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Dirty Looks was an improbable Staten Island, NY power pop trio which was signed to iconoclastic British record label Stiff Records after playing only ten gigs. It seems odd that such things used to happen; oddly enough, they still do, though that is another story. In any event, their self-titled debut, released in 1980, sold over 100,000 copies (they could ride at Number One these days for weeks on those numbers) making them ironically enough, Stiff’s best selling U.S. act ( in a further incident of irony, the disc was licensed for release to Epic). Dirty Looks’ follow-up, TURN IT UP, was never released in the US, and its inclusion in this beautifully remastered two disc set marks its first CD release anywhere. Considering the mainstream b.s. that is released weekly these days, these 31 tracks are a breath of fresh air.

Dirty Looks did not look like a rock band is supposed to look; they prefigured the Spanic Boys and, bizarre in appearance as Rick Neilsen was, at least Cheap Trick had a couple of front men who looked more normal, for rock stars anyway. No matter; Dirty Looks mastered the ability to compose and record deceptively simple, straight ahead rock songs that borrowed a bit a bit of this, a bit of that, from whatever had gone before, and did it with such aplomb that it sounded just great when mixed in with their own original stylings, mixing everything from Dick Dale to Chuck Berry to Golden Earring all in one song at times. The lyrics most of the time left a lot to be desired but Dirty Looks played with such energy and unabashed aplomb that no one listened to the words anyway. Their classic song, IMHO, is “Drop That Tan,” fond on the DIRTY LOOKS disc, the missing link between every rockabilly song every recorded and Golden Earring’s “Radar Love.”

TURN IT UP is the marginally weaker of the two discs. Recorded in the wake of the unexpected success of DIRTY LOOKS, it’s the perfect example of what happens when outsiders come in and start fucking with a good thing, no matter how well-intentioned and qualified said outsiders might be. The disc, recorded twice, never had a U.S. release until now; it still holds up well at lo this late date, even if its not quite as edgy and energetic as its predecessor. Both discs taken together provide an object lesson of how the job of making rock ‘n’ roll is done. Recommended.