VARIOUS ARTISTS
THE BIG STIFF BOX SET
(Salvo)
Essential punk and new wave box set.
4/5
Stiff Records will go down in history as the most important UK independent label ever. During its thirty years the Stiff staff have released some of the most legendary punk and new wave records of all time. Started by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera in 1976 on the back of the then-booming pub rock scene, Stiff’s early releases were pretty standard R&B, like Nick Lowe and Lew Lewis, but it was the birth of punk that blew them into orbit. They released The Damned’s ‘New Rose’, the first-ever punk single, following it with hits from the likes of Ian Dury, The Adverts, The Members, Lene Lovich and US whackos Devo. Embracing new wave, they launched the careers of Elvis Costello, Tenpole Tudor (and the excellent Swords Of A Thousand Men), Theatre Of Hate, The Belle Stars, Plasmatics and Any Trouble before moving into ska with Madness’s ‘One Step Beyond’ and giving us the folk punk of the first Pogues records. Along with the ska/soul of America’s The Untouchables, mod sounds like Makin’ Time and The Prisoners, Stiff covered every cool musical revolution first – and with style. Recently reactivated with their latest signings The Tranzmitors and The Producers (included here), this is a hundred track slice of punk and new wave history, complete with 68 page book. Their motto was “If it ain’t Stiff it ain’t worth a fuck’. Long may they remain Stiff!
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