As for the track selection, everyone has an opinion. Overall I think it's great. I personally would have substituted TRB's "Glad to Be Gay" or "Power in the Darkness" for "2-4-6-8 Motorway," which, in comparison, is a toe-tapping ditty (albeit a great one).

I'd also exclude The Pretenders, The Motors (although it's great to see The Motors included anywhere), Joe Jackson, and Devo. I mean, if you're gonna include Joe Jackson, you might as well add a tune from the early Police or Tom Petty albums. That stuff should be collected on a New Wave 4-disc set, along with Squeeze, XTC, The Cars, B-52s, Graham Parker, etc., to let people know there was something out there in the early `80s besides Duran Duran. I look forward to that set, Rhino. And while I'm at it, if you're gonna include the New York Dolls, why not stick The Tubes on there as well? But I digress...

For me, this is a great way to get good recordings of a lot of the punk I liked/like, but don't want to collect album-by-album. Rhino is just about the best label out there for old farts like me who, though turning gray, like to maintain a certain punk sensibility.

I mean it, maaaaaannnn! Oh, wait; that one's not on there...


What are box sets for?   November 13, 2003
 62 out of 71 found this review helpful

The point of box set compilations, like this one, is to provide the listener with an overview of a particular era or type of music. It's impossible to include everything everyone, especially completists would want or even expect. The questions to answer then are "Does this set provide you with a insightful look into 70's punk?" and "When I'm finished listening, have I learned something useful?" The answer is yes, resoundingly. If you were around in the 70's, you will hear and remember some old stuff that you have probably forgotten, and if you weren't around then, you can see how punk morphed into new wave and then devolved into the pop music that often passes as "punk" today. (Devo was right!)

If you like to show off your knowledge of obscure punk bands, or if you think hair gel and a trip to Hot Topic to get a Blink 182 shirt makes you a punker, then this box set isn't for you. It's for people who are interested in, not obsessed with the music and who at least know the difference between punk and "punk." Enough said.


Predictable choices   November 28, 2003
 14 out of 30 found this review helpful

I admit that this box has a reasonable selection of songs for the unitiated, but anyone who is a 1970s punk fan is likely to have virtually everything on this thing. And i don't mean the type of train-spotting elitist that is likely to scrutinise obscure corners of Record Collector magazine to find copies of Bloated Toads singles (people like me!). I mean the type of person who has a healthy enthusiasm for punk but actually has a life ourside of their record collection.

This box offers nothing really interesting or challenging for that person. And isn't the point of a boxed set to accommodate the broadest range of people possible? Check out Rhino's "Nuggets" box sets to get an insight into the craft of compiling a box-set. They are monumental; almost perfect. 'No Thanks' just comes accross as opportunistic and exploitative. And is it just my imagination, but doesn't the selection on this box bear a striking resemblance to the 1-2-3-4 punk box that came out a few years back?

My criticism isn't based on the actual songs. Almost without exception most of the songs on this Box have blown me away at some point in my life. The problem is that the box is so limited in its scope and only focuses on the obvious, instead of taking the opportunity to present the diversity of 1970s punk. It completely ignores some of the more idiosyncratic artists and constructs a kind of corporate history of punk. It wouldn't surprise me if corpulent record executives are discussing how half of the songs on this box set can be used in the next Mondeo advertisement.

And why are so many bands given more than one song? This is just stupid. For example, if Rhino excluded one Television song, there would have been room for a Television Personalities track. Simple. If 20% of the tracks were replaced by more imaginative selections, the box would still fulfil Rhino's cynical marketing expectations, and satisfy hoary old critics like myself who like a bit of a challenge. I may have even considered forking out the cash to buy it. But as it stands, I'll just dig up my Hyped 2 Death compilations and leave it at that.

Shame on you Rhino!


Perfect Collection   October 31, 2003
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Looking back to the original Punk scene you have to realise it was mostly about singles - the odd 7" you had to look forward to every friday (that was the day when my record dealer returned from his London trip). This collection has all the essentials. One might argue that one gem or the other is missing but all in all you will either get a fine replacement for all your scratched and worn vinyl items or a perfect introduction to the scene and times. One special point I'd like to make as an European: Neither the US nor the UK scene are over- or underweighted - this is just what it was like between 1976 and 1979. Plus with the last tracks on disc 4 you see where it's heading: New Wave rears its head with the modern pop of Joe Jackson and the punk/jazz/funk of The Pop Group. Buy!


Amazing, Then And Now   March 5, 2005
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

It should be obvious to those looking here that punk is not about the style or being bratty just to get on your parent's nerves. That would be "punk rock," aka Good Charlotte/Yellowcard/any other generic pop-punk today. Punk was a position, a radical position at the time. New wave, while there were redeeming moments, corrupted this ideal and made it safe. Early grunge and underground music made it wild again, until the former became mainstream and redundant, leaving the latter to gradually rise up in opposition. But this was where it started. And thank God.

This collection is for anyone who wants to be reassured, or potentially taught, that punk did not just mean simple, generic, almost alike songs. There may be those that say punk was the "return to the great two-and-a-half minute singles," and while this was true to a great extent, there were those exceptions that made the classification special and exciting. All of this is represented in just the right amounts, just enough simple British punk, just enough art-punk, just enough hardcore, etc. It's also a way to show anyone who writes off punk as interminal skronk as people who were seriously engulfed in their work, even if their work wasn't entirely serious. It's catchy as hell, even the artsy stuff, and even with those that "couldn't play," there are still those that can truly play their instruments. This box set shows every side of things related to the genre.

Most importantly, there are the songs themselves. Every song has a right to be on here, as they all represent something similarly primal in its spirit but different in its execution. It's incredibly difficult to pick out the best songs, as practically all amaze me; still, the ones that most amaze me are the things I had not heard before, potentially for that reason. I knew the Ramones, the Clash, Television, Suicide, Dead Kennedys, Richard Hell, X, etc. When I finally heard work of bands I had heard of but never listened to, the true revelations began: the Buzzcocks (especially "Ever Fallen In Love..."), the Germs ("Lexicon Devil" is now in my top five favorite songs), the Only Ones ("Another Girl, Another Planet" is the best power-pop song ever), the Cramps ("Human Fly" is one of the weirdest catchy songs I know), the Rich Kids (the melody of "Ghosts of Princes in Towers" is irresistable), Subway Sect (I love the synth effects on "Ambition"), X-Ray Spex ("Oh Bondage Up Yours!" is just plain fun), etc.

You could argue that the absence of the Sex Pistols is a big detriment to the credibility of these discs. And yes, sure, the Sex Pistols were the greatest punk band of them all. But if you don't own their "Never Mind The Bollocks..." then you should buy it immediately. Every song on there is indispensable, making it the first necessary punk purchase (a fact confirmed in the liner notes to this box set, actually). Once you own that, there's arguably little need for the rest of the Sex Pistols material, and then their appearance on this set would be pointless. After that, one could argue bands like the Au Pairs, the Raincoats, and the no-wave movement are inexplicably missing. And one of my personal favorite bands I didn't expect to find here but I was really hoping: Simply Saucer (their album "Cyborgs Revisited" is a true unknown noisy masterpiece that only gets better with each repeated listen). Still, this box set distills the best of the rest with their best songs, and places them together in a totally cohesive manner, that allows for repeated, continuous listening, something uncommon for box sets. This is both a testament to Rhino for being able to put together such a comprehensive collection and to the musicians present for their truly timeless music, in all its rage and joy.