Customer Reviews

We Oppose All Rock & Roll

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

 

 

That's how I'm feeling for not having heard Subway Sect years ago, only discovering them a couple days prior to this review. I've been devouring punk rock since I was 14 and have only heard of this band in passing, mainly because they never released a proper album, well this comp takes care of things nicely. You get some original SS songs as well as Vic Godard solo stuff, which I honestly love just as much as the SS songs. I'm totally positive that I wouldn't have appreciated songs like Spring Is Grey or Stop That Girl when I was a teenager listening to crap (sorry, but they're crap) like The Exploited.

I'm not sure how to explain the sounds of SS, Vic Godard is a little easier, classic punk meets classic pop, with a touch of folk?... I guess. Okay, so maybe it's not easy, but for Subway Sect I hear a little Damned, and a little... er, that's all I can really think of. These songs are just so original and fresh sounding. I'm flipping over getting this disc w/ bonus CD, I've truly found another favorite that I'll be listening to until I'm old and dead. The songs found here just help cement that music is the most important thing in life and I truly thank the people that create the sounds that help me get out of bed every morning. So yeah, Subway Sect, find it and buy it no matter the cost.

Bernie Rhodes shelved the original Subway Sect album, then it became lost forever. Luckly, about half of its songs, through monitor recordings, came out on vinyl on "a retrospective" in the mid eighties. From what I recall, that half is close to (maybe the same as) what is released here, along with some later, post original group stuff which includes songs from the first Vic Godard and the Subway Sect LP like a John Peel session and 'Who's that Girl' from the second Vic Godard LP with the Black Arabs (remember the Great Rock and Roll Swindle). Unfortunately, the whole original LP can't be released, unless someone finds a unlikely extra copy of the master, but at least we have some of it, including songs from the 2 released singles, a Peel session and a 3 song bonus c. d..

This cd is in effect a re-release of the Rough Trade's number 56 issue VG&TSS: A Retrospective 1977-81 from 1984, though this one tells a slightly different story. A must for all, it is as close as we can come to those days for Vic Godard and the Sect. It includes a limited ed. live cd with some 4 tracks, but Ambition, Different Story, Double Negative, and Stool Pigeon will keep you busy. Find if you can "Stand Back" and the originals and then await the discovery of Yeah, Yeah, Noh. Sublime Sect is all thanks to Hugo Lane. Godard is a happy postman in So. London and plays to this day locally. See "End of the Surrey People". Enjoy.

tones, beats, keys, vocals, cords, all twisting, bending, and smashing into each other. it's like their all playing a second or two behind. one guy is going faster trying to catch up, the second is slowing down and the rest seem to do whatever they like. how they put it all together and make it sound so good is beyond me. from the very begining of 'Don't Split It' you want to wack the side of your stereo. by the end of the song your checking for cracks in the cd. but it sounds so f'n good! the songs just seem to come together at the right times and flow with a strong pop beat. 'Double Negative' is by far my favorite. the first time i heard this song i had no idea where it was going. i had some pretty good cold medicine at the time which made it even more interesting. i recomend both.