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Rating: “It’s not that I don’t like disco music, it’s that I’m directly opposed to it”. Billy Childish 2009
Dirty Garage Rockers Review
For my first review as a member of the GAZ, I want to talk about a symbol of the dirty music we love so much: Wild Billy Childish, this mustached fifty-something Englishman who paints, writes short stories and poems, and above all plays a raw and wild rock’n’roll for more than thirty years, not giving a damn about trends, charts, and success. Good old Billy started singing and strumming the guitar as early as 1977 with the Pop Rivets and hasn't changed much since then, despite having played in various bands (Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Ceasars, Thee Headcoats, Buff Medways, The Musicians Of The British Empire, just to mention a few) and recorded an impressive number of LPs (20 in the Headcoats alone).
A true “loser” (and we like him just for that), who despite being considered a milestone of garage and having influenced various bands (ask the Mummies who, besides covering his pieces, dedicated “That Mighty Childish” to him) has never been even remotely acknowledged by the music intelligentsia, especially the indie one, too busy looking for who was “cool” to really deal with a perfect loser like Billy, too authentic and rough to be launched as the new “cool” character; not that in the end we care, and the best answer Billy himself gave with the splendid “We Hate The Fucking NME”, but it could be addressed to any other music magazine, he rushes to clarify, just for good measure.
If you still don't know Childish, the quickest way to make up for it - and if you love garage punk you have to know him, trust me – is to retrieve this collection released in 2009 by Damagedgoods: 2 CDs (yes, I know vinyl would have been better), for a total of 51 tracks and over 2 hours of filthiest garage. The album traverses his entire career (which is still ongoing, mind you, fortunately, our man has no intention of hanging up his guitar) with all the bands he's played in (although the Stash is missing, a brilliant group that has released a couple of singles covering some Clash songs in an ironic version) both the main ones and all the other collaborations, participations, project bands, and whatnot.
Although the tracks come from various bands (in total they are 13), the sound is more or less always the same: guitar, bass, and drums and Billy's very English voice, which, however, never artificially exaggerates the accent (as has happened too often recently for too many bands coming from the wicked Albion). Here’s the recipe for a perfect mix of garage, punk, r’n’b, surf, and generally all the best that rock’n’roll has offered, all made even better by the decidedly ironic lyrics (listen to “The Day I Beat My Father Up” or “Joe Strummer’s Grave” just to name two). There are also tracks where space is left for the choristers, both in band version (the Headcotees, accompanied by the same Headcoats) and in solo version accompanied by Billy, or those more in the trashy folk ballad style, such as those with the Singing Loins, splendid “I Don’t Like The Man I Am".
In short, dear sisters and brothers of the GAZ, this is raw and wild music that can only make you jump out of your chair and shake your ass while screaming along with Billy and make you adore, as every self-respecting dirty garage rocker does, this brilliant (yes, brilliant) artist (yes, artist) Englishman.
Tracklist and Videos
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