Another lavishly packaged boxed set is far more than you really deserve after the release of the less than completist, but ultimately satisfying ‘Product’ 3 disc set. What’s more, if you’re the sort of vinyl-munching die hard that must have EVERYTHING by the artist, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s a copy of the ‘legendary’ Spiral Scratch EP as well as rarities including the NME cover freebie ‘I Look Alone’ and ‘Moving Away From The Pulse Beat’ – a record that appeared originally as a 12“ single sided DJ promo.
14 CD singles of pure and devilishly melodic punk. So what else is on it and what’s the buzz about these restless young hoodlums?
Well, beginning with ‘Spiral Scratch’ you’ll note a young Howard Devoto, lyricist and vocalist for the band shaping things up before going on to form the massively influential, Magazine. It’s only on second-phase single ‘Orgasm Addict’ that the engagingly whimsical Pete Shelley takes over the mic and initiates an merciless brand of pixie powered punk capable of luring even the shyest of boys from the closet and onto the edge of the bed. And ‘Ever Fallen In Love (with someone you shouldn’t’ve)?’ still to this day sounds as gut-wrenchingly shameful and as lustfully perverse as it did in 1978 when Shelley breached protocol and made homosexuality as furtive and estranged as it was prior to the theatricizing gender cult of glam. This collection also reminds us that punk is as much an intellectual movement as it is a cultural one and tracks like ‘I Believe’ provide a fitting commentary to the emerging nihilism of the 80’s.
Any singles collection will if nothing else, definitively trace a bands perception of itself as a product. Usually this means tracking the incongruous shape-shifting of singles bands like Blur or Duran Duran, but on this occasion it highlights the relentless pounding of fists on the same one door of intent.
Buy if only to appreciate what the pop and punk aesthetics can seriously achieve when brought together by minds as agile as Shelley’s and Diggles’.