(4 / 5)
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Two words to get me excited: Box. Set. Add a third “punk”, and you have my complete attention. In this case, a welcome addition to the recent re-releases of seminal punk albums by British bands: This latest one by Cock Sparrer.
The Albums 1994 – 2017, is what it says it is. Across four discs, this delivers a bumper 63 tracks from this take-no-prisoners band on the Captain Oi! Label.
The first CD gives us their “comeback” album, “Guilty As Charged”, and a bunch of very nice bonus tracks in the form of the “Run Away” EP. So, there’s 18 cuts in total on disc one.
1997’s “Two Monkeys” album is present on the second CD: which includes a rare cover version by the band of the 1970 England World Cup Squad’s “Back Home”.
The third disc drops the seminal “Here We Stand” album, joined here by the 2008 single version of “Because You’re Young”, plus a duet with WWF legend Dan Hardy on “England Belongs To Me”.
The final disc in this set, is 2017’s “Forever” album that kept them at the top of the tree when it comes to street punk bands. This whole project has been steered by the band’s guitarist Daryl Smith, after the success of his last project for this label, the recent 1978-87 albums box set.
This one features a detailed 20-page booklet which shows rare press clippings and memorabilia, interesting sleeve notes and images of all the relevant original releases.
The punk heyday was 1976-77, but this band formed back in 1972 in London’s East End. Commercial success evaded them, but they are definitely one of the most influential punk outfits and helped to pave the way for punk’s Oi! subgenre. Their songs have been covered by many punk, Oi!, and hardcore bands.
Malcolm McLaren almost signed the band alongside his other act at the time, The Sex Pistols. Cock Sparrer singed a record deal with Decca in 1977 and released the band’s debut single “Runnin’ Riot” in May of that year, but it didn’t sell well. The follow-up single; a Rolling Stones cover, also failed to make impact and the label waved goodbye to the boys in 1978.
The band released seven albums between 1978 and 2017, four live albums, one EP, nine singles and feature on many compilations. The four founder members of Colin McFaull, Mick Beaufoy, Steve “Burge” Burgess and Steve Bruce are still out there doing their thing as Cock Sparrer, with guitarist Daryl Smith on the team since the early 90s.
By Christopher Weston
(1 / 5) ‘Dull Zone’
(2 / 5) ‘OK Zone’
(3 / 5) ‘Decent Zone’ (4 / 5) ‘Super Zone’
(5 / 5) ‘Awesome Zone’
