Acme Sewage Company: It’d be pretty useless to comment on the relative ineptitude of this – or any other – group represented over the duration of Raw Records. That isn’t the point. And while Acme Sewage Co. might not be technically proficient, the band seemed to be capable of working in a few different strains of then current punk stuffs. “I Can See You” almost gets into power pop territory – save for those snotty vocals while “I Don’t Need You” winds up being a punky two step. What wrestles these efforts from relative uselessness is the group’s bass player adding in a few supplemental runs making each song sound a bit more accomplished than it would otherwise.
Users: There seems to have been a good deal of hate floating around the UK scene. That shoulda been expected. But the Users – much like the aforementioned Acme Sewage Company – are fixated on railing against specific individuals. Though never named, listeners should easily get the sense that pretty much anyone outside of these group’s immediate social circles were ranked down there somewhere with Thatcher.
The Unwanted: These folks might best approximate the next step in punk’s march towards utter absurdity. The band didn’t sink into an Exploited style thrash, but out of all the groups represented by Raw, the Unwanted come off as pretty inept by any standards. That’s a bit confusing as the ensemble contributed more tracks than anyone else here. Either way, these guys were still able to rave up an even more simplistic Sex Pistols stomp.
Sick Things: Not to be confused with the Australians with the same name, this femme fronted group are best remembered for the two tracks included here – both focusing on youth culture. Sick Things didn’t quite reach X Ray Spex proportions, but both the song about bondage and youths on the street work out pretty well in a dumb punk kinda way.