2CD - Dirty Water 2: More Birth Of Punk Attitude

2CD - UK Import

Such was the response from press and public to Kris Needs' Dirty Water: The Birth Of Punk Attitude that 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's Faust, New York's willfully shambolic Godz, George Clinton's barrier-trampling Parliament, original folk activist Woody Guthrie and deathly '60s electronic trailblazers United States Of America.

As before, the set stretches back to primitive rock 'n' roll's early salvos, including Bo Diddley and Johnny Thunders' favorite Eddie Cochran, plus the hot-wired tremors of seminal UK outfits such as Kilburn And The High Roads, Doctors Of Madness, Stack Waddy, Hammersmith Gorillas and the Edgar Broughton Band. New York City is represented by Patti Smith, Blondie, the mighty Jayne County, demented Holy Modal Rounders and Dizzy 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 of Albert Ayler.

Needs also exercises his long-standing fixation with obscure, unhinged '60s U.S. garage-psych with the Misunderstood, Zachary Thaks, Human Expression and high-energy Detroit garage bands Unrelated Segments and Tidal Waves. Reggae's huge influence is acknowledged with righteous cuts from Tapper Zukie and Junior Murvin. The most singled-out artists on the first volume were New York doowoppers The Silhouettes, Flamin' Groovies and Detroit's Death, so they're here again, as are Mott The Hoople in their later phase and untouchable Suicide (whose Martin Rev was an invaluable sounding-board for the project, along with Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie). David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust also makes an appearance, as does Aylesbury lunatic John 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 of Zigzag, the crucial fanzine he edited in the '70s; one reason the set is dedicated to Captain Beefheart, who sadly passed away while it was being compiled, and represented by the blues roar of "Zigzag Wanderer."