Critic's Review
Chris Nelson, All Music Guide
Had singer Jello Biafra not lost a court battle in 2000 against former bandmates East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride, and D.H. Peligro, Mutiny on the Bay would likely have remained in the vaults. Biafra disdains nostalgia, so it's hard to picture him releasing this live album (14 years after the band's demise) on Alternative Tentacles, his label and the band's longtime home. But the decision in San Francisco Superior Court that effectively ruled Dead Kennedys' songs property of the entire band, rather than individual songwriters, meant band affairs were thereafter to be run according to vote. Biafra was outnumbered by the other DKs, who moved to reissue (on Manifesto) the group's entire Alternative Tentacles catalog, as well as Mutiny on the Bay, a concert set stitched together from shows recorded in 1982 and '86. The album is uneventful for anyone other than completists. While the disc proves Dead Kennedys churned up plenty of fury on-stage, it was identical to the fury they'd already given fans on studio discs. Mutiny on the Bay smacks of opportunism, which wouldn't be so bad had the band not built their reputation on staunch artistic principles.
