Unless you’ve been living in a lead box buried eighteen feet under a very large rock, I really don’t need to delve too deep into the utter fuggin’ brilliance of DOA, do I? Sure, their best years were pretty much spent by 1987, and I personally have on more than one occasion lamented their not really living up to their legendary status in recent years. That said, this singles collection covering the years 1978-99 is pretty goddamned good. As can be expected, the early tracks—including “Disco Sucks,” “My Old Man’s a Bum,” “World War Three,” “The Prisoner,” their cover of the Subhumans’ anthem “Fuck You,” and many more—are the real gems here, but, surprisingly, the weakest tracks come not at the end but somewhere in the middle. The strength of the latter tracks has me wondering if maybe they should go the single route more often to slough off some of the chaff that has been making it onto their albums in recent years, ‘cause it’s evident that they can still come up with some rip-roaring tuneage when they’ve the mind. Ultimately, this comes highly recommended, it feels marvy to say that about a DOA record again, and the eternal optimist in me looks forward to saying the same about a fresh batch of tunes from them one day.
–jimmy (Captain Oi)