Customer Reviews
One of the best Punk albums ever - By: Clashcityrocker, 30 Jul 2008 
I first heard this albumin 1982 it was a punk rock masterpiece then & has stood the test of time to this day. Anyone with even a passing interestin punk rock needs to own this album , its as simple as that.
Belfast Calling. - By: J. Logan, 22 Jun 2008 Let me take you back to the days before this iconic album was released. The whole british music scene was giving a right royal bootin the jugglees circla 76-77. The punk movementin Britain had exploded causing massive social & political shockwave to reverberate thru the fixed class structured british system. The Government of the day were faced with the British youth suddenly having a powerful voice, as well as having a mean to communicate their viewpoint & anger. The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Jam et al. seem to be singing about all aspects of British mainland life. However, I remember coming home from school eating my evening mealin front of the TV. Night after night after night, reports would flash into our living rooms about the latest killings, shootings, bombing & maimings be carried outin Northen Ireland.
It was this enviroment that SLF decided to sing about. Although The Undetones came from NI their songs seem to focus on more fizzy punk pop than Fuse lit Punk Rock ( "Barbed Wire Love" V's "Get Over You")
It wasn't until after they played a gigin the seaside town of Troon near to my hometown of Kilmarnock that I first was hooked on SLF. SLF were due to playin Kilmarnock. However, such was the fear of punkin those days that the local council under pressure from highly up the political ladder. Refused the promoters a lincense for the Gig. thus, forcing the promoters to move the gig to nieghbouring county. They used the song " White Noise" from "InFlammable Material" as an poor excuse for their refusal. You can read a Newcastle newspaper article from the liner notes of "All The Best" for further info.
Make no mistake "Inflammable Material" Is an Iconic Punk Album. It sounds as fresh & raw today as it did when I first heard it way backin my school days of 1979. It easierly stands beside " Never mind...," "The Clash," "Machine Gun ...." & "In The City."
You Will Find out, when you hear it why SLF are still heldin High Esteem today. This Album is as good an example of what the British Punk Movement was all about !!! It simple conveys the feeling of what it was like to grow upin a area where death could be just waiting around the next corner. It gave a voice to the forgotten youth hidden behind the daily headlines & reports of "The Troubles" on the street where Stuff Luddle Fingus walked & lived.
"Barbed Wire Love"
" I met youin No Man's Land
Across the wire we were holding hands
Hearts a-bubblein the rubble
It was love at bomb site
All you give me is barbed wire love
All caught upin barbed wire love
Tangled upin barbed wire love
Throw my leg over barbed wire love
Barbed wire love snags my jeans
When I fell it was awful nice
Caught when not suspecting vice
The night was rife with wasteland life
You set my arm alight
[Chorus]
Blasted by your booby traps
I felt the blowin both knee-caps
Your eyes did shine
Your lips were fine
And the devicein your pants was out of site."
Beware it ain't Duran Duran!
BEST PUNK ALBUM EVER? - By: W. Martin, 22 Mar 2008 Any one who has never heard SLF before buy this album you will not be disapointed.Ibought this album when I was 11 years old which was over 25 years ago & it is still my fav punk album ever.From suspect device to johnny was all classics.Only bad track closed groove absolute pish.SLFhave never been better but HANX is close enjoy.Catch them live if you can never dissapoint.
The Dogs Ballocks - By: Steven Latimer, 28 Sep 2007 When I first heard Inflammable Materialin 1979 it started a nigh on 30 year love affair with the band. It is just the most powerful album you could buy. The album was & still is uniquein the way the band express their anger & frustration at the "troubles"in Northern Ireland.
30 years on & they are touring the country playing the album track for track...and I'll be there to enjoy listening to an album that is up there with the Clash's London Calling as one of the all-time classic albums of the punk era.
The original and the best - By: Rachel Clark, 29 Jun 2007 This has been one of my favourite albums since it was releasedin 1979 (when I must confess I was 15). I bought it then, have now updated it to CD & still love it as much as ever. I saw SLF half a dozen times between 1979 & 1982 (don't get me started on a trip down memory lane please!), & their music just oozes rawness from every pore. Jake Burns' voice is so amazingly distinctive. This album is their first & for me remains their best - it is just so powerful & sounds just as good today as it wasin 1979. I am so glad to see that so many new fans have come to SLFin the last few years & the comparisons to Green Day are apt. So many bands today are endebted to SLF. Jake & the boys - we salute you!
