Straight Outta Burbank- The Bomp! 25th Anniversary Collection - Various Artists (USA 1999)

An Uncle Roddus Album review

So here is another of the recent arrivals and this one has been on my purchase list for quite some time since I downloaded it via my Emusic subscription about 10 years ago and I was glad it was still available for purchase. An interesting and slightly eclectic collection from the Bomp archives and it's subsidiary labels with a majority of the collection skewed towards the Punk/Power pop end of the musical spectrum and boasting several tracks that have become 5 star classics for me and quite a number more in the 4 star bracket. With 45 tracks over 2 CDs it's not all plain sailing with some dodgy live tracks and several not so enjoyable punkers of the very lo-fi variety but overall I have enjoyed much of this collection over the years and several of the aforementioned 5 star tracks were included in my mammoth Punk Sampler some time back. With some great 5 star moments from obscure bands like The Barracudas, DM3, The Breakaways, Dave Allan and the Arrows and the Pink Fairies, all up-tempo power pop and punk numbers, but the highlight and best surprise for me is the totally excellent track by the Martians, a piece of 60s pop tinged rockabilly that I had heard many years ago somewhere but never knew who it was and so couldn't buy it. A very obscure but brilliant song. Any how the overall rating I give this set is 4.5/5.

World Class Punk - Various Artists (USA 1984)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Uncle Roddus has been shopping lately, both locally and on Amazon and have amassed quite a back log of new CDs that I want to review here on Blog Roddus. I will start with the most recent arrival because I actually know it quite well due to actually owning a cassette copy of this set way back when it was released. Quite how some obscure release like this turned up here in Christchurch, New Zealand back then is a mystery but I really enjoyed quite a number of the fast and furious punk blasts in this set and several of them became favourites over the ensuring years. The Cassette was sold quite some time ago and the album slipped from my conscious memory until I remembered about it recently during some blog research on some obscure punk blog and I managed to find a digital copy to down load and get re-acquainted with. Several of those favourite songs then ended up on a punk sampler I created a while back. I was quite surprised to see it available on CD on Amazon the other week and so ordered a copy.

It's quite apt to be reviewing this at the moment with all the publicity surrounding the Russian Girl punk band Pussy Riot and their incarceration for subversiveness by the Russian authorities. It just goes to show that World class punk is still alive and well. This selection of very obscure punks stems mostly from Europe with some cuts from South Africa, South America and even a really obscure number from little old NZ.

With most of these sonic blasts lasting under 2 minutes and some under a minute, we are dealing with some fast, furious and often very lo-fi noise here. Some of the very badly recorded lo-fi hardcore stuff is a bit too much to handle but those shots blasts are soon over with and we can enjoy all of the rest covering a good swathe of the contemporary punk scene of the time and several classics here still get me excited. I will rate this set 4/5.

Mt Oxford loop -18th August 2012

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary:Tramp No 122

Mt Oxford loop -18th August 2012

Uncle Roddus managed to drag a couple of tramping buddies out again on his annual Mt Oxford Loop trip.

This year he was accompanied by the two Bryces', here forthwith known as BC and BW.

It was a wonderful fine late winters day as BC, BW and UR set off from Coopers Creek about 9:30am and headed over the river and past the Scout den to climb Mt Oxford. Steady progress was made as we ascended and enjoyed seeing the top of the fog lying over the Canterbury plains. Near the summit they encountered some of the recent snow and BC and BW decided to put on their crampons. UR couldn't be bothered as the snow wasn't all that hard, but it was marginal and a couple of times he contemplated stopping and donning the aforementioned crampons, but did make the summit without them. A leisurely lunch was had in the sun at the summit while BC played with his new and rather heavy Canon SLR camera. It was a pleasurable womble along the snowy tops as the trio headed off to complete the loop back down to the Warfdale track and than back to Coopers Creek. A slower trip this year taking just over 8 hours.

A nice view of the mount as we approach from Coopers Creek.

Well above the fog the shrouded the plains for a large part of the morning.

BC trudging up the ridge weighed down with his new camera.

Finally hitting the snow.

BC with the plains in the background.

BW nearing the summit.

BC action shot.

BC on the summit with Lees Valley in the background.

BW & BC on the snow near the summit.

A good shot of the Puketeraki range in the background.

BC Action shot.

BW getting ahead of us.

Some shots of UR taken by BC & BW.