Album Review: Cock Sparrer’s Forever

COCK SPARRER’s first new album in a decade, ’Forever’ finds the Godfathers of Street Punk in imperious form by Guy Shankland. Opening track ‘One By One’ is a beers, bear hugs and friends for life, anthemic call to arms. ‘Believe ’ motors along with anti-capitalist lyrics and a skull crunching beat while ‘Gonna Be Alright’ has a middle aged melancholic backbone that could be a conversation between two mates in a pub discussing the other half’s battle with the big C. Its within these words that we see just why Street Punk is such a well preserved British beast and as much as other nationalities may love it they will never fully get it. ‘Don’t Tell Anyone Anything’, ‘Family Of One’ and an incendiary ‘In My Town’ all poke and prod working class sensibilities while evoking a pints in the air perspective on estate life. ‘Contender’ has the timeless lyric “You were a bit of c**t but boy you had the front”. ‘I’ve Had Enough’, ‘Somebody’s Brother, Somebody’s Son’ both wrestle with tabloid tales of injustice, bad luck and knife crime. The curtain comes down with the nostalgic knees up mother brown kissing the Ramones ditty  ‘We’re The Good Guys’. Sixteen slices of the finest tea ‘N’ toast British Street Punk overflowing with Royal Britannia riffs and factory slang, a truly stunning return.