Back in stock: Punk/Hardcore

Review: 'Neat Neat Neat' might have only been the second single released by The Damned, but its timeless longevity as an essential punk staple has seen it appear in episodes of The Simpsons and The Boys while Edgar Wright would give the track yet another lease on life by using it to score the intense opening chase sequence in 2017's Baby Driver. That's before even mentioning the vastly differing artists it has influenced with everyone from My Chemical Romance to Elvis Costello taking a stab. Pressed to artwork complimenting purple wax, this 7" offers a slice of cuts captured during a set in Mulhouse, France in 1994, with the classic single on the A-side, while the flip boasts a dynamic yet bizarre bevvy of covers, from the likes of iconic pop duo The Righteous Brothers ('You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin') to 60's mods The Craig ('I Must Be Mad') to Johnny Cash's 'I Walk The Line'.

Review: One of the most vital hardcore punk releases ever committed to record, the self-titled Minor Threat compilation took the band's first two EPs, the original self-titled and 'In My Eyes', released in June and December of 1981, respectively, and collated them into a visceral work that has only grown more essential with time. Before expanding his sonic palette and abilities with Fugazi, a younger, more disillusioned Ian MacKaye led a cathartic barrage of hyper-intense, exceptionally brief pieces that reimagined punk at its most direct and extreme values. With the iconic cover of younger, exhausted MacKaye brother Alec (now of Hammered Hulls, formerly Untouchables, The Faith), hunched over despondently, and recreated by everyone from the likes of Rancid to even Nike (yes, that Nike), it goes without saying that the name Minor Threat, the singular image, and even the inadvertent push of the straight edge message due to the track of the same moniker, are all integral, historic pieces of the hardcore punk blueprint and subsequent memorabilia.

Review: 76 High Street in Burton On Trent is, today, a pizza joint. Back in 1976, though, and throughout that decade and most of the following one, it was a hub of musical activity that hosted some of the greatest bands of the time. We're talking AC/DC, Dire Straits, Motorhead, Skid Row, Judas Priest, Suzi Quatro, Thin Lizzy and Ultravox. To name but a few.

More astute readers will have clocked that they can add The Sex Pistols to that list. The seminal punk outfit even opted to record their famous live album, Anarchy In the UK: Live at the 76 Club, at the address. Now we have this new edition of the record, which has lost none of its teeth clenched, anti-establishmentarianism, revolutionary feeling of the original. Simply put, this is what guitar music should sound like on stage - ferocious, unforgiving, and with the momentum of youth hell-bent on rejecting tradition.