In 1977, I'd just started university and my ears were opened to this new noisy punk rock, and the punkiest thing from across the Atlantic seemed to be Richard Hell, and his single Blank Generation. Wow!
He also contributed Love Comes In Spurts to the famous New Wave compilation compilation of 1977.
At the time I knew little of Hell, and nothing of his early days with Tom Verlaine in Television, so when this album appeared in a charity shop for a quid, I snapped it up.
Opening with the aforementioned Love Comes In Spurts, and I'm asking "Is this jangly guitar punk?" Who cares? It's a fantastic two minutes to kick off, followed by Liars Beware, much more of a thrash, with some discordany chords. New Pleasure is pretty ordinary, as is Betrayal Takes Two, a slower and well-constructed rock song with an interesting guitar solo. Down At The Rock And Roll Club is typically jangly and discordant, with a punk feel, while Who Says? is another, not quite punk, not quite rock song, still good to listen to.
The second half opens with the title track Blank Generation, that trademark guitar opening then straight into the descending chords of this classic punk song (borrowed a couple of years later for Stray Cat Strut?). Walking On The Water has a solid rock beat, with a very Television-like feel, and a long guitar ending before The Plan, which is much more bouncy and melodic. The original album ends with the longest song on the album, Another World, feeling very New York Art-Punk, a fantastic listen with some great guitar to end the album.
The CD reissue has two additional tracks, which really add nothing. I'm Your Man is a dull, repetitive song, while the Voidoids' version of Sammy Cahn's All The Way is truly awful.
I was expecting far more two minute thrash in this album, but the more I listen to it, the more parallels with Television I hear. I enjoyed it much more than I expected.
4* - if we can ignore the bonus tracks, this is a great album, with far more to offer than the typical 1977 punk album.
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