There’s no doubting Jon Savage’s excellent reporting on the explosion of punk in the mid-to-late 70s. His book England’s Dreaming is practically a Bible to those interested in the English Punk scene and an important work in the canon of music writing. This compilation, although excellent in content, is somewhat confused when it comes to intent.

Turning his attention on the Californian Punk scene, which, Savage claims was largely ignored in the UK and to some degree in California itself, he’s knocked together a collection of apparently underrepresented artists and songs. A quick scan down the tracklisting suggests that while these bands might have been ignored at the time, many of those included here have gone on to become the cornerstones of any Punk fan’s collection. Indeed, a quick glance at Penelope Spheeris’ Decline of The Western Civilisation suggests that the likes of X and The Germs, were anything but ignored at the time.

Savage also concludes that “Nationalism” was primarily the cause for many of these bands not getting attention in the UK, with the argument of who invented Punk being the central point of contention which caused the cold shoulder and the extended middle finger to be administered.

There might be some truth to this, but in reality if the musicians involved are to be believed, the punk scenes on both sides of the ocean fed off each other. The US gave us the New York Dolls and The Ramones, the UK responded with Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned.

Surprisingly, it was The Damned that seemed to resonate most with the next wave of American bands, not the Pistols – although The Avengers, whose straightforward blast of hope We Are The One appears here, supported the Pistols at their last show. The Damned’s more furious riffing was taken and evolved, or in some cases deconstructed into a harder, faster, more brash form. Their influence can be found in the chops of many of the bands featured here. The Bags might well have had a song called We Don’t Need The English (although it is ‘Survive’ that features) but Pat Bag eventually ended up marrying David Vanian.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects of this compilation is the different sounds that emanated from Californian Punk during this period. The fledgling Hardcore scene can be found setting its roots down in frantic raw offerings of The Middle Class (Situations and Love is Just a Tool both get an airing). There’s rocket fuelled Rock ‘n’ Roll at the heart of X’s ‘We’re Desperate’, art house synth-punk on The Screamers ‘Peer Pressure’, and sludgey noise from Crime with their contribution ‘Murder By Guitar’ (it’s almost certainly not a coincidence that this title was utilised for a Nirvana bootleg about 20 years later). Dead Kennedys’ ‘California Uber Alles’ gets yet another outing, its chugging riff not hinting at the twisted razor sharp surf guitar utilised by the band elsewhere. Nestling nicely alongside DK’s political ranting is The Dils pointed ‘I Hate The Rich’ which succeeds in establishing a nihilist credo whilst roaring along with a lightning tempo – ‘The Sound of The Rain’ pops up a little later, and is positively poppy by comparison.

That the compilation’s main purpose is to address the lack of recognition is slightly peculiar. Many of the bands featured will not surprise anyone with even a passing interest in Punk. The likes of The Germs, X, Dead Kennedys, Black Randy, The Dils and a fair few others will be more than familiar. Their inclusion makes the exclusion of the likes of Black Flag and Flipper something of an oversight, but in general this is a fairly solid compilation that sounds remarkably vibrant and exciting despite the fact that its content is over 30 years old.