U.K. Subs – The Albums 1979 – 1982

U.K. Subs – The Albums 1979 – 1982

Captain Oi Records

5CD/DL

Out now

5CD set presenting the four studio LPs London Punk band U.K. Subs released during the timeframe, plus the live Crash Course album that hit the UK Top 10 in 1980. Also included are a wealth of bonus tracks. Ian Canty writes…

There were, of course, regular music press pronouncements that Punk was dead from the middle of 1977 onwards. But despite this, there still remained a large appetite for short, fast and loud blasts of pure fury to jump up and down to. With Sex Pistols’ implosion in early 1978 and The Clash seemingly engaged on “cracking America”, the scene was set for newcomers to step up. Though calling the venerable Charlie Harper a newcomer was a stretch due to age and plenty of previous experience in R&B/Pub outfits, his band U.K. Subs used the launchpad of a spot on the Farewell To The Roxy LP to rise to the apex of the UK Punk Rock scene.

Early on U.K. Subs numbered singer Harper, guitarist and co-writer Nicky Garrett, Paul Slack on bass and Rory Lyons behind the drum kit. Their ascendency was heralded by their live shows which attracted a highly partisan following that often wouldn’t merely tolerate the other acts on the bill, but actively sabotage them while all the time repeating the mantra “U.K. Subs, U.K. Subs”. The ultra-high speed fare that the band offered was evidently just what these Post-Pistols Punks required.

U.K. Subs’ first vinyl under their own steam was an EP on the Kingston-Upon-Thames-based imprint City Records in 1978 consisting of C.I.D., Live In A Car and B.I.C.. This was cut with their new drummer Pete Davies. The EP made waves on the independents and it received regular spins on The John Peel Show, with the band subsequently taping a number of sessions for the DJ. They then moved onto RCA’s sub-division Gem for the first of their 1979 records, the Stranglehold 7″.

After scoring medium-sized UK hits with the Stranglehold and the chunky Tomorrow’s Girl 45s, the world was ready for a U.K. Subs album. They had honed their direct attack in the live setting and put down a 17 track set of high-velocity Punk anthems that covered all the spikey top bases. A new version of C.I.D. speeds out of the blocks and I Live In A Car remains a minimalist Punk classic. World War and Rockers both come complete with memorable choruses, something of a band trademark and I’m a little surprised some bright spark of a compiler hasn’t put TV Blues, which uses an eerie drone to good effect, on some sort of Post Punk various artists set.

Blues itself is full of souped-up R&B vigour, with Crash Course prospering via a heavy-duty hook-line. A zesty Young Criminals, the headlong rush that is Disease and Stranglehold tie up a satisfying first long player for The Subs. The end of this disc adds the City E.P. and the Stranglehold and Tomorrow’s Girl single sides. Among these bonus cuts is Telephone Numbers. It was featured on Farewell To The Roxy and the studio cut here is a real fizzer.

Working on the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, The Subs unleashed their next collection Brand New Age in 1980, which appears as a direct follow-on from Another Kind Of Blues. Of the 14 tunes included, most are straightforward Punk detonations. You Can’t Take It sets out the band’s stall early on, building up through bass and drums to guitar surges with an echo-laden Harper and the catchy title track then sets forth. The slow burning Warhead was another hit single for the band and I’ve always liked the clumsily worded, but hugely likeable Organised Crime.

A firecracker in Rat Race forms itself as a first class ticket to pogo heaven, with Kicks, in a different mix to the one of the EP, coming with a huge dose of tearaway charm. The stop-start of a two part Emotional Blackmail has endured and the latter part marks the end of Brand New Age. While not offering much in the way of development, the performances and songs are strong on this second LP. As with disc one, single sides are collected after the album. It was surprising that a heavy-duty Punk band covered 60s Pop marvels The Zombies, though I can remember Charlie manfully trying to mime guitar on a flying V while Paul Slack sang She’s Not There on TOTP. The Subs also motor through The Velvet Underground’s Waiting For The Man and their own power-packed gem Left For Dead here.

Crash Course, a UK Top 10 album later in 1980, was the high water mark of the band’s success. On stage, where they truly thrived, was always the best place to hear them and this record mostly captured their frenetic energy better than any other. Although the usual studio tweaks were applied to the performance at the Rainbow in London as overdubs, one could not doubt this was as near as you could get to a Subs’ show without actually being there. Rattling through 20 numbers from their 45s and LPs, Charlie and Co never sounded better and this is perhaps the U.K. Subs document.

The four additional tracks added to this third disc come from the limited edition EP that came with the first copies of the LP. This quartet were set down at a London Lyceum show back in 1979, with full-bodied takes Lady Esquire and Blues starring.

By the time of Diminished Responsibility in 1981, there was a whole new wave of UK Punk bands coming through and also across the Atlantic Hardcore was kicking off in both senses of the term. The U.K. Subs’ commercial success was starting to levelling off, but this LP still made number 18 in the UK charts. A new rhythm section of Steve Roberts and Alvin Gibbs was in place to assist the search for something fresh after the last 3 collections had ensured their Punk cred.

Near-Metal, catchy stylings abound on You Don’t Belong, the first sign that U.K. Subs were moving slightly away from the 2 minute thrash that had made their success. However, So What and Confrontation quickly confirm they weren’t quite done with the fast and furious template yet. It was a case of evolution, not radical change as anyone who dug The Subs’ previous platters found much to occupy themselves here. But dabbles in the direction of the new are present, one could say that Fatal even dips into a PIL-type whine, if you took away the Boogie Rock structure.

Some might feel that having Glam producer Mike Leander behind the boards should have provided more expansive results, but the likes of a hoarse and propulsive Violent City pass muster. After the final big U.K. Subs Top 40 single Party In Paris turns up, bass-heavy R&B number Gangster impresses, with New Order containing some interesting guitar work. The album is curtailed by a staccato Collision Cult.

The contemporary single cuts comes next on this disc. Fall Of The Empire is pretty much a standard Subs’ standard, but the Keep On Running (Til You Burn) 45 found Charlie’s boys struggling towards a newer sound, not unlike a Punkier Police. An atmospheric Ice Age, which would be re-record for the next Subs album, joined the French take of Party In Paris on the 12 inch of Keep On Running.

Finally for the bonuses on this disc we have four Charlie Harper single tracks, the first of which Barmy London Army was a minor UK hit. For my money the Garage Punk organ accoutrements of Freaked is the better of the two A sides. It came with a neat flip too in the London tale of woe that is Jo.

Endangered Species found the band on the famous Brian Epstein-linked NEMS imprint, after Gem had folded. The title track is in the classic Subs format of pummelling riffs meeting a rock-solid chorus and the following Living Dead has Alvin Gibbs becoming the second U.K. Subs bass player to take over lead vocals. The anthemic Countdown was released as a single and you can imagine if it came out on Gem two years earlier, it probably would have got in the charts. However NEMS did not have a major label tie-in and as a result on 45 it had to be content with featuring in the Indie listings instead.

A harmonica intro to Ambition takes the band back to their Blues beginnings and the heads-down rush of Lie Down And Die seems to marry their natural impulses to something a little more accessible. A meaty Fear Of Girls follows and Down On The Farm later netted a golden disc through being covered by Guns N Roses. But the original is the only one that you need.

Moving onto the more experimental second side of the album we have five cuts that ensue with the synth-enhanced tension of Sensitive Boys. Divide 8 x 5 stretches out even further towards an “alternative Rock” sound, but I Robot seems be the kind of Glam Punk item that the Mike Leander collaboration might have yielded. The Pop/Rock of Flesh Wound ends an interesting, if not totally satisfying Subs record. Lastly we have Countdown’s run of the mill flipside Plan Of Action and LP outtake I Don’t Need Your Love added at the end.

The years after the records documented here were tough on The Subs. The Harper/Garrett/Gibbs/Roberts version soon fell away and from there on the band’s line up seemed to change at almost every other gig. In the late 1980s and 1990s, they found themselves playing the smaller venues of Britain to just a handful of faithful fans and their records struggled to make any impact. Even so, they kept on going and fortunately over recent years their stock has risen exponentially.

Despite having recently quite touring, they remain a good live draw in the modern day. If you attend any of these gigs, you will probably find that many tracks drawn from these albums litter the setlist. These records were clearly built to last and as post-1978 Punk LPs the first three at least still crackle with energy. Having said that, they have been reissued a number of times down the years and there is a precious little here that is actually rare. But if you are still missing a couple of these albums in your collection, you may want to add this set to it.

Get a copy of U.K. Subs – The Albums 1979 – 1982 here