Boys: The Boys
Label: Captain Oi!
Release Date: 2001
Recording Date: 1977
Review Date: 2004
This is a very good rerelease of a previously impossible to find Boys lp on CD. It’s a classic mix of power pop and punk from the UK. This rerelease also features 8 bonus tracks made up of singles, b-sides and demos, as well as early material recorded under the name “The Yobs.” What I really want to talk about the label. Captain Oi! (along with offshoot Captain Mod) has been undertaking a labor of love in procuring (often through begging) the rights to release classic punk records that otherwise never see the light of day on CD. Some of them (like the Dickies first two classics) did receive limited CD releases when parent companies rushed to fill the void during the beginnings of the CD format. A lot of those have since disappeared (like the Dickies CD’s) and would likely have been unavailable to new fans and self proscribed punk historians were it not for the valiant efforts of Captain Oi. If oyu are looking to find lesser known but still important releases by punk (and affiliated) bands from the late 70’s and early eighties than your first step should be Captain Oi! Not content to settle with debut releases only or “best of” compilations that usually aren’t Captain Oi strives to bring you the follow up releases that may have failed commercially but are still sound artistically. Case in point, the Vapors second album “Magnets” that surely would have disappeared. The (mostly English) bands are too numerous to mention, but here are few: 999, the Addicts, Chelsea, Cock Sparrer, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Penetration, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, The Revillos (!), ATV, Slaughter & The Dogs… I can’t go on. Remember, most bands on the catalog have more than one release available, as well as various compilations. AS for the CD’s themselves, the few that I have appear to be mastered well and the artwork is reproduced well, although not always as clear as the originals. Liner notes and extra pictures are included. My biggest beef is the somewhat annoying habit of advertising the next release in guise of “if you want to find out what else happened to the band, you’ll have to pick up the next release on Captain Oi!” Such cheesy tactics aside, Captain Oi releases are worth looking for. Hopefully someone will do the same for more American bands from the era. Almost forgot, they have also released some new recordings from reunited bands, but I haven’t actually heard any of those releases yet.
Online Action: captainoi.com