For those unaware, Borstal Breakout - Live In Concert captures Sham 69 live at Concorde 2, Brighton (2002), delivering a high energy 21 track set packed with the band’s most iconic street punk anthems.

Fronted by Jimmy Pursey, this performance features classics including Hersham Boys, If The Kids Are United, Hurry Up Harry and Borstal Breakout. This CD, offering nearly an hour of raw, no nonsense UK punk from one of the genre’s most influential bands.

The English punk rock band that formed in Hersham in Surrey in 1975 actually changed their musical direction after seeing the Sex Pistols play live in early 1976. As aforementioned, they were one of the most successful punk bands in the United Kingdom, achieving five top 20 singles, including If the Kids Are United and Hurry Up Harry.

Pursey’s attempts to change the band’s image and lose the street punk mentality actually resulted in That’s Life (1978), which was a punk concept album, whereas The Adventures Of The Hersham Boys exhibited more conventional rock elements.

The group’s popularity even saw them perform on the BBC’s Top of the Pops, and they appeared in the rockumentary film D.O.A. The original unit broke up in 1980, with frontman Jimmy Pursey moving on to pursue a solo career.

In fact, Jimmy defected to the Sex Pistols and the band therein folded. Pursey had dabbled in production with the Cockney Rejects and Angelic Upstarts and even collaborated with Peter Gabriel. His attempts to promote video parties as a new form of entertainment came to nothing, but then come 1987 Sham 69 reformed for several more albums.

He was last in the public eye on a remake of Hurry Up Harry in 2006, recorded for England’s World Cup campaign (and involving Graham Coxon), which cracked the UK Top 10. At the moment, at the time of press, there are two bands using the same name, one of which Pursey claims contains a line-up close to that of 1977.

1. What Have We Got; 2. Hersham Boys; 3. Fourteen Years; 4. (No) I Don’t Wanna; 5. They Don’t Understand; 6. Tell Us The Truth; 7. Ulster Boys; 8. Give A Dog A Bone; 9. Angels With Dirty Faces; 10. No Entry; 11. Questions And Answers; 12. Poor Cow; 13. Money (All Around); 14. Hurry Up Harry; 15. Borstal Breakout; 16. Tattoo; 17. The Kids Are United; 18. September The Eleventh; 19. Blackpool; 20. (Mister) You’re A Better Man Than I; 21. Borstal Breakout

SHAM 69:
Jimmy Pursey - Vocals
Dave Parsons - Guitar
Mat Sargent - Bass
Ian Whitewood - Drums

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