Sell You Everything (1991-2004) Albums, Singles, Rarities, Unreleased Boxset

In 1977, Joe Strummer bellowed No Elvis, Beatles, or the Rolling Stones on one of the Clashs first major salvos, but unknown to him at the time, punk rock would live long enough to have its own legion of acts that would wear out their welcome in the decades to come. That never truly happened to the Buzzcocks; in their first incarnation, they split in 1981 while still sounding strong on-stage and in the studio, and when they reunited for touring in 1989, they quickly reminded fans around the world that they were a superb live act, and they remained one until Pete Shelleys death put the brakes on the group in 2018. In the studio, the second era of the Buzzcocks was a bit more problematic. 1993s Trade Test Transmissions was the first of the six studio albums the reunited Buzzcocks would release, and while it was a good and solid piece of work that showed Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle could still write fine songs and play them with genuine passion, it never came especially close to matching the giddy heights of their first era recordings. Trade Test Transmissions and the five albums that followed are included in Sell You Everything (1991-2014), an eight-disc box set that exhaustively documents the recording career of the Buzzcocks long second act. Along with those six albums -- Trade Test Transmissions, All Set (1996) Modern (1999), Buzzcocks (2003), Flat Pack Philosophy (2006), and The Way (2014) -- Sell You Everything also includes the first set of demos the Buzzcocks Mk. 2 recorded in 1991, as well as A Different Compilation, in which the group re-recorded 24 songs from their salad days. A Different Compilation proves to be a good substitute for one of the many live albums the Buzzcocks would put out following the 1989 reunion, which is to say the performances are full-bodied and exciting without adding anything especially fresh to the material. All Set and Buzzcocks are the best of the LPs included here, and theyre certainly worth a hearing by anyone who loves this band, and each album has been upgraded with demos, B-sides, alternative versions, and other rarities. Pat Gilberts extensive liner notes, featuring lots of quotes from Steve Diggle, are a great compact history of the second Buzzcocks era. Beautifully packaged and assembled with obvious love and care, Sell You Everything (1991-2014) is a practically definitive look at a truly great band; its only trouble is it focuses on a period in which they were good rather than great in the recording studio, and that makes it a tough sell for anyone outside of truly devoted fans, though those fans will probably be delighted. ~ Mark Deming