All Music Guide The sound quality could probably be better. So what? The guitar could maybe be a little less metallic. Who cares? The vocalist could be a shade more in tune. It doesn't matter. If you never saw Radio Stars at the peak of their 1977-78 powers; or if you did, but it all seems like a dream now, Something For The Weekend is the album that proves that everything you ever heard about them was true. They really were that good. Recorded at a handful of stops across the UK, Something For The Weekend is both the best of Radio Stars and a sharp-eyed reconstruction of a typical performance, at least in aural terms. No, Andy Ellison does not leap off your wardrobe and come crashing onto the floor during a tumultuous "Beast Of Barnsley"; no, 2,000 rabid punk rockers do not rise as one leather-and sweat-stinking mass to sing the chorus of "From A Rabbit". But "Elvis is Dead (Boring)" restores the familiar album version to its original lyrical thrust, "Johnny Mekon" still sounds like the best Mott The Hoople song that never existed. And "From A Rabbit" will have you bellowing the chorus at the top of your lungs and maybe even making a better job of it than the band. Good for you. Whatever you do with it, Something For The Weekend will keep you hopping all week long and, when you do finally collapse into an exhausted heap on the floor, there's a bonus disc of Martin Gordon live in Boston in 2007. Which will soon have you back on your feet again. Dave Thompson
Daily Rock The story of the English band Radio Stars began in 1977. Andy Ellison, Martin Gordon and Ian Macleod formed the trio after their unfortunate experiences in their glam-rock band Jet. At the end of the seventies, after two albums featuring their mix of glam, new wave and punk, Radio Stars ended. The tracks on the first CD of this double set were recorded live during 1977 and 1978, the second CD features Martin Gordon live in 2007. The 11 songs show that Gordon has lost none of his talent for composing superb songs, nor any of his humour. As for his cynicism - it's even grown! Robert Pally
Record Collector (UK) April 2008 Unreconstructed and proud of it. Somewhere at the middle-to-tail end of the 70s, nestled rather impishly between the latter throes of glam rock and the brief magnesium flash of punk, was a clutch of decent, stompy, tuneful rockers that sometimes had the pub rock epithet bestowed upon them. In the case of Radio Stars, there's an inherent likability throughout these classic-sounding rock'n' roll tracks. Take 'Elvis Is Dead (Boring)' for an instant singalong, or 'No Russians in Russia' for a piece of dottiness that skirts the edge of political comment, before thinking better of it and gawping at the semi-naked shots of Page 3 'Stunna' Kathy (in fact Kelly) St John that adorn the cover. A lovely girl who looks more than ripe for a date down the Feathers with Terry from Minder, where Dave has just put this collection of live and previously unreleased tracks on the jukebox. Good, occasionally dirty, fun. 3/5 stars Joe Shooman
Popular Magazine (well, that's nice, anyway), Spain, March 2008 Formed in 1976, the British band Radio Stars never really belonged to the punk scene of that era. They had irreverent attitudes aplenty, and songs that rarely went over three minutes in length, but in reality this was more explosive power pop than anything else - these people had nothing in common with much of the anarchic sloganeering of the rest of the punks. Led by vocalist Andy Ellison (from those glammies John's Children) and the ex-Spark Martin Gordon, Radio Stars made a point of exquisite shamelessness, surrealistic humour and compositions as sticky as chewing gum on the carpet. 'Something For The Weekend' compiles the best moments of the band across a series of recordings from 1977 and 1978, and includes such memorable anthems as 'Nervous Wreck', 'Johnny Mekon', 'Good Personality', 'Dirty Pictures', 'Macaroni’n’Mice' and 'No Russians in Russia'. With their hi-energy, direct and irresistible rock, Radio Stars might today be remembered as the younger brothers of Sweet, Slade and T-Rex, had they not slipped from the collective conciousness. There’s no better remedy for amnesia than a fantastic collection like ‘Something For The Weekend’. What better way to spend the weekend.... make a date in your diary! 8/10 stars Alberto Dias
Music (UK) These comic book punks rode the new wave in the late 70s and split (for dental reasons) in 1982. But now, a quarter of a century later, they’ve been remembered courtesy of these live recordings. Lead singer Andy Ellison, once of John’s Children with Marc Bolan, used to jump off amplifier stacks at gigs so if you hear his voice waver at any point you can imagine what he’s up to. All the crowd pleasers are here: Johnny Mekon, Dirty Pictures and the very silly No Russians In Russia. Not to mention their No. 39 smash, Nervous Wreck. Out March 1. 3.5/ 5 stars John Medd
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