Various Artists - Punk & New Wave: The Ultimate Collection (2018)

EU import

Hyperbole from the label's website:

The Ultimate Collection: Punk & New Wave brings together 5CDs containing 100 tracks that encapsulate the spirit of a rebellious cultural movement that changed the face of mainstream music forever.

This album will help you re-capture the excitement and sheer adrenaline rush from an era when a ground breaking fashion & musical sub-culture with a nihilistic swagger shocked the nation.

The cover promises "100 HIT TRACKS" and while we do get 100 tracks (5 CDs with 20 tracks apiece), using the word "hits" may be a bit of a stretch - much like the use of the word "ultimate" in the title. Some didn't even hit the charts in the artists' native lands. Still, musically, my Gen X contemporaries living in the UK had a very different '80s than I. So when I saw this 5 disc compilation on sale for $6 (still sealed!), I picked it up with only a casual glance at the track listing. I had most of the tunes already but at 6¢ per tune, not a bad deal. Of the 100 tunes offered up, only 44 tracks were new to me. Well, "new-to-me" to the best of my (increasingly faulty) recollection, at least.

Best discs: 2 & 5
Worst disc: 3
Most interesting disc: 4

This set has quite a lot in common with other compilations/box sets such Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The 80s Underground, Teenage Kicks, 1-2-3-4: Punk & New Wave 1976 - 1979, Going Underground, and The Big Stiff Box Set.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Not released in US

Tracks, with chart peaks from UK (Official Charts) plus an indication if this compilation was my introduction to the track:

CD ONE (68 minutes)
Song	Artist	Year	UK	New
The Modern World	The Jam	1977	36
Neat Neat Neat	The Damned	1977	52
Into The Valley	Skids	1979	10
Staring At The Rude Boys	The Ruts	1980	22	✔
Germ Free Adolescents	X-Ray Spex	1978	19
Mary Of The 4th Form (single version)	The Boomtown Rats	1977	15	✔
Is She Really Going Out With Him?	Joe Jackson	1979	13
Life In A Day	Simple Minds	1979	62	✔
Swords Of A Thousand Men	Tenpole Tudor	1981	6
Airport	The Motors	1978	4
(I Can't Get Me No) Satisfaction	Devo	1978	41
Teenage Depression (single version)	Eddie & The Hot Rods	1976	35
Touch And Go	Magazine	1978	-	✔
Woman In Disguise	Angelic Upstarts	1982	-	✔
Billy Bentley	Kilburn & The High Roads	1974	-	✔
Kicker Conspiracy	The Fall	1983	131	✔
Follow The Leaders	Killing Joke	1981	55	✔
I Heard It Through The Grapevine	The Slits	1979	60
Solitary Confinement	The Members	1978	-
Nights In White Satin	The Dickies	1980	39	✔

CD TWO (68 minutes)
Song	Artist	Year	UK	New
Sound Of The Suburbs (7" edit)	The Members	1979	12
Babylon's Burning (single version)	The Ruts	1979	7
Prime Time	The Tubes	1979	34
Jilted John (single version)	Jilted John	1978	4
Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song)	The Dickies	1979	7
Holiday In Cambodia	Dead Kennedys	1980	-
Smash It Up	The Damned	1979	35	✔
Streets Of London	Anti-Nowhere League	1982	48	✔
Hold Back The Night	Graham Parker & The Rumour	1977	24	✔
Roadrunner	Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers	1976	11
Take Me I'm Yours	Squeeze	1978	19
Jumping Someone Else's Train	The Cure	1979	-
The Unconventional	Japan	1978	39	✔
7teen	The Regents	1979	11	✔
Drowning In Berlin	The Mobiles	1981	9	✔
I'm In Love With A German Film Star	The Passions	1981	25
African And White	China Crisis	1981	-
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang	Heaven 17	1981	45
Being Boiled	Human League	1978	6
Electricity (DinDisc version)	Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark	1980	99

CD THREE (62 minutes)
Song	Artist	Year	UK	New
Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)	Buzzcocks	1978	12
New Rose	The Damned	1976	-
In The City	The Jam	1977	40
If The Kids Are United	Sham 69	1978	9
Identity	X-Ray Spex	1978	24	✔
Shot By Both Sides	Magazine	1978	41
Do Anything You Wanna Do (single edit)	Eddie & The Hot Rods	1977	9
Forget About You	The Motors	1978	13	✔
Lookin' After No. 1	The Boomtown Rats	1977	11
Don't Dictate	Penetration	1977	-
Come Back Jonee (single version)	Devo	1978	60	✔
Typical Girls	The Slits	1979	60
Action Time Vision	Alternative TV	1978	-	✔
Kamikaze	The Boys	1979	9	✔
Whole Wide World	Wreckless Eric	1977	-
Safety Pin Stuck In My Heart	Patrik Fitzgerald	1977	-
In A Rut	The Ruts	1979	-
Just Another Dream	The Professionals	1980	-	✔
Sweet Suburbia	Skids	1978	70
Totally Wired	The Fall	1980	-	✔

CD FOUR (55 minutes)
Song	Artist	Year	UK	New
Hersham Boys	Sham 69	1979	6	✔
1-2-3	The Professionals	1980	43	✔
What Do I Get?	Buzzcocks	1978	37
Where's Captain Kirk?	Spizzenergi	1979	-
Love Song	The Damned	1979	20
Danger Signs	Penetration	1979	-	✔
Do You Believe In The Westworld 7" version	Theatre Of Hate	1982	40
Nellie The Elephant	Toy Dolls	1984	4	✔
Dead Cities	The Exploited	1981	31
The Murder Of Liddle Towers	Angelic Upstarts	1978	-
Flares 'N Slippers	Cockney Rejects	1979	-	✔
I Hate...People	Anti-Nowhere League	1982	46	✔
C.I.D.	UK Subs	1978	-
No Survivors	G.B.H.	1982	84	✔
Never Again	Discharge	1981	-	✔
Bad Boy	Adicts	1983	75	✔
Six Guns	Anti-Pasti	1981	-	✔
Never Surrender	Blitz	1982	-	✔
Jet Boy Jet Girl	Chron Gen	1982	-	✔
Don't You Ever Let Me Down	The Crack	1982	-	✔

CD FIVE (63 minutes)
Song	Artist	Year	UK	New
Empire State Human	The Human League	1979	62	✔
Simple Minds	The American	1981	59
A Forest (edit)	The Cure	1980	31
You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties (single version)	Jona Lewie	1980	16
Don't Rain On My Parade	Japan	1978	-	✔
Back Of My Hand	The Jags	1979	17	✔
I'm The Man	Joe Jackson	1979	-
Wunderbar	Tenpole Tudor	1981	16
Amour Amour	The Mobiles	1982	45	✔
Paint It Black	Mo-Dettes	1980	42	✔
Goodbye Girl	Squeeze	1978	63
Yesterday's Love	Any Trouble	1980	-
Suffice To Say	The Yachts	1977	-
Saints And Sinners	Johnny And The Self Abusers	1977	-	✔
Gimme Your Heart	Subs	1978	-
Nervous Wreck	Radio Stars	1977	39
I'm In Love With The Girl On A Certain Manchester Megastore Check-Out Desk	The Freshies	1981	54	✔
Lines	The Planets	1979	-	✔
Small Ads	Small Ads	1981	-	✔
Ieya	Toyah	1982	48

Of the "new-to-me" bunch, my favorites are Mary Of The 4th Form, Life In A Day, The Unconventional, Forget About You, Danger Signs, Bad Boy, Don't You Ever Let Me Down, Empire State Human, Back Of My Hand, Lines, and the covers of I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Hold Back The Night, and Don't Rain On My Parade.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None