Various Artists

End of the Night: 1976-1983

scum stats: limited to 1000 copies, I believe there may a small number on colored vinyl

So...you wanna plug your ears with the missing link between humongous 1970's arena rockers like Ted Nugent and Bob Seger and the early hardcore realms of Negative Approach and the Meatmen? Well do I have something for you.

Compiled by the incomparable Rob St. Mary as part of his Detroit Punk Archive project, this 2xLP serves as an eye-opening retrospective of the ins-and-outs of the Detroit punk scene.

For a world where the Romantics were the only band that really broke big, there's still plenty of GOOD SHIT in here. While "Nothing To Do In Detroit" is not necessarily the best thing the Ramrods ever did (that designation goes to the anthemic "I'm A Ramrod"), it's a perfect summation of how many participants would've described the scene highlighted on this release.

St. Mary did a admirable job of steering clear of the best known songs for most of these artists...for Coldcock we get "You" instead of their Killed By Death appearance "I Wanna Be Rich," while the Reruns proffer "So So Alone" instead of their absolutely essential "Since You Gotta Cheat." The song selections for Cinecyde, the Sillies or the Ivories aren't necessarily what I would've chosen, but hey, I'm not the one making the comp!

I DID provide Rob with some leads on this one. Years ago I bugged Chris Flanagan at Street Corner Music for a dub of the Traitors acetate he'd sold on eBay for $1200. Featuring a "before he hung out with the Stones" personification of Don Was (aka Prez Genovese here), this band always got listed as one of the first wave of Detroit punk bands, but as they'd never released anything, it was hard to tell WHAT they actually embodied.

So I tossed Rob the dub of the acetate I'd blagged, he was able to get whatever permission needed from Was and here, on this comp, for the first time the general public can listen in and try to figure out what the Traitors embodied, if anything.

(side note: the reason I say all of this is because I had been under the assumption that the Traitors were a "fake" punk band, that they were doing it as a joke, almost as a send up of the Sex Pistols. They'd appeared on a local "urban" music show called The Scene where they started a fake fight with the host, it supposedly made the local news, caused the show to swear off "punk" and/or "new wave" music entirely and it's this apocryphal moment in Detroit music and I've been waiting no less than 15 years for someone to just upload the damn clip to Youtube because we're not getting any younger and we'll all be dead at some point)

Additionally, the Thwarted track here was originally pitched to me for release on a dedicated 7-inch from Third Man. I REALLY love it, but just waffled back and forth forever as to whether or not it made sense for us to do. I can be terribly indecisive. And running a record label, you cannot just release EVERY last piece of music you love. You need to be selective. So once word of this comp hit me, I connect the appropriate parties and now you, the music starved masses, get to hear a unique entry into the Michigan punk pantheon.

Also, who even knew the iconic artist Glenn Barr had a band? I certainly didn't...and I've talked to him about music on no less than TWO occasions. Well, they were called BADHABIT and you can check it out, gloriously, here.

Wonderfully included here is "Go Baby" by R.U.R. which gets my vote for the standout track on the comp, city and era. A shoulda-been if there ever was one, the original 7-inch version ain't too hard to find, I see seven copies currently available on Discogs starting at the very appropriate price of $14.99. But with the context, but textual and visual, of the scene they were birthed from? Shit, go for it.

This album was originally supposed to be a part of UK Record Store Day but since that's gotten all gummed up it's available now. I give it a strong recommendation to anyone with an interest in punk music or regional scenes from the pre "college music" era.