Look Out Cleveland

The impeccable Punk 45 series on the Soul Jazz label brought us two new volumes this year, covering Akron and Cleveland. The former (Burn, Rubber City, Burn! Akron, Ohio Punk And The Decline Of The Mid-West 1975-80) is a decent collection featuring the Bizarros, Tin Huey and Devo amongst others, but doesn't surpass Stiff's ancient Akron Compilation. The Cleveland one (Extermination Nights In The Sixth City - Cleveland, Ohio: Punk And The Decline Of The Mid-West 1975-1982) is a dream come true though. Incredible how such a truckload of great bands thrived there in relative isolation. Pere Ubu, the Pagans, Electric Eels, and Mirrors all make an entrance, and nearly all those adventurous stabs at artrock still sound remarkably fresh today.

The Bizarros - I Bizarro
Jazz Destroyers - Love Meant To Die

Snuff

For the best spoof ever on early British punk, look no further than the impressively monikered Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias, a comedy band from Manchester. Their Snuff Rock ep, released in the magical year of 1977 on the mighty Stiff Records, features some razorsharp parodies of the musical movement that shocked the nation at the time.

In Gobbing On Life - "living is a cliché, it´s all been done before..." - they do a nice take on Rotten and the Pistols, but it´s Kill, their hilarious take on the Damned, that steals the show. "I´m gonna cut me liver out and shove it in yer face..."

Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias - Gobbing On Life

Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias - Kill