Consumer Guide Album

The Three Johns: Crime Pays . . . Rock and Roll in the Demonocracy: The Singles '82-'86 [Abstract, 1986]
The Johns' maiden release, 1982's "English White Boy Engineer," exports the U.K. equivalent of Timbuk 3's nuclear science major to South Africa, where he blames the bad stuff on the Afrikaners. Great. But in general this reminds us that a single is what a cult band puts out when it doesn't have enough songs for an album. Some of it is upstanding rant, like "AWOL." Some of it, wouldn't you know, is EP-tested, like "Brainbox" and (that again?) "Death of the European." And some of it is pure B-side, like the beatbox showcase "Two Minute Ape." B+