Various Artists

Punk & Disorderly: The Albums (The Sound Of UK82)

CAPTAIN OI! The sound of punk not being dead in the 80s.

If one particular school of thought is to be believed, punk rock died on its snot-encrusted arse when the art-school contingent moved on, leaving behind a gurning rabble of tuneless knuckleheads with, at best, four chords between them. These three compilations, all big hits in the indie charts four decades ago, tell a different story, albeit one that still sounds like the perfect soundtrack for smashing a pint glass on your own head.

Bringing together lots of rowdy street punk and Oi!, plus a smattering of more adventurous post-punk, the

Punk And Disorderly series stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of likeminded enterprises. The first and best of the three is an exhilarating riot, bulging with cherished gems, from The Adicts’ Straight Jacket and Dead Kennedys’ ageless Kill The Poor, to the startling brutality of Discharge’s State Violence State Control and Peter And The Test Tube Babies’ brilliantly stupid

Banned From The Pubs.

Disc Two (Punk And Disorderly – Further Charges) veers from the raging, two-minute perfection of One Way System’s

Stab The Judge to the elegant spikiness of Action Pact’s

London Bouncers, taking in certified window smashers from G.B.H., Abrasive Wheels and The Varukers along the way. The final disc (regrettable subtitle:

The Final Solution) offers The Exploited and U.K. Subs alongside works of minimalist genius like The Expelled’s immortal Have You Got 10p?

Okay, so there’s nothing here to give The Clash sleepless nights, but punk’s second wave caused plenty of delicious damage in its own right. ■■■■■■■■■■