City Of The Dead,
Street music label & mailorder

Oi! ~ Punk-Rock ~ HardCore ~ Skinhead Reggae ~ Ska
Né fascisti Né zozzoni - Neither fascists nor hippies

V/A - A Flame That Can\'t Be Dimmed: A Redskins Tribute, 10"

Redskins tribute, cover art

"The misconception has always been that skinheads were all right wing, which they were not. If you look at the Specials audiences, the 2 Tone bands, Madness, there were a lot of skinheads, a lot of anti-racist skinheads and left-wing skinheads and socialist skinheads." -Chris Dean, 1986

Born in 1981 under the name "No Swastikas," the Redskins, fronted by Chris Dean (AKA X. Moore, a pseudonym used when Dean wrote for the UK music journal NME) were the first openly activist skinhead band.
Activists for the SWP and authentic skinheads (regardless of what their detractors say), the Redskins made an intelligent effort at reclaiming the original skinhead image and early music (Tamla Motown soul) doing justice to the subculture in an era when the far right was trying to lay claim to everything it could from a working class disenfranchised by the Margaret Thatcher led UK government.

"A Flame That Can't Be Dimmed: A Redskins Tribute" 10" produced by the British based independent label Red Star Recordings, is a tribute to this great band and is issued in a limited edition of 500 copies on transparent red vinyl with cool propaganda style cover art emulating that of the original Redskins releases.

The record contains unique cover versions of five Redskins classics: "The Power Is Yours", performed by the Milwaukee Pop/Soul combo The Yell Leaders, appears as a hypnotic remix by the DJ known as The Grooveblaster; "Lean On Me" is played by San Francisco Mod band The Inciters, energetically although reminiscent of the original; "Kick Over The Statues" is covered by the Che Men, a new band from Northern England; "Bring It Down" appears as a beautiful electronic version by Maninblack from New York City (the new band from André Schlesinger, former vocalist for the historical band The Press); "(Don't Talk To Me About) Whether", performed live by Milwaukee musician Eric Blowtorch (who has worked with Black Uhuru and the Skatalites) along with his band The Forces Of Victory, closes the record.

In conclusion "A Flame That Can't Be Dimmed" is a very well done record that accomplishes exactly what it set out to and is highly recommended to all Redskins fans.
Those not aquatinted with the Redskins should also consider checking out the originals.