U.K. Subs - Crash Course

"Crash Course" is a 1980 live album by the U.K. Subs, their biggest-selling record, which hit number 8 on the U.K. album charts and is considered a defining document of the punk scene. Originally released with a bonus 4-track live EP, the album captures the band's high-energy punk-rock sound in front of an adoring audience at the now-demolished Rainbow Theatre in London.

The U.K. Subs were always at their best when they were at their most elemental, and the stage was where they were most at home, not the recording studio. Fittingly, the Subs had only released two studio efforts when they brought out Crash Course, which documents a May 1980 gig the group played at London's Rainbow Theatre, though they might have been prompted by the unexpected appearance of Live Kicks, a live EP taken from tapes of a 1977 show that predated their recording contract and released without their authorization. After Live Kicks fared well on the charts, the U.K. Subs easily proved they could do better, and if it's hard to say if this is the definitive U.K. Subs live release (given how many have flooded the market in the band's nearly 40-year career), this captures the sound and fury of this band's no-frills street punk with rough, energetic accuracy, and was recorded in the presence of an audience eager to cheer on the band to deliver the goods. Charlie Harper's vocals may lack nuance, but he's as good a ranter as the U.K. street punk scene ever produced, and he sounds suitably revved up on this particular evening, while guitarist Nicky Garratt, bassist Paul Slack, and drummer Pete Davies keep the music fast, furious, and raw from first chord to last. Quite simply, if you want to hear what the U.K. Subs were like in concert during the height of their success and the peak of their abilities, this is the album to get.

U.K. Subs - Brand New Age

For their second album, Brand New Age, the U.K. Subs built on the frenzied, melodic assault of their debut by developing their song writing skills. Brand New Age contains tracks that are more ambitious than those on the debut, with more variety and lyrical depth. Rather than the amusing teen angst rants of the debut, this album shows the Subs embracing a more political point of view. "Warhead" is a seething diatribe on nuclear war, delivered with the venom and ferocity such a topic deserves. "Organised Crime" rants about government oppression, and "Brand New Age" delivers a less than optimistic slant on the forthcoming privacy intrusions of the 1980s. There's no shortage of droll humour, though, with the hilarious "Teenage" and "Emotional Blackmail," the closest the Subs have come to a song about relationships. Musically, the band has grown as well. "Warhead" has a more complex song structure than anything they did before, and "You Can't Take It Anymore" proves the band doesn't have to rely on simple velocity to get their point across. Far from falling prey to the sophomore slump, the U.K. Subs came of age on this album and proved they were one of the best, most promising acts of their era.

U.K. Subs - Another Kind Of Blues

So here’s another cracker from 79! But considering how long the UK Subs had already been around, it’s amazing that we had to wait until 1979 to get their debut album. They had formed in 1976 as the Subversives, then changed names to the UK Subversives, and finally settled on the UK Subs. They played with all of the early punk bands, and even played at the short-lived Roxy Club, the spiritual home of punk rock in London in those halcyon days on 76/77. Their line-up was every changing in those early years, but they settled on the line-up of Charlie Harper (vocals), Nicky Garratt (guitar), Paul Slack (bass) and Pete Davies (drums) for their early recordings. Their first single “CID” came out in 1978 on City Records and was an immediate underground success. Lots of the original punk bands were starting to experiment with different looks and sounds by that time but the Subs were clearly very much a true punk band in every sense of the word, and that struck a chord with hardcore punks who felt they were being abandoned. The band got signed to Gem Records in May 1979, and the single “Stranglehold” quickly became their first release on Gem; It was actually a hit, getting to #26 in the British charts. That song came to define their sound: definitely a fast and spiky punk rock song but with a repeated chorus that grabs you and doesn’t let go. The brilliant “Tomorrow’s Girls” was the next single and it charted too, and was the perfect precursor to their first album, Another Kind of Blues which was released in September of 1979. All of their singles had been released on coloured vinyl which was still a rarity in the 70s, and the album followed suit by having a limited release on blue vinyl.
The album itself is killer. They had created their own tight street-punk sound which was to become their trademark throughout the years. A driving beat propelled by a super tight and punchy rhythm section, with Nicky Garratt adding power chords and crunching solos. Charlie Harper’s raspy, shouted vocals became the blueprint for lots of punk bands that followed. There was nothin’ pretty about it but it simply works. Some songs on the album even feature a harmonica, adding to the “blues” subtext that runs throughout the album. The songs are fast and short, dealing with politics, love and sex in equal measure. No other punk album at the time was so direct or had so many tracks on it: this had 17 songs and clocked in at 33 minutes, so you do the math. It included all of their singles to date. CID is the first track and Stranglehold is the last; bookends around the Subs sandwich. It even includes the b-sides of CID and Stranglehold, guaranteeing that you knew 6 of the songs on the album right away. That was an important thing for kids back then because you only had limited pocket money so you could only afford to buy one album out of the 10 that you wanted. So knowing that you liked some of the songs already was key.
I bought it when it first came out, and listening to it today it’s incredible how well it stands up after all these years. My favourite songs are the anthemic “Tomorrow’s Girls”, the driving “Rockers” (so meaningful to us back then when there was nothing worse than being a plastic punk -- “Born a rocker die a rocker, punk rocker”), and the slower and repetitive “Crash Course”, a song that was to become the name of their third album. This was a band that was perfect at what they did, and they became the blueprint for lots of “street” punk bands that followed in the decades to come, in both sound and look. Bands like The Exploited, One Way System, Vice Squad, Abrasive Wheels, The Partisans etc etc. They all took the Subs “classic” look (leather jackets, army pants, boots) and their fast (for the 70s at least), chunky sound.

Urban Dogs - Urban Dogs

Started in 1982 by Charlie Harper of the UK Subs to play the 100 CLUB because the UK Subs wouldn't (they felt they shouldn't play there more than once a year because of their "pop star status"). The first main line-up of the band comprised of Charlie Harper (UK Subs - vocals/harmonica), Knox (Vibrators -guitar) whom Charlie had met at a party, Alvin Gibbs (UK Subs - bass), and Matthew Best (drums). The band had a pretty amateur approach to playing, taking the drums around in a car, and lugging the gear in to the 100 CLUB (where the band played regularly enough to almost be the house band) in front of often quite good crowds. The band did various gigs and under the management of Richard Bishop the band made an album for Fallout Records in 1983 called "Urban Dogs", recorded at Silo Studios, west London.

U.K. Subs – Warhead 7"

'There's a burning sun and it sets in the western world, but it rises in the east and pretty soon it's gonna burn your temples down.' Could Charlie Harper have been onto something here? Or was it just a great big slab of late 70s punk in 7 inches of tasteful brown vinyl? Uncle Charlie has been on the frontline of punk rock culture for decades- quite possibly on the frontline of punk rock culture for decades before punk rock even existed. Warhead is still their finest moment- that creeping bass line and explosive dynamics that makes this one of the most covered punk songs in the history of the form and with the bass riff that nearly every punk bass player has learned as rite of passage…