Third World War

The stark white cover featured a high-contrast photo collage of a screaming toddler, with the same screaming toddler in its mouth. A little reminiscent of the collage art print accompanying the Octopus single by Syd Barrett, showing a mouth inside a mouth, inside a mouth inside a mouth.
Musically, this is a concerted effort to make a blue-collar album. Engineer Phil Brown (brother of English-born Canadian producer Terry Brown, whose resume includes Jimi Hendrix, Stampeders, Rush, April Wine, Klaatu, Max Webster and (ugh) Moist) was sick of the peace movement. He’s quoted as saying he wanted “a no-bullshit, working-class band,” and that he’d “had enough of all this pseudo peace crap.” Seems Brown and producer/manager Jon Fenton were successful. Some consider this England’s first punk album.
Fenton formed the band in 1970 with songwriters Terry Stamp (chopper guitar/vocals) and Jim Avery (bass). The signing allowed Stamp to quit his job as a truck driver, while Avery moved into Fenton’s flat in Knightsbridge.
It was also Fenton who came up with the name and decided on the working-class direction and hard rock tone.
This album is legendary. Brilliant and powerful, unpretentious songwriting with lyrics about shift work, political violence, fightin’, drinkin’ and one-night stands. A raw and bombastic sound with unpolished, rookie lead vocals. Blues-based, hard-rock proto punk. It was recorded live off the floor with mistakes left in.