Professionals - The Complete Professionals

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 11 / 1 / 2016

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Review

What happens when your band are truly hated but influential and then they split up? Well, Paul Cook and Steve Jones carried on as the Sex Pistols for a while, writing new songs, doing covers for the then new film, ‘The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle’, but it wasn't the same, so they moved onto new territory with the Professionals. The Professionals had a rather bad time. Their 1980 eponymous debut album was aborted because of a legal dispute and remained unreleased until 1991, It was a shame as it was much better than their official 1981 debut, ‘I Didn't See It Coming’, a reference to a near death experience for the band after they were involved in a car crash on an American tour. So, how do you follow such a great band as the Sex Pistols? Well, in John Lydon's case, he formed the groundbreaking Public Image Limited, while Cook and Jones founded the Professionals, who at the time were respected for who they were. You get the sense that they were trying to look forward when you listen to this three CD compilation which compiles together their entire output. The best of their music, however, had the edge and darkness of those days in 1976 and 1977. ‘Little Boys in Blue’ is about the police who gave punk rockers a hard time, but the second track ‘Mods Skins Punks’ on the aborted ‘I Didn't See It Coming’ is for me their best work, “Are you mod?/Are you a skin/?Are you a punk/Or are you just faking?” Jones asks, making the point that back then with so much of youth it was a case of what tribe your loyalty rested with. All of those groups were outcasts anyway, as disco was the strongest music of the time. This is a fine collection that deserves to be housed next to your ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’ re-master. Featuring all of the aborted ‘The Professionals’ album, which is much stronger then the poorer over-produced ‘I Didn’t See It Coming’, along with sessions and demos galore, ‘The Complete Professionals’ will make many old punks’ Christmas a very special one.

Track Listing:-

1 The Magnificent
2 Payola
3 Northern Slide
4 Friday Night Square
5 Kick Down The Doors
6 Little Boys In Blue
7 All The Way
8 Crescendo
9 Madhouse
10 Too Far To Fall
11 Just Another Dream
12 Action Man
13 1 2 3
14 White Light/ White Heat
15 Baby I Don't Care
16 Join The Professionals
17 Has Anybody Got An Alibi
18 Join The Professionals
19 Conned Again
20 La La La
21 Don't Blow It All Away
22 Natural Born Killer
23 Some Play Dirty
24 Join The Professionals (John Peel Session, London, UK / 1980)
25 All The Way With You (John Peel Session, London, UK / 1980)
26 Crescendo (John Peel Session, London, UK / 1980)
27 Kick Down The Doors (John Peel Session, London, UK / 1980)
28 Join The Professionals (Mike Read Session, UK / 1980)
29 Madhouse (Mike Read Session, UK / 1980)
30 Crescendo (Mike Read Session, UK / 1980)
31 Little Boys In Blue (Alternate Recording)
32 Mods Skins Punks
33 Kick Down The Doors (Alternate Recording)
34 Kamikaze
35 All The Way (Alternate Recording)
36 Crescendo (Alternate Recording)
37 Madhouse (Alternate Recording)
38 Rockin' Mick
39 Northern Slide (Demo)
40 The Magnificent (Demo)
41 Home From Home (Demo)
42 The Magnificent (Dub)
43 Love Man (Rough Mix)
44 Payola (Monitor Mix 3)
45 Join The Professionals (Remix)
46 Just Another Dream (Monitor Mix)
47 Join The Professionals (Monitor Mix)

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/theprofession
https://twitter.com/OfficialPros

Label Links:-

http://www.virginrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/virginrecords
https://twitter.com/virginrecords
https://instagram.com/virginrecords/