The Exploited

Two blazing slabs of street-smart Oi!, howling out of the musical wasteland that was the early '80s to remind listeners why bands like the Exploited were needed to begin with. The two albums here aren't the group's finest -- Punks Not Dead and the live On Stage, paired together on a companion disc, both shade this coupling -- but half a dozen bonus tracks come scrambling off the band's period singles to complete an inferno's-eye view of the first years of Thatcherism, as they bled through the increasing tedium of the outside pop scene. "Fuck a Mod," the boys demand midway through Apocalypse Tour 1981, but you wouldn't want to really, because it would only encourage them. Better to rally with the "Exploited Barmy Army," fight with the "Troops of Tomorrow," and remember that, in the Exploited, the downtrodden masses found a voice to raise loud. Which is the volume you should be playing this at. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide