Spurts: The Richard Hell Story CD

Compiled and supervised by Richard Hell himself, SPURTS: THE RICHARD HELL STORY effectively sums up the artist's small but hugely influential output. BLANK GENERATION, Hell's 1977 album with his band the Voidoids, is one of the defining documents of punk, and that album is represented by four stellar tracks here. The handful of cuts from the Voidoids' excellent, often-overlooked sophomore album DESTINY STREET fleshes out the main chapter of Hell's work.

SPURTS surveys Hell's trajectory as an artist, from his pre-Voidoids bands the Neon Boys (an early version of guitar genius Tom Verlaine's Television) and the Heartbreakers (with Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan from the New York Dolls), to his post-Voidoids project Dim Stars (featuring Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore). Though Hell will never be credited with being prolific or stunningly eclectic, cuts as thoughtful as "Time," as jagged and searing as "Liars Beware," and as ecstatically energetic as "Love Comes in Spurts" have left a brainy, rebellious stain on rock's rulebook forever. Alongside a copy of BLANK GENERATION, SPURTS should complete the story of Richard Hell for almost any curious fan.

Audio Remixers: Richard Hell; Ivan Julian.

Liner Note Authors: Richard Hell; Robert Christgau; Carola Dibbell.

Recording information: 1973-2004.

Author: Richard Hell.

Editor: Richard Hell.

Photographers: Jay Craven; Brendan Atkinson; Roberta Bayley; Bob Gruen; Echo Danon; Frank Fournier; Larry Busacca.

Personnel: Richard Hell (vocals); Richard Hell (bass guitar); Johnny Thunders (guitar, background vocals); Richard Lloyd (guitar); Jimmy Lee, Jimmy Lee (saz); Jerry Antonious, Jahn Xavier (bass guitar); Fred Maher, James Morrison , Frank Mauro, James Morrison, Frank Mauro (drums); William Ruiz, William Ruiz (percussion); Ivan Julian, Robert Quine (guitar, background vocals); Don Fleming, Thurston Moore, Tom Verlaine, Walter Lure (guitar); Jad Fair (saxophone); Jerry Nolan, Steve Shelley, Billy Ficca, Marc Bell (drums).

Audio Remasterer: Ivan Julian.

Uncut (p.122) - 4 stars out of 5 - "As an instant of alternative history, with Verlaine and Richard Lloyd's sharp, glassy riffs serving Hell's astonishing tale of an identity crisis in the womb, the band clearly his, it's fascinating."
Magnet (p.88) - "Hell's brief 1975 stay with the Heartbreakers finds his cat-on-a-hot-sidewalk vocals on 'Chinese Rocks,' and his Voidoids days are best represented by Creedence Clearwater Revival cover 'Walking On The Water'."