#Sham 69 uptown 1992 full#

I have checked other recent compilations and they all seem to miss key tracks and make odd choices from the albums. The sound is terrific, and this is the way most fans like me heard and enjoyed Sham. It includes all the single sides, A-sides, B-sides, 12' variations, and the debut single, on the independent Step Forward label not Polydor. The best comp I recommend is called Punk Singles Collection 1977-80, and it came out in North America on Cleopatra in the US and Captain Oi here in 1998. I think it was the master they used, it certainly did not sound like the original 7' singles, which I kept, thankfully. Something went wrong with the mastering - it was one of my worst sounding CD's, dull and lifeless. Bonus tracks were the 7' live ep included with initial pressings of the LP, but the CD sound quality was appalling. The First The Best The Last was the cash-in Sham compilation released after the band split in '79, and it came out on CD in 1992. Polygram put out a compilation and left the albums in the can.

#Sham 69 uptown 1992 full#

A band like Siouxsie and the Banshees who were still active in the 80's did get a full catalogue release from Polygram - Sham's albums were accorded a re-release on vinyl-only by small reissue punk label Receiver in the late 80's. My view is that their albums did not sell all that well on initial release, and other Polydor releases from the 70's did not find their way to CD until well into the 90's, notably Slade, who had much better LP success than Sham. I endured a long explanation from someone at a record fair as to why this was so - because Sham were the real punk deal, anti-authoritarian, from the streets, and the suits at Polygram didn't want to be associated with them anymore, maaaaaaan! Sham's New York Dolls/Pistols guitar sound from Dave Parsons, coupled with their widely played singles, meant they were the sound most people associated with punk in the late 70's.įor some reason, Polydor did not rerelease their albums in the CD age. Sham's roots and influences were in classic soul and British Invasion bands - the Who, Yardbirds, but with no hint of the psychedelia of bands like Buzzcocks, Stranglers, Damned, or the much of the reggae influence on the Clash, Ruts, etc. They were (and still are) a terrific live act, but attracted a fiercely violent and at times extremist right-wing crowd which eventually made leader Jimmy Pursey (who distanced himself from the so-called 'Sham Army') dissolve the band in 1979 (ah, but they were back.). They were one of the most commercially succesful punk bands in singles terms, but their albums sold poorly and were, to be honest, not very good. Sham 69 were a strange and funny band, a real mix of contradictions. I'll bite, since no one else has commented this week.