Customer Reviews

The Complete Stiff Years - Dirty Looks / Turn It Up

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Overlooked by almost everyone upon its release in 1980, the first self-titled by Dirty Looks is a Post Punk Classic. Coupled with their not quite so great second album Turn It Up, this is a must buy for music lovers who like great songwriting played and sung with skill, passion and energy.

One reason the band was overlooked was that though they had the neo- Sixties look of the immediate post punk era they were unfashionable for at least two reasons.

First of all they were seasoned musicians coming out of the New York area bar band circuit. Yes, they could actually play their respective instruments.

Second, Patrick Barnes' songs were more closely aligned with Rock & Roll of the 50s and 60s than to the Punk Rock of their peers Blondie, Richard Hell and the Talking Heads.

Their attitude was not the snotty Brit punk of the Sex Pistols or The Clash or the fringe attitude of the other New York bands.

And Barnes (Briody)relates the story of his orange Gretsch guitar, a most unfashionable instrument in the late Seventies.

But one listen to songs like Lie To Me or Take A Life is proof of an affinity with both Elvis Costello and The Who.

After listening to CD 1, which includes the first album plus three B-sides and four live songs, I reached the same conclusion I did 27 years ago when I first bought this record- this is great stuff.

My theory of music is this- there is no new music or old music, just music you've heard or music you haven't heard.

Hear this music.

Classic new wave power pop from NYC, this has been out of print for decades, other than obscure Italian collection.

2cd set includes both their albums with some bonus live tracks.

Herky jerky rhythms spare muscular guitar bass drums sound with punkish vocals. They almost could be American mods, but guitar sound is cleaner than Who-ish power chords.

Dirty Looks was Green Day before there even was a Green Day. Powerhouse music! Why this group didn't make it alot bigger is beyond me. They were great. This is a classic. Buy it, you won't regret it!