RhoDeo 1420 Aetix

Hello,

Today's band by melding punk with reggae, became one of the definitive American hardcore punk groups of the early '80s. Although the group released only a handful of records during its peak, including the legendary cassette-only debut, they developed a dedicated following, many of whom would later form their own hardcore and alternative bands. As for the band themselves, they continued to record and tour in varying lineups led by guitarist Dr. Know into the late '90s yet never managed to break out of their cult status. Time to go figure .... N'joy

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Dr. Know (born Gary Miller), a former jazz fusion guitarist, formed Bad Brains in 1979, inspired by both the amateurish rage of the Sex Pistols and the political reggae of Bob Marley. Realizing that the lines between punk and reggae were already blurred in the U.K., he set out to replicate that situation in the U.S., and he recruited several similarly minded musicians -- vocalist H.R. (born Paul D. Hudson), bassist Darryl Aaron Jenifer, and drummer Earl Hudson -- to prove his point. Bad Brains quickly became one of the most popular punk bands on the East Coast, particularly in their hometown of Washington, D.C. Their live performances were legendary, but their recordings were difficult to find. Their debut single, "Pay to Cum," was pressed in limited numbers, and their 1982 debut album was only issued in cassette form by ROIR. In addition to the Bad Brains tape, the group released a handful of other EPs in 1982, finally moving to PVC for 1983's full-length debut, Rock for Light, which was produced by Ric Ocasek.

The handful of indie recordings Bad Brains left behind, as well as their live shows, made the band legendary in American hardcore, yet few potential fans could actually hear the band due to poor distribution and erratic touring. The band took three years to deliver the follow-up to Rock for Light, finally releasing I Against I on SST in 1986. In those three years, the group developed more heavy metal leanings, and the resulting record received mixed reviews. More importantly, it divided the band, with Dr. Know and Jenifer wishing to continue to pursue heavy rock, and H.R. and Hudson wanting to devote themselves to reggae. Over the next three years, the latter pair frequently left the band to make reggae albums before finally departing in 1989. They were replaced by Israel Joseph-I (born Dexter Pinto) and Mackie Jayson, respectively.

In the wake of the alternative rock boom of the early '90s, Bad Brains were finally offered a major-label contract in 1993, releasing Rise on Epic later that year. The album bombed and the group was dropped. Maverick Records offered the group a contract in 1995, provided that the original lineup reunited. They did so and released God of Love that summer, to mixed reviews and poor sales. H.R. and Hudson left the band shortly after the album's release, and the band was dropped by Maverick. In 1998 the band again reunited and began touring under the name Soul Brains.

In 2002, Reggae Lounge compiled remixes of Bad Brains' '80s hits and released a full-length dub album titled I & I Survived. The following year Caroline released Banned in DC: Bad Brains' Greatest Riffs, a solid anthology compiling songs from their first album up to Quickness. For the next few years, the group members concentrated on solo endeavors, with a few scattered guest appearances on other bands' albums or live shows. In 2006, Bad Brains reunited for a few shows at CBGB's, which quickly sold out. With a resurging interest in the band, in early 2007, Megaforce announced that they had signed them to their roster. Under Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's studio supervision, the original band went back to the studio for the first time in over a decade and recorded Build a Nation, an inspired attempt at returning to the band's hardcore roots. In early 2011 the band began work on the next record. The record was initially titled "Let's Have Fun", but that title didn't stick and was changed to Into the Future, an album which saw release in November of 2012.


xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

For fans of hardcore, many would agree that the holy grail of the genre is Bad Brains' self-titled album, originally released back in 1982 as a cassette-only release on ROIR. The ensuing years after its initial release haven't dulled the album's fury and rage in the least, and it's still impressive how the band can switch gears from red-hot hardcore to cool reggae dubs in the blink of an eye. All the classics are here: "Sailin' On," "Banned in D.C.," "Pay to Cum," "Right Brigade," as well as one of their strongest reggae tunes, "I Luv I Jah." The back of the album boasts a quote from the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, which sums up the proceedings simply, "the best punk/hardcore album of all time." [Although Bad Brains was available on CD on the now-defunct In Effect label in the late '80s (then titled Attitude: The ROIR Sessions with a different album cover), it's since been remastered and re-released with its original cover, as well as an untitled bonus track added at the end.]

Bad Brains - Bad Brains ( flac 225mb)

01 Sailin' On 1:55
02 Don't Need It 1:07
03 Attitude 1:19
04 The Regulator 1:07
05 Banned In D.C. 2:12
06 Jah Calling 2:31
07 Supertouch/Shitfit 2:30
08 Leaving Babylon 4:10
09 Fearless Vampire Killers 1:07
10 I 2:05
11 Big Take Over 2:57
12 Pay To Cum 1:25
13 Right Brigade 2:27
14 I Luv I Jah 6:22
15 Intro 0:45
16 Untitled 2:08

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

After the tinny sound quality of the band's debut, the second Bad Brains album came as a real blast of sonic fresh air. Producer Ric Ocasek is largely responsible, but the increased tightness and focus are also a function of maturation. This band was a weird bundle of contradictions from day one: black Rastafarian instrumental virtuosos playing hardcore punk, formerly the exclusive domain of white, aggressively atheist musical amateurs. That last contradiction would come to full musical flower on I Against I, but Rock for Light shows the band at the height of its punk energy. "P.M.A.," "Joshua's Song," and "Coptic Times" are typical examples of Bad Brains' unique blend of punk velocity and Rasta ideology. When they suddenly swing into mellow reggae (on "I and I Survive," "The Meek," "Rally 'Round Jah Throne," and the dubwise instrumental "Jam"), the effect is like some kind of pleasant musical whiplash. The 1990 CD reissue of this album was remixed by Ocasek and bassist Darryl Jenifer, and it includes several bonus tracks.

Bad Brains - Rock for Light  (flac 275mb)

01 Big Takeover 2:29
02 Attitude 1:09
03 Right Brigade 2:07
04 Joshua's Song 0:32
05 I And I Survive 5:13
06 Banned In D.C. 1:57
07 Supertouch 2:20
08 Destroy Babylon 1:19
09 F.V.K. 0:58
10 The Meek 3:37
11 I 1:55
12 Coptic Times 2:06
13 Sailin' On 1:45
14 Rock For Light 1:36
15 Rally Round Jah Throne 3:58
16 At The Movies 2:16
17 Riot Squad 1:59
18 How Low Can A Punk Get 1:49
19 We Will Not 1:34
20 Jam 1:15

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

I Against I was for Bad Brains what London Calling was for the Clash -- the band's first fully mature work, one which successfully brought together all of its diverse influences while at the same time showcasing a singular vision. Also like London Calling, it was to be the band's masterpiece, in the original sense of that term -- a creative pinnacle which they would not reach again. The album opens with the title track, a blistering and musically exhilarating deploration of violence, and then moves directly into "House of Suffering," easily the most complex and yet viscerally compelling song the band ever produced. Singer H.R. digs deep into his bag of voices and pulls them all out, one by one: the frightening nasal falsetto that was his signature in the band's hardcore days, an almost bel canto baritone, and a declamatory speed-rap chatter that spews lyrics with the mechanical precision of a machine gun. He positively croons on the surprisingly melodic "Secret 77" and "Let Me Help." But his voice isn't even the best thing happening here. It's the incredibly tight, funky, and tonally rich interplay between guitarist Dr. Know, bassist Darryl Jenifer, and drummer Earl Hudson that gives this album its deeply satisfying texture. The stop/start rhythms of "Secret 77" and "Sacred Love," the gorgeous guitar hook on "She's Calling You," Dr. Know's completely counterintuitive ability to meld the raw directness of hardcore punk with an almost supernatural virtuosity without sacrificing the power of either approach -- this is music-making of an order not usually seen in rock & roll.

Bad Brains - I Against I (flac 201mb)

01 Intro 1:02
02 I Against I 2:49
03 House Of Suffering 2:28
04 Re-Ignition 4:14
05 Secret 77 4:01
06 Let Me Help 2:16
07 She's Calling You 3:42
08 Sacred Love 3:18
09 Hired Gun 3:45
10 Return To Heaven 3:37

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

This band should have 12 live albums out by now. The greatest live rock & roll band of all time has made but one studio LP that reflected this ungodly ferociousness, and that was cassette-only. Frankly, if you don't have that tape -- the self-titled ROIR tape, still the biggest seller in ROIR history -- don't think, buy, and be blown away. This is the second record that will astonish even their oldest of fans. Strangely, this documents the 1987 I Against I Bad Brains (doesn't say where it was recorded, but it sounds like the Ritz), when they were at their nadir as a live band. The 1979-1983 Bad Brains were so vastly superior it's too bad, but Live is still such a sonic wonder, an aural pasting that could turn even Nobel scientists into stammering ninnies, that it's not to be missed. Clearly one of the hot live albums of all time, it manages this with a bass mixed so low as to be faint, and a guitarist (the great Dr. Know) who'd monkeyed around with his sound so much he'd completely lost the wicked edge he was known for. With all these faults, Live is such a stunner because the basic inimitable qualities are still here: the unbelievable overload attack, the crashing power riffs, the stop-start precision marveled at by every casual listener who ever came across them, the explosive surges, the awesome musicians, the breathtaking exhilaration rush, and most of all, the irreplaceable singer H.R.

In a sub-rock culture that’s justifiably made a demigod out of H.R. fan Iggy Pop, not even Pop himself at his Stooges prime was a match for the complete madness of H.R. The shocking wild abandon, the belly of the beast ascending, the manic whirl of syllables whooshing by, the animal screams, shouts, and alternate hums of this frenzied larynx (not even Pop and Little Richard could go from a full-throated scream to a quiet, calm tone so fast) deal body blows. Really, it's impossible to describe the fury, the might, the indestructible force of the Bad Brains, without hearing. It's not a matter of subjective taste; even those who don't like this will concede they've never heard anything like it before, nor are they likely to again. This BB lineup was a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. Even the bandmembers themselves know this, as they tried to reunite the quartet in April 1989 without success. You just gotta hear these versions of "At the Movies" and "I," so burning it's dizzying, so alive you can almost see H.R.'s feet hit at the end of the back-flip he always did to end the song (a perfectly timed sight that dazzled every audience). Never mind that much of side two features lesser later tracks; when you blast off, you won’t care for how long. This must be what it's like to be on speed. Ignore the super Rock for Light and almost commercial I Against I, good as they are. Go straight for that ROIR cassette and this. And watch out for flies and swirling debris while your mouth is hanging open for a half hour.

Bad Brains - Live (flac 260mb)

01 I 2:27
02 At The Movies 3:01
03 The Regulator 1:15
04 Right Brigade 2:34
05 I Against I 3:01
06 I & I Survive 6:11
07 House Of Suffering 2:16
08 Re-Ignition 4:34
09 Sacred Love 3:25
10 She's Calling You 3:18
11 Coptic Times 2:20
12 F.V.K. 1:07
13 Secret 77 4:05

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx