The Ruts
Grin and Bear It

THE REVIEW

As a student, I found myself in urgent need of money and sacrificed my vinyl LP collection, which had nearly reached 2,000 pieces.

I made Disco D'oro in Bologna happy (one of the first managements). I decided to choose 100 LPs "to save," to preserve a piece of life, I believe.

Among the first LPs I set aside, I immediately picked the two albums by the RUTS. "The Crack" has already been reviewed here and received excellent reviews and comments. There are three groups from those years that created three milestones and then dissolved for various reasons. Sex Pistols, Dexy's Midnight Runners (the second album is practically another band aside from Rowland), and the RUTS.

The Ruts invented Punk-Reggae from scratch, a softer version of the genre is by the Members (also just one album), which would be worth a mention separately. So why highlight "Grin and Bear it"? Because it's the collection of their singles that you won't find on The Crack, and it contains four live tracks that are almost better than the studio version.

"Babylon's Burning", for example, is better in this live version, in my opinion. There's "In A Rut", incredibly powerful with its Reggae contamination. And then, they use the sax, a fantastic instrument. One day I was in a car with the guitarist of a local band, and when he heard "West One" for the first time since I've known him, he asked, who are these?

In short, a timeless album, not dated, even today it hasn't lost an iota of its engaging power.

Not to be missed.

Six stars.

Alex