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The 1970s punk explosion in Britain rewrote the rulebook about who could become a musician. Suddenly, you didn\u2019t have to aspire to be a virtuoso; you simply had to have the desire to create, and the confidence to get your voice out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a fantastic new compilation from Cherry Red, Make More Noise! Women in Independent Music UK 1977-1987<\/a><\/em> takes a deep dive into the heady era of punk and its immediate aftermath, from a female perspective. Among the 90 acts featured, you\u2019ll find some familiar names, but there are many more less well-known acts, particularly in the US, which makes this set particularly exciting to explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where to start with this bounty? Well, the set opens with X-Ray Spex\u2019s exhilarating \u201cOh Bondage Up Yours!\u201d It\u2019s an obvious choice for a collection like this, but it\u2019s also a song you can\u2019t hear too many times, a number \u201cas era-defining and as crucial to punk as \u2018God Save the Queen,\u2019\u201d as the liner notes put it. Lead singer Poly Styrene is in full battle cry from the off, bolstered by the accompanying off-kilter wailing sax of Lora Logic; its freewheeling exuberance is irresistible. Logic\u2019s \u201cBrute Force\u201d is also featured on the set, a jumpy number that manages to be both edgy and whimsical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s just for starters. Girlschool stakes out hard rock territory with the propulsive \u201cTake It All Away,\u201d their debut single. Singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl, best known in the US as Shane McGowan\u2019s foil on the Pogues\u2019 \u201cFairytale of New York<\/a>,\u201d turns up twice on Make More Noise<\/em>; via Tracy Ullman\u2019s sweet pop cover of MacColl\u2019s \u201cThey Don\u2019t Know,\u201d and singing her own far more suggestive number, the rollicking \u201cTurn My Motor On.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1992, electronic outfit Opus III had an international hit with the moody \u201cIt\u2019s a Fine Day<\/a>.\u201d But that track was based on the haunting acapella original version released by Jane (Jane Lancaster), in 1983, a sad rumination on lost opportunities. Then there\u2019s the terrifying \u201cThe Boiler\u201d by Rhoda Dakar accompanied by the Special AKA. It\u2019s a devastating spoken word piece about rape, made all the more chilling by Dakar\u2019s deadpan delivery throughout most of it. Not for the timid. Dakar was also a member of ska group the Bodysnatchers, whose buoyant \u201cRuder Than You\u201d is also on the set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rip Rip & Panic (featuring a young Neneh Cherry) goes into attack mode in the jazzy \u201cYou\u2019re My Kind of Climate.\u201d Vi Subversa of the Poison Girls\u2019 delightfully skewers gender roles in the herky-jerky \u201cOld Tart\u2019s Song.\u201d You\u2019ll also find the Pretenders, Cocteau Twins, Au Pairs, Sinead O\u2019Connor, the Slits, Nico, Lene Lovich, Toyah, Devil\u2019s Dykes, Strawberry Switchblade, and many more. The diversity of styles, both musically and lyrically (ranging from pungent social commentary to dreamy-eyed love songs), on Make More Noise!<\/em> provides a comprehensive look at this fecund era in indie rock, as it moved from the underground to the mainstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n