Punk 45: Vol. 3 Proto-Punk 1969-76

This absolutely bonkers compilation of buried treasure is to proto-punk what Lenny Kaye's Nuggets was to 60s garage/psych, mining many overlooked and/or forgotten bands from a bygone era who crafted some of the most edgy and thrilling music in the annals of rock history. All of the music contained herein, taken from both singles and full-length LPs released between the years 1969-1976, showcases underground bands like Simply Saucer, Mirrors, Crime, and Debris, devoid of any and all commercial aspirations, oozing an experimental creativity while simultaneously huffing the fumes of the Velvets/Stooges/MC5/New York Dolls/Pink Fairies. Favoring stripped down, primitive basics in place of robust composition resulted in a haphazard brilliance that paved the way for the punk rock explosion of 1976-77. None of these groups ever attained the notoriety or stature of such punk luminaries as the Ramones, Sex Pistols, or the Damned, but time, along with the perspective it affords correctly reveals that this genre, retroactively dubbed proto-punk, is in fact the missing link between the raw, no-frills rock of 1960s garage titans like the 13th Floor Elevators and the entirety of the punk, post-punk, art rock, and outsider movements, with bands from Pere Ubu and Swell Maps to the Cramps and Monoshock drinking from this well in the years and decades that would follow.Loud, noisy, and experimental, proto-punk acted as the antithesis to, and in fact, was created in direct response, both intentionally and unintentionally, to the saccharine nature of early 1970s popular music and the big business it had become. On one side of the coin was the proliferation of bland crunchy granola singer/songwriter/AOR groups such as James Taylor, the Eagles, CSNY, et al., and on the other side there was the overblown pomposity, theatrics, and technical dexterity of progressive rock. Rock 'n roll, once dangerous, had become part of the establishment, with record sales, profits, technical proficiency, and mega-tours the yardsticks by which a band's success was measured. Proto-punk rejected all of this, recapturing the original maverick spirit of rock, with its deconstructionist ethos, unpredictable sound, DIY aesthetic, and steadfast refusal to adhere to prescribed formula. Amazingly, no two bands on this compilation sound like one another. From the hallucinatory dystopian electronics of Cabaret Voltaire to the snotty lo-fi grind of Electric Eels to the space age glam of Zolar X, each and every group forges their own unique sound and vision to stellar results.Ironically, despite their lack of "popularity", many of these bands mapped out sonic territory that entire future genres would be built upon. Case in point is The Killer Kane Band's "Mr. Cool" which single-handedly establishes within the context of one song the entire blueprint for every 1980s hair-metal band that ever existed. Honestly, there is not a bum track here. To the uninitiated, this collection of artists and songs can potentially open a whole new sound world that spins off in a thousand different directions with the exploration and discovery of underground music and its rich legacy.As thrilling and enjoyable as the music is, so also are the in-depth liner notes which act as a supplemental history lesson chronicling an overlooked and ignored, yet visionary and influential, era in rock 'n roll, with a detailed account of each band's profile, along with a comprehensive overview of the period itself. It was especially interesting to learn how many of the individuals associated with some of these groups were connected to a variety of later acts such as W.A.S.P., Dead Kennedys, and Lieutenant Pigeon.Eschewing notions of "success" and, to a larger extent, mainstream culture, proto-punk groups created uncompromised music strictly for themselves and other outsider types who could/would not relate to anyone/anything else. Unfettered by corporate pressure nonsense and showcasing the epitome of musical freedom and creativity, Punk 45: Sick on You! One Way Spit! After the Love and Before the Revolution, Vol.3: Proto-Punk 1969-1976 is an indispensable document of true underground music pioneers, and Soul Jazz Records deserves the highest accolades possible for researching and releasing it. On a final note, Soul Jazz has other excellent collections compiling punk, post-punk, and Krautrock which are comprehensively curated with the same scholarly attention to detail and just as well done as this one. Absolutely essential!

this is the third volume in this series and this is the only one out of 5 issues that combine a very broad selection of both us and uk pre punk /garage rock bands from the 70s, i see hector is on here and the electric eals as with other volumes here, also it is cool to see zolar x on here as well but the biggest thrill is to see jesse hector here, i loved the hammersmith gorillas back in the day, anyway all 45s on here have been remastered to sound there best, the 101ers never sounded better on cd and this also comes with a very informative booklet that gives you all the info you need on each artist, this was very very well made to i might add as sadly this media format is suffering like vinyl started to by 1986/87 but for my ears this works, i would say volume 1 and volume 2 are the best as i have always had more of an ear for the uk stuff but i am very happy with this lots of great bands here, i hope if this continues in the future they do editions by cities and countries for example do a stockholm edition, a hamburg edition, a paris or bussesls edition etc etc as europe had so many awesome garage rock bands in both the 60s and 70s its nice to have it all on one disc in one place, all 5 of these thus far come in nice thick slipcases and as i said the booklet is great!!!!!!!

RADIO PETE is the best lost 70's punk track to be unearthed in years.

great compilation!!

Great listening to very loud! ;-)

A very interesting collection of pretty much unknown (proto) punk bands. Proof that punk really was around a long time before Sex Pistols, Ramones etc burst on the scene (all the bands featured existed between 1969 and 1976). The reason these bands didnt 'make it' was because at the time, there was no 'frame of reference' for the music that these bands were playing and so therefore labels were not willing to take a chance on them as they were not considered commercially viable. Another reason is that the bands featured did not come from places were a 'new scene' was developing, such as New York, Detroit or London. I found this secret history of punk to be very interesting and the music to be great too. I have been into punk for 30 years now and about 90 per cent of this stuff was new to me... A worthy companion piece to the previous 2 volumes in this series, which are also excellent. Recommended.

Me he hecho con varios volumenes de esta colección de vinilos y aunque tienen cosas chulas, al final he desistido de completar la colección porque destacan más las rarezas que los temazos. En cualquier caso, como "bibliografía musical" está bien.

Ottima raccolta veramente consigliata !Mi piacciono la scelta dei brani e le raccolta delle cover delle band! Credo che completerò la collezione !

Super Punkrock-Serie bis jetzt. Das ist schon der 3.Teil, wird sicher noch was nachkommen. Leider fehlt bei der Vinyl-Ausgabe ein Booklet, was in der Cd-Version mitgeliefert wird. Das Buch zur Serie vervollständigt noch den musikalischen Eindruck und zeigt noch viele Möglichkeiten für eine Weiterführung von Punk 45 auf.