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 1980s
Live albums recorded under the general punk and new wave banner include:
B-Movie BBC Radio Sessions 1981-1984
Bauhaus This Is For When
The Beat BBC Sessions 1979 1980
The Beat Live at Hammersmith Palais plus BBC Sessions 1982
The Beat Live at the US Festival 1982 1983
The Birthday Party John Peel Sessions 1980 to 1982
Black Flag Live 84
Black Flag Who’s Got The 10 1/2? 1985
Blondie Live in Philadelphia 1978 & Dallas 1980
Blondie Picture This Live 1978 1980
Buzzcocks Lest We Forget 1979 1980
The Clash Live From Here To Eternity
The Clash Live At Shea Stadium 1982
The Comsat Angels Time Considered As a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones the BBC Sessions 1979 to 1984
Elvis Costello Heatwave Festival 1980
The Damned Ballroom Blitz Live At The Lyceum 1981
Devo New Traditionalists Live 1981 Seattle
Diagram Brothers The Peel Sessions 1980 to 1982
Duran Duran BBC In Concert Hammersmith Odeon 17th December 1981
The Fall Words Of Expectation The BBC Sessions 1978 to 1996
The Fall The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004
The Fall Live In London 1980
The Fall A Part Of America Therein 1981
Gang Of Four The Peel Sessions Album
Generation X BBC Live In Concert – One Hundred Punks 1978 1981
Husker Du Land Speed Record 1981
The Jam At The BBC 1977 to 1982
The Jam Dig The New Breed
The Jam Live Jam
The Jam Live At Wembley 1982
The Jam Fire & Skill The Jam Live 1977 to 1982
Joy Division Preston 28 February 1980
Joy Division Still 1980
Killing Joke The Peel Sessions 79-81
Magazine Play 1980 1978
The Only Ones Darkness And Light The Complete BBC Recordings 1977 to 1980
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Peel Sessions 1979-1983
The Police Live In Atlanta 1983
The Pretenders Live At The Santa Monica Civic 1981
Public Image Limited Paris In The Spring
Siouxsie & The Banshees Voices On The Air – The Peel Sessions 1977 to 1981
Siouxsie & The Banshees At The BBC 1977 to 2001
Siouxsie & The Banshees Live In Germany 1981
Siouxsie & The Banshees Nocturne 1983
The Slits The John Peel Sessions
Soft Cell At The BBC 1981 to 1983
The Specials BBC Sessions 1979 to 1983
Squeeze The Complete BBC Sessions 1977 to 1994
Stiff Little Fingers Hanx 1980
The Stranglers Live at the Hammersmith Odeon ’81
The Stranglers BBC In Concert 8th February 1982
The Stranglers All Live and All of the Night 1985 1987
Talking Heads The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
Talking Heads Stop Making Sense 1983
Talking Heads Still Don’t Make No Sense 1983
Talking Heads Saratoga Psycho
The Teardrop Explodes Peel Sessions Plus 1979 to 1982
U2 Live At The Hammersmith Palais Plus 1982
U2 Under A Blood Red Sky 1983
Ultravox BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1981
The Undertones Listening In Radio Sessions 1978-1982
The Vapors BBC In Concert 7th March 1981
Tom Verlaine Live At The Venue 1982
XTC Live In Concert 1980
*** You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk ***
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
Listening In Radio Sessions 1978-1982 is a collection of recordings made by the BBC of Irish new wave/power pop band The Undertones.
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Live 1981 – 82 is a live album by The Birthday Party.
It was recorded at concerts in London, Germany and Greece.
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This Is For When is a live album by Bauhaus.
It was recorded at the Hammersmith Palais in London on 9th November 1981.
The Stranglers BBC In Concert 8th February 1982 is a live recording of The Stranglers.
It was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.
By this stage, the band had moved along way from their punk rock roots with Golden Brown peaking at #2 in the UK singles chart.
Continue reading The Stranglers BBC In Concert 8th February 1982
All Live and All of the Night is a live album by The Stranglers.
It collects together tracks from three different concerts:
%%AVERAGERATING%% Continue reading The Stranglers All Live and All of the Night 1985 1987
Lest We Forget is a collection of live recordings by the Buzzcocks during their tour of the USA in 1979/1980. It was first released in 1988.
This includes a few songs from their third studio album A Different Kind of Tension.
Paris In The Spring is a live album by Public Image Limited. It is also known as Paris Au Printemps.
It was at recorded at The Palace in Paris, France on 17th & 18th of January 1980.
Continue reading Public Image Limited Paris In The Spring 1980
New Traditionalists Live 1981 Seattle is a live album by Devo.
The cassette of this November 1981 recording was found in a shoebox and transferred to DAT. In 2013 the album was released.
Live at the US Festival is a live album and DVD of The English Beat performing live at the US Festivals in 1982 and 1983. British fans know the group as The Beat,
CD Tracks 1-9 were recorded September 3, 1982
CD Tracks 10-17 were recorded May 28, 1983
DVD Tracks 1-12 were recorded September 3, 1982.
DVD Tracks 13-26 were recorded May 28, 1983.
Both festivals were held at the Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, California.
As someone who listens to music much more than I watch DVDs, I find it irritating that we lose nine tracks on the audio version that we can load into our mp3 players. That said, I think the editors did it sensibly by not duplicating the hits. The DVD has two versions of Mirror In The Bathroom within three songs.
While The Beat broke up in 1983, Ranking Roger joined with members of The Specials to create Special Beat and released a number of live albums.
On the 3 CD version of the compilation Snap, the third CD has four songs from Live At Wembley in December 1982 which can be purchased as digital downloads.
Move On Up – 2:44
Get Yourself Together – 2:11
The Great Depression – 3:10
But I’m Different Now – 2:09
Unfortunately, there is only ten minutes of music here and it would be nice to think that the full concert recording will be released sometime. Continue reading The Jam Live At Wembley 1982
