The Blow-Up

Recorded at CBGB in 1978, the album was released four years after the band broke up.[7][8] It contains covers of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Satisfaction".[9] 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.[10][11][12] "Little Johnny Jewel" had previously only been issued as a single.[13]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[14]
Robert Christgau	B+[15]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[16]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[12]
St. Petersburg Times	B[17]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	9/10[13]

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."[15] The New York Times praised the "lyrical, incendiary" renditions.[18]

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."[14] 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."[19] The Vancouver Sun admired the "breathtaking dual guitar interplay."[20] Spin listed the 1999 reissue as one of the five best of 1999, deeming "Little Johnny Jewel" "the height of love between man and E-string."[21]