20 Of Another Kind

Here's an early 80's Punk compilation an old high school chum scored in Hong Kong, if memory serves. Back in the day, imported vinyl was hard to come by. Your best chances were at Odyssey (back when they were still savvy) in Shoppesville, their first branch ever, I believe. They'd carry a few imported vinyl titles. Pricey, yet essential, if you could afford it. But mostly, you'd have to get it yourself, either from the States, or the aformentioned HK. Remember, that was back in the late 70's, early 80's.

20 Of Another Kind.
Sounds familiar, huh?
Another one of those UK Punk compilations.
Snazzy tracklist though..

Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi
The Jam - In The City
The Skids - Sweet Suburbia
Otway And Barratt - Beware of The Flowers
Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout
The Cure - Killing An Arab
Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
The Adverts - Gary Gilmore's Eyes
Generation X - Ready Steady Go
999 - Homicide
The Stranglers - No More Heroes
The Boys - The First Time
Patrik Fitzgerald - Irrelevant Battles
Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United
The Jolt - No Excuses
Otway And Barratt - Really Free
The Heartbreakers - Born To Lose
999 - Emergency
The Lurkers - I'm On Heat
The Jam - 'A' Bomb On Wardour Street

Through this comp, we got our first taste of Plastic Bertrand's French cuisine punk, which we found hilarious, almost as quirky fun as The Cure's Killing An Arab. Funny, but I overlooked The Jam entirely, back then. As with Stiff Little Fingers, which would become a personal fave years later. A future delight, no less. Sham 69's tough-as-nails punk was an attraction, but paled next to the Pistols, I would later learn. A pre-Big Country The Skids was overlooked as well. Fronted by the late Stuart Adamson, a different Skids tune, from an equally excellent Punk compilation, The Best Of Punk And New Wave Rock, in Charade, figured more heavily, than the one on this one. Even the exemplary Billy Idol-fronted Generation X went unnoticed back then, only to be fervently appreciated years later.

Compilations are definitely the way to go, specially if your a bit tight on the budget. There's a little bit of something for everyone. And if you don't trip on certain cuts at first, they always sound good the second time around. A compilation's attributes well defined.

And oh, having mentioned the title's familiarity, that's because you might have in mind a closely-titled local 80's compilation 10 Of Another Kind, which got its inspiration from this set. We have our late great friend Dyna Music Creative Director Dodong Viray to thank for that.

Would love to get my hands on this one, if only for Patrik Fitzgerald's excellent acoustic-driven Irrelevant Battles. Brings back those good ol' memories.