Search - Violators :: No Future Years

Finally a CD release of the Violators

N. W. Hartung | Seattle | 06/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Violators are a great band that unfortinitly never got totally off the ground...They only produced 4 7" and a 12" record that compiled their 7"... But, from '79 to about '84 they produced some of the best lost punk hits ever period. Quite possibly their biggest hit was Summer of '81. Which peaked up to number 6 on the uk indie charts and stayed on for 15 weeks back in April of '82. From, the classic begining intro of this song to the final delivery you can still feel the urgency of those riots of '81 in the UK. This song totally gives you that feeling of what the hell was going on in the late '70s and early '80s that many punk bands tried to tell but, few pulled off the true spirt of what the heck was going on and how the people felt..This song has recently been covered by "The New York Rel-X" Another great song on this comp is Gangland which was an inspired song from the spirt of the movie "The Warriors" This song clocks in around 6 minutes but, one doesn't really notice cause this song is so, moving and has a great story that it just flies by... Another great song is "live fast die young" very clockwork orange style!! Classic you'll pogo and sing along to this song late into the night!! This song was covered by yet another great female fronted band from New York called the Devothckas.... So, if you like punk bands that are fronted by male and female vocals this be one of the best with that twist of Clockwork street oi sound.... If you're a fan of the Adicts, Blitz, Action Pack, The Templars and you've yet to hear of this band you must pick up this CD!!! You're missing another great band....

Ok, once again amazon doesn't seem to do research into their merch so heres the track listings...

1 Die With Dignity

2 Government Stinks

3 Pointless Slaughter

4 Gangland

5 Fugitive

6 Summer of '81

7 Live Fast Die Young

8 Life on the Red Line

9 Crossings of Sangara

10 Affections (under the name taboo)

11 Slow Down (taboo)

12 Young Blades (taboo)

13 revenge (Crossing of Sangsara -Diff Studio Mix)

14 Life on the Red Line (Different studio Mix)

15 Everythings in A State of Decay (new song by Shaun Stiles for this special comp collection!!! this song has a strong Templars/Stogg's feel to it!)

16 Summer of '81 (live at the Skunks in Islington, London final show)

Well, pick this up and get to know a great legendary punk band who knows how good these guys could have been if they hadn't of started to fall apart after the Warriors single....."

AT LAST !!!

JUAN MARTIN GABASTOU | Weston Hills, FL United States | 10/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Justice has been done to this atypical UK82 band,one may say.Truth is I got this cd since its first incarnation was released in'94 with 14 tracks. Their clockwork orange attire on the photos has nothing to do with their actual sound,they only did that to draw attention and differentiate themselves from the other bands of their native New Mills scene (Blitz and Attack).The band never put out an actual lp,which is a shame,being as they are the best of the 3 by light years.But what a bunch of 7¨ and 12¨ we got here ! Starting out with their first singles,which exhibit a cross between streetpunk and anarcho sound in the vein of say,Conflict,with dual male/female vocals,this could have perfectly fitted in the Crass records catalogue.Contrary to popular belief,this band owes NOTHING to Joy Division,having a sound absolutely of their own.Their later singles sound more after/pop/goth punk and the spin-off band TABOO tracks and remixes of the last tracks are even more dance-oriented.The sound is excellent on my '94 copy,punchy and trebly,and I suspect this remaster features an even better,more balanced sound.The live track at Skunk is KILLER !!! This cult band ought themselves a much higher place in the UK scene,and are totally underrated.I'd have never heard of them had'nt it been for a couple of tracks on an Anagram comp I got from a bargain bin,and I ended up buying this record !!! Get it or miss one of the best punk bands of all times !!!!!!"

Complex 82 punk...

S. Koropeckyj | The Bright Side of the Moon | 12/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Violators are one of the forgotten punk bands (like The Rotters or the Guitar Gangsters). It is perfectly understandable why they were forgotten, as they don't have repetitive anthemic song structures or identical song structures in each song. In this way, the only people that would have ever heard of the Violators are people who know of other punk bands of that time, but these people would find that The Violators are a totally different sound that is at times not even punk.



All that aside, this cd is not even an album, instead it is a compilation of a few of their eps (that fetch a pretty high price on eBay, so this is doubly convinient). The songs were recorded over a few years and are as a result very different from one another, starting out with the almost Vice Squad sound with Die With Dignity and Government Stinks, but then over time the songs the become more complex and acquire an 80s rock sound with Crossings of Sangrasa (there are 2 versions of this song on this cd, which is good because the song is one of their best).



And in between the beginning and the end, The Violators give some of their best performances with Gangland (the song based on the movie The Warriors, but if you never saw it, it is still a great song), Live Fast Die Young, and Summer of 81 (their only hit). Each of these songs showcases the band's song writing ability. Unlike pretty much every other punk band (with few exceptions of course), the song arrangements are more complicated than verse chorus verse etc... The songs tell stories and the music plays along with it climaxing in a classical fashion in the end and not just fading out like so many punk bands loved to do.



I really can't recommend this enough. As far as 82 punk I would be hardpressed to mention a band that is as good as this one (maybe the Blitz or Cock Sparrer). Buy it listen to it... and so on."