The Vibrators / The Boys - BBB Radio 1 Live in Concert

Although both bands formed in 1976, they were already "second tier" punks, coming after the likes of the Pistols, Clash, Damned, etc. Both of these groups grew out of the pub/hard rock/glam/ whatever-the-heck-was-going-on-before-punk scene and dug the new energy, updated some of their songs, stripped down their sound and, in the case of these two, added a big chunk of 60's melodies on top of the energy to create a couple of the first true pop-punk bands (along with the likes of the Buzzcocks, of course).

The quality of these recordings are pretty darn good, which is not too surprising as they were done for the BBC. Both bands are reasonably tight, but with a bit more sweat'n'stagger than the studio recordings, giving them a bit more edge and enough of a difference that fans will appreciate them.

Both the Vibrators and the Boys had been around long enough here to have released a couple of albums, so most are represented here. Vibrators faves like "Stiff Little Fingers", "Baby Baby", "Whips and Furs", "I Need a Slave" and Keep it Clean" join forces with Boys' greats like "First Time", "Cop Cars", "Brickfield Nights" and plenty of others. Great performances by everyone make for a hip release and a coupling that actually makes sense. Worth diggin' up!