Tutu and the Pirates "Trail of the Great White Beaver"

(2013) This both legendary and obscure 70s punk band released a new album in the 21st century with a new sense of maturity,  as this is an album so refined, sophisticated, and cerebral that they pasted a dense bush of pubic hair to the cover (a scathing critique of Warhol's most notorious graphic design project, clearly). Also they think goofing about pussies, gay bars, and jacking off is fucking funny. And if you are dumb enough, and I mean gloriously, intentionally, brilliantly dumb, it is pretty funny. I suspect some of these songs were written back in their heyday, as there are two tunes about the disco craze (one including a premise involving a would be mass shooter, which even they may not have written in this era, and one a Bee Gees parody), but who cares how moldy these oldies are, they are as hysterical as they are historical. If punk had stayed this ridiculous we all would be better off, Danzig would be a lot be happier, and every album would have pubes!

'O' Level "Pseudo Punk"

(1977/1992/2014, Munster) These rare sometimes satirical late seventies tracks were made by a band that was not so much UK post punk as they were side punk, as if they were standing next to the other bands and goofing on them, with humor that runs from dry wit to hints of Monty Python. Ed Ball (Television Personalities) had a ball here with his mates, and now you can too!

Bloodstains Across Buffalo

(2014, Extra Evidence) I have known a number of genuinely demented "creatives" with Buffalo juice in their bloodstream, so I'm not surprised this '78-'82 punk/new wave/power pop/garage/trashrock comp is a magnificent mess. The Jumpers' "This is It" concussed me! Micky Mapp With Intro-Verse's "Please Police Me" is Happy Days-era rockabilly played by cartoon frogs! I tried to clean my stylus the first three times I played the Fems' Modern Lovers*-meets-a garbage disposal masterpiece "Go to a Party" (until I read the liner notes explaining that this was "mixed by baboons"). I actually dig the off key entries here, including the harsh "F.Y.Y.B" by New Toys which would make the Mentors request the guys tone it down a little, and Parousia's "Miss Ogyny," which apparently is a faux-new wave synth track by a Jethro Tull-ish prog band. "Go Go Go" by Electro-Man sounds like Weird Al trying to go straight, and failing. The Vores' "Love Canal" sounds like that fake hard rock song on the Cheech and Chong album. In addition to exquisite curatorship (assuming this isn't actually every punk single released in Buff-town pre-Thriller) I am most impressed with the liner note writer's harsh-assed critiques and outright dismissals of shitty b-sides, other bands in the scene, and the entire output of Electro-Man other than the one glimmer of greatness included here (explore the catalogue "only if you like rap rock songs about Kraft macaroni and cheese"). Before listening to this Buffalo, to me, was synonymous with losing four consecutive Super Bowls. But this comp proves that town had the goods to lose four consecutive Super Bowls of punk!
* based mainly on them saying "asshole" in as nerdy a cool guy voice imaginable, a la "Pablo Picasso."