Industrial music reviews

A truly pathetic CD. The only good song was "Right Here In My Arms". Of course, you might like all of it if you're a suicidal goth, but.. it's not for those who enjoy any part of life or who even tend to avoid stupid lyrics like, "My sweet 666!" and "Join me in death!" Come ON.

this is an amazing album. this is actually my first HIM album (...) and i was impressed. the guitar work on the songs are awesome and the piano bits are beautiful they really suck u into the cd. of course, if all u care about in music is lyrics, than u might end up disappointed like some of the idiots who reviewed early altho i do admit some of the lyrics can be quite ridiculous. "Join me in death"? yeah, you get the point. but besides that, awesome cd

I am not a goth. I like myself. I love HIM. Why? Because his songs are about love and the depth of our hearts when we are in love, wanting love, missing the one we love, etc. Of course if you just casually glance over the songs lyrics then you'll miss the point of them. Case in point, the song "Join Me". Most will probably see this as some morbid song about suicide and how we want to die with people we love. however the song is about a couple, where one persona has AIDS. So in order for the couple to fulfill their love physically, the other person will have to metaphorically "die" hence the chorus line "Join me in death". I have to admit that it took me to see HIM live to understand that, but it goes to show not to take the lyrics at face value.

For all you hopeless romantics out there, HIM is for you. Every song is about love, and who doesn't want to be love?

It's good to support the underground alternative bands and I bought this album based on many ads I saw in alternative music magazines. I have to say that a "sensual" voice is not enough to make great music. The singer tries to much to sound sensual sometimes its almost ridiculous but anyway, the big problem with this album are the compositions. There is no melody, all the album sounds very monotony, just a voice with no direction around very basic sounding guitars and drums. Overall there is a total lack of musicality. I wouldn't even use the album as background music, the music is very predictable, boring, unremarkable. What a waste really. It's funny, even in the underground scene a band can be over advertised. Caveat emptor.

I'm a big fan of Collide's "Chasing the Ghost" album... I hear those songs in my dreams even, magical stuff. Based upon the other reviews I bought this album hoping to be similarly entranced. I was very disappointed. The songs lack the range and depth and passion of "Chasing the Ghost", perhaps the mixing could have been better, but they just don't grab me. I'm afraid that Collide may count as one of the many one-album-wonders of the music world.

I have never been a heavy listener of industrial/gothic/electronica until I found Collide. "Crushed" was the first song I ever listened to and after that I was hooked. Despite other reviews that I have read about being repetetive or lacking in meaningful lyrics, I believe every song on Some Kind of Strange is unique and takes you on a trip you'll never want to come back from. I love every song, though I do have my favorites which include Crushed, Euphoria, Inside, Tempted, and Complicated. But I promise you, every song is worth a listen!
Collide is quite possibly one of the best bands I've heard in a while. I can't listen to modern radio much anymore. Everything sounds the same to me. But Collide stands out with their trippy, dreamlike songs and sounds and deep and sometimes completely random lyrics.
kaRIN's sexy, dark, soft, yet powerful vocals alone should lure you in. I'd try to compare her to another singer, but I don't know of any that come close to sounding like her, making her all the more enjoyable to listen to! Combined with Statik's "noise", which consists of multiple beats, instruments, and sounds that clash in such a way that it can only sound good coming from him. I was impressed how Statik used sounds that alone, one would normally dislike or find annoying, but added to a beat could make music out of it! Truly amazing and unique. I highly recommend this band!

The most consistent band in the Industrial scene come back to release a new album. Generally, FLA are worshipped for "Tactical Neural Implant," an album that is responsible for every cliche in Industrial (specifically, Cyberpunk Post-Apocalypse Mechanical Inhuman Minimalistic New-Wave-With-A-Jackhammer Sample-Overdose Mesmerizing-Decades-Of-Faith) but was still a great CD. Every album after TNI was basically TNI+ (insert influence here). Milennium was TNI+Rock, FLAvor was TNI+Techno, Hard Wired was TNI+Drum'n'Bass (with a lil guitar). Epitaph was kind of a departure, where the cyberpunk dystopia of TNI was blasted with an H-Bomb and all thats left is ruins... Milennium kind of continues on this path, sounding almost like a more angry Epitaph. TNI was mechanical but it was kind of upbeat in a way, Epitaph was bleak and Civilization continues this 'ramshackle/experimental' feel but in a more aggressive way.

The first song, Psychosomatic, sounds like TNI meets Hip-Hop (yes, Hip-Hop) meets a James Bond theme. This song is unhateable. Its catchy and fun, and is followed by the dark, angry, but catchy-as-hell Maniacal. A bit of everything is used here, samples, synths, pianos, guitars, more samples, more synths, weird sounds that keep everything from feeling repetitive, more weird stuff, complex percussion, so experimental yet tied together with catchy, stick-in-your-head melodies... mmmm not so different from TNI after all. Best seen as more 'organic.'

FLA are consistent and always deliver CDs with at least 3 or 4 good songs. They continue their record here.

FLA (Front Line Assembly) are one of those bands that are not afraid to tread on new ground and very old ground aswell, that is just what they have done on this remarkable new album. It has also come to my attention that Rhys Fulber (welcome back to FLA) has incorporated almost all his side-project talent into this latest FLA masterpiece, I can hear aspects of 'Conjure One', and 'Synaesthesia' quite heavily throughout the album. They have also stepped back in time to give us long time fans more of what we like about FLA, without repeating themselves though. The robo-voice present on their 1992 'Tactical Neural Implant' album has been welcomed back to this release, with an new age sound.

FLA have always made music that is more technologically advanced than the other musicians in their field have. Leaving FLA hands down in the lead of the search for the future sound of technology in music.

FLA also manage to create a very visual type of music that is almost like another world, or a future world which one can step into and be completely immersed in.

FLA are once again Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber, which I and many fans feel is the truest FLA line-up. 'Civilization' is the first album with this line up since the 'Hard Wired' album and the final EP 'Plasticity' which followed, and then with Rhys Fulber's departure Chris Peterson joined Bill Leeb to release their first album together called 'FLAvour of the Weak'.

Reviewer Andrew is right, 'Civilization' is like 'Tactical Neural Implant' but slightly more organic sounding.

WELCOME BACK RHYS, WE MISSED YOUR PRESENCE IN FLA's EVERLASTING AND EVER EVOLVING SEARCH FOR THE FUTURE THROUGH SOUND AND TECHNOLOGY.

I must say that i've had this disc for almost more than a year now and i still love listening to it over and over. Unlike their previous efforts (the bizarre Epitaph and dark spacey Implode) this reminded me of a "modernized" Tactical Neural Implant lushed with ambience darker than Semantic Spaces. This album will probably please more Delerium fans than those who's more into the heavier side of FLA (Hard-wired, Millenium, FLAvourOfTheWeAK). There is an undeniable fact that there lies a certain degree of brilliance and craftsmanship in it's engineering. Probably due to Rhys Fulber's comeback (we've seen him mature over the years with most of his production work: Fear Factory, Conjure One among others). A good blend of light and dark, he manages to bring out a more softer side of FLA that's somewhat similar yet contrast to Chris Petersons "cyber" and grungy approach. Nevertheless, this is "cyber" and forget-about-grunge electronic ebm music at it's finest. Fans of electronica should try this and it's follow-up ep Vanished.

Sometimes I'm amazed by the albums that I haven't yet reviewed. I was sure I had done this before; after all, my user name just might be based on this album. At any rate, this is a masterpiece of the genre and for creative music in general.

The output is both surreal and nightmarish, fueled by angst, doubt, fear, rage, uncertainty and unrelenting introspection. Imagine being inside a world designed by Edvard Munch and Salvadore Dali while a horror movie is projected on the wall and a radio turned up too loud spits out war coverage news. The sound often intentionally lacks cohesion allowing the music and lyrics to wildly ramble along to some bizarre stream of consciousness. Chopped phrases are parsed together to form a sort of dark poetic montage as opposed to even attepting sentence structure. The music follows a similar process whereby spoken samples, noises, electronic stabs and harsh, often reverse sounding, beats come together forming a wicked, evil brew. To the neophyte listener the sound is imposing ans scary barely bordering on "music". However it really does start to make sense with time. I think that is the true brilliance of this album; after hundreds of listens the hidden beauty is not only apparent, it's glaringly obvious. My friends are always amazed that I can clearly hear every word and discern each melody. Somehow this album that at first seems like a wall of noise and chaos seeps into your soul and becomes as clean to you personally as though it were a single violin.

If you find that the album is just too dense and impenetrable then focus on the first half which is slightly more direct. The singles "Who's Laughing Now?" and "Testure" have fairly accessible beats. Another favorite from the first half, "Harsh Stone White", is very creepy but there is also clarity. Industrial heads revere this album as one of the all-time greats; it has always been a Puppy fan favorite probably 2nd only to 'Too Dark Park'. The album, and the band in general, will be difficult for newcomers, requiring a conscious effort to fight through the madness. This isn't easy listening, but nothing that matters is easy.

Note for those who might be interested: "Who's Laughing Now?" was featured in the movie 'Bad Influence', a psychological thriller starring Rob Lowe as a psycho pulling a pretty cool mindscrew on James Spader.

It's come to my attention from a Wikipedia article about the lawyer, Jack Thompson(He's a lawyer who is trying to fight against the videogame industry and wants to censor violent videogames), that an Amazon reviewer gave his book a 5 star rating during what JT called a bookstorming and that review was removed (They filled up the book with negative tags, photoshopped pictures, and 1 star reviews). The positive review was by a user called BushSupporter who appears to be against Skinny Puppy as well as videogames. Anyway, if you're here because you hate Jack Thompson and are curious about the band you may want to skip this CD unless you're already into harsh Industrial music. Don't get me wrong. It's an awesome piece of work but I don't feel it's going to appeal to first timers. Skinny Puppy made later releases that are a lot easier to swallow for first time listeners. Those releases are The Greater Wrong of the Right, The Process, and Rabies. Rabies being the least accessible of those three but it still has Al Jourgensen's guitars (the vocalist and guitar player from Ministry).

Despite them trying to tell me how to think ''politically''..I STILL THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST IN INDUSTRIAL!!

I do agree in protecting animal's from human's(but how can it be avoided??)..but it seem's they like IZNTREAL..I am anti IZNTREAL..so I could care less about them(IZZY) and their lie's!!

I really have to be in the mood to listen to this..but when I do it hit's HARD!!

''HARSH STONE WHITE''; and ''TESTURE'' (for the begining key's even!!)are the highlight's..but all song's are great because they each create some DARKNESS in yer mind!!

Really beautiful, dark and MORBID!! must own for DARK music fan's!!!

Sometimes I'm amazed by the albums that I haven't yet reviewed. I was sure I had done this before; after all, my user name just might be based on this album. At any rate, this is a masterpiece of the genre and for creative music in general.

The output is both surreal and nightmarish, fueled by angst, doubt, fear, rage, uncertainty and unrelenting introspection. Imagine being inside a world designed by Edvard Munch and Salvadore Dali while a horror movie is projected on the wall and a radio turned up too loud spits out war coverage news. The sound often intentionally lacks cohesion allowing the music and lyrics to wildly ramble along to some bizarre stream of consciousness. Chopped phrases are parsed together to form a sort of dark poetic montage as opposed to even attepting sentence structure. The music follows a similar process whereby spoken samples, noises, electronic stabs and harsh, often reverse sounding, beats come together forming a wicked, evil brew. To the neophyte listener the sound is imposing ans scary barely bordering on "music". However it really does start to make sense with time. I think that is the true brilliance of this album; after hundreds of listens the hidden beauty is not only apparent, it's glaringly obvious. My friends are always amazed that I can clearly hear every word and discern each melody. Somehow this album that at first seems like a wall of noise and chaos seeps into your soul and becomes as clean to you personally as though it were a single violin.

If you find that the album is just too dense and impenetrable then focus on the first half which is slightly more direct. The singles "Who's Laughing Now?" and "Testure" have fairly accessible beats. Another favorite from the first half, "Harsh Stone White", is very creepy but there is also clarity. Industrial heads revere this album as one of the all-time greats; it has always been a Puppy fan favorite probably 2nd only to 'Too Dark Park'. The album, and the band in general, will be difficult for newcomers, requiring a conscious effort to fight through the madness. This isn't easy listening, but nothing that matters is easy.

Note for those who might be interested: "Who's Laughing Now?" was featured in the movie 'Bad Influence', a psychological thriller starring Rob Lowe as a psycho pulling a pretty cool mindscrew on James Spader.

It's come to my attention from a Wikipedia article about the lawyer, Jack Thompson(He's a lawyer who is trying to fight against the videogame industry and wants to censor violent videogames), that an Amazon reviewer gave his book a 5 star rating during what JT called a bookstorming and that review was removed (They filled up the book with negative tags, photoshopped pictures, and 1 star reviews). The positive review was by a user called BushSupporter who appears to be against Skinny Puppy as well as videogames. Anyway, if you're here because you hate Jack Thompson and are curious about the band you may want to skip this CD unless you're already into harsh Industrial music. Don't get me wrong. It's an awesome piece of work but I don't feel it's going to appeal to first timers. Skinny Puppy made later releases that are a lot easier to swallow for first time listeners. Those releases are The Greater Wrong of the Right, The Process, and Rabies. Rabies being the least accessible of those three but it still has Al Jourgensen's guitars (the vocalist and guitar player from Ministry).

Despite them trying to tell me how to think ''politically''..I STILL THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST IN INDUSTRIAL!!

I do agree in protecting animal's from human's(but how can it be avoided??)..but it seem's they like IZNTREAL..I am anti IZNTREAL..so I could care less about them(IZZY) and their lie's!!

I really have to be in the mood to listen to this..but when I do it hit's HARD!!

''HARSH STONE WHITE''; and ''TESTURE'' (for the begining key's even!!)are the highlight's..but all song's are great because they each create some DARKNESS in yer mind!!

Really beautiful, dark and MORBID!! must own for DARK music fan's!!!

I'd never heard any full length albums from Pitch Shifter prior to my purchase of this, their newest release, but from what I have heard in the past I thought I knew better than to expect something like this. Pitchshifter have gone techno in a big way, which will irritate many old fans to no end, but it's a development that, considered in regard to the success with which they've achieved their objective, I certainly welcome. Now, when I say Pitch Shifter have gone techno, I don't mean that in the same sense that some say Testament went death metal on "Demonic", nor is my remark comparable to the efforts of some overzealous Metallica bashers on the 'net who would have you believe they're now some kind of alternative band (yeah, I really hear the Blur influence there). If any of the songs on "www.pitchshifter.com" were stripped of vocals, they could easily wind up on somebody's mix CD and no one would know they didn't really belong there.

The vocals are pretty much the band's last ties to their metal roots. They haven't totally given up on guitars, but they're used in a manner more akin to KMFDM than, say, Entombed. I'm a big fan of techno myself, and since I didn't have much invested in Pitch Shifter's allegiance to metal in the first place, I can honestly say I've enjoyed this album immensely- time and again- in the last month. Nevertheless, there is something to be said in the loss of avant garde experimentalism present on the early albums, so with the gain in accessibility must come a certain loss of respectability. But, if you're not intent on putting the band on a pedestal, do yourself a favor and check this album out. Beats the Spawn soundtrack, that's for damn sure...

If you're a fan of the industrial, punk and alternative scene (especially in the UK) you'll know how special this band is.

Nobody out there fuses, jungle drum and bass beats, hardcore punk rifts and black humoured lyrics as well as these guys.

Forget Black Flag and Henry Rollins. If you're a fan of Jello Bafaria and want to hear one of the most innovative bands of the past 2 decades then get this album.

Distored programming never sounded so good!

I was introduced to this band about a year ago, when they have broken up. I first heard of the band when I was using the Napster which you purchase songs with, and I decided to check out this sound alike artist called Pitchshifter. I listened to the track "Microwaved", which is a great track, but it's a shame that Pitchshifter took the track and called it "Dead Battery" on their mediocre "Deviant". The best track on this CD is "Genius", a track of pure genius. "Genius" got me hooked to this band more than "Microwaved" did. "W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G." is another highlight. If you're into industrial metal but want to try something less mainstream, Pitchshifter is the best choice.

R.I.P. 1989-2003

skinny puppy is dead.
long live skinny puppy.
exactly what in the world could they achieve after THAT?
just what would be the next logical step of progression?
clearly; competing with what was before was not an option.
i think they had pretty much exhausted the skinny puppy monster by the time last rights was made.
duh, like, its last rights man, afterall, you know what i mean? the process cd after last rights was just as unpleasant a skinny puppy experience as trying to revive the corpse of a beloved, and i could believe THAT "process" was the reason why dwayne took his own life (even if it wasnt). it left us with someone pretty good at making music (key) and someone pretty good at being a vocalist (ogre).
THEIR next steps to move on (progress) unfortunately, had to be away from each other. anything other than that would have had to have led to a compromise in how one of them could improve on what was before.
i tended more towards what ogre got involved with, seeming a little more consistent with the scene that SP used to be involved in. time has illustrated however, that THAT scene was not one worth pledging much allegiance to, and ogre has had to reincarnate as more of a scene unto himself than anything else. its all good though, and calling it crunchy or "industrial" pop just dont sound quite right, even if its accurate.
in the meantime...
electronic music was sort of a black sheep in the underground (alternative? goffic? metal?) scene to start with, at least conventional electronic music was. that which was welcomed had to be accompanied by something really special, like distorted guitars or aggressive percussion or treated vocals. when download (ironically the title of the last track on last rights - yes, i think it means something!) was born, i think it was more than a handfull of people that turned their backs on what sounded pretty much like amateurish underground techno.
weve come a long way since then, and electronic music may not necessarily be frowned upon as much as it used to be, but download is probably only appreciated by a very specific audience. not commertial enough to compete with their counterparts, and not underground enough to rely on fans of a previous era.
it was by coincidence i discovered how download might have been the next logical step of progression from SP for key, and it involved psychedelics, or, entheogens. a budding interest in consciousness altering substances and obvious references to same in the track titles on this cd led to the proverbial opening of my third eye. that key was involved in making music more suited to "higher" planes (however you got there) totally seemed to make sense as THE next step after SP. and i think he retained a lot of integrity in taking a step in that direction.
if what SP did was wallow in despair and anger at the human condition, then download reflects on the process of overcoming, and perhaps even beating, it.
for those of us from the old SP camp needing something to listen to whilst under the influence (and not get too freaked out), this is a good cd; lots of sound/ rythm that you would swear you never heard whilst straight, lots of stuff that you would swear was specifically designed to hear while tripping. it might even help create tolerance of other ambient acts that do even better jobs whilst at it.
for the rest this is a pretty weak atempt at creating some standard outlandish techno or something.
PS: words i would not use to describe this cd: haunting; tribal; industrial; asian(!); danceable; malicious; abstract. ETC.
its a mellow, ambient, electronic, interesting, trippy kind of thing.

While most fans may be familiar with Downloads earlier work that was an offshoot of Industrial Legends Skinny Puppy, with Effector moves along the same vein as Download's previous record "III". Instead of industrial starkness, this album is filled with lush and ethereal pads and atmopsheric structures along with complex progrmmed beats that take on a groove and head bobbing feel. Effector is a body of music that is more in common with Bjork's musical backdrops, Authecre or a more modern version of Analogue Bubblebath era Aphex Twin. While Key is a legend in his own right, let the stark progressive darkness stay with the reformation of Skinny Puppy and let Download continue this magical journey

It's a gestalt (an uber pretentious german word used to indicate 1 + 1 equals more than 2 when put together). Each track contains so many little parts to it than upon each listen I notice something new in the way the whole song functions. Listen upon listen I hear things that seem to fit so percisely yet I can't say why. Anything that leaves me this astounded I have to give at least 5 stars too.

I've been a Sister Machine Gun fan since Burn. I have all their albums now, Torture Technique, Sins of The Flesh, Burn, Metropolis, [r]evolution, and now 6.0. After Burn SMG took a definite turn away from the electronic and began exploring the more organic and funky organ, sax, and guitar which was present at such memorable moments on Burn as the first track, Red. This all culminated with [r]evolution, a funky, techno-organic, jazz/dance album full of catchy grooves and simply excellent instrumentation. 6.0 can't help but fall short for me because its such a left turn in what seemed like a natural progression for the band. I say "band" but its actually just Chris Randall because he seems to have dropped them on this album in favor of Miguel Turanzas only. 6.0 isn't the worst album in thw world but it doesn't have the same life and energy that previous efforst did. In the end the album seems shallow and a few brilliant beats here and there don't really get me going. I like SMG (and other bands) because they take me places where I haven't been before musically. 6.0 feels like familiar territory where I was hoping for an undiscovered country.

From James Brown is dead and working with many Mainstay industrial groups (KMFDM/PIG) SMG/Chris Randall has refined all his previous work and created a great CD that does not fit into any one Genre of Music type. 23 previous reviews and nothing under 4 stars should tell you, if you made it to here, you'll like this cd purchase. This guy has to be the most underrated musician to come out of Chicago and of course his band mates are complete talents as well. Great vocals and great funk-rock with jazz undertones await your ears.

This album is sick! awesome stuff, i dont see why people said this was an average album?!?! This in my opinon is the best S.M.G release since the wax trax! days, and the reason is....it almost feels wax trax-ish. A very good album using a few trippy samples, somewhat like " the torture technique " album, with the smooth/harsh appeal of "burn". Also at the same time flooding the album with its own originality. A very VERY underrated album. If you like the old S.M.G stuff mixed with the new vibes then you should definately look into 6.0 stand out tracks "Machine (no!)" "Down on Me" "Loser" "End"

This 1987 release from SP is a great industrial/experimental music relase proves is another record released by the masters of this kind of music. The lyrics are very well written without being trite or just odd and strange. Addiction is a stupendous track, as is deep down trauma hounfs and there are many others on the same level on this great record. The book-let is a strange creation and has this odd looking photograph like it came from some low budget horror movie and the information is sketchy but they have included the lyrics which is nice since it is hard to hear what Ogre sings.

CFM is quite a fine album, a highlight in the long line of grand movements created in Skinny Puppy's long career (along with Vivisect and *gasp* The Greater Wrong Of The Right).

Now, with that out of the way, I'd like to state that elitism is a nasty, nasty thing. It causes those less pretencious and/or more open minded than the elite to become quite enraged with said elitists' bitching and whining. There is a place where Skinny Puppy, NIN, and even Primus can all coincide in peaceful existance, that place being an open mind. I'd also like to throw in that Skinny Puppy has nothing on being abrasive, noisy, and unaccesible; I'd love to watch all the oh-so-elite rivetheads try and sit thru Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music followed by a healthy serving of Sonic Youth.

-He-Who-Likes-Wumpscut-And-Dead-Kennedys

If you're new to Skinny Puppy this is a great album to buy.
The best songs on Cleanse Fold And Manipulate are First Aid, Addiction, and Deep Down Trauma Hounds. First Aid is a great song with very meaningful lyrics. Addiction is actually kind of catchy (not negatively) for a Skinny Puppy song. Deep Down Trauma Hounds is an SP classic. Cleanse Fold And Manipulate will seem a bit caustic to the uninitiated, though this is to be expected with Skinny Puppy. Of their works, I would definitely recommend this album (or Last Rights) to anyone who has an open mind and likes industrial/experimental music.

It somehow just makes sense that thirty years later you'd see a cd version of the same type of lame "new wave" cash-in albums that cropped up like mushrooms in '77-'78. The predictable and the loss leaders are all here, in a way that really makes me oddly nostalgic

Everyone can gripe about what they left out but I am more concerned about what was included. You get the obvious (Blitzkrieg Bop, Search and Destroy, White Riot, Blank Generation), a few real gems (Patti Smith's deconstruction of Hey Joe)and some real duds (The Strangler's "Peaches", Ian Dury "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll") to stuff that isn't even punk (Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello). Though its cool not to always pick obvious songs by an artist it seems that perhaps some of the choices were because they couldn't get the rights to better known songs. I mean whoever heard of The Soft Boys "I Want to Be an Anglepoise Lamp". I would have picked "I Want to Destroy You". Or Ultravox "Saturday Night in the City of the Dead". It was from the first album before they even developed their sound. So yes this is a history of punk but with pub rock and deservedly lesser known pop punk bands. Whoever thought that punk would some day be watered down into parent-friendly pop punk/emo that would crowd out the bands with real talent. So if you know about punk then the boxset may not really give you any more ideas but if you can't wait to catch the Warped Tour every year then "No Thanks" might save you from a life of desperation.

It could have had some more artists on it. Many of the ones that are already there have 2-3 songs. But that's hardly anything to complain about, this is a great set! The book it comes with is also very informative, and has great photos of just about every band here. It even gives a brief explanation of why the Pistols aren't here, but you'd probably be better off just purchasing "Never Mind the Bollocks" if you care that much. Personally, I don't care that they're not included.

But as I said before, this set just isn't complete without something like, "(Your Love is Like A) Nuclear Waste" by Tuff Darts, who were part of the scene in New York during the '70s. It also seems a bit strange that they would include Iggy Pop and The Stooges, without including the Velvet Underground or MC5. All three of these bands were mostly active in the '60s, but still a little in the '70s (and this IS the '70s punk rebellion).

I'd recommend this set to anyone interested in punk rock. Even if you have all the essential albums, was there at the time, or are just getting into it, this is simply great to own. It's one of the better definitive punk compilations out there.