Abrasive Wheels - When The Punks Go Marching In! LP

Label: Riot City Records; Year: 1982; Format: Vinyl LP

Recorded and released in 1982 on Bristol's Riot City Records should give you quite a hint as to what to expect from this album. It is one of my favorite UK82 records as it just ticks many boxes. It's well produced, it's full of hits and quite frankly there isn't a single bad song on this first full length by Leeds' punks Abrasive Wheels. I haven't listened to this cracker of an album in some time but almost instantly I was able to sing along to most of the songs as they would be played on many a mixtape or punk disco after a show. Paying a bit more attention than usually it did not escape me that the album has a very '79 feel to it in the sense that while most of the songs are played at high speed with Dave's buzzing guitar sound and Shonna's aggressive singing typical in the foreground the choruses and melodies will be more reminiscent of 2nd generation punk acts like Sham 69 or Angelic Upstarts for instance. It all makes sense as I opened my copy of "Burning Britain" and read over the story of the Abrasive Wheels reminding myself that they actually had their beginnings in the late '70s hence those influences do not surprise at all. On this LP the band had also their strongest and most stable line up which led them to signing with Clay Records and releasing another LP in 1984 which in my opinion was nowhere near as good as this one having attempted to sound poppier and more accessible and failing miserably. The band reformed years later and actually released a record in the more recent years but I have never heard it. This one is a pure classic and whether you have the original or not what counts is that you have it and crank it up loud!