Various Artist - White Dopes On Punk (50 Punk Nuggets and New Wave Rarities) (2005)

WHITE DOPES ON PUNK is a manifesto on the punk rock ethos. Over 50 songs the collection pulls from both the best and the worst, representing the genre's true DIY aesthetic. The Damned, the Averts, the Nosebleeds, and the Water Pistols, are only a few of the artists on board.You can argue the world needs another punk compilation like you need a Doc Marten kicking a hole in your head, but White Dopes on Punk is a cut above the average, focusing solely on the U.K. scene of the mid-to-late '70s but forgoing most of the usual suspects (i.e. the Sex Pistols and the Clash) to create an atypically warts-and-all snapshot of a singular moment in time. Alongside familiar landmarks like the Damned's "New Rose," Sham 69's "Borstal Breakout," and the Adverts' "One Chord Wonders" is a slew of obscure one-offs like Ritchie Hale & the Stormers' "Punkski" and the Punkettes' "Goin' out Wiva Punk," which represent the kind of bandwagon-jumping cash-ins that more purist-minded retrospectives ignore altogether. Some of this music is frankly awful, but that's the point. Musical aptitude was never part of the punk equation in the first place, and if any one of White Dope on Punk's 50 tracks manages to annoy, offend, or repel, then it's done its job admirably. ~ Jason Ankeny