Releasing July 23rd, 2021 via Cherry Red Records UK, Punk & Disorderly: Albums (The Sound Of UK82) is a 3CD, 64 track digipak box-set that concentrates on one of the most successful Punk compilation series ever, Punk & Disorderly.

Vol. 1 came out in March 1982 and reached No.48 in the UK National Charts as well as spending nigh on eight months in the Independent Chart, peaking at No.3.

Seminal Indie Chart hits from the likes of Dead Kennedys, Blitz, Vice Squad and G.B.H. helped establish the format of the series and quickly caught the imagination of the Punk buying public.

The bonus tracks on the first disc are from Anti Nowhere League, The Defects, Discharge, The Lurkers and Special Duties.

Further Charges was released in September 1982 and sneaked into the UK National Chart at No.91 as well as reaching No. 6 in the Independent version.

Another 16 Indie Chart hit singles highlighting the UK82 Punk scene were gathered together by original label Anagram Records and they have now added bonus cuts from Dead Man’s Shadow, Instant Agony, Last Rites, Mau Maus and The Varukers.

Disc 3 concentrates on the third volume Final Solution which came out in the summer of 1983 and hit No.10 in the Independent Chart. Alongside the likes of Punk stalwarts U.K. Subs, Angelic Upstarts and Newtown Neurotics were UK82 heroes like The Exploited, Adicts and Abrasive Wheels.

Again there have been bonus tracks added courtesy of Dead Wretched, External Menace, Resistance 77, Major Accident, Riot Squad and The Blood, each track from an Indie Chart hit single.

The booklet contains detailed liner notes and pictures of all related singles.

Disc One: PUNK AND DISORDERLY
1. LAST ROCKERS – Vice Squad
2. STRAIGHT JACKET – The Adicts
3. FOR MY COUNTRY – UK Decay
4. COMPLETE DISORDER – Disorder
5. BANNED FROM THE PUBS – Peter And The Test Tube Babies
6. YOUNG OFFENDER – Disrupters
7. IN BRITAIN – Red Alert
8. SOMEONE’S GONNA DIE – Blitz
9. KILL THE POOR – Dead Kennedys
10. POLICE STORY – The Partisans
11. NO ROOM FOR YOU – Demob
12. LAST DAY – The Insane
13. ARMY SONG – Abrasive Wheels
14. 4 MINUTE WARNING – Chaos U.K.
15. MANIA – The Outcasts
16. RACE AGAINST TIME – G.B.H.
17. LET’S BREAK THE LAW – Anti-Nowhere League [Bonus Track]
18. DANCE (TIL YOU DROP) – The Defects [Bonus Track]
19. STATE VIOLENCE STATE CONTROL – Discharge [Bonus Track]
20. THIS DIRTY TOWN – The Lurkers [Bonus Track]
21. PUNK ROCKER – Special Duties [Bonus Track]

One of the classic Punk compilations that has ever been created, this definitive retrospective on the criminally underrated early-’80s U.K. Punk scene is a leather jacket studded with nonstop spikes to pogo to ’til you drop!

Stand outs for me include The Partisans’ riotous debut single Police Story, GBH manically ripping through Race Against Time, Blitz bringing their youthful energy to the fore on the excellent Someone’s Gonna Die Tonight, and amongst others, Chaos U.K.s vividly entertaining 4 Minute Warning and Red Alert’s mob-handed vocal approach to In Britain.

Overall, the wide range of Punk is compellingly charged in full blast: mid-paced sneers with Last Rockers, Straight Jacket, For My Country; melodic sensibilities as romantic as a middle finger thrust to your face - No Room for You, Mania; a bristling odd man out - Kill the Poor; the lone dud: Last Day; and headbanging moshfests - Complete Disorder, Race Against Time.

Simply put, Punk & Disorderly is the quintessence of an age, a time, a look and a sound that inspired a generation to spike their hair and let loose!

Disc Two: PUNK AND DISORDERLY – FURTHER CHARGES
1. SICK BOY – G.B.H.
2. DREAMING – The Expelled
3. EL SALVADOR – The Insane
4. STAB THE JUDGE – One Way System
5. GOTTA GET OUT – Court Martial
6. LONDON BOUNCERS – Action Pact
7. THE MASQUE – The Dark
8. GANGLAND – Violators
9. I’VE GOT A GUN – Channel 3
10. VICIOUS CIRCLE – Abrasive Wheels
11. FALLEN HERO – The Enemy
12. DEATH TO HUMANITY – Riot/Clone
13. HOBBY FOR A DAY – The Wall
14. MORE THAN FIGHTS – Disorder
15. SHELLSHOCK – Erazerhead
16. RESURRECTION – Vice Squad
17. NO SIGN OF LIFE – Instant Agony [Bonus Track]
18. WE DON’T CARE – Last Rites [Bonus Track]
19. SOCIETY’S REJECTS – Mau Maus [Bonus Track]
20. DON’T WANNA BE A VICTIM – The Varukers [Bonus Track]
21. TOLERATION STREET – Dead Man’s Shadow [Bonus Track]

Continuing the theme, depending on your perspective, the early-’80s Brit-punkers were abrasive, Mohawked no-hopers, or a necessary response to class of ’77 ideals derailed by major-label chicanery.

Whatever theory you embrace, there’s no denying the stripped-down, street-level immediacy of bands like the Adicts, Abrasive Wheels, Chron Gen, and Vice Squad, all of whom are represented here.

Not surprisingly, velocity is the priority, although mid-tempo tracks like the Adicts’ Viva le Revolution boast the usual thuggish soccer-style choruses that provide this genre’s signature calling card.

On the downside, few of the songs match the lyrical acuity of ’77-era wordsmiths like the Clash’s Joe Strummer, the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten, or even ATV’s Mark Perry.

With odd exceptions, such as the Exploited’s hilariously technophobic Computers Don’t Blunder, the sentiments are as basic as their fuzzed-out backdrops.

That issue aside, there’s enough roughhewn gems, like the ever-reliable Vibrators’ Dragnet, to make this effort worth the listen.

In truth, Punk fans of any generation probably won’t mind a second helping of this meat and potatoes, but ’77-era acolytes should probably find something closer to their taste.

Disc Three: PUNK AND DISORDERLY III – THE FINAL SOLUTION
1. BURN ’EM DOWN – Abrasive Wheels
2. GIVE US A FUTURE – One Way System
3. KICK OUT THE TORIES – Newtown Neurotics
4. POLICE STATE – U.K. Subs
5. JAILBAIT – The Destructors
6. GOVERNMENT POLICY – The Expelled
7. DEAD HERO – The Samples
8. WOMAN IN DISGUISE – Angelic Upstarts
9. VIVA LA REVOLUTION – The Adicts
10. DRAGNET – The Vibrators
11. COMPUTERS DON’T BLUNDER – The Exploited
12. NEW BARBARIANS – Urban Dogs
13. HAVE YOU GOT 10p? – The Ejected
14. OUTLAW – Chron Gen
15. SUICIDE BAG – Action Pact
16. SUMMER OF ’81 – The Violators
17. NO HOPE FOR ANYONE – Dead Wretched [Bonus Track]
18. SOME DAY – External Menace [Bonus Track]
19. JOIN THE ARMY – Resistance 77 [Bonus Track]
20. FIGHT TO WIN – Major Accident [Bonus Track]
21. SOCIETY’S FODDER – Riot Squad [Bonus Track]
22. STARK RAVING NORMAL – The Blood [Bonus Track]

The last chapter of the musical trilogy, The Final Solution was released in 1983, just as the UK punk scene was reaching saturation point, in all honesty.

That said, this third CD still strives hard to capture 22 songs from that year that best sum up what was still happening in the charts and in the clubs.

Here we get the crunchy Burn ’Em Down by The Abrasive Wheels, a rather urgent rendition of Give Us A Future by One Way System, a blistering New Barbarians from Urban Dogs, The Newtown Neurotics’ timeless anthem Kick Out The Tories, and a mesmerizingly brilliant Dragnet from The Vibrators.

The one irony of this third disc is that the UK Subs’ great single Police State came out just after their UK pop chart career had ended, but it is here, ready to be heard and loved all over again, luckily.

The elder statesmen of punk the Angelic Upstarts are back here with their underrated Woman In Disguise, The Ejected bring their melodic punk fun to the fore on Have You Got 10p?, Riot Squad sneak in on the bonus tracks with the hard-nosed Society’s Fodder, and Action Pact join the musical outing with Suicide Bag (all to do with the trend at the time of glue sniffing from paper bags!)

Official 3CD Purchase Link