The Worldwide Tribute to the Real Oi Vol.2, Various Artists
Oi Punk as a whole has a pretty bad reputation. Palmed off as simply ‘Skinhead Punk’, or even worse, ‘Nazi Punk’, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Ian Stuart’s corruption of the good Skrewdriver name was the pure definition of Oi, since there seems to be very few people defending it and trying to clear its name. However, with this compilation (and indeed Volume 1) it would appear that another side of Oi comes out. Not a calm, soothing sensitive side, but a sense of pride and unity within the bands for doing what they do. This is a collection of old songs originally performed by the Cockney Rejects, Cock Sparrer, Peter and the Test Tube Babies and a whole gamut of original English Oi bands, covered by bands such as Vision, the Bouncing Souls, Death Threat and others. I’m not sure how faithful these versions are, but there’s a real idea of raw energy and power running through this whole album.
Roger Miret and the Disasters, kick off the album with ‘England Belongs To Me’, changed into ‘New York Belongs To Me.’ The curious thing about this song is that it sounds exactly like a football anthem, as do many of the rest of the tracks. It’s hardly the most technical and accomplished of songs, but it is damn good fun as a drunken sing a long. I thought the Bouncing Souls covers were a bit weak and light, which is a shame because I love that band, and ‘We’re Coming Back’ is just a bit lame. Comparing them with the rest of the tracks, which are hardcore Shout-fests, they needed to take a leaf out of Hardsell’s books and turn everything up to 11, get royally drunk and growl the songs out! ‘Friday Night’, originally by Burial is one of my favourite songs on the album, and reminds me of Citizen Fish playing through barbed wire while gargling cement. This is a good thing.
As all the songs are covers, it’s perhaps hard to discern between the quality of the track being due to the covering band or the original song itself. Not so with Vision – their cover of ‘Let’s Break The Law’ by Anti Nowhere League (if only they’d chosen to do ‘So What?’) modernises the genre with some squealing guitar leads and sits with the theme of unity in the face of adversity. Diego Maradona even gets a song (The Business’s ‘Maradona’, reworked by Ignite) and this shows the heritage of Oi punk, coming from England and fully integral to the everyday life of many of its listeners. It’s all the same four-chord garage punk, but I’d swear that there’s a bit of ‘Land Of Hope And Glory’ within that song, once more showing the effect that British punk has had on the hardcore community of today.
Brightside’s ‘Hippie Punks’ has a guitar line that could be taken from practically rock record from the last decade, but rapidly transforms into a traditional Oi song, with shouts of, well, ‘Oi Oi Oi!’ I think this is one of the best things about Oi, the part within each song where everyone punches the air (or the guy next to them) and is used to fantastic effect in ‘Freedom’, covered by Harley Cromag & Friends (as a Last Resort cover) as a build up to the main verses. This is my favourite song on the whole album, more Rancid than Agnostic Front, with elements of more traditional rock with the guitar leads underpinning the galloping bassline. ‘Poseur’, covered by Death Threat could well be relevant to what is currently happening in the punk and not-so-punk argument, “You were a punk too late!” being the last refuge of many more traditional punks whenever they pass someone who is tragically, not as punk as them.
I’m not going to comment on the politics of Oi, as the bands involved in this collection are not those who originally recorded the songs, shaved their heads and rebelled. However, I do think that this collection serves as both a good introduction to the world of Oi, and also a chance for many older fans to revisit their old favourites. Listen to it drunk with some of your best mates and you’ll be convinced it’s the best record ever, with football chants, sing-a-longs and more hardcore shouting all combining to make it the perfect accompaniment to a beery barbecue or, just a general drinking binge*. It’s a bit repetitive and samey, with the word ‘variety’ seemingly akin to the word ‘authority’ to the Oi fraternity, but I found it extremely enjoyable.
Ben
*Note – Punktastic does not endorse binge drinking. Unless it’s the weekend. Or you’ve just been dumped.
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