TELEVISION (NOT THE BAND)

Here's two great UK punk 45's I bought really cheap. The UK-versus-US-punk controversy (We started it! -No, we did! -But we're better! etc.) shows no signs of letting up; I like both kinds but I have to admit there's a difference between '70's UK and US punk that's hard to pin down. American punk's got a certain swagger, both in its rhythm and in the vocals, that can be traced back to the ubiquitous MC5/Stooges/Dolls and further back to garage/rockabilly/r&b. English punk, in contrast, has a rootlessness that makes it sound nervous and ratty, a bit like the early Stones rushing through Chuck Berry's "Carol", while the singing is often best described as "quaint"; influences for British punk seem to lie more in comedy/satire (many already noted the similarity between Johnny Rotten and Father Steptoe!). Now let's look at these two beauties from the UK... I bought the Cortinas' Fascist Dictator 45 mainly because it was the first release on the great Step Forward label (I was never too crazy about the stuff I'd heard, like "Defiant Pose"). So I was in for a pleasant surprise! While the A side is pretty good sped-up R&B (with a singer that's actually sounding like an American!), the flip "Television Families" is the winner; a great, fast, herky-jerky tune that sounds like the Hives with the Dirtbombs' Mick (come to think of it, I always thought only Englishmen were ever allowed to be called Mick) Collins singing!
On the other side of the UK punk spectrum we have the brilliant Adverts. Everybody knows their early singles like "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" (even Gary Gilmore's brother owned a copy), but this one is from a little later when they were yesterday's news. While recording "Television's Over" someone must have prophetically thought "Guitars are over", as they are as good as inaudible in the mix, reduced to a subliminal buzz that could just as well have been a farting synth or something. The thudding drums (a la Gary Gilmore) remain, and after a couple of listens you realize this is one of TV (I wonder if the title of this song was autobiographical?) Smith's greatest songs. This song, like most stuff by the Adverts, sounds quintessentially British, not in the way I described above, but - to these ears at least - it's got a late '60's English Outsider vibe, a bit like Syd Barrett or Roy Harper, but most of all it reminds me of SF Sorrow-era Pretty Things! If you think I'm crazy just check out the Phil Mayish drawn-out sneer and the eerie two-note guitar riff in the chorus. (And if you don't have SF Sorrow, run to your record store!)

Cortinas - Television Families
Adverts - Television's Over