“Fuck the PRs and fuck the chainstore-propelled mass consumption bullshit: THIS is what punk is about” Single Review: Jetplane Landing - There Is No Real Courage Unless There Is Real Danger

Somewhere in the mists of time direction was lost; what was once on the rails and rallying to kids old and young came spectacularly off, piledriving the mainstream and leaving those hungry for integrity and pure, from-the-heart passion empty. Punk rock today is little more than a slogan sprawled across tennie-bopper blouses; a buzz term for PRs shopping their latest wares. Jetplane Landing exist to show us how and where to get off the buzzes.

Fuck the PRs and fuck the chainstore-propelled mass consumption bullshit: THIS is what punk is about. You want nourishing? Try this 23-track single. You read that right. Not only does There Is No Courage Unless There Is Real Danger feature said final track from JPL’s Once Like A Spark album (oh, you know – furious, fast and passionate), but tagged after it like some additional over-sized growth on Lemmy’s face are a slew of session tracks and a complete live set recorded at London’s Islington Academy. Sure, the quality’s not up there with ‘proper’ live albums (the whole thing’s captured by a single microphone set up above the stage), but the energy comes through as vividly as if you were there yourself. If you were, you need this. If not, well, you need it even more.

If that didn’t represent value enough, the profits from this single go to the International Committee of the Red Cross. So you, the forgotten kids, get your punk rock, and they give the money to charity.

At this time of year, it’s almost too perfect a pairing.

4½/5

© Drowned In Sound 2004