I was 13 in 1976, so the perfect age to be enthralled by what was going on in the punk scene, and while I was always a metalhead I was intrigued by the energy and enthusiasm of the genre, and when my father told me I was banned from having any punk records in the house I became even more invested. Living in the Southwest of England we never had any gigs, but I was very interested in the singles being released by the likes of Sex Pistols, Stranglers, Clash, Damned, Buzzcocks et al, and even remember 999 as well. To me they were part of the second division which included the likes of The Adverts, but they did have some catchy material.

What I did not expect nearly 50 years later is that 999 are still going, with brothers Nick Cash (vocals, guitar) and Guy Days (lead guitar) still at the helm and with very few line-up changes since their inception. This set was recorded during 999’s second set at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco on July 2, 1979, with the classic line-up completed by Jon Watson (bass guitar) and Pablo LaBritain (drums). Like others such The Clash, The Stranglers and Ian Dury & The Blockheads, 999 were coming into punk from the British pub rock scene, so were much more than an outfit with people who did not yet know how to play their instruments and were relying on aggression and energy to get through. Cash had been a member of Kilburn and the High Roads for four years, playing on both of their albums, and playing not only on the pub circuit but supporting The Who on their ‘Quadrophenia’ tour.

By the time of this recording they had already released two albums in ‘999’ and ‘Separates’ (the latter being slightly altered, renamed ‘High Energy Plan’, and then released in America) as well singles such as “Me and My Desire”, “Emergency”, “Nasty Nasty” and “Homicide”, all of which can be found on this 17-song set which has been made available by Liberation Records for the first time. Apparently, this was recorded, mixed and produced by Terry Hammer who played a few tracks on his radio show back in the day, and it feels more like a good bootleg than anything else. The sound is not overly polished, and while the vocals are front and centre everything else is somewhat muted. This means that while the album is enjoyable, it is also something which is more important from a historical perspective than a true musical one – here is a band who played backwaters in both the UK and US, are still a regular at the Hope & Anchor in Islington, and there is no way to count the number of people they have influenced to turn to music. Here we find them in their prime, and while the music does not have the cutting edge one would like, it is still a fun jaunt through classic punk by a band who truly lived/live up to their ideals.

Available on both vinyl (edited version not containing all songs) and CD, this is certainly worth investigating for fans of the band or the genre.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://www.nineninenine.net/
http://www.liberationhall.com/