Most people in Cornwall know Truro's Bert Biscoe as the passionately patriotic county councillor.But how many know that he was, and still is, an equally passionate singer-songwriter, who back in the late 1970s was in Cornwall's most celebrated rock band?

Now Top of the Hill, the Cornish record label based in Hayle, has issued An Kynsa, a compilation of songs drawn from Bert's 40 years of songwriting.

As punk hit England in the late 1970s its shock waves could be felt far from its London epicentre.

At the forefront of this musical explosion in Cornwall were bands like Brainiac Five, Metro Glider and The Rage, all of which featured Bert.

The bands toured widely and incessantly, always committed to developing original material and always attracting good crowds.

Indeed, Brainiac Five have just been featured in the book No More Heroes, by Alex Ogg, a celebration of the national punk and new wave scene.

The band's few releases are now massively collectible with fans as far away as Germany and Japan.

Bert said: "I was really surprised when Top of the Hill suggested doing this project. There are songs from three decades - it's almost like archaeology!

"I hope that they still say something. The album feels like a good way to say thanks to all the musicians, friends, family and especially audiences who have helped to make these songs."

Among the songs are Tristan & Isolde, a Kernewek Born To Run featuring Bert's raw, jazz-tinged blues voice, while on the glistening new wave chords of On The Other Side of the World he sounds like none other than Sting.

The dirty R'n'B of Marilyn Monroe could be some skinny-jeaned 2007 indie band. That he can go from that to a lyrical acoustic song like Long October Nights shows what a talented songwriter Mr Biscoe was and remains.

What ties these musically disparate songs together is Bert's passion and obvious love for Cornwall - something that is still apparent in his political work.

The man even went through a synth period (remember greats like Bowie and Neil Young also succumbed) with So Good To Be Young sounding like The Human League covering The Walker Brothers.

I can still remember sitting in the back room of Truro's Swan Inn as a callow youth in the mid 1980s as Bert sang the excellent Talking With Harold Boase.

To me, this will always be the Biscoe "hit".

Go back to his younger days and he sounds like an oggy oggy Joe Strummer - on Get Thee To Greenham he even has the audacity to sing the line "Stop the Cruise/We've all got the blues". They wrote lyrics like that back then...

The definite stand-out though is Brainiac 5's Endless River, an astonishing epic in the post-punk vein, which now released on iTunes, could hail a new breed of Biscoe fans.

If County Hall tires of him then he can always strap on his guitar again.

* An Kynsa is available online from www.cornishmusic.com, iTunes and all major download sites. Or you can get a copy from Just Cornish in Penzance and Flipside in Helston for £9.99.