Abrasive Wheels - When The Punks Go Marching In

UK82 gem given the digipak reissue treatment

Leeds punk band Abrasive Wheels came to the attention of Bristol’s Riot City label when they played a blinding support set for Slaughter at the city’s Granary Club on 25 March 1980. Impressed still further by the band’s scorching self-released 1981 The ABW EP, Riot City duly snapped them up for the Vicious Circle EP, which made No 12 on the indie chart in February the following year. Clay Records supremo Mike Stone was then drafted in to produce the Burn ’Em Down single, a blistering chant-along classic that ranks along with the best of what we now term the UK82 sound.

Stone also helmed When The Punks Go Marching In, which again proved to be a wise choice. The satisfyingly full production (surely the envy of many contemporaries working with bigger budgets) did ample justice to highly impressive songs such as BBC, the joyfully belligerent Just Another Punk Band and First Rule (No Rule), replete with Harry Harrison’s neat Slaughter & The Dogs-style bass runs. The title track sounds a little laboured these days, but that’s the only downside.

Captain Oi! | AHOY DPX 25

Reviewed by Shane Baldwin
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