Album of the Day

Richard Hell's punk credentials are hard to top: as a founding member of Television, he helped bring the new music to New York City's legendary CBGB club before forming The Heartbreakers with axeman Johnny Thunders, and eventually The Voidoids with guitarist Robert Quine. With a recording career that's been as sporadic as it's been influential, SPURTS: THE RICHARD HELL STORY is the ideal way to sample the man's music. The 21 tracks on the 2005 Rhino collection include cuts from all three above-mentioned bands, as well as pre-Television group The Neon Boys and 1990s supergroup Dim Stars (featuring half of Sonic Youth), and no self-respecting alternative rock fan should be without such seminal sides as “Blank Generation,” “Chinese Rocks” and “Love Comes In Spurts.” The singer-songwriter was born on this day in 1949, and we'll celebrate the birthday with another spin of SPURTS: THE RICHARD HELL STORY.