****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Im not too impressed with the fidelity of this CD transfer, on several tracks you get some rather bothersome vinyl artifacts that indicate that at least for some of the tracks, an extremely well-worn master was used. And couldn't they have also just renumbered the tracks on disc 2 starting at 1 instead of just listing 1-60 on the back cover so we would know what is going on with disc 2? Slackluster reissue quibbles aside, this is a monumental snapshot of the international punk/hardcore scene during the height of the Reagan years and really spans the gamut from brutal thrash that couldn't have been recorded anywhere else than a very small garage - such as Wretched's "Mai Arrendersi, to well-produced punk epics like the False Prophets' rather ambtious "Banana Split Republic" with otherwise decent production values. The span of countries is impressive as well, with Gism's extremely bizarre "Endless Blockade for Pussyfoter" (Japan) leading off; other countries are represented by RAF Punk (Italy), Zenzile (South Africa), Kalashnikov (Denmark), SSA (Spain), Boskops (Germany), DOA (Canada) besides the obvious UK and US. Lots of obscure rarities here no doubt, but old-school punks/skaters might recognize DRI, Reagan Youth, Cheetah Chrome, Iconoclast, UK Subs, Crass with a fiercely experimental contribution, the Subhumans, the Dead Kennedys (a non-album track that makes the original vinyl a bit pricey to acquire) and the Dicks. The original double vinyl is also enhanced with 5 bonus tracks on the CD edition.
