I've avoided buying Pistols live recordings (save for Filthy Lucre) simply because I worried the quality would be suspect. But this ain't bad at all. It has the feel of a good quality bootleg, complete with between songs chatter and false starts. If you like thie Pistols, you'll like this; but don't play it for unbelievers.

Before the Sex Pistols began a swift decent into back-stabbing oblivion that destroyed so many Stadium Rock bands of the 1970s, there was a group that pounded out some great music in the English clubs.

Live at the 76 Club is one of several concerts that found its was on bootleg vinyl in the late 1970s. It features original bass player Glenn Matlock - who later played bass and guitar for Iggy Pop - John Lydon, who is starting to formulate that "Rotten" image, and the drumming/guitar of Cook-n-Jones, respectively.

The set is not only starting the foundation for the band's only studio release, but also one that had only minor variations on stage. I have always felt the highlights are Lydon's frantic rendition of The Stooge's No Fun and the band powering through The Who's Substitute.

Though the sound quality isn't top notch, it captures the band on a night where the music means more than the style. One needs only to hear performances from the infamous United States tour to realize the group had deteriorated to nearly a parody of itself.

But on this night, you will hear the Pistols playing hard, playing loud and playing because they believed in their band.

I recommend this for anyone who's ever wondered what the Pistols sounded like with their origonal bass player, who could, you know, play bass. It's June of '76, the club is tiny, the PA system gives out before the set's over, half the time you can barely make out what Johnny's singing, la da di da...

Buy it anyway. The power of the band with a competent bass player bottoming out the sound will change the way you listen to them. Sure, this is before "God Save the Queen," but the covers of "Substitute" and "No Fun" more than make up for it. Enjoy.