(4 / 5)
Punk re-releases are like buses! Not a sausage and then hey presto; a few come along all at once. Right now, I’ve a bumper post bag of box sets from the likes of Angelic Upstarts, 999 and now this one from The Vibrators.
A 68 track four CD boxset which offers up tracks from three previous albums, plus some rareties such as third album demoes and “The Kip Recordings”. Covering 1979 to 1985.
The first disc is the band’s “comeback” album from 1982, now on CD in its original sleeve for the first time, complete with three bonus tracks. Includes the Indie Chart hit single “Baby Baby”.
The “Alaska 127” album is featured on the second CD, which hit the Indie Chart Top 30 when it was released in 1983.
Disc three contains the “Fifth Amendment “album, the last to be recorded by the band’s original line up.
The fourth disc is a rarities collection, including nine demos originally intended for their aborted 1979 album, as well as nine songs from a short lived version of the band, that includes the Indie Chart hit singles “Gimme Some Lovin’’ and “Disco In Mosco”; a track later covered by German mega punks Die Toten Hosen.
Still active to this day, The Vibrators are constantly touring. 2017 saw a full North American tour, while early 2018 saw a lengthy European jaunt. These tracks all sound as fullof energy and attitude today as they did when safety pins, spiky hair and spitting was à la mode!
By Sally Fox
(1 / 5) ‘Dull Zone’
(2 / 5) ‘OK Zone’
(3 / 5) ‘Decent Zone’ (4 / 5) ‘Super Zone’
(5 / 5) ‘Awesome Zone’
