The brand new U.K. Subs - 2006-16 The Jet Age is a wondrous 5CD, 83 track clamshell box-set covering all the releases involving guitarist Jet Taniguchi as well as by the Charlie Harper, Alvin Gibbs, Jamie Oliver, Jet incarnation of punk legends the U.K. Subs.

Disc 1 is 2010’s ‘Work In Progress’ album which now comes with the bonus of the long deleted ‘666Yeah’ single and the ‘Warhead 2008’ mini LP.

The second disc is 2013’s ‘XXIV’album which has the addition of studio out-take ‘Workers Beer Company’ appearing here on CD for the first time.

2015’s ‘Yellow Leader’ is on Disc 3 and contains the single ‘Sin City Blues’.

The fourth disc is 2016’s ‘Ziezo’ album where the band finally achieved their aim of releasing an album for every letter of the alphabet.

Disc five is ‘Acoustic XXIV’ featuring acoustic tracks previously only available with the limited CD pressing of the ‘XXIV’ album. Now with the addition of the previously non-CD bonus track ‘Hard Times Café’.

The booklet has detailed liner notes written by the bands Time & Matter website editor and includes lots of rare photos.

CD 1: Work In Progress (2011)
1 Creation - 2 Tokyo Rose - 3 Hell Is Other People - 4 The Axe - 5 Radio Unfriendly - 6 This Chaos - 7 Guru - 8 Eighteen Wheels - 9 Children Of The Flood - 10 All Blurs Into One - 11 Blood - 12 Rock N Roll Whore - 13 Strychnine - 14 Robot Age [BONUS TRACKS] 15 666Yeah - 16 Straighten Out - 17 I Live In A Car (2008) - 18 Creation - 19 Warhead (2008) - 20 Straighten Out (2008) - 21 Knuckleduster.

The album bursts into live with Creation, a reworked version of a song previously recorded on the 2008 Warhead EP. It took time to adjust listening to this version of the song, but it sure as hell wakes you up to what is to follow!

Tokyo Rose is next, a very catchy track which leads into Hell Is Other People. Never afraid to speak his mind, Charlie just tells it how it is. Plain and simple, the way it should be. The pace slows with The Axe, but not in intensity or power. Something which this album has plenty of in abundance.

In typical U.K. Subs style they then hit top gear with Radio Unfriendly, a fast paced track which owes so much to the talent of Jamie Oliver. Modern day radio under corporate control is indeed a sludge fest, but This Chaos says it all about the world we live in. A co-operation between Charlie Harper and Lars Frederiksen definitely produced a classic social commentary track.

Guru sees Alvin Gibbs take to vocals with a self penned track about fake, self righteous guru’s who are just out for the money. There are plenty of those about who people fall victim to these days. Eighteen Wheels with it’s Dwain Eddie style guitar twang and the powerful Children Of The Flood, complete with it’s sumptuous rock style guitar solo’s from Jet lead into what for me is the best track on this album, All Blurs Into One.

The album certainly doesn’t do that by any means though, as you can tell and as much as it is the longest track on the album, it has a bunch of subtle pace changes, immense backing vocals along with pure raw U.K. Subs power. It builds in intensity all the way through to provide a real show stopping track.

Blood is a powerful punchy track and Rock n Roll Whore is another very catchy hard hitting song which makes way for the classic Sonic’s song Strychnine. A cover song they have played live many times, I’m always glad to hear it. After 13 tracks the album finishes with, for me, the weakest track, Robot Age, but it is what it is - and what it is is one brilliant rock n roll album!

CD 2: XXIV (2013)
1 Implosion 77 - 2 Coalition Government Blues - 3 Speed - 4 Rabid - 5 Monkeys - 6 Black Power Salute - 7 Las Vegas Wedding - 8 Stare At The Sun - 9 Garden Of Good And Evil - 10 Workers Revolution - 11 Wreckin’ Ball - 12 Detox - 13 Failed State - 14 Momento Mori [BONUS TRACK] 15 Workers Beer Company.

When The UK Subs gatecrashed the charts in 1979 with Stranglehold, few commentators thought their punk convictions would last until Christmas. Forty plus years later, and this is, along with everything else they have put out before and after, stunning rock n roll at its finest and is a massive testament to why the band is still going strong today.

The speed (no pun) and ferocity of Speed batters your ear drums senseless and no doubt induce a thousand cases of tinnitus. Monkeys is unsurprisingly not a tribute to our simian cousins, but actually a rallying cry from Charlie to those who stand back and turn a blind eye to the injustices of the world. Great guitar work by Jet sets the songs tone.

Implosion 77 and Rabid are also righteous blasts of speed-punk fury, while a rollicking Las Vegas Wedding is a boozy update of Party In Paris. The highlight, for me personally though, is the anthemic Coalition Government Blues, where Harper dismantles the current Parliamentary crop in between searing blasts of harmonica. It’s enough to make a younger generation of say-nothing musicians hang their heads in shame.

CD 3: Yellow Leader (2015)
1 Sick Velveteen - 2 Artificial - 3 Bordeaux Red - 4 Chemical - 5 Deconstruct - 6 Diatribe - 7 Feed The Whore - 8 Heathens - 9 Prime Evil - 10 Rebellion Song - 11 Sin City Blues - 12 Slave - 13 Big Bug - 14 Suicidal Girl - 15 Virus - 16 Cry Wolf - 17 Archaeology.

When they started and released album #1 (Another Kind of Blues, 1979), leader/vocalist Charlie Harper said he wanted to release enough albums that each could have a title from a different letter in the alphabet. How many took this seriously? Who knows, but 35 years and countless tours, singles, members, and labels later he finally hit Y with Yellow Leader. That’s 25 proper albums, plus a wide assortment of collections, live albums, archive releases, etc!

The quality hasn’t always been 100%, mind you. From the late 1980s through to early 2000s, the albums were pretty mixed, but it’s hard to be consistent when you’re getting new guitar players and drummers every few months.

That said, Yellow Leader is strong, tough, melodic, and shows a tremendous amount of growth. It still snarls and kicks like any great punk album, but they show a dynamism in playing that lacked on their earliest efforts. Check Bordeaux Red for a nice melodic shift, a little more down-tempo. But tracks like Suicidal Girl or album opener Velveteen tear you apart with their tough attack.

CD 4: Ziezo (2016)
1 Polarisation - 2 Oligarchy - 3 I’ve Got A Gun - 4 Evil Vs Evil - 5 Proto Feminist - 6 Disclosure - 7 Rise - 8 World War III - 9 Dope Fiend - 10 I Don’t Care - 11 Master Race - 12 Banksy - 13 This Machine - 14 City Of The Dead - 15 Maid Of Orleans - 16 Zeitgeist.

The fourth album and the final alphabet-orientated album title in the run, also features early 80s bassist Alvin Gibbs, guitarist Jet and drummer Jamie Oliver (aka the band’s longest running line-up).

And, trust me, U.K. Subs are as strong as they’ve ever been on this blistering album, and it’s almost a shame that they’ve reached the end of their quest with Ziezo, as it’s a monster of an album!

Jamie’s super-precise hardcore beats and Jet’s modern metal-tinged riffs give the album a contemporary edge, with blisteringly crisp production from Pat Collier, while Charlie and Alvin ensure we’re still listening to the Subs.

It’s a winning combination. Opener Polarisation pummels the senses, spitting out the aforementioned beats and riffs, though Dope Fiend is more traditional Subs fayre, and City Of The Dead is a jaunty reggae rocker in the Clash vein, but This Machine is positively corrosive!

CD 5: Acoustic XXIV (2016)
1 Angel Of Eighth Avenue - 2 Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind - 3 Metamorphosis - 4 Sleeping Rough - 5 Souls From Hell - 6 Stop Global War - 7 Four Strong Winds - 8 Higher Tide - 9 The Outsider - 10 Thunders In The Rain - 11 Stormy Day - 12 Little Black Crow [BONUS TRACK] 13 Hard Times Cafe.

Originally featured as a bonus on the original CD pressing of the 2013’s XXIV CD, the acoustic version here now features as a bonus track the previously unreleased studio out-take Hard Times Café.

Featuring a cover version of Mott The Hoople’s Angel Of Eighth Avenue as well as Charlie Harper’s Little Black Crow, which he then used as the title for his second solo LP, this 13-track recording showcases the band at their finest; and without all their rock n roll bangs and crashes cushioning them at every turn!

Official 5CD Purchase Link