Ok, so European punk is an endless, confusing and poorly annotated thing. It’s not anyone’s fault. And probably if the lineage of everyone and everybody has remained rather obscure, it’s because no one really cares too much to straighten it out. But one of the continental countries with the coolest backlog of old punkers – Belgium – has further confounded me. The name Hubble Bubble, whilst still the name of a band I’m about to get into, is also a way in which to refer to a hookah. But considering that fact that we’re talking about Europeans, there might just be tobacco product in there. Who knows?

 So, Hubble Bubble put out a handful of singles and two full length albums, the first being a self titled 1978 disc – their second effort has been referred to as more enjoyable, but that’s just simply taste. And while I won’t attempt to rationalize some one else’s opinion of a specific disc, I will try to figure out where Plastic Bertrand keeps cropping up. Some may know the name from his brief brush with stardom for a single called “Ça Plane Pour Moi,” which was released in ’77. Not too much later, a group called Elton Motello, which was made up of the backing band on Bertrand’s single recorded an English language version. Still later, the Damned would rework the song in its most recognizable and well known version.

The reason that that maters, though, is the fact that Bertrand (working under the name of Roger Jouret) played drums and sang for Hubble Bubble. He’s on the first full length, but due to the internets not coughing up a proper discography, he may or may not be on that second disc. If all of this wasn’t confusing enough already, Bertrand’s ‘hit’ single was released a year prior to Hubble Bubble’s first long player. Judging from the music Bertrand was into in his solo career, it seems as if something is amiss with all the dates included here. Could he go from punk to weirdo-new-wave and back to a trashier, noisey punk in the space of a year? I guess.

The sound of Hubble Bubble might bear that out as well. Beginning the album with an inept punk piece called “Big Star Rolling,” Hubble Bubble was able to move in a number of sub-punk rock outs before arriving at “New Direction,” which while not a pop track, seems more palatable than a great deal of the rest of the disc. Of course the vocal harmonies help out a bit on that offering – and yes it’s surprising to hear ‘em. But that’s part of what makes this disc entertaining. From one piece to the next, the trio is able to sound drastically different with Bertrand aping a cough syrup croon every once in a while.

This first album isn’t in the same league as the Kids – maybe Razors are in the same category. But that group possesses a more focused approach to sloppy punk, if that makes sense. Hubble Bubble comes in recommended, but if you don’t have the first two albums from the Kids, cop those guys first.