#richard hell

Richard Hell and Debbie Harry

Richard Hell & the Voidoids + The Feelies - CBGB, New York City, July 1 / July 2, 1978

We've been hanging out a lot at CBGB lately — and why not? It's a cool place to hang out. Today, we've got audience tapes recorded during a thrilling double bill in the summer of '78: Richard Hell & the Voidoids and the Feelies! It doesn't get much better than that.

Hell's old buds Television were just about to break up over at the Bottom Line a few weeks after this. But Richard was powering through at the club he, Verlaine, Lloyd and Ficca had kickstarted in early 1974. Kind of! Even though Hell and the Voidoids had released their brilliant debut LP a year earlier, they wouldn't manage a follow-up until Destiny Street in 1982. Still, they sound revved up and ready to go at CBGB on this particular evening, the Quine/Julian twin guitar attack as nasty/glorious as can be. And there's some new material sprinkled in, too — "Amuse Yourself" and a bracing encore of "The Kid With The Replaceable Head" which would soon be released as a 7-inch single. It might be the covers that impress the most, however; two Rolling Stones workouts, a CCR blast-off, "All The Way" and an appropriately nuts version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog."

The Feelies, meanwhile, were still in their early-ish days, tirelessly workshopping the songs that would eventually make up Crazy Rhythms. And we get a nice selection of that classic LP, presented in wilder (though still fairly precise) fashion. Most interesting is the rare rendition of "Clean Girls," a tune that wouldn't make the Crazy cut. It would've fit right in, though, with a churning riff and relentless moody momentum. Where's the studio recording of this one???

Johnny Thunders, Richard Hell and Jerry Nolan of The Heartbreakers on a fire escape, Chelsea Hotel, NYC. April 20, 1975.

Photo by Bob Gruen