The Dirtbombs - 'If You Don't Already Have A Look' (In The Red) Released 06/06/05

For a recording artist, singles are liberating, explains Dirtbombs frontman Mick Collins under the moniker 'Consistency is the Enemy', "you can be ANYTHING for two songs, and it does't really matter if there's an audience for it or not, because next time around you're something ELSE".

Ten years ago, Mr. Collins set about his Detroit Garage project with an anarchic determination to obliterate the rules. Occasionally there are two drummers, but there is always fuzz, dischordant guitar and swaggering songwriting. 'If You Don't Already Have A Look' collates the fragmented 7"s of The Dirtbombs over two discs and 52-ear-splitting tracks. CD1 is a rollercoaster mash-up that's as stable as a giraffe on rollerskates, always ready to jerk you in a totally new direction from track to track. 'Here Comes That Sound Again' is near radio-friendly, before it dovetails into the brilliant and calamitous 'High Octane Salvation', featuring the sound of Eddie Cochran falling down a fire escape, followed by a lupine scream of "PRAISE JESUS".While 'Encrypted' gets as near to 'Loveless'-era My Bloody Valentine as any song with retarded punk pretentions dare go

'Broke in Detroit' again swings by 60's power guitar territory, except this time it's set against the Berlin wall, with thumping bass-drums and hollow hearts. For the sake of sanity, 'Trainwreck' is a recognisable - if brief - return to sensible songwriting, which is gaily ripped away from notions it could get used on a Chewing Gum ad by the acceptable contradiction that is 'Infra-red' which is - for the record - like crawling through the inner workings of a Soviet Missile. On broken glass. Naked.

There's then a musical complaint in the form of 'They Hate Us In Scandinavia', before CD2 showcases 23 of Mick's favourite tracks, as covered by the band. But there's no 'Unchained Melody' here, it's obscure nonsense from people as diverse as Smokey Robinson and Eliott Smith.

Missing the Dirtbombs first time around is forgivable, but ignoring them this time is simply criminal. There really are something else.