If you haven't heard The Bad Shepherds, I suggest you remedy that oversight immediately. What they do has been done before: bands have often folked-up pop sings for a fun encore but Adrian Edmondson and his band take it seriously and offer a superb re-interpretation of the music of the 70s and 80s.
Troy Donockley's slow, mournful pipes give way to thrash mandolin as Edmondson offers us an oddly matter-of-fact reading of ;'Anarchy In The UK'. There is a noticeable change from their excellent debut album - a world-weary hindsight that tinges the songs. 'Sound of the Suburbs' is still absolutely true but XTC's line about Nigel having a future in British Steel rings very hollow now. There is an extra polish about the band this time.
There are three song/tune medleys: The Ramones set squeezes three of their minimal lyrics and two tunes into under five minutes, while the closing 'White Riot' sandwiches The Clash bewteen three tunes, but the biggest and the best is 'Friday Night, Saturday Morning'. All in all, it's another knockout album from The Bad Shepherds.
Punk songs on folk instruments!