And if I can't see, it's for want of you.

Live recordings of punk bands (especially those put to tape in the seventies and eighties) are a mixed bag, to put it nicely. Most of the ones I've heard were gotten out of a desire to hear a band that came and went before my time, hoping to get a bit of a feeling of what it would've been like to see them live. Problem is, for the most part the tapes from this time sound like someone set up a mic in front of a washing machine, and occasionally you'll get one good enough to hear someone's vocals atop the din of said washing machine. Lame - all that wasted bandwidth for nothing.

Most of these tapes come from people standing in the audience trying to capture what they're seeing on tape, to have a record of something they deemed worthy of such an honour. It's a noble act, and you can't blame someone for trying. Add on tons and tons of tape dubbing and signal loss that's happened over the years and there you have it: the reason most old bootlegs suck.

However, every so often you come across a really, really fucking good live recording from this time, and the amount of rubbish you have to wade through to get to it makes it all the more special. Especially when the band in question is Rites of Spring.

I shouldn't have to introduce this band to anyone who's reading this, so I won't - instead, I'll tell the story of how I got into them. I was a dumb kid, as I'm sure you were, dear reader, when you were younger. I was in a dumb band with other dumb kids with dumb ideas about what punk was and what it wasn't, and after a while I started opening up my mind to other things that fell outside my little circle of acceptability. The three bands that really struck a chord who still do to this day were At the Drive-In, Texas is the Reason and Rites of Spring. The latter remains as the most cathartic and sincere hardcore band I've ever heard, so you can imagine my excitement when I came across a soundboard recording of one of their fifteen live shows, complete with good sound and a great performance.

I don't need to hype this up, it does that very well on its own. So go ahead, download this and wish you were there.

Set List: Nudes - Deeper than Inside - Hain's Point - Theme - Spring - All There Is - Drink Deep - For Want Of - Persistent Vision - End on End.

Rites of Spring - Live at the 9:30 Club, Washington, DC - June 14th, 1985. (192-CBR MP3)