Various: D.I.Y - (1993 Compilation Series) (US & UK Power Pop & Punk Scene 1975 - 1983) - Original Release 9 CD (CD4 - CD5 - CD6)

 

Released in 1993, Rhino Records D.I.Y. Series is a nine-disc set that covered the British and

American power-pop and Punk scene of the mid 1970's to the early 1980's.
                                                                                                           

The complete collection consists of:

CD1 - Anarchy in the UK - UK Punk I (1976-77) [VBR V1 ~240 JSt]
CD2 - The Modern World - UK Punk II (1977-78) [VBR V1 ~240 JSt]
CD3 - Teenage Kicks - UK Pop I (1976-79) [VBR V1 ~240 JSt]
CD4 - Starry Eyes - UK Pop II (1978-79) [VBR V1 ~240 JSt]
CD5 - Blank Generation - The New York Scene (1975-78) [VBR V1 ~240 JSt]
CD6 - We’re Desperate - The L.A. Scene (1976-79) [ABR ~190 St]
CD7 - Come Out and Play – American Power Pop I (1975-78) [CBR 320 JSt]
CD8 - Shake It Up! – American Power Pop II (1978-80) [ABR ~250 JSt]
CD9 - Mass. Ave. - The Boston Scene (1975-83) [CBR 192 St]

This series provides an exceptional summary of what was happening musically between 1975-1983 in pop music.

A Considered Opinion  7 Feb 2019
                                                                                   

Lorna Doom died this past month and it got me thinking. Not about Punk Rock but mortality and how much it sucks to be reminded of it especially when a couple of five year olds are literally bouncing against the wall next door while you are trying to write this. No, Punk Rock I was already thinking about. Lorna’s death just gave me an excuse to break out some old CDs yet again. (Teresa Marie Ryan (January 4, 1958 – January 16, 2019), better known by her stage name Lorna Doom, was an American musician best known as the bass guitarist for the punk rock band the Germs from 1976 to 1980 and again after they got back together from 2005 to 2009.)
                                                                             

The D.I.Y. series was a set of compilation albums put out by Rhino Records in 1993. Each CD either has a geographical theme or is from the Power Pop sub genre of Rock music.
                                                                               

In other words, each spotlights an epicenter of the Punk era — London, New York, etc- or the music that led to it, Power Pop and Pub Rock.
The glories here begin with the very title of each entry and the accompanying cover. They continue on through the pages of every booklet and as you tee up the disc, the excitement promised by those bits of graphic art, old group photos and 90’s liner notations are confirmed by the music.
                                                    

D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) is Punk in attitude and musical fact and these artists possibly saved Rock & Roll from cultural oblivion. It was, at least, a third rebirth for the genre and its style and bootstrap approach still produces the best Rock & Roll music today. But don’t take my word for it, you can still listen and understand.
                                                        

Taking a quick historical step back to fully appreciate what the series is capturing, you have to imagine your 14 year old self in 1974, the corporate sponsored Rock music of the early 1970’s was a bloated, self-indulgent, decadent shadow of itself. Without a unifying band like the Beatles to rally around, the audience began to splinter.
                                                            

Additionally, the freshness factor — a simple Pop Cultural reality — had worn off the genre as the 1960’s came to an end on a literally tragic note with Altamont. As the new decade dawned, many of the Rock innovators of the 1960’s were either dead or broken up and/or burned out.
                                                                

The situation for Rock’s urban audience was even worse. The music no longer spoke to the reality of the streets, particularly in New York, London and Los Angeles. That world was crumbling.
                                                     

By 1975, all the social constructs and institutions those teens were told to aspire to were staining under a decade of post Great Society neglect and there was a continuing generation gap that refused to compromise with the realities of the past decade least alone the new one. Simply put, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Reggae had more to say to urban musical audiences then the Eagles, the Electric Light Orchestra and Grand Funk Railroad.
                                                              

Rock & Roll discontent was also present in the suburbs and secondary cities of America. Even those economically comfortable kids were getting restless. They too wanted the energy and passion of the first and second generation rockers and they began to take matters into their own hands.
                                                              

A new path was being literally worn by road dog acts like Cheap Trick in the Midwest and the Artful Dodger in Virginia. Both began to offer up Power Pop which crackled with renewed Rock vigor. Slightly older and better known bands like Big Star and The Flamin Groovies were their inspirations and here is where the D.I.Y. Series picks up. That would be Disc 7, by the way, for some aforementioned non-chronological reason (Come Out And Play 1975–1978).
                                                

Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine were two poet musicians coming of age in a decaying city that was about to be told to Drop Dead by the entire nation. Undaunted, they were determined to express themselves and they imposed on a Bowery dive bar owner for his sympathy and support for their band, Television. The pair literally helped build the stage in owner Hilly Kristol’s CBGB’s.
                                                                   

D.I.Y. does not do justice to their contribution. More like Field of Dreams mysticism. They built it and they came. All of them: The Ramones…Blondie…Talking Heads…Dead Boys…a legacy built on a commitment to a shared dream among a small group of young adults, that today wouldn’t have the means or support to do what they did in a now gentrified city. It was a different era.
                                                

And as any simplistic movie script would have it, The Ramones’ July 1976 tour of UK with the Flamin Groovies brought Punk to Great Britain. A new musical genre had spread across an ocean. Except, to be fair, that was not how it happened.
                                                   

Quite a legacy was captured in these now out of print CDs. That said, the CD’s ain’t impossible to find and most importantly of all, the music is not yet out of reach, just endless mortality. Still, don’t tell the 5 year olds in the next room. Let them dream.
                                                              

CD4 - STARRY EYES - UK Pop II (1978-79) [VBR V1 ~240 JSt]

                                                             

01 - Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) 00:03:18
02 - The Undertones - Get Over You 00:03:48
03 - Yachts - Yachting Types 00:03:36
04 - Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out with Him 00:04:08
05 - Starjets - Schooldays 00:03:53
06 - Bram Tchaikovsky - Girl of My Dreams 00:04:40
07 - The Squares - This Is Airebeat 00:03:42
08 - XTC - Life Begins at the Hop 00:04:54
09 - Squeeze - Up the Junction 00:03:52
10 - The Jags - Back of My Hand (I've Got Your Number) 00:04:52
11 - The Radiators - Let's Talk About the Weather 00:05:46
12 - The Records - Starry Eyes 00:05:20
13 - Zones - Mourning Star 00:04:42
14 - The Purple Hearts - Millions Like Us 00:04:04
15 - The Distractions - Time Goes By So Slow 00:04:02
16 - The Searchers - Hearts in Her Eyes 00:04:04
17 - The Revillos - Where's the Boy for Me 00:02:43
18 - Mo-Dettes - White Mice 00:03:58
19 - The Tourists - So Good to Be Back Home Again 00:03:07

 

MP3 @ 320 Size: 147 MB
Flac  Size: 434 MB

CD5 - BLANK GENERATION - THE NEW YORK SCENE (1975-78) [VBR V1 ~240 JSt]

                                                                 

01 - Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop 00:02:37
02 - The Dictators - (I Live For) Cars And Girls 00:05:17
03 - Patti Smith - Ask The Angels 00:03:13
04 - Tuff Darts - All For The Love Of Rock 'N' Roll 00:04:07
05 - Mink DeVille - Let Me Dream If I Want To 00:03:33
06 - Wayne County And The Back Street Boys - Max's Kansas Ci 00:07:14
07 - Blondie - X Offender 00:04:29
08 - Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation 00:03:23
09 - Television - See No Evil 00:05:10
10 - Blondie - In The Flesh 00:03:04
11 - Mink DeVille - Spanish Stroll 00:04:28
12 - Television - Venus 00:04:54
13 - Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer 00:03:44
14 - Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers - Chinese Rocks 00:03:27
15 - Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker 00:03:11
16 - The Mumps - Crocodile Tears 00:02:14
17 - Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Love Comes In Spurts 00:02:22
18 - Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers - Born To Lose 00:04:46
19 - Suicide - Cheree 00:04:30
                                                                       

MP3 @ 320 Size: 144 MB
Flac  Size: 411 MB

CD6 - WE’RE DESPERATE - THE L.A. SCENE (1976-79) [ABR ~190 St]

                                                                           

01 - The Pop! - Down on the Boulevard 00:03:23
02 - The Dogs - Younger Point of View 00:03:12
03 - The Motels - Counting (Demo) 00:04:45
04 - The Germs - Forming 00:03:00
05 - The Dils - I Hate the Rich 00:01:38
06 - The Zeros - Don't Push Me Around 00:02:26
07 - The Weirdos - A Life Of Crime 00:02:20
08 - The Zippers - You're So Strange 00:02:43
09 - The Quick - Pretty Please 00:04:19
10 - The Last - She Don't Know Why I'm Here 00:03:23
11 - The Furys - Say Goodbye to the Black Sheep 00:02:28
12 - The Dils - Mr. Big 00:01:39
13 - X - We're Desperate 00:02:02
14 - The Weirdos - We Got the Neutron Bomb 00:02:57
15 - The Germs - Lexicon Devil 00:01:57
16 - The Alley Cats - Nothing Means Nothing Anymore 00:03:15
17 - The Plugz - La Bamba 00:01:38
18 - The Dickies - You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla) 00:01:56
19 - Eyes - Taqn 00:01:34
20 - The Bags - Survive 00:02:41
21 - X - Los Angeles 00:02:06
                                                        

MP3 @ 320 Size: 130 MB
Flac  Size: 378 MB