"Greatest Ever" Punk & New Wave (Their Words)

Well, this is a three disc set from 2013, I would hardly consider these tracks, many of which are on MOST comps to be the "greatest ever", and I wouldn't even mess with this, to be honest, if there weren't a handful of truly rare tunes here, as well as, among the more common ones there are some damn GOOD ones, I mean, I assume you all HAVE THEM ALL anyway, but maybe not, and if so, go ahead and fill in a gap. I must say right from the start that "Greatest Ever" is more than a good bit ambitious in titling.....

Disc One, features fairly white-bread selections that turn up ever time pretty much.....all good songs, but really... "Alternative Ulster" by Stiff Little Fingers? Is there a comp of this type WITHOUT that one? Great song, BUT..... The Buzzcocks "Ever Fallen In Love"? Eddie and the Hot Rods "Do Anything You Wanna Do"? These tracks, as great as they are, are practically generic, they appear on so many comps... if it were 1980, these might be wonderful finds but now? when each of us has 15 different comps with EACH of these tunes on it? Just seems redundant to me, to a degree.....

However, I do NOT wish to discredit the entire Disc #1.... some of this stuff turns up less often, and sometimes a comp can be "worth it" for even a single track (not saying this is the case here, BUT:)
The wonderful "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins is a great one that doesn't turn up THAT much, The Skids "Into the Valley", The Ruts "Staring at the Rude boys, The Teardrop Explodes (now THERE's a band I need to profile!) "When I Dream" is a gem, "Is Vic There" by Department S is MUCH less well known, and tracks from Jona Lewie and the Fall save this disc from being a K-Tel "Amazing New Wave Hits".... cleverly program this and you may wind up with ONE good disc of material you did not have before.

Disc 2 is a tiny bit more esoteric, even though there are layups on this one as well, "One Step Beyond" by Madness, The Boomtown Rats stunning classic "I Don't Like Mondays", The Romantics "What I like about You".... easilly obtainable, punk/new wave fans likely already have these on 10 comps already.... .but of course the reason I am doing this is for the few tracks here which don't ALWAYS make the comps..... "Reward" from Teardrop Explodes, Bad Manners "Lip Up Fatty", The Slits great "I Heard it Through the Grapevine", and the stunning "Police and Thieves", NOT the Clash version, but the electrifying Junior Murvin version.... it would be worth purchasing this set for this track. Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number" is another track that misses the comps in general.......

So Disc 3...... again, PLENTY of softballs..... The Dead Kennedy's "Holiday In Cambodia", Penetration's overdone "Don't Dictate", After the Fire's "Der Komissar", other than that, for the most part, Disc 3 presents us with the most interesting tracks of the three, such as moderately unknown stuff from John Cooper Clarke, Anti-Nowhere League, the Slaughter & the Dogs take on "Hard Day's Night", "Butcher Baby" from the Plasmatics (miss you so much Wendy my Love), and Spizzenergi's fab "Where's Captain Kirk".........

There's enough stuff you might not have here to create a disc or a disc and a half, a lot of it is EASY to locate, and in better company...... this is not a "classic", "Must Have" comp, but for cherry pickers, there is a gem or three here waiting for you.

DISC 1-01 THE STRANGLERS-No More Heroes/02 STIFF LITTLE FINGERS-Alternative Ulster/03 THE SKIDS-Into the Valley/04 THE RUTS-Staring at the Rude Boys/ 05 THE BUZZCOCKS-Ever Fallen In Love?/06 THE UNDERTONES-Jimmy Jimmy/07 THE DAMNED-Neat Neat Neat /08 SHAM 69-Borstal Breakout/09 SPLIT ENZ-I Got You/10 EDDIE & THE HOT RODS-Do Anything You Wanna Do/11 THE TEARDROP EXPLODES-When I Dream/12 THE RUNAWAYS-Black Leather/13 MARTHA & THE MUFFINS-Echo Beach/14 DEPARTMENT S-Is Vic There?/15 TENPOLE TUDOR-Swords of a Thousand Men/16 WRECKLESS ERIC-Whole Wide World/17  JONA LEWIE-You'll Always Find Me In the Kitchen at Parties/18 THE FALL-Bingo/Master's Break/Out/19 STIFF LITTLE FINGERS-Johnny Was

DISC 2-01 MADNESS-One Step Beyond/02 THE SPECIALS-Ghost Town/03 THE BEAT-Mirror
In the Bathroom/04 IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS-Reason to Be Cheerful/05 THE BOOMTOWN RATS-I Don't Like Mondays/06 THE ROMANTICS-That's What I Like About You/07 THE VAPORS-Turning Japanese/08 SQUEEZE-Cool For Cats/09 ADAM & THE ANTS-Kings of the Wild Frontier/10 THE TEARDROP EXPLODES-Reward/11 THE SELECTER-On My Radio/12 THE BEAT-Tears of a Clown/13 BAD MANNERS-Lip Up Fatty/14 THE SLITS-I Heard It Through the Grapevine/15 JUNIOR MURVIN-Police and Thieve/16 MADNESS-Baggy Trousers/17 JOE JACKSON-Is She Really Going Out With Him/18 LENE LOVICH-Lucky Number/19 BAD MANNERS-Special Brew

DISC 3-01 PENETRATION-Don't Dictate/02 UK SUBS-Warhead/03 DEAD KENNEDYS-Holiday In Cambodia/04 ABGELIC UPSTARTS-Angels In Disguise/05 THE DEFECTS-Suspicious Minds/06 THE VIBRATORS-Automatic Lover/07 ALTERNATIVE TV-Action Time Vision/08 LENE LOVICH-Say When/09 SPIZZENERGI-Where's Captain Kirk/10 THE CRACK-All or Nothing/11 999-Obsessed/12 SECRET AFFAIR-Time For Action /13 AFTER THE FIRE-Der Komissar/14 THE MONOCHROME SET-Strange Boutique/15 THE PLASMATICS-Butcher Baby/16 ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE-I Hate People/17 SLAUGHTER & THE DOG'S-Hard Day's Night/18 UK SUBS-Drunken Sailor/19 JOHN COOPER CLARKE-Evidently Chicken Town

OK, make of it what you will....at least half of the material at least most of us have..... but there are a gem and a gem-ette sprinkled throughout...... this was ALL great music, so handle it however you feel...... it just reminds me so much of one of those ridiculous K-Tel comps that sold at Ronco for 1.99........ but there is GOOD/GREAT shit here........ yours is to seek it out, grasshopper.