Various Artists - No Thanks!: The '70s Punk Rebellion (4CD Set, 2003) RESTORED

Rhino Records once again slams the musical ball out of the ballpark with the four-CD box set, NO THANKS!, a chronicling of the 1970s punk movement. Aside from the Sex Pistols' noticeable exclusion, Rhino casts a wide net in the artists featured throughout, and, as such, they've included plenty of the genre's heavy hitters – the Ramones, the Clash, the Jam, X, Television, and Blondie, to name but a few. In addition, acts that planted the seeds of the movement – particularly the New York Dolls and Iggy & the Stooges – are included. The classics that pop up – including the Modern Lovers' Farfisa-organ-soaked "Roadrunner", the Buzzcocks' yearning "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've?)", and the Only Ones' infectious "Another Girl, Another Planet" – are an iPod fanatic's dream come true. And the one thing all of these disparate artists have in common – from Elvis Costello to Siouxsie & the Banshees, the Mekons to Talking Heads, Wire to the Pretenders – is an inherently defiant attitude and a fierce DIY ethic.

Like all the great rock revolutions, punk was fueled by singles. Sure, there were a lot of tremendous albums, but all the artists that cut great LPs also had great 7"s – and in the case of Television and Patti Smith, they had independent singles released prior to their first albums that never appeared on their debuts. Since rock criticism tends to be album-driven, singles tend to get slightly overlooked, and since punk is a rock critic's favorite, some revisionist historians paint the era as fueled by albums, not singles. Rhino's excellent four-disc No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion corrects that error by focusing on the singles, winding up with a one-stop introduction and summary of the era that is as good as Loud, Fast & Out of Control, their similar set on early rock & roll. The compilers have bent the rules of punk slightly, deciding to include proto-punkers like New York Dolls, the Stooges, the Dictators, and Jonathan Richman, and then to not present the cuts in a strictly chronological order. This benefits the album, since these artists are in the same spirit of the bands they inspired, and the sequencing plays like a great mixtape. Rhino has also evenly balanced the set between American and British punk, including both early hardcore punkers the Dead Kennedys and British pub rock renegades like Nick Lowe and Ian Dury in equal measure. Though there's a bit of difference between "California Über Alles" and "Heart of the City", they deserve to be paired on this set because they both were genuinely independent, exciting 45s that crackled with energy and captured the spirit of punk, albeit in different ways. And that's what makes No Thanks! work so well – it illustrates how diverse punk and new wave were in the late '70s, but it places a premium on adventure and excitement, which means even artier bands like Pere Ubu and Suicide come across as pure rock & roll. If there is any flaw to the box, it's that most record collectors will already own the lion's share of these songs – in fact, if they own Rhino's previous 1993 multi-disc punk retrospective D.I.Y., they'll own no less than 53 of these songs (an additional 14 songs have appeared on other Rhino titles, making for a grand total of 67 of 100 songs already released by Rhino). While this is undoubtedly a problem for some collectors, it is also true that it functions more as an overview for fans that don't already own a bunch of this on CD, and on that level it can't be faulted. True, this may contain no tracks from the Sex Pistols, since John Lydon refused them permission (allegedly because Rhino chose not to release the 2002 Sex Pistols box set in the States), but every other major player is here, and the music here is so good they're not missed at all. Finally, if a collector is wondering whether it's worth the expense to buy this box, there are three rare singles that make their debut here: the aforementioned Television and Patti Smith singles, "Little Johnny Jewel" and "Hey Joe [version]", plus an early single version of the Pretenders' "The Wait". For those that can afford it, that's reason enough to pick up the set.

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, all media guide

Disc 1:

01. Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
02. The Clash – White Riot
03. Nick Lowe – Heart Of The City
04. Buzzcocks featuring Howard Devoto – Boredom
05. The Saints – (I'm) Stranded
06. The Damned – Neat Neat Neat
07. The Jam – In The City
08. Pere Ubu – Final Solution
09. The Modern Lovers – Roadrunner
10. Television – Little Johnny Jewel
11. The Adverts – One Chord Wonders
12. The Heartbreakers – Born To Lose
13. Iggy & The Stooges – Search And Destroy
14. Mink DeVille – Let Me Dream If I Want To (Amphetamine Blues)
15. X-Ray Spex – Oh Bondage, Up Yours!
16. Wire – 1 2 X U
17. Richard Hell & The Voidoids – Blank Generation
18. The Stranglers – (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
19. The Runaways – Cherry Bomb
20. New York Dolls – Personality Crisis
21. Eddie & The Hot Rods – Teenage Depression
22. The Dictators – Two Tub Man
23. Patti Smith – Hey Joe (Version)
24. Generation X – Your Generation



Disc 2:

01. Iggy Pop – Lust For Life
02. The Adverts – Gary Gilmore's Eyes
03. Ultravox! – Satday Night In The City Of The Dead
04. Buzzcocks – What Do I Get?
05. Blondie – X Offender
06. The Boomtown Rats – Lookin' After No. 1
07. Penatration – Don't Dictate
08. The Fall – Bingo Master
09. Patti Smith – Free Money
10. The Jam – The Modern World
11. The Heartbreakers – Chinese Rocks
12. The Damned – New Rose
13. Subway Sect – Ambition
14. Television – See No Evil
15. Stiff Little Fingers – Suspect Device
16. Wire – Mannequin
17. The Vibrators – Baby Baby
18. Richard Hell & The Voidoids – Love Comes In Spurts
19. The Boys – First Time
20. Dead Boys – Sonic Reducer
21. Magazine – Shot By Both Sides
22. Elvis Costello – Mystery Dance
23. New York Dolls – Trash
24. X-Ray Spex – The Day The World Turned Day-Glo
25. Eddie & The Hot Rods – Do Anything You Wanna Do



Disc 3:

01. Generation X – Ready Steady Go
02. The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
03. Ian Dury – Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
04. Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've?)
05. Suicide – Rocket U.S.A.
06. Devo – Mongoloid
07. 999 – Homicide
08. The Dils – Mr. Big
09. Joy Division – Warsaw
10. The Mekons – Where Were You?
11. The Germs – Lexicon Devil
12. The Rezillos – (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures
13. The Pretenders – The Wait
14. The Weirdos – We Got The Neutron Bomb
15. The Modern Lovers – Pablo Picasso
16. Alternative TV – Action Time Vision
17. Tom Robinson Band – 2-4-6-8 Motorway
18. The Avengers – We Are The One
19. Sham 69 – Borstal Breakout
20. Black Flag – Wasted
21. Ramones – Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
22. Fear – I Love Livin' In The City
23. The Boomtown Rats – She's So Modern
24. Rich Kids – Ghosts Of Princes In Towers
25. X – We're Desperate
26. The Dickies – You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)
27. The Motors – Dancing The Night Away



Disc 4:

01. Siouxsie & The Banshees – Hong Kong Garden
02. Blondie – Hanging On The Telephone
03. The Rezillos – Top Of The Pops
04. X – Adult Books
05. The Members – The Sound Of The Suburbs
06. Dead Kennedys – California Uber Alles
07. The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet
08. The Soft Boys – (I Want To Be An) Anglepoise Lamp
09. Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Radio, Radio
10. The Slits – Typical Girls
11. The Cramps – Human Fly
12. Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
13. The Ruts – Babylon's Burning
14. Sham 69 – If The Kids Are United
15. Stiff Little Fingers – Alternative Ulster
16. The Cure – Boys Don't Cry
17. The Pop Group – She Is Beyond Good And Evil
18. Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him?
19. The Undertones – Get Over You
20. Gang Of Four – Love Like Anthrax
21. The Stranglers – Peaches
22. Skids – Into The Valley
23. Johnny Thunders – You Can't Put Your Arms Round A Memory
24. Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart


Boxed Set Produced for release by Gary Stewart
Associate Producer: Alec Palao. Sound Produced by Bill Inglot

Release Date: October 28, 2003
Format: Box Set
Number of Discs: 4
Label: Warner / Rhino
Catalog No.: R2 73926