Continuing Jon Savage’s critically acclaimed series of compilations for Ace, which began in 1966 to soundtrack his Faber book of the same name/year, Jon’s musical journey is now firmly entrenched in the 1970s and all the rock variants you can shake a stick at.
This double CD covers five full years of rocking out, watching our beloved, familiar rock’n’roll morph its way into power pop, glam rock, pub rock, krautrock and punk rock. Even the hippies were finding their teeth and plugging in their guitars. Many of the chart acts had, in one form or another, been around since the mid-60s and they adapted their core aesthetic for the new era, and with this volume, we find the young punk-to-be Jon settling into his tribe and his stride.
In his ongoing quest to define the era these compilations cover, Jon does not follow the accredited pre-punk timelines but aims to reflect the fertility of the years between 1972 and 1976. It moves from Californian decadence (Little Feat, the re-formed Byrds) through quirky Brit rock (the Move), through the Flamin’ Groovies, Iggy & the Stooges, into one major trend of the times, power pop – aka what would the Beatles sound like if they were still going?
And speaking of whom, in a very rare coup, Apple have allowed John Lennon and Yoko Ono to feature on a compilation and are nestled here with pride. We pass through one-offs like Andy Pratt’s astonishing, pro-feminist ‘Avenging Annie’ into glam’s long tail (Roxy Music, Sparks, Eno and Suzi Quatro) and then street rock outliers like the Hammersmith Gorillas and the role our very own Rock On played in the story.
1975 is when reality hits, with the stripped viciousness of Dr. Feelgood and Murray Head’s regretful address to a derelict and destroyed country. The Count Bishops and the Hot Rods speed up pub rock, while the Ramones crash in to take the prize. Nick Lowe reminds us that there was life before punk and Pere Ubu point to post-punk before it’s hardly started. As always, to be continued…
CD 1:
01. Little Feat – Easy to Slip
02. The Move – Do Ya
03. Grin – End Unkind
04. Alice Cooper – School’s Out
05. The Wackers – I Hardly Know Her Name
06. Faust – So Far
07. Flamin’ Groovies – Slow Death
08. Mott the Hoople – One of the Boys
09. Big Star – When My Baby’s Beside Me
10. Smyle – She Means a Lot to Me
11. Free – Wishing Well
12. The Byrds – Full Circle
13. The Sweet – Blockbuster!
14. Lou Reed – Vicious
15. Andy Pratt – Avenging Annie
16. Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band – Yang Yang
17. Roxy Music – Editions of You
18. Iggy & The Stooges – Search and Destroy
19. Suzi Quatro – 48 Crash
20. New York Dolls – Trash
21. Dana Gillespie – Andy Warhol
22. John Lennon – #9 Dream
CD 2:
01. Sparks – Girl from Germany
02. The Hammersmith Gorillas – You Really Got Me
03. John Cale – The Man Who Couldn’t Afford to Orgy
04. Patti Smith – Hey Joe (Version)
05. Eno – Third Uncle
06. Hawkwind – Kings of Speed
07. Dr Feelgood – I Don’t Mind
08. Neu – After Eight
09. R. Ericson & Bleibalien – Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog)
10. Jonathan Richman – Roadrunner
11. Murray Head – Say It Ain’t So Joe
12. Kraftwerk – Radioactivity
13. Pere Ubu – Final Solution
14. Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
15. Wayne County & The Backstreet Boys – Max’s Kansas City ’76 Pt 1
16. The Runaways – Cherry Bomb
17. Blondie – X Offender
18. Eddie & The Hot Rods – Horseplay (Weary of the Schmaltz)
19. The 101’ers – Keys to Your Heart
20. Blue Oyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) The Reaper
21. Nick Lowe – Heart of the City
22. The Count Bishops – Train Train