Hanoi Rocks share rare BBC session cut ahead of box set

Hanoi Rocks unveil slow-burning BBC session version of Underwater World

Hanoi Rocks have released a rare BBC session recording of Underwater World, offering the latest preview of forthcoming box set The Complete Collection 1981-1984.

The six-LP and six-CD collection arrives on 13 November via BMG, gathering the Finnish rock outfit’s first five studio albums alongside Motorvatin’!!!, a bonus disc of BBC recordings, demos and other rare material. The newly released version of Underwater World was recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios in 1984.

Frontman Michael Monroe recalled that the session was overseen by Dale Griffin, the late Mott The Hoople drummer also known as Buffin, who had previously produced Back To Mystery City with bandmate Overend Watts.

“The BBC Session was recorded by Dale Griffin (‘Buffin’) who was the drummer of Mott The Hoople, one of our absolute favourite bands of all time,” Monroe said. “Him and Overend ‘Pete’ Watts had produced our previous album Back To Mystery City, since we couldn’t get Ian Hunter at the time, whom we’d asked first.”

Monroe also detailed Hunter’s later involvement with Two Steps From The Move, after producer Bob Ezrin brought the singer-songwriter into the studio. Hunter co-wrote I Can’t Get It, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams and Underwater World with the band.

“After hearing the rough mixes of the songs, with the demo vocals, Ian said that he’d get back to us in about a week with his lyrics,” Monroe continued. “However, he was so inspired by the songs that he wrote them all the same night when he got back home. So, the next day we got the lyrics written by Ian Hunter and they were absolutely brilliant.”

A perfectly flawed Maida Vale document

Monroe described the BBC take as notably slower than the familiar studio recording, attributing its dragging pace to the band’s state at the time.

“At the time of the BBC Session the band was in a good place in many ways,” he said. “However, the substance abuse had increased quite a bit among the band and this surely has to do with the tempo of this version of Underwater World since it’s incredibly slow! Haha, some of us must have been on some pretty heavy downers.

“I wish we would have speeded up the tempo a little bit in the mastering, but I guess it’s best to present the band just as it was – perfectly flawed at times. So, here it is for you to enjoy!”

Listen to Underwater World and pre-order the box set here.

Six discs from the original Hanoi Rocks run

The collection compiles Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks, Oriental Beat, Self Destruction Blues, Back To Mystery City and Two Steps From The Move. Physical editions also include a 36-page photobook containing rare and previously unseen images, plus studio album art cards.

The complete track listing is below.

Disc one – Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks

1. Tragedy
2. Village Girl
3. Stop Cryin’
4. Don’t Never Leave Me
5. Lost in the City
6. First Timer
7. Cheyenne
8. 11th Street Kidzz
9. Walking with My Angel
10. Pretender

Disc two – Oriental Beat

1. Motorvatin’
2. Don’t Follow Me
3. Visitor
4. Teenangels Outsiders
5. Sweet Home Suburbia
6. M.C. Baby
7. No Law Or Order
8. Oriental Beat
9. Devil Woman
10. Lightnin’ Bar Blues
11. Fallen Star

Disc three – Self Destruction Blues

1. Love’s an Injection
2. I Want You
3. Cafe Avenue
4. Nothing New
5. Kill City
6. Self Destruction Blues
7. Beer and a Cigarette
8. Whispers In the Dark
9. Taxi Driver
10. Desperados
11. Problem Child
12. Dead By Xmas

Disc four – Back To Mystery City

1. Strange Boys Play Weird Openings
2. Malibu Beach Nightmare
3. Mental Beat
4. Tooting Bec Wreck
5. Until I Get You
6. Sailing Down the Tears
7. Lick Summer Love
8. Beating Gets Faster
9. Ice Cream Summer
10. Back To Mystery City

Disc five – Two Steps From The Move

1. Up Around the Bend
2. High School
3. I Can’t Get It
4. Underwater World
5. Don’t You Ever Leave Me
6. Million Miles Away
7. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
8. Boiler (Me Boiler ‘N’ Me)
9. Futurama
10. Cutting Corners

Disc six – Motorvatin’!!!

1. Two Steps From The Move
2. Underwater World (BBC Session)
3. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (BBC Session)
4. Oil and Gasoline
5. Shakes
6. Magic Carpet Ride
7. The Beating Gets Faster (I Know You) (Demo)
8. Sailing Down the Tears (Demo)
9. Rebels on the Run (Demo)
10. Malibu Beach (Calypso Version)

More Hanoi Rocks on Punkinfocus: Hanoi Rocks unearth rare BBC sessions for The Complete Collection boxset (September 2026)