About This Blog & Me

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The Blog - no Wikipedia, no YouTube, no adverts, just me....

Welcome to my album review blog. It includes over 3,000 (probably more) individual album reviews of releases that I have in my collection, that totals nearly 60,000 songs. Pretty much all the albums are studio albums and not many are "greatest hits" (although I have recently been changing my attitude where they are concerned). On the whole, though, I prefer to review actual albums as opposed to compilations and I also tend to steer clear of reviewing live albums. I enjoy listening to them, but reviewing them often finds me re-treading the same ground as when I wrote about the songs in the first place. I don't review singles in isolation either. This is an albums review blog.

The opinions I have given are just that - opinions. Many will disagree, some may agree. On the whole, I try to write positive things about albums I like. Sooner that than tearing into ones I don’t like! I find that a pointless exercise. However, is something is shit I will say so.

If you have any comments to make on the reviews, I would love to hear them, even if you are politely disagreeing! There is an opportunity to leave comments at the bottom of each review.

Despite my online nomenclature, not all my reviews are punk, in fact, far from it, punk was merely the era when I was young and saw the most gigs, so it has a place in my heart. I have gone into more detail on this below in my 'About Me' section. 

Please forgive me for the regular use of superlatives - superb, excellent, infectious, addictive etc. As my reviews are 98% positive ones, it is difficult to come up with different words with which to praise each individual album. A synonym search always helps, though! There are also a few small typos scattered around, as I write very quickly. Again, apologies and I hope they don't spoil your reading of the reviews too much.

What my reviews are, though, are 100% me. It is all about the writing and the power of words. I am unable to play a note of music but I can write about it. That is where I meet my muse. The reviews are my opinions, emotions and observations on the albums I listen to. It is a very personal site. There are no Wikipedia lifts, YouTube videos and no damn annoying adverts. Just the Panther and his passion. When you scroll through my reviews I want you to feel like you are flipping through album sleeves in a seventies record shop....

About me

I was born in the late 1950s, into the rock 'n' roll years. I was given a kids' Beatles guitar aged five, and my mother always played sixties pop on the radio, so music was almost part of my DNA. 

My musical taste covers largely the late 1950s to the 1990s, although there are a fair few favourite artists of mine who are still releasing material now that I still like, of course. My tastes include Rock, Soul, Reggae, Punk, Post Punk, New Wave, Northern Soul, Motown, Blues, Blues Rock, Country, Country Rock, Americana, Funk, Disco, Glam, World Music and Two Tone. 

What I like particularly among many things are throbbing basslines, great guitar solos, "proper" drums, Stax brass and seventies stereo separation.

My vital years of seventeen to twenty-one coincided exactly with the punk era and I consider myself extremely lucky in that respect. The title of the blog relates to that time, of course, but, as you will see, there is much, much more to my taste than punk. In fact, I don't really listen to that much punk these days, comparatively.

The opinions I express in these reviews are just that, opinions, nothing more, nothing less. If I don't like as album as much as you do, don't hold it against me! Music is all about opinions. I am not writing these reviews to provide information as to exactly who played what, who produced the album, what label it was on or what barcode it has. There are many books and bloggers that do that, and Wikipedia. I am just wishing to express how much I like the songs in question, in many cases, and what feelings I have about an album overall. Sometimes I listen to a song and I just want to write down what I feel about it. Just a personal indulgence. It has always been about the music for me, not the minutiae.

Please feel free to leave comments on the reviews, even if you politely disagree. There is nothing I enjoy more than discussing music.

After spending most of my life in the South of England, attending hundreds of gigs, particularly in the punk era, I now live a quiet, most un-punk life in the Scottish Borders with my wife and three cats, living my life as if it is permanently 1973. No Twitter or Facebook for me, man.

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The Beat: You Just Can't Beat It: The Best Of The Beat

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Trojan Presents Classic Reggae

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There are certainly some fine collections in this series from the legendary Jamaican Trojan label but this is arguably the best, functioning as a sort of compressed, bite-size history of reggae itself. It also has remastered its many classic cuts outstandingly well.  Let's look at what's on offer - Disc One The collection kicks off by including an original ska number in Byron Lee & The Dragonaires' joyful  Jamaica Ska . Ska was where it all began, of course, before the rock steady rude boys came along.... Desmond Dekker & The Aces' 007 (Shanty Town)  is  Rude Boy Heaven. The song became a hit in the UK. Its James Bond/007 message is unclear, he is only mentioned in one line, but the rest of the song would seem to be another anti-Rude Boy condemnation. "Rude Boy him a weep and a-wail" . Continuing the rude boy theme, Dandy recorded the original of A Message To You Rudy , memorably covered by The Specials. Rico Rodriguez, who played on The Specials'
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Burning Spear: Man In The Hills - 1976

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  After its cult-status predecessor (certainly in UK reggae-punk crossover circles) this was a credible follow-up, although it was noticeably more pastoral, relaxed and chilled-out than its incendiary and righteous forebear.  This is highlighted by the title track, Man In The Hills , which champions a rural existence over an urban one, just as Jacob Miller did with his "Rasta c'yaan live in no tenement yard" sentiment.  Door Peep , released as Spear's first, unsuccessful single, actually dated from back in 1969, when Winston Rodney, after a surprise meeting with Bob Marley while out waking in the fields, decided to go to Studio One to promote his work.  Other highlights are No More War, Lion, People Get Ready and Black Soul . I like this album a lot, it has a nice sound quality to it, melodic basslines and a subtle vibe that is infectious. Not sure about the strange green head cover though! 
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Burning Spear: Marcus Garvey/Garvey's Ghost - 1975

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  Burning Spear (Winston Rodney) gave the world one of the great roots reggae albums here. Burning Spear’s  Marcus Garvey  was released at the end of 1975 and was at the forefront of the black consciousness movement within reggae. It was a veritable foundation stone of the whole roots reggae movement.  It was tied in, of course, with Rastafarianism, and the Jamaican Rasta hero prophet.  Marcus Garvey  gives his name to the album’s title and, indeed its powerful, horn-driven title track that opens the album. This is very much a militant, issue-led album, with a dual attack of religious devotion and cultural awareness, as was so often the case with roots albums. As with the others, too, this does not detract from the appealing, tuneful sound of the album, however. This pretty much applies to all the roots reggae albums of the period. The mid to late seventies were fertile years for authentic roots reggae.  Slavery Days  is an iconic song with clear references - “ Do you remember the days
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The Beat: I Just Can't Stop It - 1980

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  The Beat  slightly lagged behind Madness, The Selecter and The Specials (the other main two-tone groups) in putting out their first album. They had some singles out before, however,  The Tears Of A Clown  and  Mirror In The Bathroom , so they had gained an audience and this was quite an anticipated album. Personally, The Beat were my favourite two-tone band. They were a six-piece and featured veteran fifty-plus (at the time) saxophonist, "Saxa". They had an ear for a melody and also for a wry, observational and culturally relevant lyric.  The music was essentially ska, full of lilting guitar licks, dub infuences and that deep, gloriously tuneful saxophone wailing away beneath nearly every tune.  They were great live too. I remember being up at the front at one of their gigs and singing the  "Saxa oh la - good God!"  bit in  Jackpot  to  Ranking Roger  as he sang it straight back to me, smiling.  This debut album was, like many debut albums from the period, was upb
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Burning Spear: Dry And Heavy - 1977

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Burning Spear: Social Living - 1978

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