A repackaging for the earlier Live and Loud!!
Sham 69 live album, a 1978 concert that catches the band thundering through a set that, bristling with past singles, does indeed live up to its title. That said, it's scarcely the best representation those songs could demand. For all their ramshackle qualities,
Sham 69 never sounded less than perfectly controlled in the studio, a mood that is totally absent on-stage. Of course that was scarcely their fault -- blessed (or otherwise) with one of the most unruly audiences of the age,
Sham rarely played to anything less than absolute mayhem. But while it was exhilarating to experience, it's not such an attraction on the home hi-fi, and Greatest Hits: Live should be filed away alongside all those other albums you own (because you should own it), but never play. ~ Dave Thompson