“Punk and Disorderly: Further Charges”

Published On: July 15, 2024Tags: , , , , ,

“Punk and Disorderly – Further Charges” 1982, Anagram Records (US version released on Sounds Interesting Records). A comp of mostly British punk singles from ’82, the second in a series of punk comps that gave the US market a way to find and afford the import 45 singles. I wrote about this LP nine years ago; it’s been sitting in my to-do pile (we are trying to thin the herd) and since I live in Milwaukee and it’s the week of the RNC this pull just feels right. (I am hunkered down, no plans to be disorderly or even get anywhere near the convention). I picked this record up back in ’85 or ’86 because of the cover and it definitely was a way for me to afford a bunch of British punk songs that I would not have had access or funds for otherwise. Best is G.B.H.’s “Sick Boy” that leads off the record. Also great is “Dreaming” by The Expelled, the goth-punk “The Masque” by The Dark (I’m pretty sure I had their ’82 LP The Living End at one point in my collection), the sole non-UK band Channel 3’s “I’ve Got a Gun” (they were popular in the UK because of John Peel) and the epically long (by punk standards) “Gangland” by the Violators. Action Pact’s “London Bouncers” is really funny (spoiler: they don’t like London bouncers), though it’s not necessarily a great track and while it’s super-simple, raw and lo-fi I appreciate the Germs-esque flavor of “Death to Humanity” by Riot/Clone (Erazerhead’s “Shellshock” is pretty good too but a total Ramones ripoff). Overall, the comp is an interesting (and angry) snapshot of the UK punk scene in ’82 and since it was one of the first comps I bought (at age 14 or 15), I think it’s a keeper.