Live At Deeply Vale

Fast Cars were once a mere footnote in the punk archives, just another group of never-weres that formed in the fiery excitement of the late-'70s U.K. music scene. They gamely trotted around their hometown, released a few singles, then disappeared back into obscurity, only to become the object of a later generation of Japanese collectors' desire for the very rarity of their records. The upward-spiraling prices paid for their platters prompted Fast Cars to re-form and take to the road once more; it is this album (Who Loves Jimmy Anderton? Live at Deeply Vale), however, that captures them in their 1979 heyday, playing before an enthusiastic crowd at the Deeply Vale Festival. The sound is acceptable, the mix is middling, but the Fasties are in fine form, storming through an incendiary 11-song set, and even if the mix makes it all sound a bit crash, bang, wallop, the bands' hooks still manage to shine through. The Buzzcocks provided the group's impetus for forming, and the fact they named themselves after a Steve Diggle's song is telling; but the Jam, the Heartbreakers, and the Rezillos also left their mark, as did the Who and even rockabilly sounds. "Who Loves Jimmy Anderton?," a barb at the controversial Mancunian Chief of Police, is the best song the Buzzcocks never wrote, but it's "The Kids Just Wanna Dance," a number the group debuted here and later recorded as a single, that best encapsulates their style. Fast and furious, wildly anthemic, and lashed with flashing and flaming lead guitar, the band slammed pop-punk into street punk with mighty abandon. With their tough sound, blazing delivery, and madly melodic music, the Fast Cars were cruising straight into the modern age, creating a sound more in keeping with modern hardcore than second-wave punk rock. So here they are, revved up and ready to go — the Fast Cars in all their original glory.