Most heavy metal is beyond parody, but sometimes comedians can nail its absurdities with affectionate bile. The Comic Strip had the unhappy timing to spoof early-’80s Brit-rock in their TV mockumentaries Bad News and More Bad News just as This is Spinal Tap broke worldwide. But their low-rent satire still stands up, thanks to songs of plausibly low-to-middling quality. Sportingly produced by Brian May, lost classics like “Warriors Of Genghis Khan” and “Masturbike” feature Adrian Edmondson’s Lemmy-esque vocals and Quo-leaning riffs. But elevating this reissue above one-joke, one-play level are the between-song sketches, all farty schoolboy sniggers that recall Cook and Moore’s wilfully moronic Derek & Clive albums.
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