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In
Halloween night 1986 the original members (Stiv Bators, Cheetah
Chrome, Jimmy Zero, Jeff Magnum and Johnny Blitz) of the Dead
Boys got together to play a show at the seedy Ritz. In full black
shiny leather regalia Stiv Bators led these wild men through
sixteen songs, (that’s without double counting “Sonic Reducer”
which is played twice; first and last) of energetic rock and
roll. Let's put the hammer down here; the difference between punk and rock and roll is not clear, while the Dead Boys emerged from the same late 70’s CBGB
scene (though they hailed from Cleveland), their brand of music
is much more rock and roll oriented than that of most punk
rockers of the time.
Needless to
say, The Dead Boys are in top form, delivering a solid and
comprehensive set of their classics from their two Sire records
Young, Loud and Snotty (1977) and We Have Come For
Your Children (1978). The whole thing is captured with one
camera. The visual quality is pretty bad, the footage is grainy
and besides the stage jumping there is very little in the way of
a show. That is if we don’t count Bator’s introductions; he
dedicates “Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth” to the Mamas and
the Papas’ Mama Cass Eliot (who is in fact rumoured to have died
while eating a ham sandwich and drinking Coca- Cola), introduces
“What Love is” by saying ‘we are going to do some slow songs
for you, ‘cause tonight is ladies’ choice but we saw there
wasn’t a lady in here so we are going to do it up tempo.’
But all that aside, the songs are performed with fierce
attitude, every riff of Cheetah Chrome and Jimmy Zero sounding
as potently and vital as they did back in the 70’s. Absolute
proof of why the Dead Boys were not only one of the best bands
punk had to offer, but one of the best rock and roll bands of
the 70s period.
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