{"id":14217,"date":"2020-12-17T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=14217"},"modified":"2020-12-16T16:37:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T16:37:04","slug":"various-artists-for-family-flag-volume-one-oi-40-year-untamed-pirates-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=14217","title":{"rendered":"Various Artists \u2013 \u2018For Family & Flag (Volume One)\u2019 & \u2018Oi! 40 Year Untamed\u2019 (Pirates Press)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>I really can\u2019t think of a better way to close out 2020 than with these two barnstorming compilation albums. Cramming in twenty nine tracks from across the Pirates Press roster of talent and featuring something old, something new and something even a little bit blue note-ish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Released at the end of November \u2018For Family & Flag\u2019 builds on the theme Pirates Press devised for their hugely successful two hundredth release, the awesome triple LP box set \u2018One Family One Flag\u2019, albeit here they have decided that rather than simply celebrating their glorious past, this one also adds in some rather splendid new material, and perhaps most surprising its Oi! legends Cock Sparrer who lead the charge offering up, not one, but two, new cuts spread across these releases. \u2018Marching Onwards\u2019 is the tune on \u2018For Family..\u2019 and it\u2019s a blistering terrace anthem that shows the Sparrer lads building on the sound of their \u2018Forever\u2019 album of three years ago by adding in some more contemporary influences and even a hint of a dub breakdown mid tune. \u2018Marching Onwards\u2019 Sparrer most certainly are.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where \u2018For Family..\u2019 really works though is in the eclectic nature of the collection, and whilst the likes of The Bar Stool Preachers (\u2018When This World End\u2019) and Subhumans (\u2018Thought Is Free\u2019) all deliver immediate dancefloor fillers it\u2019s the tunes that throw me a slight musical curveball like the jazzy big band swagger of \u2018Let The Good Times Roll\u2019 by Shuffle and Bang (which opens the record and is absolutely glorious stuff) and the one man band folk punk of Lenny Lashley with \u2018Need\u2019 (which closes the record) that immediately have me dropping the needle again and again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Plus, what\u2019s not to love about Charger thundering through their recent 12\u201d \u2018Watch Your Back\u2019 like Motorhead\u2019s true bastard sons?\u00a0 Add in some riotous streetpunk tunes from the likes of Noi!se, Lion\u2019s Law and (the more straight up hardcore of) Seized Up and this LP is guaranteed to make your socially distanced Christmas party all the more interesting. Result!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Likewise, the Garry Bushell compiled \u2018Oi! 40 Year Untamed\u2019, which kicks off with \u2018Take It On The Chin\u2019 the second of those aforementioned new Cock Sparrer tracks. Here Colin McFaull demands we all \u201cgrow a pair\u201d and just like \u2018Marching Onwards\u2019 this is the sound of Sparrer at their most anthemic. You know, if one great thing has come out of this pandemic it\u2019s these bloody Sparrer tracks. I just hope we\u2019ll get to hear them live sometime next year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Though, to be fair, this record is far from being just the Cock Sparrer show, and with Mr Bushell\u2019s name above the door of the gaff the big guns of Oi! are all out in force to join the celebrations. Cockney Rejects, The Business and Last Resort are all present and correct, with \u2018New Disease\u2019 by Roi and the bois being an immediate hit with yours truly. Jeez. Is it really seven years since \u2018This Is My England\u2019?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of the newer breed of bands included \u2018Against All Odds\u2019 by Crashed Out really stands out largely due to the band\u2019s metallic take on the Oi! sound kind of making me think what Rose Tattoo might have sounded like had their 80s albums had a production that actually captured their live sound. Elsewhere the likes of Gimp Fist, (the excellent) Bishops Green, and The Drowns all once again make me long for that day when I\u2019ll once again be able to stand amongst my mates at a live gig, pint raised high in the air singing along at the top of my voice.\u00a0 Something that \u2018Noddy Holder (Bootboy Mix)\u2019 by The Old Firm Casuals was custom built for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sparrer aside I\u2019ve deliberately not gone track by track through these albums simply because the real strength in both collections is in depth and variety of the tracks on offer, and that ladies and gentlemen is what great compilation albums are all about.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential stuff!<\/p>\n

Buy ‘For Family & Flag Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy ‘Oi! 40 Years Untamed’\u00a0\u00a0Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I really can\u2019t think of a better way to close out 2020 than with these two barnstorming compilation albums. Cramming in twenty nine tracks from across the Pirates Press roster of talent and featuring something old, something new and something even a little bit blue note-ish.   Released at the end of November \u2018For Family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[6148,2747],"class_list":["post-14217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-oi","tag-pirates-press","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14217"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14223,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14217\/revisions\/14223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}