Live at the Roxy WC2

The Roxy London WC2
Live album by Various
Released	July 1977
Genre	Punk
Label	Harvest Records Reissue 1: Receiver Reissue 2: Sanctuary
Producer	Mike Thorne

The Roxy London WC2 is a live album of recordings taken from various punk bands that played the Roxy club in Covent Garden, London between January and April 1977.

The original Harvest Records release in 1977 (cat. no. SHSP 4069) included tracks by Eater, Johnny Moped, and the Unwanted that were left off the 1991 Receiver reissue (cat. no. RR 132). Also, the Boys, the Damned, Sham 69 and U.K. Subs appeared on the reissue but not the original. Finally, even for bands that appear on both discs, some of the tracks have been changed (e.g. Wire's "1 2 X U", X-Ray Spex' "Oh Bondage Up Yours!", etc.) The Receiver album was re-released in 2001 by Sanctuary as a double CD set.

The original 12-track album reached No. 24 in the UK Albums Chart and spent five weeks in the chart. The album was described as "seminal" by The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music and others. In 2004, it was recognised as one of the five "Classic Punk Rock Compilation LPs" of all-time, with writer Johnny Normal declaring, "Capturing the full force of the first wave head on, The Roxy is an essential historical reminder of the power and the glory of punk rock". Author and critic Dave Thompson called it "one of the most important (and poorest sounding) live albums ever made, a document of the Roxy Club from on and off stage". However, it has also been described as "a punk rock album of 10 unknown acts who can barely play".

Paul Marko's book The Roxy London WC2: A Punk History (2007) delved deeper, featuring more obscure bands than those on this compilation.

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