The Punk Rock Anthology

Album Review

These two CDs crash, bang, and thunder across the Anti-Nowhere League catalog, from the opening snarl of their debut single and the still shell-shocking swagger of the defiant "So What" through to the band's last days as a truly atomic force — and what a journey it is. Not every Oi! band still sounds vibrant today, and a lot of them just seem silly. But the Anti-Nowhere League had a punch and a power that defy the passing of time; excise the occasional lyrical time bomb and there are moments here when you could be listening to any one of the myriad bands that have since formed in their slipstream, not one of which comes even close to the fiery breath of the League at their beastliest. Animal's liner notes carry listeners through the songs, anecdote by anecdote, and they do enhance the listen, at least in as much as they jog a few memories. But this isn't an album for reading through. It's one to crank up as loud as you possibly can and, if anyone complains that it's way too loud, give him a chorus of "So What." That'll shut him up.