The Dark “The Living End” 1982. Fallout Records.  Live at the 100 Club in London on June 29th, 1982. The Dark were a punk band from London (Islington) active from 1978-1982; this live LP is the recording their last show. The Dark’s only other full-length release was Chemical Warfare (1982) which has the studio version of most of the tracks on The Living End including “Disintegrate,” “The Chemical Parade,” “Soldier Dolls” and “John Wayne.” It also has live version of the single-only release “Einsteins Brain” (1981). It’s pretty fast hardcore punk compared to most of the stuff we hear that came out of the UK punk scene in the late 70′s and early 80′s, perhaps influenced by the NYC and LA punk scenes in the US in the early 80′s.

This was on our should-it-stay-or-should-it-go? pile. I think I picked this up at a used record store sometime in the mid-80′s, too long ago to remember exactly. I did pay $3 for it (I just peeled off the sticker) which is about right; on the back cover it’s printed “Do Not Pay More Than £2.50,” pretty spot-on for currency exchange rates. While the music isn’t particularly memorable for hardcore punk, I’m tempted to hold onto it (even with the knowledge I probably won’t be taking it out for another spin anytime soon): when we made our musical pilgrimage to London in June ‘19 we stayed within walking distance of Islington and of course visited the (outside of) the infamous and notorious 100 Club on Oxford Street. Plus it’s an interesting snapshot into how punk was evolving in the early 80′s, the continuous cross-pollination across the ocean.