Jon Savages 1972-1976 - All Our Times Have Come

Continuing Jon Savage’s critically-acclaimed series of compilations for Ace, which began in 1966 to soundtrack his Faber book of the same name/year, Jon’s musical journey is now firmly entrenched in the 1970s and all the rock variants you can shake a stick at. This double CD covers five full years of rocking out, watching our beloved, familiar rock’n’roll morph its way into power pop, glam rock, pub rock, krautrock and punk rock. Even the hippies were finding their teeth and plugging in their guitars. Many of the chart acts had, in one form or another, been around since the mid-60s and they adapted their core aesthetic for the new era, and with this volume, we find the young punk- to-be Jon settling into his tribe and his stride.

In his ongoing quest to define the era these compilations cover, Jon does not follow the accredited pre-punk timelines but aims to reflect the fertility of the years between 1972 and 1976. It moves from Californian decadence (Little Feat, the re-formed Byrds) through quirky Brit rock (the Move, John Cale), through the Flamin’ Groovies, Iggy and the Stooges, into one major trend of the times, power pop – aka what would the Beatles sound like if they were still going?

And speaking of whom, in a very rare coup, Apple have allowed John Lennon and Yoko Ono to feature on a compilation and are nestled here with pride. We pass through one-offs like Andy Pratt’s astonishing, pro-feminist ‘Avenging Annie’ into glam’s long tail (Roxy Music, Sparks, Eno and Suzi Quatro) and then street rock outliers like the Hammersmith Gorillas and the role own Rock On played in the story. 1975 is when reality hits, with the stripped viciousness of Dr Feelgood and Murray Head’s regretful address to a derelict and destroyed country. The Count Bishops and the Hot Rods speed up pub rock, while the Ramones crash in to take the prize. Nick Lowe reminds us that there was life before punk and Pere Ubu point to post-punk before it’s hardly started. As always, to be continued...

CD1: Easy To Slip - Little Feat 02 Do Ya - The Move 03 End Unkind - Grin 04 School's Out - Alice Cooper 05 I Hardly Know Her Name - The Wackers 06 So Far - Faust 07 Slow Death - Flamin' Groovies 08 One Of The Boys - Mott The Hoople 09 When My Baby's Beside Me - Big Star 10 She Means A Lot To Me - Smyle 11 Wishing Well - Free 12 Full Circle - The Byrds 13 Blockbuster! - The Sweet 14 Vicious - Lou Reed 15 Avenging Annie - Andy Pratt 16 Yang Yang - Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band 17 Editions Of You - Roxy Music 18 Search And Destroy - Iggy & The Stooges 19 48 Crash - Suzi Quatro 20 Trash - New York Dolls 21 Andy Warhol - Dana Gillespie 22 #9 Dream - John Lennon

CD2: Girl From Germany - Sparks 02 You Really Got Me - The Hammersmith Gorillas 03 The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy - John Cale 04 Hey Joe (Version) - Patti Smith 05 Third Uncle - Eno 06 Kings Of Speed - Hawkwind 07 I Don't Mind - Dr. Feelgood 08 After Eight - Neu 09 Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog) - R. Ericson & Bleibalien 10 Roadrunner - Jonathan Richman 11 Say It Ain't So Joe - Murray Head 12 Radioactivity - Kraftwerk 13 Final Solution - Pere Ubu 14 Blitzkreig Bop - Ramones 15 Max's Kansas City '76 Pt 1 - Wayne County & The Backstreet Boys 16 Cherry Bomb - The Runaways 17 X Offender - Blondie 18 Horseplay (Weary Of The Schmaltz) - Eddie & The Hotrods 19 Keys To Your Heart - The 101'ers 20 (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult 21 Heart Of The City - Nick Lowe 22 Train, Train - The Count Bishops