Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts by The Adverts

Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts, the debut from the Devon-born, London-hardened punks, hit the racks on February 17, 1978, and the joke starts with the address: a band from the Roxy's first sweaty months cutting their record at Abbey Road, with John Leckie producing. Jane Suck came up with the title.

T.V. Smith, who started the band with Gaye Advert in 1976, supplies the nervy urgency; Advert, the bassist often hailed as punk's first female star, keeps the bottom end blunt; and Howard Pickup's guitar slashes away at full tilt. "Gary Gilmore's Eyes", which had already dented the singles chart in 1977, sits alongside "No Time to be 21", the single that went out ahead of the album and reached 34. The LP itself got to 38. The reputation has only grown: Trouser Press ranked it with the first Sex Pistols and Clash records, and Mojo placed it 17th among the 50 greatest punk albums in 2003.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.