Various Artists – ‘Shellshock Rock – Alternative Blasts From Northern Ireland 1977-1984’ (Cherry Red Records)
Monk has written several times in these pages of the unifying force which music had in the Troubles-ravaged Northern Ireland of the late Seventies and early Eighties, helping to bring together teenagers from opposite sides of the fence who all shared one common interest – and that was the music which was appealing to all of them. One of the strongest musical forces was the punk movement, which was particularly strong in this particular corner of the Überverse in that period – which is, as its title suggests, reflected in this about-to-be released three-disc compilation set. It takes its name from the first in a trilogy of documentaries by the US-born film-maker John T Davis which chronicled the emergence of the Northern Irish “alternative” scene, as it more trendily came to be described.
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