Various - Boss Samplerage 3

  by John Clarkson

published: 10 / 10 / 2002

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Review

One has to admire Aston Stephens... The Boss Tuneage owner has a demanding day job managing a CD plant, for which he makes a 100 mile round trip from Bedford to London and back again each week day. Yet he still has the energy and somehow finds the time to run his prolific punk label, often putting out a remarkable four of five new releases every month. Stephens, who runs Boss Tuneage single handed, began his label in 1990, dissolved it in 1995 and then restarted it again in 1999. Over the course of the last 12 years, Boss Tuneage has put out over 120 albums and singles, nearly 100 of which have come out in the last 3 years alone. Extracts from nearly half of these releases appear on Boss Tuneage’s latest budget-priced compilation, ‘Boss Samplerage 3’, a sprawling double CD, that features 56 tracks and 53 bands. Any compilation of this size perhaps inevitably is going to be something of a mixed bag. Many of the songs and bands that appear on ‘Boss Samplerage 3’ take the DIY ethos of punk to an extreme, and are unlikely to appeal to anyone except the most die-hard and iron-constitutioned of fans. With a running time of over 2 and a half hours, all that abrasive punk at least on initial hearings may also quickly prove to be too much of a good thing, and, to be fully appeciated, is probably best listened to, at least at first, 5 or 10 tracks at a time. Yet, whatever its flaws may be, ‘Boss Samplerage 3’ is also very enjoyable. For every weaker track, there is always in contrast at least one good one. There are strong songs from well-established international groups such as the Nils, Chino, Annalise, the Asexuals, La Motta and Stand GT, which alone fulfill the budget price of less than a fiver, and there are also several other otherwise obscure gems. Five Foot One’s twangy, good-natured instrumental ‘Fluffy’, for example, was culled from a demo tape by a long broken-up Canadian group which Stephens happened to stumble across. As a history of the label, it is also first-rate, featuring songs from recent additions Woolworthy and the Pavers, but, running back through the years, to include two tracks from gritty local Bedford group, Vehicle Derek, who were the very first band to release a record through Boss Tuneage. Boss Tuneage has now become Britain’s largest independent punk label. As both an introduction to it, and also as a retrospective to date of Stephens’ unique, tireless vision, “Boss Samplerage 3’ is superb.

Track Listing:-

1 Manifesto Jukebox–Paralysed
2 Woolworthy– Achin' To Bleed
3 The Unknown–Seven
4 Kid With Man Head–Closer Than Before
5 La Motta–Night Sun
6 The Milwaukees–When They Attack
7 Beezewax–Two Holes Apart
8 K-Line – Stay Poor
9 Eesch– Such A Good Time
10 Kick Joneses– The Rain And The River
11 Shooter McGavin – Broken Melody
12 Rhythm Collision– Whatcha Gonna Do
13 Bedford– The Last Song
14 Organic – Parkdale
15 The Nils– Scratches And Needles
16 Exit Condition–Throwing Sticks For The Underdogs
17 Barefoot–Everytime
18 The Tank–The Crew
19 Sylvie –Smoke And Mirrors
20 Brian James Meets Flatpig– New Rose
21 Annalise –Next Stop Nowhere
22 G Whiz– Rockford
23 Scarper!– Everyday Lifetime
24 Travis Cut–In Transit
25 Brock Pytel–Big Strong Love
26 Pavers– Red Suzuki
27 Punchbuggy– Same
28 Four Square– Slightest Sympathy
29 Mico –Section One
30 Chino –Uno Mas
31 Snot Rockets– California
32 Vehicle Derek–Things We Did
33 Rise –Waiting
34 Asexuals–Dish
35 Big Ray– Car
36 The Miles Apart– Prime Mover
37 Reno Divorce– What Were You Saying?
38 Stand GT–Blank The Allstars
39 Pocket Genius–Hitched
40 The Jones –Volatile
41 Benny – Speeded Up Cover Version Of John Cage's 4 Minutes 33 Seconds (Demo Version)
42 Raggity Anne– Two Sides Of Maddy
43 Perfect Daze– One Thing For Sure
44 Tokyo Adventures– Piff Poff Poof
45 Blocko – Rabit Punch
46 Five Foot Nothing– Fluffo
47 Hate Fuck Trio– Grandpa D Was A Gangster
48 Benny – Speeded Up Cover Version Of John Cage's 4 Minutes 33 Seconds (Studio Version)
49 Die Kunst– Car
50 Shutdown (5)– No. 1 Seed