When you consider the fire, the fury, the spit and the sawdust of the first-wave punk movement, it’s hard to believe that any of those bands survived long enough to have a tenth anniversary, let alone a fortieth, and yet here the U.K. Subs are, loud, proud and defiant to the last. Admittedly the band have had more new members than Cher has had new body parts, but if the cavalier approach to inter-band commitment has had any effect at all, it has been to introduce subtle changes to the overall sound – a more metallic edge here, a hint of additional malice there – rather than to blunt the band’s edge. A recent showing at Bearded Theory showed that Charlie Harper (the band’s one constant) has lost neither humour nor energy, his fiery attitude helping to bring the band to a whole new audience.
In the normal run of thing covers collections are little more than an ego trip (see Metallica), a last-ditch attempt to keep a fracturing band together (see Guns ‘n’ Roses) or just plain embarrassing (se Queensryche), but, when done well (see David Bowie), they not only pay tribute to the original artist, but also add a unique spin that makes them worth more than a cursory spin. In the case of U.K. Subs, ‘SubVersions’ manages to be both, with the band treating a selection of their influences to a Subs-style battering with so much vim and vigour that it’s impossible not to be swept up in the energy of it all.
You could argue that the opening track, MC5’s much-covered ‘kick out the jams’ is somewhat redundant, and certainly there’s an argument that it’s been somewhat over-used over the years. That said, as a track that influenced pretty much anyone with an interest in the dynamics of unreconstructed punk, ‘kick out the jams’ remains a near-perfect call to arms and the Subs give it a damn good thrashing (although, somewhat surprisingly, Jeff Buckley’s unhinged rendition still remains supreme when it comes to relentless force). Short and to the point, it sets the tone of the album nicely before the band kick into ‘train kept a rollin’’ (harmonica and all), a track originally tracked by The Johnny Burnette Trio and frequently smashed out on stage by Aerosmith. Despite its bluesy undercurrent, the Subs expose the raw punk spirit at the heart of the track and spend the two-and-a-half minute run time spraying it with cheap lager. Ray Charles (via Humble Pie) is next in line for the Subs treatment and it’s Charlie who stands out here, his raw-throated vocal tearing out of the track with primal force. A straight up punk white-out, ‘Boston Babies’ (slaughter and the dogs) is the sound of a million basement punk gigs with wall-to-wall bondage gear and malfunctioning amps. In contrast, ‘tired of waking up tired’ (the Diodes) has a strong melody despite the thuggish vocal, hinting at from where the light-weight punk bands that the US produced in seemingly endless quantities throughout the 90s took the bulk of their inspiration. The first side ends with a raucous take on ‘This perfect day’ (the saints), Charlie delivering the sneering lyric with just the right amount of unfocused, teenage vitriol.
A supercharged blues track opens the second side in the form of Bob Seger’s ‘Get out of Denver’. The track is sent spinning out into the night, shot up on a potent cocktail of mescaline and cheap speed, a ravaged harmonica only serving to emphasise the raw power on display here. Perhaps the biggest surprise is a cover of Queens of the stone age’s ‘Feel good hit of the summer’, delivered with a wry smile that suggests that, for the Subs, the lyrics are more of a shopping list than a wish list. It’s hard to imagine a more ramshackle version than the Queens’ original, and yet the Subs take it and make it their own, clearly enjoying every minute of the track’s truncated run-time. Motorhead were always more a punk band than a metal band and, on ‘Bomber’, the Subs pay tribute to Lemmy with a piss ‘n’ vinegar cover of which the great man would surely have approved. Raise a shot of Jack, turn it up loud and bang your head to this one, because the Subs do it full justice. Modern Lovers get the nod with the tub-thumping ‘Roadrunner’ but it’s the closing one-two punch of ‘1969’ (the stooges) and ‘Suffragette city’ (David Bowie) that seals the deal. David Bowie, in particular, may not be commonly associated with punk, but when you listen to bruising tracks like ‘suffragette city’, it’s easy to see the line of influence and when the Subs unleash the now-legendary call to arms “aaaaaahhhh wham bam thank you m’am!” the hair still stands up on the back of the neck at the sheer rock ‘n’ roll excess of it all. It’s the perfect end to an album of covers that comes across as the greatest U.K. Subs gig you’ve never attended.
Although I have a few covers albums in my collection, a number of them are there to satisfy the completist in me and few are actually played with any regularity. The U.K. subs have pulled off the impressive feat of delivering a series of covers and, without destroying the source material, make them their own. Add in a production that sits on the right side of raw without sacrificing power and you’ve got an album that has a blistering live feel to it that stands as a near-perfect celebration of the band’s storied career. Still deafening, still dangerous and still punk as fuck, the U.K. Subs have marked out their fortieth in style and this selection of covers, surprisingly, comes highly recommended. 8
