The liner notes for Beast of British assert that this early-'00s release is meant to "prove that in 21st century Britain, punk most certainly ain't dead." To be sure, punk has never really left England -- or the United States for that matter. Much of the alternative rock recorded in England (and the U.S.) in the early '00s (everything from post-grunge to emocore to alternative metal) had some type of punk influence. Not all of the British bands on this 20-song compilation embrace a classic British punk sound à la the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Sham 69 or the Damned -- some of them do, some of them don't. But all of the artists are punk-minded, even if they aren't quite straight-ahead punk. Thus, High Speed (which licensed these recordings from the London-based Deck Cheese label) has provided a compilation that is diverse and fairly unpredictable, yet cohesive. On Beast of British, bands that favor an old-school British punk sound (Engage, Sick on the Bus, Varukers, and the well-known U.K. Subs) are right at home with ska-punk (including King Prawn, the Foamers, CapDown, and Shootin' Goon) and emocore tunes (by Vanilla Pod and Cleatus). Meanwhile, Jesse James (not to be confused with the American pop-rapper Jesse Jaymes) combines British punk with classic garage rock on the infectious "Black Sheep Generator." Like other garage/punk combos, Jesse James has plenty of loud electric guitar -- the thing that separates it from similar U.K. bands is its use of horns. Although not for punk purists, Beast of British offers a generally decent illustration of punk's influence on the British rock scene of the early '00s. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide