Though barely six songs and 26-minutes long,
Ha! Killing Joke Live packs more ferocity and impact than most live recordings twice as long.
Killing Joke was still in its punk-derived infancy when this was recorded in 1982, and the intensity of
Jaz Coleman's vocals and Geordie Walker's guitar is brutal. What's more, the track selection serves as a nice primer to
Killing Joke's early years. The previously unreleased "Take Take Take" is impressive enough, but the fearsome versions of classics such as "Pssyche" and "Wardance" are corrosive. The sound is surprisingly clear, too. Even upon its release,
Ha! was not easy to find (and since it was deleted almost immediately, it became even less so) but listeners are urged to track down this superlative recording. [This 2005 U.K. version of the album contains three bonus tracks: "Sun Goes Down," "Birds of a Feather" and "Flock the B Side."] ~ Victor W. Valdivia