THE 4 SKINS Vinilo y CD

Review: Just like Ronseal does exactly what it says on the tin, The Original 4 Skins serves up a compilation of every known studio recording from the original line up of homegrown oi! punk legends The 4 Skins. Boasting a whopping 19 tracks including an alternative version of 'A.C.A.B.' originally intended to be included on the Oi! The Album compilation, as well contributions to other quintessential Oi! collections Strength Thru Oi! and Carry On Oi!, this gatefold pressing is limited to 1000 copies and arrives complete with lyrics, press clippings from the era plus previously unpublished photos of the band. An essential grab for any Doc Marten sporting skinhead with more Fred Perrys in their closet than your mother has handbags.

Review: Hailing from London's East End, there's few Oi-punk outfits who were as quintessential or authentic as The 4-Skins. While only releasing a small handful of albums with their definitive 80s line up, this live/demo/unreleased cuts compilation offers an aural fly-on-the-wall experience of being confronted with their signature brand of seething anti-authoritarian, anti-police brutality, anti-fascist, football loving, skinhead sporting, Doc Marten stomping punk in real time. Packed with cuts pulled from radio sessions, Bumper sessions, demos and even two tracks from a previously unreleased 7" 45, including the ska-punk-inflected 'Seems To Me'; offering a more subdued side to the OG Skins than most long-time fans would be accustomed to.

Review: The year 1982 can definitely be regarded as a vital one for the working-class Oi-punk movement. One that saw the release of debut full-lengths from the likes of the abrasive Blitz, and the somewhat underappreciated The 4 Skins, who were endlessly plagued by a myriad of line-up shifts. By the time their second full-length, A Fistful of...4-Skins arrived, the group were already onto line-up number four (no pun intended), and this time period is where the 'Five More Years' 7" single rears its skinhead from. Topped with the anthemic opening track from the album, and tailed with the CD reissue bonus cut, 'On The Streets', this sampler/taster/snapshot/teaser/whatever else you'd like to consider it, serves as a perfect piece of oi-punk memorabilia and entry point for those who don't mind doing some of their homework in reverse. These recordings are also notable for being some of the sole studio pieces from The Last Resort vocalist, Roi Pearce, who would serve with the skins for only the one full-length, and subsequent From Chaos To 1984 live album released the following year as swansong.