"Sham 69 Discography - Tell Us The Truth

Sham 69 - Tell Us The Truth

This has to rank as one of my favourite punk albums of the time and I've got to say I still play it today. It touches all the right buttons alright! Look at that sleeve. It's them and us isn't it? It's teachers, parents, police, the establishment ..and they are represented by that pin suited hand holding our four punky heroes captive with lies in a police cell. But our heroes aren't having it are they? They're railing at the injustice.. about growing up, no jobs, poseur punks, fighting and being young. Our boys are coming out fighting...so much so that you might think the first song confirms your worst prejudices of the band as advocating violence as the live side erupts with 'We Got A Fight' but the whole of the live side proceeds as a noisy rabble filled, intimate, sweaty gig with football like chants holding sway with a very Laaandaan feel to it all. You can't argue with Sham's credentials. They said they wanted to break down the barriers and they persuaded Polydor to feature the one side live with their audience.

It amazes me that people think Sham were one dimensional because the studio side has such variety and catchy punk. There's loads of good stuff there including 'Tell Us The Truth', 'I'm A Man, I'm A Boy', 'What About The Lonely' and 'Its Never Too Late'. Catchy choruses, razor sharp guitar breaks, good use of the studio and multi tracking and to boot the weird instrumental of 'Who's Generation' that's completely leftfield. For me the perfect expression of Purseys lyrics and Parsons music. Paul Marko July 2008


	We Got A Fight Rip Off Ulster George Davis Is Innocent They Don't Understand Borstal Breakout Family Life Hey Little Rich Boy I'm A Man I'm A Boy What About The Lonely Tell Us The Truth It's Never Too Late Who's Generation

SHAM 69 - Tell Us The Truth (Polydor) NME Adrian Thrills 18.2.78

If the Berlin Wall in "Holidays In The Sun" really is the gap between the stage and the fans (as Rotten declared at the Uxbridge Pistols gig last year), then Sham 69 are currently closer than any other band to crossing it.

I had me doubts when I saw that there was a live side on this Sham debut. But that little worry wasn't worth it. "Tell Us The Truth" doesn't attempt to build any castles in the air.

It's live in the true sense of the word. The audience are there with the band all the way - on the same level. Sham 69 are one band who could never leave their fans feeling inadequate - even if Jimmy Pursey
has to tell them not to invade the stage.

This is audience participation captured like nothing since the "Live at the Roxy" album.

"Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - If you're glaaaad to be a Cockney clap yer 'ands . . . Knees up muvva braaaaaaan . . . Skeeenneeeeaad!!"

It's all there, including inevitably the pathetic All Boys Together gang mentality so prevalent in some sections of the Sham audience.

Sham 69 are derivative. This album could never have been made were it not for the all pervading influence of The Clash and The Pistols. In fact most of the songs - with notable exceptions on the studio side like "Hey Little Rich Boy", "What About The Lonely", "It's Never Too Late" and the title track - are not particularly memorable. But Sham deliver with an intensity and conviction which sets them apart from the New Wave flotsam. They really do communicate.

Never mind the suits, ties and plastic ultrabrite smiles, here's the passion and anger of a kid with one hell of a chip on his shoulder.

Two of the tracks on the live side - "Ulster" and an immensely danceable twelve-bar song by the name of "Borstal Breakout" - have already appeared in single form, but nowhere near as raunchy as on the album.

The songs need little explanation and, if there is one needed, Jimmy "The Mouth" Pursey is on hand to tell the crowd just what he means, and then he lays it right on the line, no messing. There can be few
songs more straightforward than the opening "We Got A Fight", a plea against mindless violence:

"I went out on a Saturday night/I got in a bleeding fight/ All the lads came down with me/I ended up in the bleedin' gutter".

On a completely different level there's the scary desperation of "They Don't Understand":

"Everyone keeps telling me I'm gonna be free/We all know we'll never be free/I wanna take a knife and end my life/Don't understand, No they don't understand. "

Some hilarious amateur dramatics in the form of a playlet acted out by Jimmy and his mother open the studio side. Guitarist Dave Parsons - composer with Pursey of all but one of the songs - tries nothing fancy. He's a master of the ten second guitar break. The riff on "Hey Little Rich Boy" is thrilling in its simplicity, while there's more than a nod to Johnny Ramone on "Borstal Breakout". The playing is (dare I say it) minimal, and on a couple of occasions horribly out of tune, but the Shams are more about emotional than musical credibility.

It's "Never Too Late" proves that soul searching, self-centred lyrics aren't the sole concern of the Devotos of this world, the haunting repetition of "Nobody really cares who you are, who you are . . . " ramming home Jimmy's confusion and desperation. Shades of early Townshend in that song and a bit of '60's harmony in the vocal, too.

"Jimmy Pursey Is Innocent", chant the punters at one point. Innocent as in naive: Also bitter and sometimes bigoted, but still so much a man (or a boy?) of the street. It's easy to see why he gets up
so many backs. He sings straight from the heart. Either that or he's a Grade A con merchant.

Final track on the album is the strangest. Penned by Pursey alone, "Whose Generation" is the Shams in Kraftwerk territory. A motorik workout over the "My Generation" riff with weird dub-like effects sifting in and out. And what about the doomy tolling bell at the end of the track? Is Jimmy having us all on?

But if that all seems a little too pretentious, you can always simply flick back to the more familiar territory of the live side - rock 'n' roll at its basic best.

I dunno, maybe it's because I'm a Londoner . .

Adrian Thrills

Kennyhel 77 says....

Released in 1978 and hitting #25 in the National charts, truth be told, this album, one half studio, and one half live is a big improvement over their debut single on Step Forward. As much as I enjoyed that release, the combination of a better studio and possibly a different producer (even though John Cale did a good job) has brought out all of Sham’s strengths. Polydor took a chance on a band that for all it is worth, comes across as the band for the youth, and the kids on the streets.

This album is the shot fired across the bow. This album would inspire many bands in its wake, but namely the two most famous would be The Cockney Rejects and The Angelic Upstarts. From the first opening seconds of the album with Jimmy’s…..ahem, mother chastising him before his father comes home gives a small peak at where we are about to get into. 'Family Life' has the sound that Sham would keep them in the charts for the next few years. The thing that makes the songs sound better than their debut is the improved playing of Dave Parsons and the addition of bassist Dave Treganna. Parsons guitar playing had taken on a more 60’s Beat kind of playing where you can hear touches of The Yardbirds (which the band would later cover 'Mr. You’re A Better Man Than I'), and maybe The Faces. Just listen to 'Hey Little Rich Boy' and listen to the riffs that Dave Parsons is laying down and you will get what I mean. And by no means is that a bad thing, I feel his playing is quite underrated. Dave Treganna adds steady bass and keeping a solid groove with their drummer Mark “Dodie” Cain.

One can say that some of Jim Pursey’s lyrics were a little hard to comprehend, but when he was on, then it was a different story. Just the sloganeering alone could make you feel like you are part of something, and that was the appeal. 'What About The Lonely', 'Tell Us The Truth', 'Hey Little Rich Boy', they all have that in them. The live set is a fine testimony of what kind of live band Sham were in their early days. The sound quality is perfect and the band and crowd are up for it. What have we got? Fuck all.

July 2008