Punk and new wave music was a big shock when it started to emerge in 1976 with its raw, basic, powerful sound.
Wikipedia defines punk rock as
“Punk rock (or simply punk) is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. Punk bands typically use short or fast-paced songs, with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produced recordings and distributed them through informal channels.”
Wikipedia defines New Wave as
“New wave music is an umbrella term for several late-1970s to mid-1980s pop/rock musical styles with ties to 1970s punk rock. The wide range of bands categorized under this term has been a source of much confusion and controversy. The new wave sound of the late 1970s moved away from the smooth blues and rock & roll sounds to create music with a twitchy, agitated feel, choppy rhythm guitars and fast tempos. Initially—as with the later post-punk—new wave was broadly analogous to punk rock before branching as a distinctly identified genre, incorporating electronic/experimental music, mod, disco and pop. It subsequently engendered subgenres and fusions, including New Romantic and gothic rock.”
Before punk and new wave came proto-punk and pub rock in the UK which laid some of the ground work for the “revolution” and after the initial burst of energy, the movement developed into what we know as indie rock and alternative rock.
Punk Rock & New wave Live Albums Recorded In The 1970s
Live albums recorded under the general punk and new wave banner include:
The Adverts Live at the Roxy 1978
Bauhaus Live in the Studio 1979
The Beat BBC Sessions 1979 1980
Blondie The Old Waldorf San Francisco 1977
Blondie Live in Philadelphia 1978 & Dallas 1980
Blondie Picture This Live 1978 1980
Blondie At The BBC 1979
Buzzcocks Live at the Roxy Club April 77
Buzzcocks Entertaining Friends 1979
Buzzcocks Lest We Forget 1979 1980
Chelsea The BBC Punk Sessions
Chelsea Live And Loud aka Live At The Music Machine 1978
The Clash Live From Here To Eternity
The Comsat Angels Time Considered As a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones the BBC Sessions 1979 to 1984
Elvis Costello Live At The Nashville Rooms 1977
Elvis Costello Live At The El Mocambo 1978
Elvis Costello Live At The Hollywood High 1978
Ian Dury On The Stiff’s Live Stiffs 1977
Ian Dury Live At Rockpalast 1978
Eddie & The Hot Rods Live EPs
Eddie And The Hot Rods Live In Concert 1978
The Fall Totale’s Turns 1979
The Fall Words Of Expectation The BBC Sessions 1978 to 1996
The Fall The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004
Gang Of Four The Peel Sessions Album 1979 1981
Generation X Radio 1 Sessions 1977 to 1979
Generation X BBC Live In Concert – One Hundred Punks 1978 1981
The Jam At The BBC 1977 to 1982
The Jam Dig The New Breed
The Jam Live Jam
The Jam Fire & Skill The Jam Live 1977 to 1982
The Jam Live At The Brighton Centre December 1979 (sold with Setting Sons Super Deluxe)
Joy Division The Peel Sessions 1979
Joy Division Les Bains Douches 18 December 1979
Killing Joke The Peel Sessions 79-81
Magazine BBC In Concert 22nd November 1978
Magazine Play 1980 1978
Gary Numan Tubeway Army Double Peel Sessions
Gary Numan The Complete John Peel Sessions
The Only Ones Darkness And Light The Complete BBC Recordings 1977 to 1980
The Only Ones The Big Sleep 1979
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Peel Sessions 1979-1983
Pere Ubu Live at the Longhorn April 1 1978
The Police Live In Boston 1979
Radio Stars Something for the Weekend 1977 1978
The Ramones It’s Alive 1977
The Ramones Live January 7 1978 At The Palladium NYC
The Ramones You Don’t Come Close 1978
The Rezillos Live At The Glasgow Apollo 1978
The Ruts Get Out Of It Live 1979
The Saints Live At The Hope & Anchor 1977
The Selecter & The Specials BBC Radio 1 in Concert 1979
The Selecter BBC Sessions / Live At The Paris Theatre 79
Sex Pistols Anarchy in the UK Live at the 76 Club 1976
The Sex Pistols Live at Screen on the Green ’76
The Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bollocks Live 1977
Sex Pistols Live at Winterland 1978
Sham 69 BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert
Sham 69 At The BBC
Siouxsie & The Banshees Voices On The Air – The Peel Sessions 1977 to 1981
Siouxsie & The Banshees At The BBC 1977 to 2001
The Slits The Peel Sessions 1977 1978
The Slits The John Peel Sessions
The Slits Live At The Gibus Club 1978
The Specials Live at the Moonlight Club 1979
The Specials BBC In Concert 15th December 1979
The Specials BBC Sessions 1979 to 1983
Squeeze The Complete BBC Sessions 1977 to 1994
Stiff Little Fingers The Peel Sessions
The Stranglers BBC In Concert 23rd April 1977
The Stranglers Live at the Hope and Anchor 1977
Stranglers Live X-Cert 1976 to 1978
Talking Heads The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads 1977 to 1981
Talking Heads Real Live Wires 1978
Talking Heads The Boarding House San Francisco 1978 (TAJ)
Talking Heads Performance 1979
Talking Heads The Boston Tea Party 1979
The Teardrop Explodes Peel Sessions Plus 1979 to 1982
Television The Blow Up 1978
Television Live At The Old Waldorf 1978
The Tubes What Do You Want From Live 1977
UK Subs Peel Sessions 1978 – 79
The Undertones Listening In Radio Sessions 1978-1982
Various Artists Live At The Roxy 1977
The Vibrators BBC Punk Sessions 1977 1978
The Vibrators & The Boys BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert
Wire The Peel Sessions Album
Wire Live At The Roxy London April 1st & 2nd 1977
Wreckless Eric Almost A Jubilee 25 Years At The BBC 1977 to 2002
X-Ray Spex Live At The Roxy 1977
There are some terrific live albums in this list as the punk and new wave artists are captured live in their prime.
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The All Time Best Punk Rock & New Wave Live Albums
I don’t have a readers poll to find the best live albums for this decade but there is a poll for the all time best new wave and punk rock live albums.
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Punk Rock and New Wave By Decades – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s
The Jam At The BBC is a collection of live in the studio and live in concert recordings made by the BBC between 1977 and 1981.
It comes in two forms:
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Live At The Roxy is a live album by British punk band X-Ray Spex.
It was recorded in London in 1977.
The Big Sleep is a live album by British new wave band The Only Ones.
It was recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Holland on November 3, 1979.
The Only Ones are most famous for their classic single Another Girl, Another Planet but their other songs deserve investigation by anyone interested in the punk and new wave of the late 1970s.
This pulls songs from their three studio albums – The Only Ones, Even Serpents Shine and Baby’s Got a Gun.
Play is a live album by British new wave band Magazine.
The original release featured ten songs recorded in concert at the Melbourne Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia on 6th September 1980.
In 2009 it was reissued as Play+ and had two more songs from the 1980 Melbourne concert together with another nine from a concert at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester on 21st July 1978.
Magazine were formed when Howard Devoto left The Buzzcocks in early 1977 and are most famous for the single Shot By Both Sides (which I bought and then left in the record shop in Stafford in 1978).
Performance is a live recording by Talking Heads made for broadcast on the radio and turned into a live album released by the Applebush label.
It was recorded at The Berklee School of Music in Boston on 24th August 1979 while the band were promoting the Fear Of Music studio album.
I’ve also seen what I think is this recording offered for sale on the Sonic Boom as Boston Tea Party with two extra songs at the end from Saturday Night Live. These songs are repeats of Take Me To The River and Artists Only.
I think this is one of those live recordings that slips through the copyright laws after 35 years and can be sold legally in Europe. Please correct me if you know the truth.
The two official live albums, The Name Of The Band Is Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense are two of the greatest live albums ever released. It is interesting to hear other material when Talking Heads were such an innovative new wave band in the late 1970s.
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Real Live Wires is a live album by Talking Heads released on the Smokin’ label.
It was recorded at The Park West, in Chicago, in 1978 while the group were promoting their second album, More Songs About Buildings and Food for a radio broadcast.
There is another version of this recording on the Nova Sales & Distribution (UK) Ltd label called Live Chicago 1978 but feedback from Amazon is that the recording quality is not as good as Real Live Wires.
I think this is one of those live recordings that slips through the copyright laws after 25 years and can be sold legally in Europe. Please correct me if you know the truth.
The two official live albums, The Name Of The Band Is Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense are two of the greatest live albums ever released. It is interesting to hear other material when Talking Heads were such an innovative new wave band in the late 1970s.
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Get Out Of It! Live is a live album by punk rock group The Ruts..
It was recorded at the Marquee in Wardour Street, London on the 19th July 1979. It wasn’t released until 2006 although the song Human Punk was featured on the Crack album.
Live At Boston in November 1979 is the first CD in the two CD, two concert album The Police Live!
Because the two concerts are so different, I have decided to review them separately to help create a clearer review. The other CD is here – The Police Live In Atlanta 1983
Live in Philadelphia 1978 & Dallas 1980 is an early live album by new wave / power pop group Blondie.
This album has also been packaged as Picture This Live.
I lost count of the number of posters of Debbie Harry i saw when I was a student between 1978-1981. Her face and body was virtually everywhere and her sex kitten image tended to overshadow what a good group Blondie were.
Continue reading Blondie Live in Philadelphia 1978 & Dallas 1980
Stranglers Live X-Cert is a live compilation album by new wave / punk group The Stranglers.
The original album was recorded at The Roundhouse in June and November 1977 and at Battersea Park in September 1978. The CD reissue included bonus songs recorded live at The Nashville in 1976 and The Hope and Anchor in 1977. All these venues are in London.
The Stranglers came to prominence in the UK in the punk rock “explosion” but they were always slightly apart. The group members were older and probably better musicians.
