THE BOYS NEXT DOOR

The Lost & Brave Exhibitions

of the Boys Next Door 1977-1979

 

This has been in circulation since 2009 or 2010, and judging by the amount of shops and dealers carrying copies, there are a LOT of them or it has been repressed several times. I passed on this one a few times and recently picked up a copy.

Whilst I was aware this was a bootleg, I thought though perhaps it was semi-official, and that all the songs were demo versions. WRONG. This record is bootlegged up the arse. The main attraction here is the inclusion of the unreleased demos of “Sex Crimes” (which is the better of these two) and “Enemy of the State” which open the record. To my knowledge they’re unreleased anyway. These two songs are at least worthy for the rarity factor, and that that they show the Boys next Door at their fastest and rawest. These two sound like they’re sourced from a tape. “These boots are made for walking”, (credited here as “Boots”), Masturbation Generation”, and “Boy Hero” are from the Lethal Weapons compilation record from 1978. These 3 songs have the best audio quality on the record, although they still sound like they were sourced from a CD or tape.  “These Boots” and “Boy Hero” were released as a single in their own right, and this 7” (which comes in a plain chequered sleeve) commands high prices on auction sites by virtue of being Nick Cave’s first recorded release. “Scatterbrain” was a rare giveaway single from 1979, and although is technically a Boys Next Door release, has been featured on previous Birthday Party compilations, where it probably sits better sound-wise.

Side Two is the entire first side of the original Boys Next Door LP “Door Door”, and as I say, I thought they were demos, they’re not, they’re ripped from a CD or somesuch, so there’s nothing new there, and the audio quality is shit.  As an overall collection of songs though, this is not a bad album, so it’s shame about the quality

Package wise this is pretty crappy, but pretty average as far as bootlegs go. The cover looks like it was supposed to be screen printed originally, although it’s just someone’s “arty” (ha ha) interpretive drawing of the band (sans Rowland S Howard, even though he is credited on nthe front). There are different pressings; this is a blue cover, there is one in red which has red coloured vinyl (and costs slightly more), but there is nothing on the cover to indicate this. Some earlier pressings have an index label on the record, but this is a generic bootleg that just has a plain blue label, and you need to look at the etching on the run out groove to see which is side A, and which is side B...... The vinyl quality itself is pretty shit as well. This one came warped to buggery, there is a fucking great warp on the outer edge, so much that the needle has to be given a bit more weight to play the thing.

If your’e a big fan of Nick Cave/Boys Next Door/ Birthday Party, there is perhaps some worth for the first two songs for their collectability and rarity.