Adventures of Hersham Boys [Import]

Sham 69 | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 14, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Captain Oi!
• ASIN: B0007LPJXK
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,541 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Money

2. Fly Dark Angel

3. Joey's on the Street Again

4. Cold Blue in the Night

5. You're a Better Man Than I

6. Hersham Boys

7. Lost on Highway 46

8. Voices

9. Questions and Answers

10. What Have We Got [Live]

11. Questions and Answers [Single Version][*]

12. I Gotta Survive [*]

13. With a Little Help from My Friends [*]

14. Hersham Boys [7" Version][*]

15. I Don't Wanna [Live][*]

16. Rip Off [Live][*]

17. I'm a Man, I'm a Boy [Live][*]

18. Tell Us the Truth [Live][*]

19. Borstal Breakout [12" Single Version][*]

20. If the Kids Are United [12" Single Version][*]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent sound and packaging w/10 bonus tracks, October 6, 2005

By 

317 East 32nd (Toledo, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adventures of Hersham Boys (Audio CD)

First of all, the correct full title is The Adventures of Hersham Boys, and it has been reissued God knows how many times already, but this 2005 release is the best I've heard. Generally speaking, you can't go wrong with the Captain Oi! label for this kind of stuff. They've retained the original graphics and presented them in a nice glossy cardstock gatefold case. The mastering is excellent.

I only give this three stars because, although I've always liked Sham, to me, all of their original LPs were hit-and-miss affairs. The Adventures of Hersham Boys contains a lot of classics that would remain live staples; cuts like "Money", "Joey's On The Street Again", "Questions And Answers", "Lost On Highway 46", and, of course, "Hersham Boys". But you've also got utter rubbish like "Fly Dark Angel." It sounds like Bob Dylan on a bad day, backed by a sloppy Small Faces tribute band.

The live bonus tracks boast excellent sound and it's always fun to hear Jimmy going off on some idiot in the crowd, but the "drunken" versions of "Borstal Breakout" and "If The Kids Are United" here, which were included as a bonus 12" with the original LP, are pretty much wasted space.

Today there are many, many Sham releases to choose from, but there were really only four LPs recorded between '77 and '80. I'd recommend this if you're looking to purchase a Sham69 disc containing well-recorded studio material from their heyday.

NOTE: If you're just now getting into Sham and you're not too concerned about pristine sound quality, I'd suggest purchasing "Live And Loud!" instead. That disc is just hit after hit after hit recorded at a furious and powerful performance in Sweden, circa 1979. The sound is less than perfect (sounds like a decent bootleg), but the relentlessness of the assault more than makes up for the sonic deficiencies.