The Alley Cats

To the extent that they're remembered at all anymore, the Alley Cats are remembered solely for their pretty great 1979 Dangerhouse single "Nothing Means Nothing Anymore" and their excellent live rendition of same in the punk performance documentary Urgh! A Music War This is because pretty much everything else the Alley Cats ever did was awful, with the exception of their second single, "Too Much Junk." Inexplicably, neither of these songs is on this skimpy 10-track anthology, which jams together three tracks from 1981's generically punky Nightmare City and seven from 1982's truly rotten mainstream-bid follow-up Escape from the Planet Earth. These songs are perfect examples of the worst clichés of Los Angeles punk, given stodgy production that doesn't even allow the band's best features (mostly, Randy Stodola's acceptably speedy proto-hardcore guitar riffs and Dianne Chai's bratty kid vocals) their proper due. There is almost no Alley Cats material available on CD other than those two early single sides on various L.A. punk anthologies, but the reasoning behind this strange, half-hearted reissue is mystifying. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide