Blank Generation

iTunes Review

Like so many of the bands that emerged from CBGBs in the ‘70s, Richard Hell & The Voidoids had one foot in the punk rock movement and one foot in the art scene. Much as been made of Hell’s ambitions as a poet, but his lyrics also revel in unabashed silliness. Take, for example, a line from “Love Comes in Spurts,” a song that suits its title perfectly: “I held her waist and her wrist and I kissed her in the hair / Forgotten love started pumpin’ like a fountain inside there.” Despite the defining sentiments of its title track, Blank Generation goes a long way in subverting the codes of punk. Rather than pursue the slamming power chords of the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, the Voidoids conjure a storm of wobbly, intertwining guitar lines that borrow from Captain Beefheart, Albert Ayler, and Television, Hell’s former band. Above all its many assets, this is one of the great guitar albums of the punk era. A partnership for the ages, dueling guitarists Robert Quine and Ivan Julian achieve a sublime, if wonderfully off-kilter chemistry.