Sham 69 — The Albums 1978- 80( CD boxset)

Here’s a CD box set bringing together the first four albums from Hersham, Surrey's Sham 69. They started off as a street punk/ Oi! band, before shifting into a more produced/ polished classic British rock sound- the albums here very much highlight this shift.

The release appears on Cherry Red’s punk sublabel Captain Oi!. Each of the four CD albums comes presented in its own CD card slip, which reproduces the original album artwork. Also included is a glossy/ colourful twenty-page inlay booklet- this features five page write-up about the band/ the albums, loads of flyer art, vinyl labels, cassettes, etc.

Sham 69 formed in 1975, changing their musical direction after seeing the Sex Pistols live in 1976.  The line-up for their first 1977 single “I Don’t Wanna”  was Jimmy Pursey – vocals, David Parsons – guitar, Albie Maskell – bass guitar, Mark Cain – drums.  The band had two separate periods of existence: 1975-1980, and 1987- present day. There's been a fair turnover of band members, with Pursey being the only constant. They have remained one of the most known/ successful of all the British punk bands.

 

Kicking off the collection, we have the band’s 1978 debut album, Tell Us The Truth. This originally appeared on Polydor/ Sire, with the original first side being recorded live, and the second side in the studio.  The album, as you’d hope/ expect for a debut in the punk genre,  it's ragged, raw, and rowdy. We go from churning ‘n’ speeding verse and shouty/ chant along choruses of “Rip Off”. Onto gunning punk meets rocking ‘n’ rolling riff of “Borstal Breakout”- which ended up being one of the band's biggest hits. Though bounding bass line, steady drumming, and wavering Clash-like vocals of the title track. Finishing off with “Whose Generation!” which is their sort-of-cover of The Who's “My Generation” with weird filtered vocals & reverberating sound effects on.  The CD is topped off with four bonus tracks, which include unreleased album tracks & B sides. All in all, Tell Us The Truth is a decent punk rock debut, with some memorable/ key moments from the wider genre.

 

Next up is the band's second album, That’s Life- this originally appeared in the year 1978 on the Polydor label, and it incorporates a more Oi! Focused sound. Personally, I feel this is a high-water mark in the band's output, and one of the more intriguing punk albums of the time, as it featured memorable/ punchy tunes, and in between the tracks, we got a semi-story/ dialogue/ sound effects charting the life of a young man in the UK’s 1970’s. We kick off with “Leave Me Alone” which opens with early morning household banter- as the son of the house is up late- before we shift into a gunning riff & drum-smashing punk track- with Pursey shifting between Rotten-like shouty-ness, and more working class spoken word. There’s “That’s Life”  with its cheeky chappie vocals & galloping punked rock pace- which finishes off with betting shop banter.  Or the chant along, drinking down the pub stomp & crash anthem of “Hurry Up Harry”. Later on, there’s the gunning and crude punk rant of “Sunday Morning Nightmare”, chatting the day after. With the album playing out, “Is This Me Or This You?” with its chugging riff, slight wailing-ranting vocals, and very rock ‘n’ roll guitar solo. The CD is topped off with three bonus tracks.

 

Disc three is taken up by the band's third album The Adventures of the Hersham Boys- which appeared in 1979, and this most certainly saw a shift in the band's sound. The ten-track album feels a lot more polished, layered in its sound, with a more rock-focused in its attack. And I’m afraid for me, there was a lot less to enjoy- we have bounding piano backed/ Mott The Hoople like "Fly Dark Angel" where Pursey seems to be trying to channel a more husky voiced Mick Jagger. There’s the rather trite rock-country ballad of “You’re Better Man Than I”, or the rock ‘n’ roll punk chant along of “ What Have I got” which attempts to recapture the band's old spirit, but just feels contrived. I’d say only “Lost On Highway 46” has some real punch about it, as well as memorability- though I’m not sure about the jaunting, almost harpsichord breakdown, and awful mock US cop banter. The CD is finished off with seven bonus tracks.

 

Finally, we have The Game- this is from the year 1980, and while there’s a bit more spirt here, sonically we're still following the trend of more polished/ layered of the last album, with a more formal rock focus. On the more positive side we kick off with the title track, which has a nice urgent tolling riff, a gunning pace, shouty vocals, and boogie-woogie piano backing. And there’s the rather Clash-like verse meets wavering chanting choruses “Of Give A Dog A Bone”. But then on the less impressive/cringe-inducing side,  we have the trad gunning rock riff meets overdone/embarrassing chorus of “Tell The Children”. or the badly mimicking Sex Pistols churn of “Dead Or Alive”. We have six bonus tracks on the end of the CD.

 

So this box set is very much a game of two halves- as the band started off as a promising punk band, who had street spit ‘n’ spirit, and the ability to write memorable, at times consistent, chant-along songs. But sadly they landed up dilute, overproducing their sound, moving more towards a rather cliched/ bland rock-focused feel.