The Professionals is punky power pop and hard pub rock, nowhere near as subversively snotty as the Pistols but still brash and cocky with some anthemic swagger – “Kick Down the Doors” and “Kamikaze” both good examples. They released two singles from the LP in ’80, “Just Another Dream” and “1-2-3.” I don’t think either charted (and omg the video for “Just Another Dream!”). “All the Way With You” is one of the stronger tracks on the LP and feels more “punk” than most of the record (it reminds me a bit of the 1977 Adverts single “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes”). You’d think that “Mods Skins Punks” would be, but it’s not (and really isn’t a great track). This is in our should it stay or go pile – I think it can go.

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The Professionals lacks the punk urgency of the Sex Pistols. It tries to sound down-and-dirty but ends up just a bit messy, just like the album’s release history. Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek has this to say, “The album…was vilified in the English rock press. The East End Oi! movement had been born, and the Professionals went down the middle between the early sound of the Sex Pistols (without the anger) and the Cockney chants of the straps-and-braces Oi! boys. With post-punk and ska in full flower on the other side of the rockist divide, there was simply no room for a straight-up rock band, which is what the Professionals were. Their hair was too long, they wore no costumes, and they simply let it rip with workmanlike tunes crafted by Cook and Jones. Lots of big chords, muddy big beat drums, and chanted rather than sung vocals…This is plodding, straight-ahead rock music that walked too many lines to establish itself with an identity of its own. It’s a relic, and not a particularly memorable one.”

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