pop group: the boys whose head exploded

Post punk provocateurs The Pop Groupunveil their latest archival release, The Boys Whose Head Exploded, a collection of live recordings drawn from incendiary appearances in late 1979 and 1980, along with a bonus DVD featuring film footage shot by legendary director Don Letts. Largely recorded in 1980, the compilation features brawling versions of songs from the band’s recently reissued second studio album For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? The collection also includes the previously unreleased 73 Shadow Street, and a surprise mutation of the Glaxo Babies’ Shake The Foundation. The accompanying film footage is a short feature that’s been hiding in Don Letts’ punk rock archives for the past 35 years. Filmed by Letts at Alexandra Palace in June, 1980 at an all day festival that featured the likes of John Cooper Clarke, The Raincoats and The Slits -the rare footage encapsulates the band’s Molotov cocktail of punk, funk, free jazz and radical politics at its most artistically concussive. The vinyl edition comes as a picture disc with a download card to access the film and hi-res audio content.