As someone who likes collecting 'various artist' albums from the 76-77 era i was quite surprised to find this one, because i had never heard of it before despite it earning its self a CBS reissue two years after its initial release.
Like most mixed band albums of the time this one is no different in that it represents the bands who were just as visible on the scene as the more famous bands of the time but who were not (yet in some cases, such as this LP) considered good enough by PR agents to earn a record contract (a common occurrence like the ROXY and VORTEX lp's who had bands that were later signed).
But unlike the CBGB'S LP of bands that were unsigned, the bands on this LP did at least make their own records whereas the bands on the CBGB'S LP were the never heard of again, being the bottom of the unsigned barrel. The CBGB'S LP was a good example of someone who doesn't know what hes listening to trying to cash in on a scene, something that has plagued music ever since a way was found to record it.
on side one,
WAYNE COUNTY AND HIS BACKSTREET BOYS
THE FAST
HARRY TOLEDO
PERE UBU
side two has
CHERRY VANILLA AND HER STATEN ISLAND BAND
WAYNE COUNTY AND HIS BACKSTREET BOYS
THE FAST
WAYNE COUNTY AND HIS BACKSTREET BOYS (again!)
JOHN COLLINS BAND
SUICIDE
The album plays at 29 minutes which is short for a 'various artists album, of the songs themselves the album opens with a plodding and quite cheesy song from WAYNE COUNTY called 'Max's Kansas city 1976', the song reminds me of the immortal shit that is 'punk-a-rama' by VENUS AND THE RAZOR BLADES in that it is a song about 'the scene' and the bands that make it up, among the name checked are BLONDIE, NEW YORK DOLLS, IGGY POP, LOU REED, TELEVISION, RICHARD HELL, and others. Like i said cheesy! Then its on to THE FAST with 'boys will be boys' who's song sounds much like BLONDIE but with a male singer. After that we have the utter shit HARRY TOLEDO (he of the 'broken Chevrolet' non fame), enough said about him. And then we have PERE UBU with the (i think) brilliant and much covered song 'final solution'.
Side two starts with CHERRY VANILLA AND HER STATEN ISLAND BAND and a song called 'shake your ashes' which sounds like a song from the BUGSY MALONE film, then its WAYNE COUNTY again with a version of 'you make me cream in my jeans' which is slower than the version i know but still gets your toes tapping. Then its THE FAST again the daft sounding song called 'wow pow bang crash', but despite its name its a good tune, very 'up tempo'. Then its WAYNE COUNTY yet again with 'flip your wig' which is a bit of a 'slow tune'. And then we get to THE JOHN COLLINS BAND who give us a song called 'man in me' which sounds like it was written by ELTON JOHN during the same session that produced 'Saturday's alright for fighting'. And the album finishes with SUICIDE and 'rocket u.s.a, i wont comment on this track because SUICIDE are either loved or hated in equal measure and so there is no point (but its a good version). And that's it, in just over 29 minutes the LP is over.
This record is very 'new york' in its sound, representing the pre-RAMONES impact on new york punk and for that reason is worth buying, especially if you like the early new york punk sound, but if you buy it expecting a DEAD BOYS, RAMONES style then you wont get it. This has weathered very well and doesn't sound totally dated (well, not most of it) and is an album for both nostalgia fans and open minded punk fans in general.
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