Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts

There’s a reason this 1978 album by Britain’s Adverts is still a great listen decades after its recording (at Abbey Road Studios). The mixed-gender band (female bassist Gaye Advert inspired countless crushes) had the wits and songwriterly chops to transcend punk musicians' limitations, so this set has the staying power of any classic rock 'n' roll album. The topical anthems (“Safety in Numbers,” Bored Teenagers,” “No Time to Be 21”) are deceptively smart, and the melodies have the musical support that isn’t solely based around churning guitars and harmonic distortion. In fact, “New Day Dawns” and “Bombsite Boy” each show a flare for Bob Ezrin/Alice Cooper–like musical left turns (the kind that surprise listeners after a simple sing-along refrain). “Up on the Roof” was one of the first punk-era songs that had real pathos. The jewel here is “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes”: a ’60s-riffed garage-ist dream about gazing through the peeps of the famously executed Utah murderer.