The Stiffs Demos and Rarities 1978–81 LP
The STIFFS were a punky power pop band out of Lancashire, England who put out a handful of damn-near-perfect singles in the late ’70s to early ’80s. As is often the case, there were a bunch of other songs from that early era that were previously unreleased, but luckily Projectile Platters have compiled those demos and rarities together and released them here on this LP. We only get a couple demos (the brilliant “Inside Out” and the lesser “Over the Balcony”), and they are pretty fleshed-out versions of the songs they would ultimately become. The big draw of this compilation, for me at least, is the 1979 radio session; in this stretch we get tight, loud, and energetic versions of “Brookside Riot Squad” and “Kids on the Street,” plus a couple others. These types of collections can often be curiosities at best, but this offering is for more than just the completists or those that are still on the hunt for an original copy of the “Standard English” single. This is an awesome snapshot in time of an early punk band in their prime, doing it better than most did or ever will.