Dead Boys Albums (5)
'Liver Than You'll Ever Be'
Release Date 1/1/2002
Tracks 15
Label Pilot
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What The Critics Say
This reunion show with Stiv Bators, Cheetah Chrome, Jimmy Zero, and Johnny Blitz was recorded live at the Ritz in New York on December 26, 1987. It's an adequate document of the band, sounding pretty close to what they had sounded like a decade earlier in their heyday. It's more a souvenir for the diehards (now there's a bad pun for you) than something that's particularly essential or useful if you have their original recordings, and certainly not to be preferred to those 1970s recordings. The set list has what most fans will want to hear, though, including favorites like "Sonic Reducer," "Ain't It Fun," and "Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth." Also there's a speedy, punked-up, and unnecessary cover of the classic early Rolling Stones ballad "Tell Me." Fidelity was never as important to Dead Boys records as it was for many bands, but the sound here is only sufficient, not outstanding. No liner notes, but the title's not a bad pun, both on the Dead Boys' name and in its reference to the famous 1969 Rolling Stones bootleg of the same name. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'Twistin' on the Devil's Fork: Live at CBGB's'
Release Date 11/18/1997
Tracks 12
Label Bacchus
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What The Critics Say
Who wouldn't welcome another live LP of this hot bunch in their prime -- especially one recorded (October 2, 1977 and August 31, 1978) at the famous club with the powerful sound system they considered their post-Cleveland home turf? Mind you, as block letters on the sleeve warn, Twistin' is "low-fidelity raw." So, though the band rockets through slashers such as "High Tension Wire" and "Down in Flames" with even more power crunch than on Young Loud & Snotty and roars through "Catholic Boy" and "I Wont Look Back" with the ferocity missing from We Have Come For Your Children (!), you have to listen carefully. Still, you should! Even more than the better-sounding Bomp! CD Night of the Living Dead Boys (also CBGB, 3/79), the Dead Boys' wild fury here completely justifies this muddy document. (Hurrah for Stiv Bators' impromptu Kiss diss in "3rd Generation Nation," too -- see? Punks knew better!) And after hearing this CD, even having seen Dead Boys a few times the following year, anyone would wish they were back at Bleeker and Bowery, when CBs was the center of the world and time stood still for whole nights. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, All Music Guide
'Night of the Living Dead Boys'
Release Date 1/1/1986
Tracks 13
Label Line
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What The Critics Say
Like the Sex Pistols and N.W.A, the Dead Boys seemed built to self-destruct. The Cleveland punk rockers were so combustible, so reckless, so nihilistic that you figured they couldn't stay together for more than a few years -- and sure enough, the band broke up after only two studio albums. Apart from Young, Loud and Snotty and We Have Come for Your Children, the only other legal Dead Boys album is Night of the Living Dead Boys, which was recorded live at CBGB in New York in March 1979 but didn't come out until 1981 (the year after their breakup). In 1979, CBGB was considered the Village Vanguard of punk and new wave, and it was the perfect venue for the Dead Boys when they played New York. Stiv Bators and friends are as crude and obnoxious as they are inspired on material from Young, Loud and Snotty (including "Sonic Reducer," "Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth" and "What Love Is") and We Have Come for Your Children (most notably, "Son of Sam," "Catholic Boy" and "3rd Generation Nation"). While the Sex Pistols and the Dead Kennedys combined their nihilistic rage, anger and crudeness with strong sociopolitical concerns, the Dead Boys were never really political -- they were a band that thrived on nihilism for its own sake. And if you don't have delicate sensibilities and are blessed with a robust sense of humor, this recording points to the fact that they were also a lot of fun. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
'We Have Come for Your Children'
Release Date 1/1/1978
Tracks 10
Label Sire
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What The Critics Say
Coming off one of punk rock's early classic albums, 1977's raw and rough Young Loud & Snotty, you'd think the Dead Boys would have followed the same winning formula on their sophomore release. But as We Have Come for Your Children proves, the album didn't come close to matching the fury of their debut. The reasons for this fumble can be attributed to a few things, but chiefly, it was a poor producer choice (ex-Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi, who really had no business producing a punk band, and obviously wanted to tame the group). That said, Children isn't a complete atrocity, however -- much of the material is strong, and it would have benefited greatly from a grittier production (there was talk of having ex-Stooges guitarist James Williamson produce the album at the time, which would have probably improved the end result). Still, this is the Dead Boys album that contains one of their greatest all-time tracks, "Ain't It Fun," a "live fast, die young" tale that is quite eerie coming from now-deceased singer Stiv Bators (and was later covered by Guns N' Roses). Elsewhere, you can't help but wonder how much better such promising tracks as "(I Don't Wanna Be No) Catholic Boy" and "Flame Thrower Love" would have turned out in the hands of another producer. Since the Dead Boys' discography is short, fans should definitely try to hunt down a copy of We Have Come for Your Children (as of 2005, the CD version is only available as an import); just don't expect the same knockout punch that Young Loud & Snotty generates. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Fellow Cleveland types Pere Ubu may have won the artistic kudos for their adventurous, surprising work, but if the goal was just to rock and rock again, the Dead Boys had them totally trumped. As both title phrase and capsule description, Young, Loud & Snotty accurately defines the predominating aesthetic so well that one could just leave it at that, but there's a lot more going on here than on the face of it. With perhaps surprising great production from demi-famous '70s rocket Genya Ravan, the five-some found something sonically smack in-between the US garage/punk heritage of the past and the more modern thrashings from overseas. Bators sneers, gobs, gasps, and whines with the best of them, but he knows his rock history, as does his bandmates. Zero and Chrome aren't guitar virtuosos, but they do know what makes a song great and aren't afraid to concentrate on that, while the Magnum/Blitz rhythm section keeps things moving as it does. In some ways songs like "All This and More" and "I Need Lunch" simply emerge from an alternate '50s, with admittedly much more feedback and stereo sound. Stone cold rock classic "Sonic Reducer" starts things off -- amusingly -- with all sorts of phased drums and other fripperies that later generations wouldn't consider punk at all. That said, it's still blunt, brilliantly sung by Bators and kicks out the jams with messy energy. Other all-time greats include the perfect bored-and-needing-kicks anthem "Ain't Nothin' to Do" and the thoroughly wrong "Caught With the Meat In Your Mouth." There's even a rock oldie -- a cover of "Hey Little Girl" live onstage at spiritual home CBGB's. And why not? With great punk rock and great rock, Young, Loud and Snotty still packs a punch. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
