Now I have to be honest here and admit that Slaughter And The Dogs are a band I’ve never really given a lot of time to. Amidst the thousands of bands I’ve listened to over the years they kinda fell between the cracks. The majority of tracks I’ve heard by them have been covers by amongst others Stampin Ground and GBH, so they obviously made their mark.

Repackaged as a three CD set including an expanded version of the original ‘Do it Doggy Style’ album; a CD of non-album cuts titled after (and including) the band’s first single (’Cranked Up Really High’), demo versions of ‘Where Have All the Boot Boys Gone, ‘You’re a Bore’ and ‘Boston Babies’, the band’s tracks from the ‘Live at The Roxy’ comp and a rough and ready cover of Velvet Underground’s ‘White Light White Heat’. The third CD (‘Live Slaughter Rabid Dogs’) is a live set from 1977 featuring mostly tracks from DIDS. As is the usual way with live albums, it’s a warts and all affair with a fair few bum notes and tuning issues but that just adds to the authenticity of the set in all its spirit of ‘77 glory.

Focusing on the debut album, the Dogs ‘kick off’ (sorry – I’ll get me coat) with the one classic song I do know – ‘Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone’ with its definitive Damned-esque bass intro that must have spawned many a pretender. It’s headlong into the kick-ass rock n roll of ‘Victim of a Vampire’ with the bass again playing a prominent part in propelling the song forward. There’s not let up as the band plough into ‘Boston Babies’ – a song familiar to many a GBH fan. The band’s Velvet Underground influence rears its head in a cover of ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ which eschews the sleazy vibe of the original and replaces it with an arrogant hard strut. The same consistent quality and energy continues throughout the remaining 8 songs with ‘Who Are The Mystery Girls’ standing out as another highlight with its snotty garage punk vibe and Pistols refrain.

As with other Cherry Red releases in this series of reissues it’s nicely packaged with an excellent booklet featuring lyrics, liner notes, pictures of the band and album/single artwork plus memorabilia and clippings from the era.

Glad I finally got around to checking out Slaughter and The Dogs out and cheers to Cherry Red for another quality slice of punk rock history.  Ian Pickens