The Spastics - Cherry Pop/I wanna be a cop 7"

Label: Rip Off Records; Year: 1996; Format: Vinyl 7"

Greg Lowery's Rip Off Records started as a label promoting his own band, the Rip Offs, and like minded bands playing a similar style of primitive and snotty garage punk'n'roll. In the early to late '90s he was known to release singles by bands such as the Registrators, Rip Offs, and others such as the Spastics whom were from San Francisco and came out of the ashes of the equally great Spoiled Brats. On this one sided little platter you get two great garage punk hits that can't be beaten when it comes to snottiness and a 100% pogo factor. I don't suppose I need to really add anything more as this will appeal to anyone into 77 punk with a good dose of garage punk thrown in there. Greg's label continued to be active until the latter stages of the '2000s but in my opinion lost the magic of its early days once he started to release full lengths and no longer such modern day classics as this one here.

V/A - Messthetics # 103 - DIY '77-81, Midlands, Part 1

Label: Hyped To Death; Year: 2007; Format: CD

Fans and collectors of obscure DIY punk and post-punk bands from the UK and North America will be familiar with Chuck Warner's Hyped To Death website and compilation CDs. Chuck has put an incredible amount of time and love into his little DIY empire, enabling many of us to hear the most obscure sounds of times past. This particular compilation deals with bands from the Midlands part of the UK and as Chuck put it in the CD; between 1977 and 1983 literally hundreds of bands released their own records and cassettes throughout the UK. As one can only assume, some were more talented musicians, whereas others weren't, but didn't lack anything when it comes to drive and true DIY spirit. The songs compiled on this CD sum up what was just said, offering hidden gems such as the Prefects "Things in General", or The Shapes "I saw Batman in the launderette", whereas other songs are rudimentary to the bone without lacking originality and charisma. Overall you get over twenty songs on this Messthetics volume, a great booklet with tons of information about the bands and the times where everything seemed possible. Not many people can own all the originals found on these compilations, hence I see no reason to not stocking up on these. Essential stuff!