Messthetics #101 Review - Various Artists

As this excellent album is still available at a bargain 11$ don't go looking for the download of the whole album, although there is one sample track, which "Chuck" from "Hyped to Death" has authorised for 30 days only. So listen "now or never" (or just go out and buy your own copy). Link removed after 30 days.

If you like DIY punk then this album is for you. There are some real gems here and its been stuck in my car CD player ever since I bought it. It's one of a number of CD's that are split geographically, so #101 and #102 (review for 102 coming later) are all bands from the London area.

On #101 you get 22 tracks + 5 free mp3's (see below for listing) and a booklet packed with info on each of the bands. I hadn't heard of any of these tracks as they are mainly obscure rarities which would rarely come on the radar.

The sample track is from the excellent Hounslow (two miles from the main runways at Heathrow) based band "Scissor Fits" and their "I Don't want To Work at British Airways" which got to the top of the charts for one week in a local record shop (most probably as it was opposite a hostel for young British Airways workers). This reminds me exactly what punk was about, protesting about not working on factories and starting up a band to tell everyone about it. I love the story of how "Scissor Fits" got their name, they took it from the "Mad Magazine" and a cartoon from the famous "Don Martin" which had a woman with a long cigarette holder accidentally her cigarette out in a mans eye, with the resulting sound effect "Siza Fitz" (see the actual picture this came from).

Although the whole album is excellent, a couple more of my personal favorites are the brilliant slow and stripped down (plus updated lyrics) version of "Part Time Punks" by "The Door and Window", and the excellent witty lyrics of "Other People" by "Grinder":

"I know this might sound silly" "But its really quite a fact" "Some people like to name drop" "It was the Queen who told me that"

So if you like the sample track (see comment for link) then go and visit Hyped to Deaths excellent site or buy Messthetics #101 here.

Album: Messthetics #101 D.I.Y. 77-81 LONDON 1
Year: 2006
Label: Hyped To Death
Tracks:
1. I Don't want To Work For British Airways - Scissor Fits
2. Machine Gun - Rich and Famous
3. This Week - Different I's
4. Distance - Acid Drops
5. Stir Crazy - The Rejects
6. Two Wasted Years - Jimmy Nipper Five
7. Compulsive Eater - Funboy Five
8. Technique Street (Rough Mix) - The Homosexuals
9. Distance - Exhibit A
10. Gun Point - Blue Screaming
11. Armchairs - Take It
12. Evercare - Twelve Cubic Feet
13. Know Better - Tiny Town
14. I'm Glad - Existence
15. Beach Coma - Collective Horizontal
16. Drive Your Car To The Middle Of Your Brain - Different I's
17. Ghosts- Karel Fialka
18. Truth/Hey - George Harassment
19. Back To The Bow - Tiny Town
20. - What Did You Do With The Body? - Milkshake Melon
21. - Other People - Grinder
22. - Part Time Punks - The Door and the Window
+5 free mp3's
23. - We're Better Than - TOATW
24. - Haircut Bob Dylan 66 - Funboy Five
25. - Politics - Grinder
26. - Have You Seen A Whale - Milkshake Melon
27. - Did I Pick It Up - Outrageous Flesh