Killing Joke - Bootleg Vinyl Archive, Vol. 1 (CD)

All Music Guide

Something akin to Frank Zappa's Beat the Boots series, Killing Joke's Bootleg Vinyl Archive series takes bootlegs the band never authorized and makes them legit through officially endorsed remastering, repackaging, and rereleasing. Vol. 1 is the band at their primal postpunk best with three shows from the 19801981 era plus a bit of a 1988 show tacked on to the end as a bonus. Even it doesn't quite fit timewise, it's an incredibly desirable bonus with the 1988 band ripping through important songs like "Eighties" and "Love Like Blood." While disc one and two don't sound anywhere near as good as disc three and the Odeon show at the end of disc two is really rough going with meters stuck in the red the performances are blistering. The remastering hasn't greatly improved these recordings but they are a bit cleaner and CDs sure beat the recycled vinyl of the original boots. Just because these aren't sourced from better tapes doesn't mean this isn't a fans dream. Add great liner notes and decent packaging and it's the hardcores' nirvana.

- David Jeffries, All Music Guide