The Blow-Up
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| The Blow-Up | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1978 | |||
| Genre | Punk rock[1] | |||
| Length | 1:24:54 | |||
| Label | ROIR[2] | |||
| Television chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Blow-Up is a live album by the American band Television, released as The Blow Up on cassette in 1982.[3][4] It was reissued in 1990 and again in 1999.[5][6] The songs first appeared on a bootleg titled Arrow.[7]
Recorded at CBGB or My Father's Place[citation needed] in 1978, the album was released four years after the band broke up.[8][9] It contains covers of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Satisfaction".[10] ROIR allegedly acquired the recording from the fan who had bootlegged the band's shows; The Blow-Up's sound quality is typical of a bootlegged recording.[11][12][13] "Little Johnny Jewel" had previously only been issued as a single.[14]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [15] |
| Robert Christgau | B+[16] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [17] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |  [8] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [13] |
| St. Petersburg Times | B[18] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10[14] |
Robert Christgau, who cowrote the liner notes, stated that, "as with so many ROIR cassettes (and commercial tapes in general), audio makes the difference between a laudable document and living history," and called the version of "Little Johnny Jewel" "definitive."[16] The New York Times praised the "lyrical, incendiary" renditions.[19]
AllMusic wrote that the album "comes awfully close to being an essential document, simply because the band's studio albums didn't always capture the rawness and spontaneity that fueled their on-stage improvisations."[15] In 1990, The Philadelphia Inquirer determined that The Blow-Up "captures the heady intensity of the best guitar band to come out of New York's late-'70s punk/new-wave scene."[1] The Vancouver Sun admired the "breathtaking dual guitar interplay."[20] Spin listed the 1999 reissue as one of the five best of the year, deeming "Little Johnny Jewel" "the height of love between man and E-string."[21]