Unsatisfying comilation
Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 06/21/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Subtitled The Essential Ruts Collection, this is a rather unsatisfying compilation, partly due to what it omits, but also in its documentation. There are extensive notes by Alan Parker, who is credited on the sleeve for "idea and concept" but while they provide a useful history of the Ruts, they do not particularly pertain to or in any way describe the contents of the CD, making it is impossible to determine which version of a song is represented (unless you already own their back catalogue, whereby there would be little point to owning this).
In A Rut appears to be the original single, released on Misty In Roots' People Unite label (but a mastering error deprives it of its first 3-4 seconds), whereas from its opening bells and sirens, Babylon's Burning would appear to be the later version from The Crack (all but five tracks from that album are included).
John Peel Speak is a twenty-three second clip of the veritable DJ back-announcing their debut single on his show, clearly recorded from the radio. Most of the rarer tracks that pre-date their signing with Virgin Records appeared on the band's own fuller collection In A Can, including for example the reggae workout Blackman's Pinch (later retitled Give The Youth A Chance, and re-recorded for a B-side), H-Eyes Version 2 (Version 1 was the B-side of In A Rut) and the demo Stepping Bondage, recorded at their first recording session on 1 October 1978.
The posthumous single West One (Shine On Me) is included, but their important groundbreaking reggae and ska influenced singles Jah War and Staring At The Rude Boys are not. Two songs from The Crack (Out Of Order and Human Punk) appear from a live performance, though this is not documented in the sleeve so no date or location or previous availability can be determined, and twenty minutes of the playing time is given over to an interview with Seggs. The one definitely previously unissued track is an instrumental reggae-based piece entitled Denial, which since it features a saxophone (Gary Barnacle or Dave Winthorpe?), was presumably recorded in 1981 or 1982 by Ruts D.C."
Track Listings (18) - Disc #1