As the Bristolian lady said pre-general election, the same can be said for SLF and compilations. Not another one. Ok, so it might well be another SLF comp, but to be fair, this one has all the singles and a whole bunch of live curios for good measure.

The band who defy the odds and are still at it in 2025 and releasing new (inflamable) material deserve to have their epic back catalogue re issued from time to time to remind us just how fuckin good they are. Jake and Ali have a wealth of material to be proud of, and on this one, tracks like ‘Alternative Ulster’, ‘Suspect Device’ are still good enough to get the hairs on your neck standing to attention as they document a moment in time like no other. They sang about a time and place they came from like no other, which stood them apart from many of the punks of the time. These guys lived it and delivered their punk rock street poetry wrapped up in short, sharp blitzkrieg explosions of punk rock. They looked cool, sounded cool because they were cool.

Great songs keep on coming, and banger after banger deserve your attention, such as ‘At The Edge,’ their top 20 bothering tune still stands tall to this day. All the A sides and B sides are present and accounted fo,r and its hard to believe in a little over half a decade they kept churning out hits, yes hits. There is one exception, and that’s a certain cover that won’t get mentioned (ok ‘Runnign Bear’), but the live version is here, warts n all oh, and before I sign off there is the excellent cover of the Specials ‘Doesn’t Make It Alright’ that shows how interlocked these guys were with what was going on across the water. In one nicely packaged collection, The Best of SLF is right here. Come and get it.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley