album of the month 03/053 min read

various artists: england’s dreaming – trikont CD-0325

here’s the remedy:
when feeling blue, depressed, down, low – or maybe even all of the above – throw on some punkrock, it will lift the blues up and transform it into anger…
and as we all know “anger is an energy”.
i have discovered this remedy more than 27 years ago.
and it still does the trick.

i remember the situation exactly when i first heard a sex pistols song, “anarchy in the uk”, i remember where i was at the time and with whom. for me its one of those keymoments. i must have been 14 or 15. we were sitting on our 50cc motor bikes near the busstop, there were 4 of us, patrick, kurt and this other guy who’s name i forgot. on the steering wheel of my maxi puch i had installed the most ridiculous of gadgets; i say that now, then it was my pride and joy. it was a multifunctional lamp/horn/radio/something. the radio was blarring. when the sex pistols came on we laughed, we looked at eachother, we shook out heads in disbelief, we probably said something like “what the fuck”… or a swiss german version thereof: “was füre fick, mann”
a few years later i was a punk, while patrick and kurt had joined the “faschos”, a gang of right wing hoodlums collaborating with the cops, and we were fighting against eachother during the early 80’s youth riots in bern. but that’s another story…

england’s dreaming is the cd that goes with the book of the same title by jon savage. the book, subtitled “anarchy, sex pistols, punk rock and beyond”, is commonly held as the definitive story of early punkrock in london. for the cd jon savage has managed to compile “the secret and not so secret milestones” of punkrock. some very early american stuff, iggy & the stooges, the ramones, patti smith, some british classics, buzzcocks, x-ray-spex, siouxie & the banshees, some more adventurous, almost artsy stuff, residents, eno & snatch, cabaret voltaire, and some real gems, the urinals, the germs, metal urbain, while conciously stiring clear of the more obvious choices like the sex pistols or the clash, to name just a few.

i have had this cd for awhile now. but recently i did get the blues. and i remembered my remedy. [and oh yeah, i am also currently reading the book, which is quite a great read]

tracklist:
01. IGGY & THE STOOGES: SEARCH & DESTROY
02. ELECTRIC EELS: ACCIDENT
03. PATTI SMITH: MY GENERATION
04. THE RAMONES: GIMME SHOCK TREATMENT
05. THE SAINTS: THIS PERFECT DAY
06. PENETRATION: NEVER NEVER
07. DEVO: GUT FEELING / SLOPPY
08. BUZZCOCKS: ORGASM ADDICT
09. WIRE: MR. SUIT
1O. RESIDENTS: BEYOND THE VALLEY OF A DAY IN THE LIFE
11. THE GERMS: FORMING
12. THE DILS: I HATE THE RICH
13. THE AVENGERS: CAR CRASH
14. THE DIODES: TIME DAMAGE
15. THE WEIRDOS: NEUTRON BOMB
16. THE ZEROS: WILD WEEKEND
17. ENO & SNATCH: RAF
18. THE NORMAL: TVOD
19. CABARET VOLTAIRE: THE SET UP

20. THE URINALS: I’M A BUG
21. BIZARROS: YOUNG GIRLS AT MARKET
22. METAL URBAIN: HYSTERIE CONNECTIVE
23. X-RAY-SPEX: IDENTITY
24. SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES: NICOTINE STAINS
25. THE ADVERTS: GREAT BRITISH MISTAKE

previous albums of the month:
album of the month 02/05
album of the month 01/05
album of the month 12/04
album of the month 11/04
album of the month 10/04
album of the month 08/04
album of the month 07/04
album of the month 06/04
album of the month 05/04
album of the month 04/04
album of the month 03/04
album of the month 02/04
album of the month 01/04
album of the month 12/03
album of the month 11/03
album of the month 10/03

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