V/A - Streets LP
V/A - Streets LP
Label: Beggars Banquet; Year: 1977; Format: Vinyl LP
On the back cover of this Compilation the following statement is eternalized: 1977 was the year that the music came out of the concert halls and onto the streets; when independent labels sprang out of the woodwork to feed new tastes: when rock music once again became about energy and fun; when the majors' boardrooms lost control. Suddenly we could do anything. - Well apparently Beggars Banquet wasn't completely true to those words as one of the best tracks on this generally rather good Compilation is "isgodaman" by the Snivelling Shits, who on this record are called Arthur Comics as the Beggars folks decided against the word "shit" on the record sleeve. Punk? Anyhow that is a question for another rainy day as I am here to let you know that out of the seventeen tracks to be found on this platter only about three to four are shitty new wave tracks while the rest varies from decent to great. Especially strong on this record is the Mancunian fraction with Slaughter and the Dogs, The Nosebleeds and The Drones.
"Lookalikes" by the Drones is one of my all time faves from the 1977 school of punk rock, just a real smasher. Other great songs are by lesser known acts such as "Disastermovie" by The Exile from Scotland or "19" by the French act The Dogs. With a record like this one I was wondering how it would hold up as I sure as heck have not played it in a long time, but I must say that for the most part I still enjoy it as the songs still sound fresh and energetic to my ears thanks to the bands having had their own sound and style before the copycats flooded the market. Beggars Banquet went on to become a much bigger label once Gary Numan became a hit and they sure as hell jumped on the bandwagon when punk hit the streets in the U.K, but so be it. Most of the songs for this LP were licensed from other labels and many of you might have them on singles, but it's still nice to listen to these hits one after another. Let's pogo!
