''What Do You Want from Live'' is the debut

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

released by

The Tubes The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their self-titled 1975 debut album included the single " White Punks on Dope", while their 1983 single " She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the ear ...

, and was recorded at the

Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

, London.

Background

The Tubes toured the UK at the height of the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

era in 1977. Despite their somewhat out-of-step musicality, the band's humorous and manic stage show found favor all over the country. The cabaret-like shows lasted over an hour, ending with Waybill – in character as "Quay Lewd", a parody of a drug-addled rock star – getting crushed to death by a giant stack of (fake) speakers. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' pronounced the tour a great success, writing: "They came, they outraged, they conquered."

Track listing

#"Overture" – 6:39 #*"Up from the Deep" – 2:00 #*"Young and Rich" – 1:27 #*"Madam I'm Adam" – 0:49 #*"Mondo Bondage" – 0:12 #*"Up from the Deep" – 1:00 #*"White Punks on Dope" – 0:20 #"Got Yourself a Deal" – 4:30 #"Show Me a Reason" – 3:28 #"What Do You Want from Life" – 5:12 #"God-Bird-Change" – 4:48 #"Special Ballet" – 1:01 #"Don't Touch Me There" – 3:48 #"Mondo Bondage" – 3:25 #"Smoke (La vie en Fumér)" – 8:20 #"Crime Medley" – 3:05 #*"Sound Effect-Siren" – 0:08 #*Theme from " Dragnet" – 0:07 #*Theme from "

Peter Gunn ''Peter Gunn'' is an American detective fiction, private eye television series, starring Craig Stevens (actor), Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn with Lola Albright as his girlfriend, lounge singer Edie Hart. The series was broadcast by NBC from Sept ...

" – 0:34 #*Theme from "

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and four short stories, all of which involve a ...

" – 1:13 #*Theme from " Untouchables" – 1:03 #"I Was a Punk Before You Were a Punk" – 4:02 #"

I Saw Her Standing There "I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album ''Please Please Me'' and their debut US album '' Introducing... The B ...

" (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

) – 2:57 #"Drum Solo" – 4:20 #"Boy Crazy" – 2:40 #"You're No Fun" – 3:15 #"Stand Up and Shout" – 3:30 #"White Punks on Dope" – 8:33

Personnel

Fee Waybill John Waldo "Fee" Waybill (born September 17, 1950,) is the lead singer and songwriter of San Francisco band The Tubes. Waybill has also worked with other acts, including Toto, Richard Marx, and Billy Sherwood. Early life and education Waybil ...

- vocals * Bill Spooner - guitar, vocals *Michael Cotten - synthesizer *

Mingo Lewis James "Mingo" Lewis (born 8 December 1953) is an American percussionist and drummer who played with Santana, Al Di Meola (he was a band member for Di Meola's first five albums), Return to Forever, and The Tubes. Playing Lewis plays congas, bong ...

- drums, percussion *

Prairie Prince Charles Lempriere "Prairie" Prince (born May 7, 1950) is an American drummer and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the San Francisco–based rock group The Tubes, was a member of Jefferson Starship from 1992 to ...

- drums *Roger Steen - guitar *

Vince Welnick Vincent Leo Welnick (February 21, 1951 – June 2, 2006) was an American keyboardist and singer-songwriter, best known for playing with the band The Tubes during the 1970s and 1980s and with the Grateful Dead in the 1990s. He was inducted ...

- keyboards *Rick Anderson - bass *Re Styles - vocals

Critical reception

Although

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviews the album very favorably, describing it as "witty and entertaining" throughout, it ultimately gives it three stars out of five because the audio portion of the show is simply unable to convey the full impact of a Tubes concert in their heyday. "The downside of ''What Do You Want from Live''", says reviewer Donald A. Guarisco, "is that some of the numbers are less potent without the choreographed routines surrounding them... this leaves the listener feeling like they're only witnessing part of the joke", adding wistfully, "if only someone would put out a video of one of the Tubes' shows from this era."

Charts

References

{{Authority control The Tubes albums 1978 live albums A&M Records live albums Albums recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo