Chaos UK - Kings For A Day: The Vinyl Japan Years

Cider-punk in the land of the rising sun

Though no longer with us, Chaos UK, who formed in Portishead, near Bristol, in 1979, were not only early flag-bearers for the British wing of the hardcore movement, but kept doggedly at it for 25 years.

Chaos built a large following around the world, particularly in Japan, where they toured regularly after 1985. As the title suggests, most of the tracks on this two-disc collection comprisex of the material recorded for the Vinyl Japan label, the most amusing being their 1998 album of covers, Heard It, Seen It, Done It. Gob On You, from the Not The Nine O’Clock News TV programme, is played perfectly straight, as is ATV’s You Bastard. Most fun, however, is Public Image, which, with a fairly authentic backing track, sounds like PiL fronted by the 4-Skins’ Garry Hodges. Singer Chaos’ dulcet tones are naturally more at home on Ian Dury’s Plaistow Patricia and Blackmail Man but, really, it’s more of a laugh to hear him wrecking Elvis Costello’s Pump It Up.

The second disc rounds up Chaos UK’s singles and EPs released on Vinyl Japan and demonstrates that, for all their piss-taking, they eventually became a pretty tight musical unit.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Anagram | CD PUNK 149 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Shane Baldwin
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