Billed to
Nips 'n' Nipple Erectors
, this is an important piece of secondary
punk
history. It almost fully documents the first band
Shane MacGowan
recorded with, collecting both sides of the first three singles by
the Nipple Erectors
/
Nips
, as well as adding four outtakes:
"So Pissed Off"
and
"Stavordale Rd, N5"
(first issued on LP in 1987), and
"Venus in Bother Boots"
"Fuss & Bother"
(which make their debut on this compilation). Granted, it still doesn't quite add up to 25 minutes, but everything's here save the 1981 single
"Happy Song"
"Nobody to Love."
It's admirably insouciant but kind of middle-of-the-pack late-'70s
U.K . punk
, distinguished from some other such sounds of the time by a heavier
rockabilly
beat and
MacGowan
's sneering vocals, moving a little sideways into
Elvis Costello
-like territory on the 1979 single
"Gabrielle."
As for the two new outtakes,
has a slight
Ramones
feel, while
is, like its title, blather about nothing particularly important. ~ Richie Unterberger