Exploited Barmy Army
The Exploited were one of the most well known of the third wave punk bands that appeared in the early 80's, they were also one of the most successful, culminating in an infamous performance of 'Dead Cities' on Top of the Pops. This release appears on Captain Oi, who continue to put together excellent collections or dig up long lost rarities and here they've done it again with all The Exploited's singles from 1980 to 1988 on one cd.
Whilst The Exploited sound got progressively heavier throughout their career (which is still going by the way!) there's no denying that they have always been punk as fuck in every sense! They were never over elaborate in either lyrics or music, at times they were simply brutal on both fronts but they always managed to combine it with entertainment in the form of explosive and compelling live shows and the occasional amusing lyric.
The singles in this collection are presented in chronological order and what strikes me instantly is how tame the first couple sound by todays standards, when at the time this was considered cutting edge hardcore punk! You do of course have to remember that compared to what else was around at the time it was pretty harsh and debut single 'Army Life' remains something of a classic. There are some average songs, as many b sides tended to be in those days, I always laughed at 'Fuck The Mods' but listening to it now it's rubbish really! The fact remains however that The Exploited did make some of the classic punk anthems from that time and tracks like 'I Believe in Anarchy' and 'Dead Cities' have stood the test of time well.
The definite highlight comes with the excellent 'Attack / Alternative' double a side single, for me this was The Exploited at their best, with vastly improved production both tracks just ooze aggression from start to finish. Whilst it would be unfair to say that it was all downhill from this point I don't think you could say that they ever bettered this with any of the singles that followed. There were highlights, with tracks like 'Computers Don't Blunder' and the excellent 'Rival Leaders' but there were also some rather below par efforts such as ' YOP' and 'Jesus Is Dead'.
Overall this a solid collection that provides a good retrospective of the first 8 years of The Exploited's career and is worth investigating if you're new to the band or if like me you're fed up of running to the turntable to flip the vinyl over every 3 minutes!