Cock Sparrer - "The Decca Years" (CD, Captain Oi! - 2006)

Oi!  He-he, I’m quite sure some loyal eyebrows have been raised to the view of a Cock Sparrer post here at White Trash Soul but hey, stop the chattering and listen to what I've got to say first. 

No, I didn't changed my mind about Oi! in general, even though there are quite a few lies lying there ‘bout racism and fascism matters… And I know it now cause I've been fooled too! There’s a HUGE gap between bands like the Business or Screwdriver and the Sparrer or Sham 69, OK? And that’s the easy part cause all you have to do to witness the above (the truth actually), is just to give a listen to those bands stuff! I’m not going to write more on this, but it was a good way for opening today’s pick. Cock Sparrer are IT, period! Most people knows the band from the “Shock Troops” territory which for punk rock at least it’s a CLASSIC but for my disturbed point of view, Cock Sparrer’s glory days were the early ones where their boot-boy, loud, raw and hooligan sound had more in common with the Small Faces and original Slade, than Sex Pistols… 

Cock Sparrer themselves separated group’s existence with punk ‘trend’ by citing constantly the inimitable ‘We‘re not punks – we‘re football hooligans!’ phrase. Btw, Decca for some strange reason (company’s entire history somehow have been build upon peculiar decisions…) seems to have seen ‘punk rock’ early on in boot boys like the Sparrer or Slaughter & the Dogs but for some even stranger reasons drop them when they were ready to cash in… The Beatles 'legacy' resurrected? Perhaps... So, the Sparrow (as the ‘Sparrer’ should be pronounced) in those days were nothing but a hard edged pub rock band! Heavily influenced by their country’s previous years’ heritage on R&B only this time played even sloppily (and aggressively)! For many years band’s 'immature' FANTASTIC recordings were left to the hands of the bootleggers. I believe this stand out Captain Oi! release is the first one that gathers all the stuff (and more). It worth’s his price alone for the original (and SUPERB!) version of “I Need a Witness”, a song at least for me previously bonded with the Little Roosters fame and history (what a band!). Rolling Stones’ “We Love You” is being treated the way the younger and snotty-er Jagger/Richards should have did, and “Runnin’ Riot”, “Taken for a Ride” and “Planet Suzy” are showing the way for the sound about to come with Sex Pistols and their followers. Boogie riffs in hyper speed and tradition rejection by the oxymoron of doing it by looking at the roots!

Don't know if it's a myth or something but the story says that the Cock Sparrer were at first Malcolm McLaren's look for his 'big plans' but they denied making a deal with him due to the fact that they didn't wanted to cut their hair as the devilish manager demanded... True or not -  a cool one, right?

Pic taken from Punk77.co.uk