took in his words, which skewer the disintegrating society that was late 1970s Britain, and if that listener considered the wider context in which The Sex Pistols operated, then "Never Mind The Bollocks" would emerge as being amongst the most important records in the history of rock music. In fact, it is arguably the most important of all for reasons that go well beyond music.
This review is not the place to catalogue the chaos The Sex Pistols' manager, Malcolm McLaren, wrought in the British music business, though his situationist ideas and the Pistols' public viciousness turned the tables on EMI and A&M, making for the first time in years a group and their manager the master of their record label and not the other way around. After the Pistols the business would never be the same again. Their scarification prepared the ground for seminal labels like Rough Trade, Stiff and Factory and the entire "indie" movement that followed, both in Britain and America.
Neither is this review the place to describe the turmoil and foment the Pistols induced in late 1970s Britain. The media, local councils and the staid British establishment had no idea how to handle a phenomenon that was by turns disgustingly rude and dangerously critical of their institutions. From the perspective of thirty years later it is clear that even if the Pistols were degenerate themselves (McLaren's introduction of Sid Vicious, who was a drug-addicted fool and later a probable murderer, starkly illustrated it) the society around them was worse. In a sense the Pistols helped consign the long 1960s of Britain to the dustbin, clearing the way for something different (that this turned out to be Margaret Thatcher was hardly their fault).
This review is the place to point out that Rotten's angry, screaming, scathing dissection of a moribund British society lifts the music on "Never Mind The Bollocks" out of the league of the likes of The Jam, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Ramones - even The Clash - and takes it somewhere else entirely. There had been protest records before but nothing as furious, nothing so nihilistic and, most importantly, nothing even as remotely dangerous as this record felt.
Nothing has come close since. Boy, you had better look at Johnny.
Should be 10 stars, 24 May 2008
Forget all the hype & rubbish that surrounded the Sex Pistols & remember that this album changed music. The reason is that it simply is a truly great album.
I have owned it for nearly 30 years & it is still an album that is exciting to play.
Inspired - buy it !
Shockingly Brilliant, 23 Apr 2008
This really was punk - instead of signing to an indie label like "true punks" lets go with a major & take them for all their worth TWICE OVER -nice one SP!
Socially & musically this album cannot be underestimated. It is without doubt one of the most important & influential albums ever recorded.
Every track is a punk gem, as fresh now as it was then, a powerhouse of multi-layered guitars and scowling vocals with astute and witty lyrics,
Anachy & Pretty Vacant in particular, contain two of the greatest intros of all time.
For all these modern bands who pretend to be punk, Oasis, Artic Mondays & a multitude of American bands spring to mind, this is the real deal.
Most importantly of all, it is the album that finally killed off disco & progressive rock and for that we should all be eternally grateful
One of the best Punk albums ever, 30 Jul 2008
I first heard this album in 1982 it was a punk rock masterpiece then and has stood the test of time to this day. Anyone with even a passing interest in punk rock needs to own this album , its as simple as that.
Belfast Calling., 22 Jun 2008
Let me take you back to the days before this iconic album was released. The whole british music scene was giving a right royal boot in the jugglees circla 76-77. The punk movement in Britain had exploded causing massive social and political shockwave to reverberate thru the fixed class structured british system. The Government of the day were faced with the British youth suddenly having a powerful voice, as well as having a mean to communicate their viewpoint and anger. The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Jam et al. seem to be singing about all aspects of British mainland life. However, I remember coming home from school eating my evening meal in front of the TV. Night after night after night, reports would flash into our living rooms about the latest killings, shootings, bombing and maimings be carried out in Northen Ireland.
It was this enviroment that SLF decided to sing about. Although The Undetones came from NI their songs seem to focus on more fizzy punk pop than Fuse lit Punk Rock ( "Barbed Wire Love" V's "Get Over You")
It wasn't until after they played a gig in the seaside town of Troon near to my hometown of Kilmarnock that I first was hooked on SLF. SLF were due to play in Kilmarnock. However, such was the fear of punk in those days that the local council under pressure from highly up the political ladder. Refused the promoters a lincense for the Gig. thus, forcing the promoters to move the gig to nieghbouring county. They used the song " White Noise" from "InFlammable Material" as an poor excuse for their refusal. You can read a Newcastle newspaper article from the liner notes of "All The Best" for further info.
Make no mistake "Inflammable Material" Is an Iconic Punk Album. It sounds as fresh and raw today as it did when I first heard it way back in my school days of 1979. It easierly stands beside " Never mind...," "The Clash," "Machine Gun ...." and "In The City."
You Will Find out, when you hear it why SLF are still held in High Esteem today. This Album is as good an example of what the British Punk Movement was all about !!! It simple conveys the feeling of what it was like to grow up in a area where death could be just waiting around the next corner. It gave a voice to the forgotten youth hidden behind the daily headlines and reports of "The Troubles" on the street where Stuff Luddle Fingus walked and lived.
"Barbed Wire Love"
" I met you in No Man's Land
Across the wire we were holding hands
Hearts a-bubble in the rubble
It was love at bomb site
All you give me is barbed wire love
All caught up in barbed wire love
Tangled up in barbed wire love
Throw my leg over barbed wire love
Barbed wire love snags my jeans
When I fell it was awful nice
Caught when not suspecting vice
The night was rife with wasteland life
You set my arm alight
[Chorus]
Blasted by your booby traps
I felt the blow in both knee-caps
Your eyes did shine
Your lips were fine
And the device in your pants was out of site."
Beware it ain't Duran Duran!
BEST PUNK ALBUM EVER?, 22 Mar 2008
Any one who has never heard SLF before buy this album you will not be disapointed.Ibought this album when I was 11 years old which was over 25 years ago and it is still my fav punk album ever.From suspect device to johnny was all classics.Only bad track closed groove absolute pish.SLFhave never been better but HANX is close enjoy.Catch them live if you can never dissapoint.
The Dogs Ballocks, 28 Sep 2007
When I first heard Inflammable Material in 1979 it started a nigh on 30 year love affair with the band. It is just the most powerful album you could buy. The album was and still is unique in the way the band express their anger and frustration at the "troubles" in Northern Ireland.
30 years on and they are touring the country playing the album track for track...and I'll be there to enjoy listening to an album that is up there with the Clash's London Calling as one of the all-time classic albums of the punk era.
The original and the best, 29 Jun 2007
This has been one of my favourite albums since it was released in 1979 (when I must confess I was 15). I bought it then, have now updated it to CD and still love it as much as ever. I saw SLF half a dozen times between 1979 and 1982 (don't get me started on a trip down memory lane please!), and their music just oozes rawness from every pore. Jake Burns' voice is so amazingly distinctive. This album is their first and for me remains their best - it is just so powerful and sounds just as good today as it was in 1979. I am so glad to see that so many new fans have come to SLF in the last few years and the comparisons to Green Day are apt. So many bands today are endebted to SLF. Jake and the boys - we salute you!
Damn Good Stuff!, 10 Sep 2002
This is the Damned album that all fans should have especially if they are more into the old styles of Punk with more resmblance to that of The Clash and Sham 69 to name a couple, which is definitley more to my liking. With great songs like New Rose,Smash it up, Neat Neat Neat and Love Song that break through into your head like a demon that just won't go away.Great guitar work and vocals that help echo the words "Pure Punk" and it is nothing less...The Damned hepled bring Classic Punk kicking and screaming into many peoples lives, and this double Cd covering probably the best years of this fantastic band is a definite Must Buy for the "Punk Obsessed".
MASTERPIECE, 05 Dec 2007
All bands/soloists make at LEAST one masterpiece album and this has to be Siouxsie & The Banshees'crowning moment.
BRILLIANT from start to finish - my ultimate fave track has to be Scarecrow.
Beautiful melodic melancholy, 29 Sep 2007
This has to be my favourite Siouxsie and the banshees album. I can listen to this endlessly, and only a few other albums in my collection can claim such an accolade.
From the opening Peek a Boo to the breathe stealing Rhapsody this is for my money a perfect album.
My favourite stand-out tracks are; Ornaments Of Gold along with Scarecrow, but all the songs here are magnificent and as I have already stated infinitely re-listenable. Along with Ju Ju these are albums to play to the grave.
The most atmospheric album I've yet heard, 06 May 2004
This is my favourite of Siouxsie's releases that I have collected thus far. In comparison to other albums, this work continues the more melodic, less-punky style of the bands later albums (Tinderbox, for example), as opposed to the harsher, simpler (yet still brilliant) earlier releases.
The atmosphere that pervades this album is truly captivating. It conjures imagery of old country folklore and halloween, with its array of instruments from violins to accordions and harmonicas, and lyrics about scarecrows and carousels. Another reviewer called it a 'journey into fairyland', and I think that is a good summary of its magical style.
Standout tracks are 'Peek-a-boo', which might be too poppy for some, but has a really funky rythm, and an accordion tune to die for. The next two tracks 'Killing jar' and 'Scarecrow' enhance the old Victorian-esque feel and really get the album going. Another standout track is 'Burn-up' which builds up continously throughout until the end sees a breathtaking crescendo of harmonica and woodwind instruments. Finally, my favourite track would be 'Rhapsody', which begins on a dark rumbling note and builds up into one of the most driving, dramatic and passionate songs I have ever heard, with a full ensemble of instruments and Sioxsie's soaring, commanding voice as enchanting as ever.
This is an incredible album owing to its unique dreamland atmosphere and brilliant integration of a whole range of instruments. Therefore, fans of the earlier punk style might not like it (admittedly, I was shocked when I first played it - but pleasantly) owing to the sheer musical grandeur, but I feel that unless one is a total early-Siouxsie diehard, her cooing lyrics and that quintessential Banshee style should win you over. Pricless.
Never Never Land, 11 Jul 2003
"If there is such a place as Never Never Land, Siouxsie & the Banshees can take you there". And they will "definitely" whisk you away with this one. A "masterpiece" from start to finish, "Peek-A-Boo" showcases with a powerful slink that regurgitates itself with a phenomenal sharp diversity of sound looped back, forth and again with a wild screeching flute, jolting horns and "amazing" accordion riff that's sly, debonair and "emanates" 1920's burlesque with a powerful modern twist that smirks and connives., Sioux's voice is thrown at you from all directions in defferent "frequencies" sharp and crisp, low and amplified, and shouted out via "ringmaster"! "The Killing Jar" starts the "journey" into "fairyland" with it's rampant skipping and jumping through a forest night over babbling brooks and glowing fireflies with violins and "frog croaking"! The eerie "Scarecrow" with it's glittering frost and childhood secrets provokes the imagination! The climaxing locomotion of "Burn Up" and the shear, elegant beauty of "Ornaments Of Gold" display fascinating drumwork as does "Turn To Stone" with it's spiraling sensuality, flamenco guitar riffs and congas. Sioux's voice peeks "angelically" in "The Last Beat Of My Heart" with a soaring majesty and "operatic" in "Rhapsody". If you want to loose yourself in "pure enchantment", buy this album. "It's an atmospheric treat that dares you to imagine".
A Slick, smooth and melodious album., 17 Jan 2002
This is the album that converted me to S&TB many years ago. I loved the sinister thread running through the tracks, particularly "Carousel" & "Rhapsody". If you are already a fan of Siouxsie, this album may be a little too commercial for your tastes. Then again, it shows a smooth move towards the slinkier side of their music. Personally, I love it and find it very atmospheric - and it was good enough to make me go and buy their previous albums too!
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Sound Affects
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The Jam;
Polydor Group;
1997-08-04;
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Customer Reviews
Punk rocks owners, 29 Oct 2007
Whatever people tell me about the ramones: i always say that these guys defined punk music. Still today The Jam is a classic band that will always have a place in my album collection. This CD however is overdoing everything. Punk rock albums are usually very short and having to listen to 20 songs that do all sound extremely simmilar can get tedious. More than this I believe that punk bands very designed for live performances: they had a great attitude to live acts which made them amazing to listen to. The CD takes the heart out of this genre and for that i mark it down. Also there are a few songs could have done without.
81/100
MOD ANTHEMS, 07 May 2007
This album is the soundtrack of my youth - and it still sounds great twenty years on.
Weller was better than DYLAN - wrote better songs than LENNON and wore sharper suits than STING.
Classic anthems that will never die...
BRILLIANT, 11 Apr 2007
A great collection from the best band of all time.
Weller amd the boys looked the part and always talked the walk.
I want them to reform - but till that day this collection will keep me happy why I wait.
Top JAM fan Garry Johnson of Buzz Kids fanzine says he heard a rumour of a one-off gig this summer at Hyde Park - fingers-crossed a...
Get SNAP SE instead, 10 Aug 2006
There's no doubt this is an excellent collection of singles but why buy this when you could buy the SNAP special edition double CD £1 cheaper. That has every song on this "best of" CD plus another 8 including "Away from the numbers" and "English Rose".
Great Singles Act, 26 Mar 2006
This is basically a singles album; not that the Jam didn't produce some excellent albums but if you're a casual or new fan this is probably the one to go for. Most of these songs are great, full of energy and sound as good as they did when the band was kicking, between 1977 and 1982. Personal favourites are When You're Young, Precious, Eton Rifles, A Bomb In Wardour Street and the underated News Of The World, a rare Foxton outing. Paul, mate, you never bettered what you did in this band, then again, few did.
Jon Savage said in England's Dreaming "if you only hear two punk records make it Never Mind The Bollocks and this one..", 17 Nov 2008
This record is brutal. This record comes smashing up through the floor boards. This record is essential.
Catnip for the soul, 16 May 2008
If you could distill rock music all the way down to it's most basic essence then you'd probably end up with something similar to this. From it's sheet metal production to Iggy's yelps and trills this album is rock in it's most purest form.
This record, though, is about more than sound. A feeling is generated by this record, a feeling that starts somewhere in your abdomen and shoots up to your chest and back down again. If these songs don't make you want to rip off your top, grab your crotch and scream then you are dead inside. Catnip for the soul.
Raw Power Iggy Pop and the Stooges 1972, 18 Apr 2008
Raw Power, the Greatest Album of all time, followed closely by, Pere Ubu, '390 degrees of simulated stereo'.
Raw Power - every track is a great invention.
Live in a detached property and play loud.
It's fantastic. 'Raw power has got no place to go... Raw power is laughin' at you and me'
the best rock album ever. EVER., 21 Feb 2008
all im going to say is this is £3. buy it, you really wont be disappointed. and if in the unlikely case that you are.... you've only spent the aforementioned £3. buy it now!
Classic album but ...., 02 Aug 2007
Giving this four stars for the kick ass songs on it, but the mastering? Ouch! I got the re-mastered version in the hope of more depth compared to the tinny, bass light original. Frequency wise, these are definitely more balanced mixes, but they're blighted by being pushed into the digital extreme.
I totally agree with another reviewer here. A hot ANALOG mix pushing into the red would've been good and kicking and could've then been transferred to the digital medium and mastered at a reasonable loudness level preserving some nice 'grungey' harmonics. Sadly, though, these seem to be digital re-mixes mastered far beyond the digital threshold. The first track averages -4dB (CDs have a dynamic range of more than 90 db meaning that this track has only 4db). The result is BAD DISTORTION with clips everywhere and an overpowering mid range. Maybe this is some global irony? The raw power is always there in the songs themselves, but you have to dig it out from either bass weak or saturation drenched versions? A classic album nonetheless.
Youthful angst and rebellious messages, 08 Nov 2008
With its lurid fluorescent sleeve N.M.T.B. is one of rock `n' roll's greatest debut albums. Johnny Rotten's lyrics and sneering vocals fizz with youthful angst (`Liar', `Problems' and `No Feelings) and sizzle with rebellious messages (`God Save The Queen', `Anarchy In The UK' and `EMI'). On the mordant `Bodies', the terrace-chant taunt of `Seventeen' and the exhilarating `Holidays In The Sun' the Pistols make obvious their love of the simple, primal, effective three-chord rock which Chuck Berry, The Stooges and the New York Dolls produced. These songs are all tightly structured and well-considered; they never venture far beyond 180 seconds and are sharp and snappy in sentiment and expression.
a one off, 29 Oct 2008
Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
evan if you dont get this genra of music - its still a stand out album , a great album / i remember having a copy on wax many years ago [ i was i think 12 - my mum herd me playing it - dident like it . etc ec - any way one day she found out the opening lines to bodies - played it to my dad / the lp got broken - i got a big big wolopping from dad , i cried a bit - then went to my mates house to listen to his copy / this is one of the greatest english punk albums ever / my opinion - regards
Never mind the others, here's the one you need, 28 Aug 2008
A cursory listener to "Never Mind The Bollocks" might, just possibly might, wonder why this LP is one of the few records that truly merits the term "essential". After all, isn't Steve Jones' guitar work merely speeded-up heavy metal laced with licks lifted from Chris Spedding? Isn't Paul Cook's drumming efficient, powerful even, but essentially monotonous? Isn't Glen Matlock's bass playing submerged in the mix to the point it hardly registers? As for Johnny Rotten's vocals; well, is that really singing?
But it's unlikely that even a cursory listener could miss the rage, frustration and venom in Rotten's delivery. If that listener also took in his words, which skewer the disintegrating society that was late 1970s Britain, and if that listener considered the wider context in which The Sex Pistols operated, then "Never Mind The Bollocks" would emerge as being amongst the most important records in the history of rock music. In fact, it is arguably the most important of all for reasons that go well beyond music.
This review is not the place to catalogue the chaos The Sex Pistols' manager, Malcolm McLaren, wrought in the British music business, though his situationist ideas and the Pistols' public viciousness turned the tables on EMI and A&M, making for the first time in years a group and their manager the master of their record label and not the other way around. After the Pistols the business would never be the same again. Their scarification prepared the ground for seminal labels like Rough Trade, Stiff and Factory and the entire "indie" movement that followed, both in Britain and America.
Neither is this review the place to describe the turmoil and foment the Pistols induced in late 1970s Britain. The media, local councils and the staid British establishment had no idea how to handle a phenomenon that was by turns disgustingly rude and dangerously critical of their institutions. From the perspective of thirty years later it is clear that even if the Pistols were degenerate themselves (McLaren's introduction of Sid Vicious, who was a drug-addicted fool and later a probable murderer, starkly illustrated it) the society around them was worse. In a sense the Pistols helped consign the long 1960s of Britain to the dustbin, clearing the way for something different (that this turned out to be Margaret Thatcher was hardly their fault).
This review is the place to point out that Rotten's angry, screaming, scathing dissection of a moribund British society lifts the music on "Never Mind The Bollocks" out of the league of the likes of The Jam, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Ramones - even The Clash - and takes it somewhere else entirely. There had been protest records before but nothing as furious, nothing so nihilistic and, most importantly, nothing even as remotely dangerous as this record felt.
Nothing has come close since. Boy, you had better look at Johnny.
Should be 10 stars, 24 May 2008
Forget all the hype & rubbish that surrounded the Sex Pistols & remember that this album changed music. The reason is that it simply is a truly great album.
I have owned it for nearly 30 years & it is still an album that is exciting to play.
Inspired - buy it !
Shockingly Brilliant, 23 Apr 2008
This really was punk - instead of signing to an indie label like "true punks" lets go with a major & take them for all their worth TWICE OVER -nice one SP!
Socially & musically this album cannot be underestimated. It is without doubt one of the most important & influential albums ever recorded.
Every track is a punk gem, as fresh now as it was then, a powerhouse of multi-layered guitars and scowling vocals with astute and witty lyrics,
Anachy & Pretty Vacant in particular, contain two of the greatest intros of all time.
For all these modern bands who pretend to be punk, Oasis, Artic Mondays & a multitude of American bands spring to mind, this is the real deal.
Most importantly of all, it is the album that finally killed off disco & progressive rock and for that we should all be eternally grateful
One of the best Punk albums ever, 30 Jul 2008
I first heard this album in 1982 it was a punk rock masterpiece then and has stood the test of time to this day. Anyone with even a passing interest in punk rock needs to own this album , its as simple as that.
Belfast Calling., 22 Jun 2008
Let me take you back to the days before this iconic album was released. The whole british music scene was giving a right royal boot in the jugglees circla 76-77. The punk movement in Britain had exploded causing massive social and political shockwave to reverberate thru the fixed class structured british system. The Government of the day were faced with the British youth suddenly having a powerful voice, as well as having a mean to communicate their viewpoint and anger. The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Jam et al. seem to be singing about all aspects of British mainland life. However, I remember coming home from school eating my evening meal in front of the TV. Night after night after night, reports would flash into our living rooms about the latest killings, shootings, bombing and maimings be carried out in Northen Ireland.
It was this enviroment that SLF decided to sing about. Although The Undetones came from NI their songs seem to focus on more fizzy punk pop than Fuse lit Punk Rock ( "Barbed Wire Love" V's "Get Over You")
It wasn't until after they played a gig in the seaside town of Troon near to my hometown of Kilmarnock that I first was hooked on SLF. SLF were due to play in Kilmarnock. However, such was the fear of punk in those days that the local council under pressure from highly up the political ladder. Refused the promoters a lincense for the Gig. thus, forcing the promoters to move the gig to nieghbouring county. They used the song " White Noise" from "InFlammable Material" as an poor excuse for their refusal. You can read a Newcastle newspaper article from the liner notes of "All The Best" for further info.
Make no mistake "Inflammable Material" Is an Iconic Punk Album. It sounds as fresh and raw today as it did when I first heard it way back in my school days of 1979. It easierly stands beside " Never mind...," "The Clash," "Machine Gun ...." and "In The City."
You Will Find out, when you hear it why SLF are still held in High Esteem today. This Album is as good an example of what the British Punk Movement was all about !!! It simple conveys the feeling of what it was like to grow up in a area where death could be just waiting around the next corner. It gave a voice to the forgotten youth hidden behind the daily headlines and reports of "The Troubles" on the street where Stuff Luddle Fingus walked and lived.
"Barbed Wire Love"
" I met you in No Man's Land
Across the wire we were holding hands
Hearts a-bubble in the rubble
It was love at bomb site
All you give me is barbed wire love
All caught up in barbed wire love
Tangled up in barbed wire love
Throw my leg over barbed wire love
Barbed wire love snags my jeans
When I fell it was awful nice
Caught when not suspecting vice
The night was rife with wasteland life
You set my arm alight
[Chorus]
Blasted by your booby traps
I felt the blow in both knee-caps
Your eyes did shine
Your lips were fine
And the device in your pants was out of site."
Beware it ain't Duran Duran!
BEST PUNK ALBUM EVER?, 22 Mar 2008
Any one who has never heard SLF before buy this album you will not be disapointed.Ibought this album when I was 11 years old which was over 25 years ago and it is still my fav punk album ever.From suspect device to johnny was all classics.Only bad track closed groove absolute pish.SLFhave never been better but HANX is close enjoy.Catch them live if you can never dissapoint.
The Dogs Ballocks, 28 Sep 2007
When I first heard Inflammable Material in 1979 it started a nigh on 30 year love affair with the band. It is just the most powerful album you could buy. The album was and still is unique in the way the band express their anger and frustration at the "troubles" in Northern Ireland.
30 years on and they are touring the country playing the album track for track...and I'll be there to enjoy listening to an album that is up there with the Clash's London Calling as one of the all-time classic albums of the punk era.
The original and the best, 29 Jun 2007
This has been one of my favourite albums since it was released in 1979 (when I must confess I was 15). I bought it then, have now updated it to CD and still love it as much as ever. I saw SLF half a dozen times between 1979 and 1982 (don't get me started on a trip down memory lane please!), and their music just oozes rawness from every pore. Jake Burns' voice is so amazingly distinctive. This album is their first and for me remains their best - it is just so powerful and sounds just as good today as it was in 1979. I am so glad to see that so many new fans have come to SLF in the last few years and the comparisons to Green Day are apt. So many bands today are endebted to SLF. Jake and the boys - we salute you!
Damn Good Stuff!, 10 Sep 2002
This is the Damned album that all fans should have especially if they are more into the old styles of Punk with more resmblance to that of The Clash and Sham 69 to name a couple, which is definitley more to my liking. With great songs like New Rose,Smash it up, Neat Neat Neat and Love Song that break through into your head like a demon that just won't go away.Great guitar work and vocals that help echo the words "Pure Punk" and it is nothing less...The Damned hepled bring Classic Punk kicking and screaming into many peoples lives, and this double Cd covering probably the best years of this fantastic band is a definite Must Buy for the "Punk Obsessed".
MASTERPIECE, 05 Dec 2007
All bands/soloists make at LEAST one masterpiece album and this has to be Siouxsie & The Banshees'crowning moment.
BRILLIANT from start to finish - my ultimate fave track has to be Scarecrow.
Beautiful melodic melancholy, 29 Sep 2007
This has to be my favourite Siouxsie and the banshees album. I can listen to this endlessly, and only a few other albums in my collection can claim such an accolade.
From the opening Peek a Boo to the breathe stealing Rhapsody this is for my money a perfect album.
My favourite stand-out tracks are; Ornaments Of Gold along with Scarecrow, but all the songs here are magnificent and as I have already stated infinitely re-listenable. Along with Ju Ju these are albums to play to the grave.
The most atmospheric album I've yet heard, 06 May 2004
This is my favourite of Siouxsie's releases that I have collected thus far. In comparison to other albums, this work continues the more melodic, less-punky style of the bands later albums (Tinderbox, for example), as opposed to the harsher, simpler (yet still brilliant) earlier releases.
The atmosphere that pervades this album is truly captivating. It conjures imagery of old country folklore and halloween, with its array of instruments from violins to accordions and harmonicas, and lyrics about scarecrows and carousels. Another reviewer called it a 'journey into fairyland', and I think that is a good summary of its magical style.
Standout tracks are 'Peek-a-boo', which might be too poppy for some, but has a really funky rythm, and an accordion tune to die for. The next two tracks 'Killing jar' and 'Scarecrow' enhance the old Victorian-esque feel and really get the album going. Another standout track is 'Burn-up' which builds up continously throughout until the end sees a breathtaking crescendo of harmonica and woodwind instruments. Finally, my favourite track would be 'Rhapsody', which begins on a dark rumbling note and builds up into one of the most driving, dramatic and passionate songs I have ever heard, with a full ensemble of instruments and Sioxsie's soaring, commanding voice as enchanting as ever.
This is an incredible album owing to its unique dreamland atmosphere and brilliant integration of a whole range of instruments. Therefore, fans of the earlier punk style might not like it (admittedly, I was shocked when I first played it - but pleasantly) owing to the sheer musical grandeur, but I feel that unless one is a total early-Siouxsie diehard, her cooing lyrics and that quintessential Banshee style should win you over. Pricless.
Never Never Land, 11 Jul 2003
"If there is such a place as Never Never Land, Siouxsie & the Banshees can take you there". And they will "definitely" whisk you away with this one. A "masterpiece" from start to finish, "Peek-A-Boo" showcases with a powerful slink that regurgitates itself with a phenomenal sharp diversity of sound looped back, forth and again with a wild screeching flute, jolting horns and "amazing" accordion riff that's sly, debonair and "emanates" 1920's burlesque with a powerful modern twist that smirks and connives., Sioux's voice is thrown at you from all directions in defferent "frequencies" sharp and crisp, low and amplified, and shouted out via "ringmaster"! "The Killing Jar" starts the "journey" into "fairyland" with it's rampant skipping and jumping through a forest night over babbling brooks and glowing fireflies with violins and "frog croaking"! The eerie "Scarecrow" with it's glittering frost and childhood secrets provokes the imagination! The climaxing locomotion of "Burn Up" and the shear, elegant beauty of "Ornaments Of Gold" display fascinating drumwork as does "Turn To Stone" with it's spiraling sensuality, flamenco guitar riffs and congas. Sioux's voice peeks "angelically" in "The Last Beat Of My Heart" with a soaring majesty and "operatic" in "Rhapsody". If you want to loose yourself in "pure enchantment", buy this album. "It's an atmospheric treat that dares you to imagine".
A Slick, smooth and melodious album., 17 Jan 2002
This is the album that converted me to S&TB many years ago. I loved the sinister thread running through the tracks, particularly "Carousel" & "Rhapsody". If you are already a fan of Siouxsie, this album may be a little too commercial for your tastes. Then again, it shows a smooth move towards the slinkier side of their music. Personally, I love it and find | | |