Legendary English underground band Zounds first came to prominence in the early 1980s with a string of independent chart hits on Rough Trade and Crass Records. Growing out of the London-area squatter communities, they quickly became key figures in the burgeoning DIY / anarcho-punk scene and toured Europe with contemporaries such as The Mob, Poison Girls, Crass, The Birthday Party and many others. On record, their sound was more expansive than most punk of the era. In Rough Trade: Labels Unlimited, author Rob Young describes Zounds as “a distinctively paranoid and claustrophobic sonic crush that avoid[s] formulaic protest song.” Their Rough Trade album The Curse of Zounds! is now recognized as a classic of the genre and one of the most inspirational albums of the post-punk period. A notorious recluse, songwriter and lead singer Steve Lake has reunited Zounds only intermittently since the band’s early ’80s heyday, despite receiving numerous requests to record and tour. The ten songs he has written for The Redemption of Zounds retain all the hallmarks of the classic template: incisive lyrics, sharp guitars, satirical overtones, emotional terror and great, memorable tunes. It sounds totally at home in a modern world that Lake claims “is as bewildering, absurd, tragic and joyful as it ever was.”
LP $13.00
09/20/2011
Legendary English underground band Zounds first came to prominence in the early 1980s with a string of independent chart hits on Rough Trade and Crass Records. Growing out of the London-area squatter communities, they quickly became key figures in the burgeoning DIY / anarcho-punk scene and toured Europe with contemporaries such as The Mob, Poison Girls, Crass, The Birthday Party and many others. On record, their sound was more expansive than most punk of the era. In Rough Trade: Labels Unlimited, author Rob Young describes Zounds as “a distinctively paranoid and claustrophobic sonic crush that avoid[s] formulaic protest song.” Their Rough Trade album The Curse of Zounds! is now recognized as a classic of the genre and one of the most inspirational albums of the post-punk period. A notorious recluse, songwriter and lead singer Steve Lake has reunited Zounds only intermittently since the band’s early ’80s heyday, despite receiving numerous requests to record and tour. The ten songs he has written for The Redemption of Zounds retain all the hallmarks of the classic template: incisive lyrics, sharp guitars, satirical overtones, emotional terror and great, memorable tunes. It sounds totally at home in a modern world that Lake claims “is as bewildering, absurd, tragic and joyful as it ever was.”
CD $13.00
09/20/2011
***ZOUNDS was a giant influence in mid '80s political punk right up there with CRASS, SUBHUMANS, MOB, etc. Musically they were more tuneful around the edges than say CRASS but they were still punk and had the same political, anarchist message. This CD/ 2 LP set contains 20 songs (their LP and 4 EPS) which were ALL the music they released. Similar bands: APPLE, MOB, and THATCHER ON ACID, SUBHUMANS, and POLITICAL ASYLUM, CRASS
CD $12.00
02/28/1997