Pitchfork: Richard Hell to Release Career Retrospective

Richard Hell to Release Career Retrospective

Grab a jar of Bedhead and spike up that mohawk indie rock girls, because one of punk's most ragged founding fathers, Richard Hell, is prepping his first career-spanning highlights package set for release next month. Trickling into stores on August 2, Spurts: The Richard Hell Story draws from the length of Hell's recorded career both as a solo artist and with such seminal groups as Television, the Neon Boys, The Heartbreakers (of the Johnny Thunders persuasion, kids-- no "Free Fallin'" here), and short-lived 90s super-ish group Dim Stars-- which he helmed alongside Thurston Moore.

The 21 selections have all been remastered (and in some cases remixed) by Hell, who according to CMJ considers the package thusly: "My best album, definitely my favorite," and notes that he's "been wanting to compile it for a long time." The collection is being distributed by Sire/Rhino, and the trackist looks like this:

01 Love Comes in Spurts" (Preliminary Version) - The Neon Boys
02 That's All I Know (Right Now) - The Neon Boys
03 Chinese Rocks - The Heartbreakers
04 Blank Generation - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
05 Liars Beware - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
06 Walking On The Water - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
07 Love Comes In Spurts - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
08 The Kid With The Replaceable Head - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
09 Crack Of Dawn - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
10 Time - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
11 Ignore That Door - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
12 Lowest Common Dominator - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
13 Downtown At Dawn - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
14 Dim Star Theme - Dim Stars
15 Baby Huey (Do You Wanna to Dance) - Dim Stars
16 Monkey - Dim Stars
17 The Night Is Coming On - Dim Stars
18 Oh - Richard Hell and The Voidoids
19 She'll Be Coming (For Dennis Cooper) - Richard Hell
20 Rip Off - Dim Stars
21 Blank Generation (Live) - Television

In other news, Hell will also be embarking on a brief book tour late this summer in support of his new novel, Godlike, which sees release on July 15. The New York street scribe, who virtually traded in his guitar collection for a typewriter in the mid-90's, has a number of published works under his belt-- including poetry and nonfiction-- and has often been hailed by critics for his vivid junkie culture imagery. Hell currently has seven dates lined up in five major markets, and fans can check out our very own punk Renaissance man at the following readings:

09-08 New York, NY - McNally Robinson
09-21 Seattle, WA - Hugo House
09-23 Portland, OR - Powell's Bookstore
09-27 San Francisco, CA - Make-Out Room
09-29 San Francisco, CA - City Lights
10-01 Venice, CA - Beyond Baroque
10-26 New York, NY - St. Mark's Poetry Project