Ok, Oi! is a very simple genre of music. It involves 3 chords, anger and a working class background. I actually like Oi!. It can be very good sometimes. Othertimes, It is awful. This album is a PERFECT compilation of Oi! Why did you give it 3 stars, you may ask. Well, it's simple. This compilation shows exactly what Oi! is, including the horrible bands. Thats why I actually listen to this compilation, because It's such a good example of what all Oi! is.
Some of the bands here are great. I really liked the Exploited, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Angelic Upstarts, Cock Sparrer and the Cockney Rejects tracks. All of those bands are really the "biggest known" Oi! bands so to speak, so I really expected no less. Slaughter and the Dog's track was OK, but not up to par with some of their stuff. My favorite songs would have to be "Oi Oi Oi" (of course), "Rob a Bank (Wanna)", "I Still Believe in Anarchy", "Sunday Stripper" and "Guns for the Afghan Rebels". All in all, those songs in particular show the strong parts of the Oi! genre. These songs are powerful, (pretty) well written, working class and catchy! If you are just a little iTunes whore, buy only those songs if you don't want to spend the money on the whole album.
Now for the rest of the album. It SUCKS. I really mean it too. The 4-Skins are OK, the Exploited's other track is decent, the Cockney Rejects and the Angelic Upstarts other tracks are pretty good too, but the rest? GARBAGE! The Postmen are garbage, The Terrible Twins truley are terrible, Barney and the Rubbles are rubb-ish and Max Splodge is just an unfunny joke. I cannot believe they would put some of those songs on here! Sometimes, the guitars were (VERY) noticably out of tune! I mean really, at least Sham 69's guitars were tuned! Thankfully, none of those bands ever really made it big time. There is a reason for that too.
This album is a good way for you to get into Oi!. It is certainly a way to find out if it is your thing or not. This album is good, but I would definatly rather pick up a Sham 69, Cockney Rejects or Cock Sparrer disc instead. If you want to spend good money on some working class punk rock, I would reccomend "Shock Troops" by Cock Sparrer. If you are a big Oi! fan, this is for you. If you don't know if you like Oi!, this album is for you. To me, 3 stars is all it deserves, although there are some gems on here. Thats all. Oi Oi Oi!
-Connor
