Customer Reviews

All Skrewed Up

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Before they started writing "peace n harmony" anthem like "white power", "heil the new dawn" and "free Roudolph Hess" the original Skrewdriver line-up were the bridge between the Stones & Who and the Pistols & Ramones. "All Skrewed Up" effectively combines the "Maximum R&B" of "Who Sing My Generation" and the minimalist speed of "Ramones Leave Home"... and NO racism! The late Ian Stuart, all things considered, was a brilliant blue-inspired performer- defenatly the most talented Nazi since Emil Jannings!
This is one of the best UK punk LPs of 77... yet because of what Stuart turned the band into you will NOT see "All Skrewed Up" on most favorites lists. I liken this album to an Ezra Pound peom: you'll see Pound's writings in any poetry or English lit textbook... in spite of the fact that, during WW II, Pound was an outspoken Nazi sympathizer! Because of 'Driver's later LPs like "What Rider" and "Blood & Honour" most punk experts will gladly ignore this incredible 77 effort. Yet no one complains when Pound's work is dicussed in Poetry 101.
(If Ian Stuart haddn't been bitten ny the Hitler bug he would have been an excellent blues peformer and could have convinsingly shared the stage with Eric Clapton or BB King.)

If you think that the Sex Pistols "Bollocks" album is the ultimate `77 punk album then you should give "All Skrewed Up" a listen. This highly underated and fairly unknown album started the whole Oi! skinhead revival movement back in 1977. Skrewdriver were the first, they started a year before Sham 69. Cock Sparrer started round the same time as Skrewdriver but sparrer were never really an oi! band until their 1982 "Shock Troops" album. "All Skrewed Up" was released at nearly exactly the same time as "Bollocks" but because the Pistols were being hyped up by the controlled media, All Skrewed Up was unfortunately ignored. "All Skrewed up" is just as good, if not better than "Bollocks" and is so much better than the Clash`s debut 1977 album which is highly over rated (like all clash albums). This Skrewdriver debut album is very powerful and raw in your face boot stomping oi punk rock from 4 very talented guys from Blackpool. Buy it before it`s deleted.

We all know what happened to Skrewdriver...

but don't let that stop you from picking up and enjoying this record. This is some real gritty rock&roll. Some great covers, Won't get Fooled Again, and 19th Nervous Breakdown. The originals are all solid too. Anti-social is the only one most people know, but check out songs like Jailbait.

Throw this on when there's some punkers around... watch them cringe when you let on that they've been enjoying Skrewdriver. Har.

and a great cd at that - my three favorite tracks are probably - i don't like you, antisocial, and.... we won't get fooled again. the whole cd is good but those three are pry my favs.

and i can't say enough about ordering from amazon, not had a problem yet and i get everything in a very timely manner, my skrewdriver cd's have come from "Die Hard Records" i believe and have delivered great quality.

It's fashionable in some circles to make a big deal out of how great this record is. Sure, the band's name later became synonymous with "Nazi skinhead" but hey, their first album wasn't racist, and it rocked! And yes, there's not a racist rant to be found here, though the lyrics might be less inane if there were. Lyrically it makes Mickey Fitz sound like a Harvard scholar, and musically it makes the Sex Pistols sound like King Crimson. I guess that's the appeal for some people, especially those who are still mentally fifteen years old and want everything as crappy and dumbed-down as possible. However, I think it's pretty safe to say that this record's popularity is mostly a side-effect of the band's later notoriety as the Beatles of the White Power movement; there's not much else to distinguish it. If you're so hard up for semi-obscure early British punk, there are about 100 better bands...Eater, The Adverts, Magazine, Subway Sect, and The Slits just off the top of my head. But if you just want to show that you're not some PC wimp, or you think Sham 69 is too polished, this is the perfect purchase.