Various Artists - A Hard Nights Day A History Of Stiff Records

Welcome to the weekend bloggers! To kick off I have this lovely little insight into the brilliance that was STIFF Records. Not well loved by the reviews I’ve searched out, and to be fair I understand where the reviewers are coming from. Even though, it is worth sharing with readers who may not have been around at the beginning of the revolution, but still enjoy seeking out the gems of what was one of the best times to be a teenager (I bow to the teen generation from the 60’s). So sit back and enjoy some of the best post-punk / new wave ever committed to 7 inches of vinyl.

Review by Dave Thompson

It's one of life's great mysteries: why, whenever someone gains access to the Stiff Records archive for the purpose of building a new compilation, he/she always picks the same bunch of records? Unquestionably, Stiff rates among the most collectible labels of the past three decades, with its adherents happy to swear on their Japanese-language Lene Lovich promo single that the label's 300-or-so run of singles resulted in very few absolute stinkers. But time and again, news of another upcoming Stiff collection is hastily followed by a track listing that refuses to stray beyond the Costello/Lowe/Damned/Dury/Madness axis, as though some unwritten law in Record Company Land insists, to paraphrase Stiff's own best-loved logo, "If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth A Fuck."

A Hard Day's Night is the proof of that particular pudding. Basically boiled down from the Stiff box set of the early '90s (which itself was something of a disappointment), the album spends two CDs reiterating everything that even the most casual label fan will already own, without even glancing toward the reasons why the label has fans in the first place. Or the kind of things those fans really want. Worthwhile if you really have managed to spend the last several decades resistant to the charms of "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll," "Watching the Detectives," "One Step Beyond," and Tracey Ullman, A Hard Day's Night is otherwise another disappointment in a field that's full of them.

Ripped to MP3

A Present For The Future

1.1 Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

1.2 Elvis Costello - Watching The Detectives

1.3 Madness - One Step Beyond

1.4 Kirsty Maccoll - They Don't Know

1.5 Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World

1.6 Jona Lewie - You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties

1.7 The Adverts - One Chord Wonders

1.8 The Members - Solitary Confinement

1.9 Pink Fairies - Between The Lines

1.10 The Yachts - Suffice To Say

1.11 Billy Bremner - Loud Music In Care

1.12 Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin - It's My Party

1.13 John Otway - Green, Green Grass Of Home

1.14 Motorhead - White Line Fever

1.15 Graham Parker & The Rumour - Mercury Poisoning

1.16 Larry Wallis - Police Car

1.17 Nick Lowe - So It Goes

1.18 Richard Hell - (I Belong To The) Blank Generation

1.19 The Pogues - Dark Streets Of London

1.20 Tenpole Tudor - Swords Of A Thousand Men

1.21 Department S - Is Vic There?

1.22 The Damned - New Rose

1.23 Lene Lovich - Lucky Number

Three No's Don't Make A Yes

2.1 Elvis Costello - Alison

2.2 Madness - My Girl

2.3 The Pogues Feat. Kirsty Maccoll

- Fairytale Of New York

2.4 Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry

2.5 Furniture - Brilliant Mind

2.6 Theatre Of Hate - Do You Believe In The Westworld

2.7 Kirsty Maccoll - A New England

2.8 Yello - I Love You

2.9 Department S - Going Left Right

2.10 Tracey Ullman - Breakaway

2.11 Rachel Sweet - B-A-B-Y

2.12 The Untouchables - Free Yourself

2.13 Jane Aire & The Belvederes - Yankee Wheels

2.14 Dave Stewart & Colin Blunstone - What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted

2.15 The Belle Stars - Sign Of The Times

2.16 Nick Lowe - Heart Of The City

2.17 Lene Lovich - I Think We're Alone Now

2.18 Tenpole Tudor - Wunderbar

2.19 Devo - Jocko Homo

2.20 King Kurt - Destination Zululand

2.21 The Damned - Neat Neat Neat

2.22 Ian Dury & The Blockheads- Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll