2CD – UK Import

Such was the response from press and public toKris Needs‘Dirty Water: The Birth Of Punk Attitudethat he’s filling the bathtub again with another riotous selection of proto-punk scorchers, garage band delights and seminal figures who either revolutionized a movement or upset their chosen apple-cart; all filling the arteries which would explode in 1976 and change the world. This new set casts its net even wider than the first, corralling sonic marauders such as Germany’sFaust, New York’s willfully shambolicGodz,George Clinton‘s barrier-tramplingParliament, original folk activistWoody Guthrieand deathly ’60s electronic trailblazersUnited States Of America.

As before, the set stretches back to primitive rock ‘n’ roll’s early salvos, including Bo DiddleyandJohnny Thunders‘ favoriteEddie Cochran, plus the hot-wired tremors of seminal UK outfits such asKilburn And The High Roads,Doctors Of Madness,Stack Waddy,Hammersmith Gorillasand theEdgar Broughton Band. New York City is represented byPatti Smith,Blondie, the mightyJayne County, dementedHoly Modal RoundersandDizzy Gillespie, representing the be-bop movement which flame-blasted cool jazz’s rigid trouser-seat, leaving a wide open orifice for the raw, spiritual anarchy ofAlbert Ayler.

Needs also exercises his long-standing fixation with obscure, unhinged ’60s U.S. garage-psych with theMisunderstood,Zachary Thaks,Human Expressionand high-energy Detroit garage bandsUnrelated SegmentsandTidal Waves. Reggae’s huge influence is acknowledged with righteous cuts fromTapper ZukieandJunior Murvin. The most singled-out artists on the first volume were New York doowoppersThe Silhouettes,Flamin’ Grooviesand Detroit’sDeath, so they’re here again, as areMott The Hooplein their later phase and untouchableSuicide(whoseMartin Revwas an invaluable sounding-board for the project, along withPrimal Scream‘sBobby Gillespie).David BowieasZiggy Stardustalso makes an appearance, as does Aylesbury lunaticJohn Otway. The two CDs sport 39 sizzling nuggets in all, again accompanied by a 76-page book, in which Needs explains his reasons for including tracks. This time, Needs feels that the project gets closer to an aural version ofZigzag, the crucial fanzine he edited in the ’70s; one reason the set is dedicated toCaptain Beefheart, who sadly passed away while it was being compiled, and represented by the blues roar of “Zigzag Wanderer.”