Re-Upped VII

Shake Some Action Vol. 7 offers another American assortment. While no stone-classic, like "Teenline", "Let Me Take Your Photo' or "A.M." emerges, it's still an excellent approximation of what American radio might have been in 1979 in a revised and better past. So we have more wussy-pop (like Quincy and the Leopards), Some Beatles business (the Boys) and some bands that had their ear turned to the NME (Tweeds, Dirty Looks and Cris Moffa and the Competition). Of course there's the band who tries to combine these different threads and call themselves the Beatles Costello but, unfortunately, it sounds as graceful as it reads. Finally, a strain of garage rock pops up in the Nightmares and the Blackjacks that shows the key American source of the British New Wave.

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Re-Upped VI

Shake Some Action Vol. 6 takes on the whole wide world and, of course, comes up short. Lots of Northern Europe, a bit of Australia/New Zealand, a touch of Spain and France plus an entry each from Japan and Brazil pretty much covers it. No Canada - no Bureaucrats, no Pointed Sticks, no the Fuse, no Young Canadians. Well, maybe that was gonna be volume nine! It's still a great sampler of what the liner notes call "world music" - check out the sterling "Gotta Have Pop" by the Moderns, the erroneous pop-prophecy of "Ice Age" by Babijar and the head-bopping "Manen" by the Mops. It maybe the least appreciated album of the series but it proves that "la-la-la" and "whoa-oh-oh" are part of some universal language.

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Re-Upped V

Shake Some Action 5 returns to the UK and it swings like a pendulum do. This volume, quite feasibly the series' highlight, just has no weak tracks, though a few do suffer in comparison - bicker amongst yourselves about which ones. This set sounds like of those "Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits" compilations might have, if, instead of being bogged down with gimmicky synth-pop, each track had bristled with jagged guitars, pounding rhythm sections and killer verse-chorus-verse structures. While, overall, power-pop dominates, this album has depth. "Audio, Audio" by the Classics is a Blondie-like update of the Spector Sound, Andy Arthurs gives a hell of a pop kick to the New Wave quirk of "I Can Detect You For 1.00.0o0 Miles", "Love Letter" by the the Step goes for a Northern Soul groove, the Jolt attack "I Can't Wait" like a '77 take on the Small Faces and White Heat's "Nervous Breakdown" explodes like a fully-executed punk anthem should.

Someone once claimed that, "no one hums albums"; but you will now.


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Re-Upped IV

When Shake Some Action Vol. 4 returns us to the 'good 'ole U.S. of A., the wuss factor spikes. (Listen to David Finnerty's "Hold On", which threatens to blow away with a slight breeze, while the Monroe's manage to make such wussiness a virtue in "What Do All the People Know"). Then there's more post-Knack chart-grasping such as the Continentals, Four Eyes and, what is no doubt the worst song in the series, The Now's "I Like Girls". Despite all that softness, a couple of bands, like the Jumpers and The Penetrators, adopt a charming faux-punk sneer, while D.L Byron and Code Blue each add a ripping rocker. Attention must be paid to the Shades, "Hello Mr. Johnson", which slipped under my consciousness and exploded. Repeated listening revealed it's punk-rock Dylan-isms ("I was born premature - I'm still ahead of my time") that can match Elvis Costello's, it's weirdly wonderful bridge and the ratcheted up tension of that final chorus - "Hello Mr. Johnson - meet your audience". Most importantly, there's the Speedies who, with their deliriously snotty pop song, "Let Me Take Your Photo", proved (via its appearance in an HP ad) that so many of the songs herein really coulda been contenders.

Boomp3.com

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Re-Uploaded III

Volume Three gets us back in the UK, where instead of soft rock (in the Kansas-Boston-Chicago) the kids of the late 70's recycled glam rock in the Gary Glitter/Sweet/Mott the Hoople mode and that Small-Faces/Who/Action mod sound of '65. Another crucial distinction was that while in America only a few highly-produced young power-pop bands made it onto US radio while many of these UK bands had real shot at chart domination. And it shows. Listening to Protex,The Stillettos, The Strangeways or the Newhearts and you're baffled; This wasn't a monster hit? Perhaps a glut of "The" bands with kicky tunes and punchy choruses overwhelmed the United Kingdom to the point that only now, thirty tears later, are we prepared to exhume their discarded treasures. Even the weak tracks are a joy, so dig in.



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