The DarkĀ āThe Living Endā 1982. Fallout Records. Ā 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 Darkās only other full-length release was Chemical WarfareĀ (1982) which has the studio version of most of the tracks on The Living EndĀ includingĀ āDisintegrate,āĀ āThe Chemical Parade,āĀ āSoldier Dollsā andĀ āJohn Wayne.ā It also has live version of the single-only releaseĀ āEinsteins Brainā (1981). Itās pretty fast hardcore punk compared to most of the stuff we hear that came out of the UK punk scene in the late 70ā²s and early 80ā²s, perhaps influenced by the NYC and LA punk scenes in the US in the early 80ā²s.Ā
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-80ā²s, 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 itās printedĀ āDo Not Pay More ThanĀ Ā£2.50,āĀ pretty spot-on for currency exchange rates. While the music isnāt particularly memorable for hardcore punk, Iām tempted to hold onto it (even with the knowledge I probably wonāt be taking it out for another spin anytime soon): when we made our musical pilgrimage to London in JuneĀ ā19 we stayed within walking distance of Islington and of course visited the (outside of) the infamous and notorious 100 Club on Oxford Street. Plus itās an interesting snapshot into how punk was evolving in the early 80ā²s, the continuous cross-pollination across the ocean.Ā
