Just discovered the album "Return the gift". Dave Allen play some of the best lines i've ever heard, especially on the track "damaged goods".

Can anyone recommend any older stuff.

Check out the 'Entertainment' album, which has the original recording of 'Damaged Goods' on it. While Return The Gift has better recording technically, I personally prefer the Entertainment version for groove/vibe.

check out solid gold and another day/another dollar too. some of the most simple yet amazing basslines ever. you can find both of these albums on one disc, too.

YES!

In addition to being an amazing player, Allen is enormously influential. Every note Andy Rourke played with the Smiths or Mike Mills played on the first 4-5 R.E.M. albums owes a huge debt to Allen. The styles of guys like Simon Gallup, Mike Watt, and Krist Novoselic also show a clear lineage through Allen.

His tone on Entertainment! was pretty awful, though. It got better on Solid Gold, thankfully, but then he and Hugo Burnham left the band--and it went in the toilet soon thereafter. :(

I just got "A history of the 20th century" which is a compilation. Four or five decent tracks but found the rest a hard going

I can see the Andy Rouke connection, i think Simon Gallup looks more influenced by Hooky from New Order, mind you they are pretty the same age so i'm not sure. I know Hooky was influenced by Jean Jacques Burnel from the Stranglers