Customer Reviews

Boots & Braces/Voice of Britain

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

 

 

Musically it doesn't get much better than this if you love punk with strong roots in late 50's early 60's era rock. Racist lyrics? Depends on where you draw the line (when is pride prejudice?), but they are definitely controversial. However you look at it though you will have to agree, these are some catchy tunes.

This is a great oi album and THE classic album for all the right-wing skins and hooligans everyone hates so much.It's a comp of a few releases they put out after re-forming in the early 80's.Their first album is a really great oi album and criminally underrated,mostly due to the later notoriety attached to the band's name.Basic oi with a slight folksy,rockish touch and catchy melodies.The original lineup broke up due to the notoriety they had due to their violent gigs and rowdy following.The trendy,sensitive,efete hippy music press instinctively hates any overt or implied expression of testosterone and oi music in general got bashed by them at every turn.Too working-class and real,not artsy or leftist enough.Aside from Ian Stuart they were mostly a different band when they re-formed to record this.The production is stronger on this one,a bit heavier and rougher,more powerful overall.I'm amazed that they got this great sound on an oi band's budget.And the pro-white and patriotic politics are all over the place.For all the hysterical ink spilled demonizing them you'd be surprised how tame the lyrics really are.This was and is a great oi album,their musical peak in my opinion.After this one,their sound morphed quickly into a strange sort of Nationalist viking rock deal that only appealed to the white power crowd.Good vintage oi bands rarely seemed to have more than a couple of great albums in them before their sound mutated into something weird(think Cockney Rejects and Sham 69).Most of the mainstream skins who will deny liking Skrewdriver or their politics secretly own this album or at least know their songs.Lars Friederiksen & The Bastards (yeah,Lars from Rancid) covered Skrewdriver's "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" from a later release note for note,changing the lyrics and giving no credit(Campbell,California).Check it out.I'm sure the oh-so-trendy PC punks who fancy themselves rebels while whining about war,Bush,government,capitalism,ect.blah,blah,blah will reflexively trash this album like the thought-policing mowhawked hippies and sheep that they are.But they won't dare type a keystroke against the much more extreme,violently racist crap put out by Public Enemy,Apache,Ice T,Brand Nubian,and many other major-label MTV-supported rap groups that don't get a 10th of the heat Skrewdriver got while staying broke.If you don't like what they have to say,don't listen to them.The Clash and U2 put out plenty of safe,sensitive lefty stuff were all subjected to so go jam that stuff when you feel "political".PC punk fashion-trendies and other suburban hippies aside,this is essential stuff.The album all the skins and hoolies (and many punks)listen to but don't discuss.A guilty,secret pleasure.Whatever your political views,this'll be the most interesting listen you've had in a while.Man up and check it out already.

When I bought this album in the 80s the final song was When The Boat Comes In. 5 years ago I threw out my records thinking I could replace them with CDs. But when I purchased Voice of Britain from Amazon the final track was missing. It has controversial, racist lyrics, and thus I imagine somebody didn't want to be associated with the controversy even though they didn't mind profiting from it. Seems rather lame to me. Obviously most people, at least on the surface, reject the message of Skrewdriver. Nevertheless, you would think in a democratic nation we would want to facilitate a diversity of views and artistic accomplishments, even the ones with which we may disagree. Too bad, really.

In any case, the quality of the music is decent. Not genius, but decent and catchy. I like to have the cd in my collection simply because I want to be exposed to a variety of views without sheltering myself---just like I have Carl Schmitt in my book collection. Why not? If I'm going to read liberal Marxists, why not the Nazi intellectuals too!?

And a great place to start if you're just getting into Skrewdriver. This is really Oi! at its best, despite the racist lyrics. From the opening track to closing track, you'll find yourself tapping your fingers on the table to the beat of these classic songs.

Not only is the message weak and neandratholic, the singer sounds like he's had tons of kilbasa slammed down his throat! Rest In Piss Ian.