DISCO ZOMBIES - South London Stinks 2LP

Highly recommended (esp those who love The Cigarettes recent reissue)

For collectors of rare and obscure independent label late-70’s Peel approved ‘punk’ this is a teenage treat. ‘Leicesters best ’77 punk band’ (disc one) and by 1980 South London Post-Punk contenders (disc two) – a (post) punk treasure trove of unheard gems.

‘Every single punk band had at least one good idea’ said John Cooper Clarke famously.

And by the same token, every band, no matter how obscure, had at least one truly great song. Leicester student punk band, Disco Zombies had "Drums Over London". A total classic. Misunderstood by some who it was aimed at… but up there with the Ruts and Stiff Little Fingers in terms of incendiary punk debut 45’s.

South London Stinks is a beautifully packaged 20 track collection of all of the bands work spanning songs written in 1977 to ones recorded in 1980. Chronologically ordered you can hear how the band progress from naive ‘power-pop’ punks to a forward-thinking, serious post-punk band. And they were by no means a one-song band. There is so much here that takes you back to the good old days of three TV channels, shit wallpaper and impending nuclear war.

Superb sound for archive recordings and if you have similar albums by contemporaries like the Cigarettes (another Optic Nerve reissue) the Wasps, The Now, The Users – the so-called "second division" – you’ll know just how fantastic these kind of albums are.