A natural follow up to the Action Time Vision box set Cherry Red delve into the independent punk scene, labels and bands that fuelled the second wave of punk.
For many the initial punk movement was over by 1979, but as its predecessor the second phase of anyone can form and band/ label and do it, hatched a whole new breed of punk outfits and labels that went underground , and here Cherry Red have come up with concise 4 CD box set giving some familiar and less familiar names from the period.
Punk never really belonged to London and the other big cities, and it was starting to spread, its was getting less mainstream, appearances by bands like The Exploited and The Cockney Rejects on Top Of The Pops proved this, the major labels were out of the picture and Riot City, Fall Out No Future Step Forward records and others were bringing the battle to the record stores.
I had moved on from Punk by 79 and a lot of what is contained in this set escaped me , some did not however, The Cockney Rejects Bad Man actually a dressed up the Cult meets Sham 69 crossover is actually a good single, as is The Wall`s Ghetto.
There`s still your 3 chord classics in here, London Bouncers by Action Pact, No Government by Anti Pasti and Kids of The 80`s by Infra Riot, which incidentally speeds up dramatically from start to finish.
The Damned, Uk Subs, Angelic Upstarts, Vibrators and Toy Dolls also appear here but as with previous sets Cherry seem to have a great knack of finding some obscure and demo tracks that are worth the time to listen, The Violators Summer of 81, The Four Skins and Bristol band Chaos UK with Victimised from 1982.
Other bands I had not come across or not heard and which I enjoyed include, The Insane, Nuclear War, Chaotic Youth Whose Bomb?, Rose Of Victory, Suffragette City and The Sears, Not Prepared demo.
This set comes in a clam shell box with foreword from Ian Glasper and a 65 page booklet with info on all the bands and tracks.
This set may be a little more for the connoisseur of underground punk from this era, that said it’s a great follow up to 2016`s Action Time Vision and for what you get for yer dosh, its worth investing in.
