Various - Rock ‘N’ Rolla

Sep 4 2008 By Paul Cole

(Universal)

IT is criminally good, the coolest soundtrack of the year. But then what would you expect from Ian Neil, the man who selects the songs for Guy Ritchie’s gangster Britflicks?

The forthcoming film finds veteran mobsters trying to defend their London turf from the new breed of gangsters rich on foreign money and cheap hired guns. Bullets fly as fast as the one-liners.

Cue a soundtrack see-sawing from the 60s to the present day, and songs ranging from the obvious (Clash classic Bankrobber does what it says on the tin) to the leftfield.

Who could forget Negra Leono, the 1967 anthem of Miguelito Valdes? Or deranged Dopilsya by Ex Sektor Gaza? Oh, you too?

We’re back on more familiar turf as Black Strobe add contemporary guitar crunch to Bo Diddley’s I’m A Man, turning it into an unstoppably scuzzy boogie.

The Subways sneer their way through Rock And Roll Queen, Kim Fowley’s The Trip sounds as if he was on one when he recorded it back in 1965, and Lou Reed’s The Gun is chilling.

Other essentials are The Beat’s Mirror In The Bathroom, The Sonics’ Have Love Will Travel and the Hives’ Stomp.