The Proles

Reviews

The Proles Kings Road Tapes 1979 12″

A deluxe treatment for the Kings Road Punks EP that unearthed the PROLES’ 1979 demos when it came out in 1990, this comprehensive release documents the band’s brief tenure, collecting those four songs along with some extra live and rehearsal material. It really doesn’t get more classic than this. While the additional tracks don’t add much to these South London punks’ legacy, it does service fiends like me who have always wanted to hear a little more PROLES. The original 7” is one of my favorite first wave artifacts, and it’s the epitome of O.G. snotty Brit-punk, teetering at times on the verge of sounding like a Fred Armisen parody. On the final brief live snippet here, the singer is right on character, spewing further shit talk on the PISTOLS and the CLASH. Cool-ass record.