The Dead Boys – Time Warp Baby (Blue Vinyl, 50th Anniversary Edition)

Dead Boys' Time Warp Baby captures the band live at CBGB in 1978, putting one of American punk's most notorious early groups back in the room where that scene was made. Issued during punk's 50th-anniversary year, this set leans into the raw, fast, confrontational side of the Dead Boys rather than tidying it up for posterity.

What makes this release useful beyond simple nostalgia is the snapshot it offers of the band's core attack in performance. The set pulls in key Dead Boys staples including Sonic Reducer, All This and More and High Tension Wire, alongside songs from the 1978 era such as Flame Thrower Love and (I Don't Wanna Be No) Catholic Boy. That gives Time Warp Baby some real value as a live document: you hear how Stiv Bators and company translated their sneering studio material into something even more volatile onstage.

This is also presented as the third installment in a Cleopatra bootleg series devoted to the Dead Boys, which helps explain its appeal on vinyl now. For anyone drawn to first-wave US punk, CBGB history, or the Cleveland-to-New York path the band helped carve out, this is a rough-edged but vivid period piece rather than a cleaned-up retrospective.

Features

• Blue Vinyl, Limited Edition, 50th Anniversary Edition
• Live set recorded at CBGB in 1978