The Lurkers were one of those peripheral English punk bands that always hovered just outside the '77 punk limelight. Along with Eddie and the Hot Rods, 999, Sham 69, and Subway Sect (to name a few), the Lurkers achieved fleeting success at best, and little- to- no lasting recognition. They played untutored, working- class English punk meant to be experienced live and loud-- while wading through puddles of spilt swill, dodging flying beer bottles, and getting knocked around by sweat- drenched human pin cushions moshing and pogoing all over each other. When relegated to studio sessions, most of these aforementioned bands simply lost their edge, and ultimately, their reason for being.

There were, however, other pertinent reasons why the Lurkers never found a wider audience-- they lacked the personality and catchy ideas of American contemporaries like the Ramones and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, and had only a fraction of the pop sensibility and creative spark of bands like the Buzzcocks. They certainly weren't politically- charged like the Pistols and the Clash. Rather, the Lurkers were cast from much the same mold as the Ramones and New York Dolls-- playing simple, raunchy, rockabilly- based noise that catered expressly to the libido. Unlike the most revered punk documents of the day-- the Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, The Clash's self- titled debut, and the Damned's Damned, Damned, Damned-- the Lurkers' recorded output doesn't come close to capturing the band's true essence.

The Lurkers do, in rare moments, touch on the sublime. In fact, in the beginning, Last Will and Testament scorches. The breakneck "Cyanide" roars along on basically the same chords as Ramones' "Pinhead," with vastly different lyrics. Lead singer Howard Wall growls: "I've had enough of whiskey and gin/ I can't afford her-o-in." The Lurkers come to this logical conclusion: when you can't take the pain of existence, and you're too goddamned poor to support a drug habit, why not just go the extra mile and end it all? "Pills" could be the Lurkers' answer to "Chinese Rocks," and then there's the even more obvious Ramones rip-off, "I'm On Heat." The song also sports Pete Stride's amazingly faithful rendering of Johnny Thunders' roughshod guitar leads. And, hot-doggie, they even give us some Stones- influenced country- punk on "Little Ol' Wine Drinker Me."

Unfortunately, though, the material on Last Will eventually wears itself out. In the end, you're left with maybe a handful of pretty decent punk anthems to doggedly cling to. "Out In the Dark," "Jenny," and "Self Destruct" amount to shameless Heartbreakers copy- catting-- ditties dealing with them evil misbehavin' split- tails, and (predictably) certain nasty, lingering habits. "Total War" is a clumsy class- warfare rant, a subject better left to more informed, streetwise blokes like the Clash. And there's a hilariously awful cover of "Then He Kissed Me" augmented to "Then I Kicked Her."

I've heard a few rare Lurkers live recordings, and from what I gather, they would've probably blown many of 77's bar- chord bashers off the stage. Guitarist Pete Stride reels off some of the wildest leads you've ever heard, rivaling those of the great Johnny Kidd, or the Damned's Brian James. But, again, too many of the band's actual songs just don't deliver the hooks that make for an enduring legacy.

-Michael Sandlin