Various

★★★ Jobcentre Rejects Vol 3: Ultra-Rare NWOBHM 1978-1983 ON THE DOLE. CD/DL/LP Deep trawl through provincial rock and metal in Thatcher’s Britain. Instalment three of On The Dole Records’ ongoing series again pans for gold in the barren wastelands of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. A genre cooked up in the late 1970s by music weekly Sounds, the NWOBHM helped launch Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard, but most of the groups flying its flag of convenience were at best so-so, at worst wretched. However, the youthful DIY spirit here is infectious and oddly nostalgic, especially for those who caught, say, St Albans’ local heroes Clientelle opening for Angelwitch in a pokey theatre in Rickmansworth nearly 40 years ago. That said, it’s hard to regard Pali Gap, Jameson Raid and Dragonfly (despite their fine guitarist, east Londoner Rudi Riviere) as part of a great lost musical movement or worthy of bigger, better things. Fantastically obscure, occasionally fun, but sadly, mostly inessential. Mark Blake