Various Artists - 1234 Punk and New Wave 1976-1979 [5 Disc Box Set]



Most all my good friends here at the Ape know well how I feel about most comilations.... nuff said. But every once in a while you find one that has some real merit as a collection of really great songs. This here would be one example. Now, of course, if I had the choice I would have included/omitted a few but am overall impresed with this pretty-well comprehensive collection of one of my favorite era's of music. A certain online store named for a race of beautiful, giant warrior women has this to say - and I find it apt -

"No single box set--however sumptuously packaged, however comprehensively compiled--could hope to contain the bewildering, diverse array of musical styles and opinions that was brought together under the loose description "punk" between 1976 and 1979. There were so many fresh ideas and concepts--the final, irreversible emancipation of women in rock and the creation of an entirely new, non-R&B, guitar-based music form--contained within that one word, no compilation could hope to represent it fairly. 1-2-3-4 has a damn good try, though. Five CDs, featuring 100 tracks from the good, bad and downright ugly of punk.
This is a compilation for the historical completist, taking in everyone from the early trail-blazers (Sex Pistols, New York Dolls, Ramones, Television) through to the 1978 Rough Trade independent outburst (Raincoats, Slits, Pop Group) and the politically-charged (Gang Of Four, Au Pairs, Tom Robinson Band).

The post-punk "new wave" explosion is represented by the Buzzcocks, Devo and XTC as are the art-rockers by Siouxsie, Ultravox and Pere Ubu).

Even the novelty records get a mention: Jilted John and Television Personalities. The list is virtually endless.

Considering the genre's (relative) lack of commercial impact at the time, it's astonishing how its repercussions are still being felt today. The punk explosion was Year Zero for the music press; it was the direct precursor of the American grunge movement and it became the initial working model for the DIY dance and rap explosions. Moreover, punk was a point of influence that no "indie" band creating music today can hope to avoid.Elastica, the Stereophonics,Nirvana, Green Day, Offspring, PublicEnemy and Prodigy are just some of the bands the can find their mirror selves in punk. This is a mind-blowing compilation. --Everett True"

Disc: 1
1. Complete Control - Clash (1)
2. Anarchy In The UK - Sex Pistols
3. New Rose - Damned
4. Blitzkreig Bop - Ramones
5. Shadow - Lurkers
6. Thinking Of The USA - Eater
7. Ain't Bin To No Music School - Ed Banger
8. Borstal Breakout - Sham 69
9. I Hate School - Suburban Studs
10. GLC - Menace (1)
11. One Chord Wonders - Adverts
12. Right To Work - Chelsea
13. Johnny Won't Go To Heaven - Killjoys
14. Bone Idle - Drones (1)
15. Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone - Slaughter & The Dogs
16. CID - UK Subs
17. Can't Wait 'til '78 - Wasps
18. Ambition - Subway Sect
19. I'm Stranded - Saints (1)
20. Orgasm Addict - Buzzcocks

Disc: 2
1. In The City - Jam (1)
2. Your Generation - Generation X (1)
3. First Time - Boys (1)
4. Get A Grip (On Yourself) - Stranglers
5. Don't Dictate - Penetration (1)
6. In A Rut - Ruts
7. Big Time - Rudi
8. Don't Ring Me Up - Protex
9. Just Another Teenage Rebel - Outcasts (1)
10. Solitary Confinement - Members
11. Emergency - 999
12. 19 And Mad - Leyton Buzzards
13. I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher - Not Sensibles
14. Romford Girls - Riff Raff (1)
15. Sick Of You - Users
16. Gabrielle - Nips
17. Where Were You - Mekons (1)
18. Murder Of Liddle Towers - Angelic Upstarts
19. Oh Bondage Up Yours - Angelic Upstarts
20. Sweet Suburbia - Angelic Upstarts
21. Television Screen - Radiators (1)
22. Alternative Ulster - Stiff Little Fingers
23. Teenage Kicks - Undertones

isc: 3
1. Teenage Depression - Eddie & The Hot Rods
2. Rich Kids - Rich Kids
3. Baby Baby (I Know You're A Lady) - Vibrators
4. Suffice To Say - Yachts
5. Roadrunner - Richman, Jonathan & Modern Lovers
6. Don't Care - Klark Kent
7. Nervous Wreck - Radio Stars
8. Up Against The Wall - Robinson, Tom Band
9. So It Goes - Lowe, Nick
10. Police Car - Wallis, Larry
11. Hard Loving Man - Moped, Johnny
12. Love And A Molotov Cocktail - Flys (1)
13. Where's Captain Kirk - Spizz Energi
14. Sonic Reducer - Dead Boys
15. Search And Destroy - Dictators
16. Born To Lose - Heartbreakers (2)
17. Modern Dance - Pere Ubu
18. If You Don't Want To Fuck Me Fuck Off - County, Wayne
19. California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys

Disc: 4
1. I Belong To The Blank Generation - Hell, Richard
2. 10.15 Saturday Night - Cure
3. Rip Her To Shreds - Blondie
4. I Can't Stand My Baby - Rezillos
5. All I Want - Snatch (1)
6. Looking After No 1 - Boomtown Rats
7. Take Me I'm Yours - Squeeze
8. Sex And Drugs And Rock 'n' Roll - Dury, Ian & The Blockheads
9. Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille
10. Is She Really Going Out With Him - Jackson, Joe
11. Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric
12. Part Time Punks - Television Personalities
13. Safety Pin Stuck In My Heart - Fitzgerald, Patrick
14. You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory - Thunders, Johnny
15. Psycle Sluts - Clarke, John Cooper
16. Jilted John - Jilted John
17. Kill - Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias
18. Paranoid - Dickies

Disc: 5
1. Public Image - Public Image Ltd.
2. Warsaw - Joy Division
3. Staircase Mystery - Siouxsie & The Banshees
4. Damaged Goods - Gang Of Four
5. You - Au Pairs
6. How Much Longer - Au Pairs
7. Read About Seymour - Swell Maps
8. Young Parisians - Adam & The Ants
9. Monochrome Set - Monochrome Set
10. We Are All Prostitutes - Pop Group
11. Typical Girls - Slits
12. Mannequin - Wire (1)
13. Shot By Both Sides - Magazine
14. Science Fiction - XTC (1)
15. Do The Standing Still - Table (1)
16. Another Girl Another Planet - Only Ones
17. Young Savage - Ultravox
18. Puppet Life - Punishment Of Luxury
19. Jocko Homo - Devo
20. Marquee Moon - Television (1)


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