The Riot City Years 1981-1982

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The Riot City Years 1981-1982 album cover
Album Information

Total Tracks: 22   Total Length: 53:31

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Foundations of the house of punk!?

DoctorDee69

Half way up the ground floor more like! Devil Fish, you say that the Abrasive Wheels would be a vital part of the foundations of the house of punk. I disagree! Coming, as they did, five years after the first flush of UK Punk had been and gone, they belong around the middle of the ground floor. And while we're on the contructional analogy, they are hardly a cornerstone either. Their monotonous Oi! sound offers little to the genre that hadn't been done before or better. This is a rousing collection of inane shouty punk. Fun for a while, but ultimately tedious.

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kick ur teeth in good

PescadoDiablo

if you were going to build a house of punk you couldn't get past the foundation without these guys. So piss off you grotty little wanker!

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They Say All Music Guide

A stunning 22-track survey of all that made Abrasive Wheels such a crucial part of the early-’80s British punk scene, Riot City (named for the label that they helped personify) rampages through the first 12 months of the band’s two-album/three-year career, picking up primal album cuts and key singles. Their debut LP, When the Punks Go Marching In, of course, is here in its entirety, but collectors will be more intrigued by the opening tracks, rounding up the rest of the Wheels’ Riot City catalog in strict order of release. This means that the January 1982 Vicious Circle EP opens the set, with the earlier, self-released The Army Song set not appearing until four songs in — it was reissued on Riot City in March 1982. The “Burn ‘Em Down”/”Urban Rebels” pairing completes the preamble, while the LP versions of earlier songs “Vicious Circle,” “Voice of Youth,” and “Attack” allow the listener to see at a glance just how quickly the Wheels were turning. This set would later be superseded by Captain Oi’s ultra-methodical approach to the same material but, upon release, it reminded everyone just what a magnificent band this was. – Dave Thompson

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