As its title suggests, a collection of 'underground' singles from the late seventies through to the end of the eighties, crammed on to two cds. The acts range from a handful which are more or less familiar (the Triffids, the Birthday Party, Died Pretty, the Sunnyboys), to a few more whom I really only know by reputation (Radio Birdman, the Saints, the Scientists, Ed Kuepper), to a large majority of which I've never even heard before; the rather informative liner notes tell me that all of the songs on the two cds were originally 45rpm releases, and several of the cuts were the only releases ever put out by the band in question (one of my favourites, the Passengers' "Face With No Name", a kind of garage rock guitar sound meets girl group vox and melodies fusion, falls into that category).
Most of the songs, particularly on the first disc ("1976-1982"), are pretty short, with many clocking in at around two minutes or only a bit over, and, unsurprisingly, both discs are dominated by punk and post-punk sounds, although the latter half of the second disc also reflects a turn towards that kind of pub-oriented hard rock that Australian bands do so well (represented by outfits like the Mark of Cain and the Cosmic Psychos). The early, energetic, melodic punk-type stuff is really good (overseas sonic references which come to mind are acts like the Sex Pistols, the Undertones and the Only Ones), and there's a scattered handful of pretty fab pop moments, too (the Lighthouse Keepers' "Ocean Liner" comes to mind), as well as plenty of excellent, pretty much uncategorisable cuts (the Laughing Clowns' wonderfully unhinged "Sometimes (I Just Can't Live With Anyone)" is an obvious example). All up, a really great document, full of fantastic music.
