Bootleg Album Review: Dead Kennedys Live...The Old Waldorf 1979

The Dead Kennedys: Live at the Old Waldorf...1979

I first got into the Dead Kennedys either late in my preteen years or early in my teenaged years. Mostly, it was my brother who introduced me to them. They appealed to me and quickly rose to become one of my very favorite bands.

That was a different time than now. First of all, the Dead Kennedys (or DK) had already largely ceased to exist by the time that I actually got into them. Also, this was before the internet, before Youtube and online access to articles and such. So the band remained largely a mystery to me, even after getting their albums. I still tried to imagine what the band members looked like, or what seeing them in a live show would be like or sound like.

These days, of course, it's a lot easier. You can access previous shows by almost any fairly famous musical act on Youtube or other online media sites. Everyone has cell phones with pictures and videos, so this often means that whole parts of live shows can by any fairly famous (and often not so famous) acts will be on Youtube quickly after the show. Often within a few hours. Sometimes even more quickly than that.

Back then, however, it was not.so easy. For bands before the age of the internet, hearing audio or seeing video clips of their live performances often is a lot rougher, less polished and less common than what we have grown used to in recent years. 

To that end, that is what makes bootlegs for a band like the DK a rare and precious find.

The quality is rough. Then again, this is in your face punk from the good old days, so to speak. Also, this recording is approaching half a century. So it is not like this was recorded by professionals using the most modern methods. 

But isn't that part of the charm of being able to listen to old recordings of live shows from a band like the Dead Kennedys?  They are kind of rough to begin with. It is harsh and aggressive. But that's what punk is, right?

So I rather enjoyed this particular bootleg. There are some tracks which generally only seem to be available during live recordings, such as "Back in Rhodesia," which I very much enjoyed, as well as "Dreadlocks of the Suburbs." And of course, you have more standard tracks such as "Police Truck," "Holiday in Cambodia" and "California Uber Alles." The first track, "Kill the Poor" from the Fresh Fruit album also sounds great on this one (relatively).

Again, keeping in mind that these kinds of live recordings will be a bit on the rough side, I still enjoyed it. You really get a feel for how the band sounded and what the live shows were like through this. 

One thing that surprised me, however, was how short it was. There are ten songs, which sounds like a decent length live recording. But I do not believe that the entire disk took even half an hour to play.

Still, as an old fan of the Dead Kennedys, this was enjoyable to find and listen to. If you are a fellow fan, I would recommend it (if you can find a copy).