by Richie UnterbergerHistorically, this tape of a January 26, 1978 show in Paris has considerable value. It's the original lineup of the Slits -- Ari Up on vocals, Viv Albertine on guitar, Tessa Pollitt on bass, and Palmolive (who would leave before the Slits' first album, and later join the Raincoats) -- well in advance of the release of the group's first LP in 1979. Musically, however, Live at the Gibus Club is not as exciting as either of the Slits' later releases, or as legend would have the band sounding in their early days. The sound quality's actually fairly decent for an early live punk recording, and the four thrash around with as much venomous energy as almost anyone from the first wave of British punk acts. But the music's isn't nearly as inventive as it would be when they went into a heavily reggae-influenced approach by the time they started recording. Instead, it's tumbling, lumpy tempoed, similar-sounding rants with proto-hardcore anthemic choruses, with Up's vocals so howled that the words are