Customer Reviews

Stiff Box

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

 

 

I was in my teens when this kind of music was played on the radio , I lived in ex Yugoslavia and I was reading a lot about the new wave and all those stuff i England. I loved those groups but I never actually had a chance to listen all those recors ( I Lived in ex Yugoslavia for Gud`s sake ) , now I lived in Sweden and have money to buy records but I am not 13 , 14 , 15 years old anymore and the music doesn`t mean EVERYTHING to me. This box remaind me what music can do with your life and how it is to be 17 again . By this one , no metter how old you are , this is history.

Strange...I remember trying to search for this boxed set earlier in the year and coming up with nil for my efforts. Then, after accidentally finding it in a New York record store and acquiring it right away, I find it on here. Must be my mind playing tricks on me.

In any case, I'm not old enough to have lived through the era from which these songs sprung, but the appeal of the music easily traverses the generation gap. I haven't even yet explored all of this set and it's already been some of the most fun listening experiences I've had while listening to "older music": Elvis Costello, The Belle Stars, Nick Lowe, Kirsty MacColl...and personal favourite, spunky popster Rachel Sweet. Vivacious and highly entertaining. My only complaint is that the liner notes are somewhat flimsy. Though full of the kind of tongue-in-cheek humour that, apparently, Stiff Records was famous for, the result of the non-journalistic approach is that there's very little real information on the music, the history, the label, and the context, hidden by the cheeky writing and witticisms. I for one would've liked some more detached, professional journalism to inform me of the significance of this music such as in that Amplifier article I had read (which led me to look for this boxed set in the first place). So on the packaging front, much is left to be desired. But the music is uniquely appealing, a world of its own.

Stiff is one of those wacky labels that always seemed to sneak by just under the pop radar.

I received this set as a gift a few years ago, and couldn't be happier about it. This collection is so full of unknown bits of whimsy and little-known cuts by more popular artist that it starts to become more of a treasure chest than a "best of."

Ian Drury of "Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll" fame appears as vocals on several other cuts including "Kitchen at Parties." This collection is full of simmilar fun little nuggets.

So much of the "alternative" music scene that was largely contained by British borders seems to be archived here, and it's fun to tap into it. Americans (such as myself) who always thought that the band Madness was largely a one hit wonder will be surprised by the spastic "Baggy Trousers," a song I enjoyed so much I have purchased several Madness CDs since hearing it.

While Elvis Costello originally got his start on Stiff, he has only one song here - probably a god thing, as we all have a good idea what he sounds like - leaving more room for the lesser known artists of Stiff.

There is a charming wackiness to this collection and to the whole Stiff attitude. This is a great collection for exploring what the Brits were doing while we tollerated Dexy's Midnight Runners.

Oh! Special bonus: There is a fabulous (FABULOUS) cut of Desmond Dekker's "Isrealites" on disc three. This along merits purchasing this set.

Where is Ian Gomm's "Hold On" on this Stiff compilation set?
It was released by Stiff Records in the USA back in 1979 on the Stiff/Epic label and was the only US Top Twenty hit that Stiff Records ever had in the USA.
A very important ommision in the Stiff Records story and a wonderful Martin Rushent produced track, even if I have to say so myself! Gomm With The Wind!

Disc 1 & 2 are the whole reason to buy this, with a few cuts from disc 3 thrown in as a bonus. Probably more economical to have your old 45 RPM versions converted to CD (and keep those goofy quips engraved in each record's blank space next to the label).

Look over the list of artists on the CD, the ones you recognize - go out and buy all their CD's. While STIFF was great in the late 1970's as the conveyor of UK/Euro indie music - most of the best artists moved on - what's left is an interesting time capsule of that the last 70's and very early 80's. There is reason Humphrey Ocean & the Hardy Annuals or Mick Farren are forgotten. At the time, they were loud and brash and a nice antidote to the soft rock era of the 1970's but from that emerged Costello, Nick Lowe, and hundreds of artists you can name & remember ... and of course, leaving most of these guys & women behind ... so if you're a completist collector, you'll want these tracks but for listening beyond the names you recognize? Not so much. They are pretty much out-dated minor league stuff and the sound quality is not that great here so for a lot of reasons, you're better buying artist specific CD's or a more accessible collection of pre-new wave tracks that contain the "one-hit" wonder tracks anyway.