Pure Mania
Pure Maniais a terrific relic of the punk era by a London band that owes much more to the Ramones than the Sex Pistols. Light on anger and nihilism but heavy on humor and fun, it's a blitz of twisted love songs ("Sweet Sweet Heart," Wrecked on You," etc.) with an ode to bondage thrown in for good measure. Label it music to shake your brains to. The Vibrators apparently thought they were playing pop music for the end of the decade (the '70s, that is), oblivious to the fact that the masses (especially in America) could never have been expected to catch on. That doesn't mean you shouldn't.--Mike Corrigan