Track Listing: 1. Return to Heaven 2. Let Me Help 3. Day Tripper/She's a Rainbow 4. Banned in D.C 5. Attitude 6. Youth Are Getting Restless
The Bad Brains "I Against I" tour must be one of the most well-documented punk tours ever...Three official live albums from that tour ("Live," "The Youth Are Getting Restless" and this one)...Most classic punk acts only get one posthumous live album if they're lucky. The Brains get three from one tour! This one is pretty much just a 10-inch, 20-minute, mini-live album, though..
So what does this one have that the other two don't? Well, "Return to Heaven" and "Attitude" is the short answer. Some different and more specific politicizing in HR's spoken sections. So yea, nothing to replace the "The Youth Are Getting Restless" live album, which is a much longer and more exciting album (livelier, while "Spirit Electricity" has a sort of cleanliness that somewhat de-rocks some of the material...But not too much...Bad Brains have a lot of rock to spare, so if they lose a little it's not a deal-breaker)....
Still, if you're as rabid a Bad Brains fan as I am there's no way you're not going to see this pretty little 10-inch on the wall and not buy it (I got the translucent green vinyl copy, btw)...Still, objectively I can see that this would be a pretty pointless release to most people. Especially if they own the other two full length albums from this tour...But I can't find anything wrong with it...It's a well-recorded, well-performed live EP from the band's late 80's heyday...So cool...
Track Listing: 1. Don't Need It 2. At the Atlantis 3. Pay to Cum 4. Supertouch/Shitfit 5. Regulator 6. You're a Migraine 7. Don't Bother Me 8. Banned in D.C. 9. Why'd You Have to Go? 10. The Man Won't Annoy Ya 11. Redbone in the City 12. Black Dots 13. How Low Can a Punk Get? 14. Just Another Damn Song 15. Attitude 16. Send You No Flowers
Apparently, somewhere in the late 90's someone discovered a Bad Brains album that nobody put out...Wha huh?!? Recorded in 1979, this predates the ROIR album and features some overlap but probably less than you might think...There's like, what? 8 utterly unheard compositions here in addition to the 8 classics presented here in completely different versions...
The '79 Bad Brains were a click slower than the '81-'82 Bad Brains of ROIR, which you would think would hinder the enjoyment of the songs, but it doesn't...They're just as entertaining played at any speed...The average Bad Brains song is so damn fast that some of the details can come across as a blur, but on this album you get a chance to step back and get a good look at the moving parts, which is interesting (except the title track which is odd and fast as fuck)...
Not to mention, you get some insight into HR...Prior to hearing this, I had no idea whatsoever what HR's infuences were...His blend of singing, screeching, spasming, and jabbering is so unique that I didn't know how he could have possibly arrived at the delivery...Turns out, you can hear a very pronounced Johnny Rotten influence on some of HR's vocals here...Huh. Who knew? "Redbone in the City" is a great example of the Bad Brains/Sex Pistols hybrid...
What's even more mind-boggling is that, in the liner notes, this album comprises all the material the band wrote in the first month of its existence....Which explains song titles such as "Just Another Damn Song"...Oh yea, the liner notes also inform me that HR was a waiter at a steakhouse?!?!?! This record is really just blowing my mind on all levels at this point...
So happy that someone finally got around to putting this out...I've been trying to find a copy for yeeeeaaaars....I remember seeing a CD version of it at a Circuit City back in the early 90's but I passed over it for something else that I'm sure was nowhere near as awesome as this...Then I spent a couple decades trying ot find it again to no avail until I ran across a vinyl copy hanging on the wall at Eastside Records...Sold!
Here's "Don't Bother Me" by the Bad Brains...Enjoy...
Bad Brains!: Pay to Cum/Stay Close to Me
1980
Bad Brain Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. c 2. Stay Close to Me
"Pay to Cum" is to hardcore what "Blitzkrieg Bop" is to punk. The original text. A genre codified. The how-to manual. The first and still the best. There's a cosmic consciousness contained within that very few (if any) other hardcore bands ever obtained...
Recorded about 6 months after the "Black Dots" version, while they share a similar arrangement (keeping what is quite possibly the fastest cowbell playing ever recorded) the differences are striking.The single take is faster and more furious...Darryl Jennifer and Earl Hudson (the rhythm section) run the five minute mile in roughly a minute thirty...
And look! Lyrics! I had no idea that "Pay to Cum" had real lyrics. I just figured HR was always singing, "Numma numma numma numma numma numma numma numma NO!" But here, in black and white, are actual words...Although only extreme speed readers will be able to read along with the song playing...
The B-Side is interesting too...How do you follow a light-speed hardcore classic? Why, with a laid-back, doo-woppy love song! With big, punk power chords in the chorus! These guys were so far ahead of everybody else at this point that it's ridiculous...No one else ever pushed hardcore as far as these guys did...Not even close...
This single is a straight-up classic and I think every punk enthusiast owes it to themselves to sit down and listen to the original "Pay to Cum/Stay Close to Me" single...To experience a pivitol moment in music history in its original form...
Track Listing: 1. Against All Authority- Sacco & Vanzette 2. Against All Authority-Threat 3. Against All Authority - Alba 4. The Pist-Wrong 5.The Pist- Walking Revolution 6. The Pist-Sedate
This is one of those punk split 7-inches where the respective bands cover each others songs...I picked this up for dirt-ass cheap cos I had remembered enjoying Against All Authority's "All Fall Down" album back in the day...
For those unfamiliar with the band, AAA was (is? I'm not sure if they're still around) a ska-punk band that leaned towards the crustier side of things...Lots of ramshackle energy and shouty politics about turn of the century anarchists, but the real draw for me is their consistently out of tune, Tower of Sour horn section...In this soulless, auto-tuned wold of ours, it always does my heart good to hear some good, brown honk...
There are two AAA originals: "Sacco & Vanzette" about some anarchist bankrobbers...
..and "Alba," which I'm assuming is about Jessica Alba...
And then they do a cover of "Threat" by the Pist, which is cool cos it was the only Pist song I knew (since I heard it on that old "Punk USA" comp that Lookout put out in the 90's..). So if you're into anarchic ska crust (and who isn't?) then you'll probably like to skank to this...
On the flip side of the record has three tracks by the Connecticut punk band, The Pist. And it's not false advertising. These guys do sound genuinely pissed. Like I said, I was only aware of The Pist, via "Punk USA" and I didn't quite know what to make of it back then...They were much more classic hardcore than the pop-punk bands surrounding them, but on the other hand, they sounded somewhat clean compared to real-deal 80's hardcore...
Now I understand they were attempting to bring back some of that old sound and spirit to a scene that was somewhat lacking in it while avoiding the self-conscious "retro" routine of making a new recording sound old...It sounds like if an early 80's HC band (before all the tough-guy metal seeped into the sound) used 90's recording technology...If you like short, manageable blasts of unadorned punk, then check them out...Their best song on here, by far, is their cover of AAA's "Walking Revolution" which ends up stealing the record...They do a better AAA than AAA...
This record is a fun way to make 10 minutes of your life a bit more exciting (oh, and even though it's not on this album, the Pist song, "The Customer is Always Right" rules...)
A 10-inch live album by Avail. It mostly features "Satiate"-era material with a couple of tracks from the not-yet-released "Dixie" album filling things out...
A live album by Avail is always welcome, since they were one of the best live bands of the whole 90's punk scene...I've seen them a few times and can attest to how sweaty and slamming those 90's shows were...They never ever gave anything less than 100%, therefore any live album by Avail is going to rule...
However, this is a very, very raw recording...It sounds like an audience mic, capturing the blast of sound from the stage and PA's...So yea...Not exactly a studio-quality soundboard recording...This falls more in the category of those noisy "V.M.Live Presents" releases...If you can take those, you can take this..
Still, this is a great companion to "Satiate"...It kicks all the ass that "Satiate" only gently caressed...Every single one of these songs are improved in a live setting...My God, "Predictable" is a fucking force of nature here and "Pinned Up" sounds like it could explode any second...Oh yea, the track labelled, "Violent Femmes" is actually a cover of the song "Kiss Off" which is welcome since it's probably my favorite Violent Femmes song and they do a pretty good version of it...
The album closes with "Connection" which is another one of those songs that's perfectly suited to a crowded punk show with its big chants and universal message...Man, if anything makes me want to leave the computer and hoist my fist in the air at some 160 degree punk club, it's this...So good...
If you don't mind crispy sound and muddled mixing, check this out...If the rawness is too much, check out the "Live at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco" CD Lookout Records put out a few years after this...It's also a killer show and is much more clearly recorded...Still, there's something about this unhinged performance that I like...
Here, you can check out the whole thing here...It's only 20-something minutes...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. March 2. All About It 3. Forgotten 4. Bob's Crew 5. Observations 6. Upward Grind 7. Stride 8. Timeframe 9. Pinned Up 10. Predictable 11. Twisted 12. Hope
I'd been looking for a copy of this album forever (which was a favorite of my high school/college years) and recently found it on vinyl...I used to have it on CD, which had a couple of bonus tracks that this vinyl version doesn't have...
So no "Connection" or "Mr. Morgan" for me...Which is really sad! I love "Connection" and its catchy "No one turned your rally of peace! Into a! Into a!" chant..."Mr. Morgan" is also interesting for its overt Fugazi-ness and for hearing Tim Barry rap! The CD also had that cute cartoon drawing of the band...My vinyl copy has some xerox-y photo...
To be honest, "Satiate" isn't even close to being one of my favorite Avail albums...Whereas most punk bands start off harder and more fierce and end up softening with age, Avail's first full-length is much calmer than their subsequent albums...It all sounds like classic Avail, but it just seems to have a softer touch...There's also the matter of two songs on the album that are so staggeringly awesome that they almost invalidate everything that follows:
"March" is such a perfectly anthemic album opener that nothing else on the album could ever possibly live up to it...It has everything: Militaristic drums, punchy guitars, soulful female backing vocals, about a hundred different vocal hooks...If this one song was the only thing the band had ever released, their place in punk history would have still been assured...Flawless in every way and captures that hard-earned, positive spirit that you can sometimes find at a particularly transcendent punk rock show...
The other towering moment is "Pinned Up" which is just so much more ferocious than anything else here...This, more than anything else points the way to the direction the band was heading...Blasting, melodic hardcore with a hook so sharp that I could still sing along to every word despite not having heard it in 15 years...
The rest of the album isn't bad by any stretch...Lots of good, gut-punching, emotional punk rock like "Bob's Crew" and "Stride"...The pair of ballads that close the album often cause me to check out early though..."Twisted" is interesting, since it's a surging, 5-minute plus monster but by the time they bust out the acoustic guitar for "Hope" the mosh pit is empty and the lights are on...Avail would quickly learn how to better incorporate melancholy into their sound, but they haven't quite nailed it yet...Oh, well...
For all its flaws, it's still a huge cut above most 90's pop-punk and my college playlist would have been a much emptier place without "Satiate"...
Track Listing: 1. Potters Field 2. Only 3. Room for One More 4. Packaged Rebellion 5. Hy Pro Glo 6. Invisible 7. 1000 Points of Hate 8. Black Lodge 9. C₁₁ H₁₇ N₂ O₂ S Na 10. Burst 11. This Is Not an Exit
.SAY IT AIN'T SO, RIP MAGAZINE! SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!
Joey Belladonna leaving Anthrax?!?! Details on page 32??!?!?!! I think this was the Zayn Malik leaves One Direction of my jean-jacketed generation..Joey was the golden-voiced everyman! There was no other Thrash vocalist even remotely like him! Who could possibly replace him? WHO?!?!?!?
As someone who followed this saga closely back in '92, I can tell you in all certainty that no one knew what to make of the news that John Bush was going to be the new Anthrax vocalist...Sure,we all liked Armored Saint's "Symbol of Salvation" but outside of them both being metal vocalists, Joey and John had nothing in common...Would Anthrax return to a more "Fistful of Metal" power-metal approach? Add to this, interviews from the era featured Scott Ian talking about how the new Anthrax album would be influenced by Depeche Mode and shit...Uh oh...
Turns out the direction they took was a fairly obvious one...Since the grunge movement was in full swing, the band decided to look to that scene for inspiration, particularly the slower, narcotic drawl of
Alice in Chains...I actually hear a lot of "Symbol of Salvation" in this too...Yea, think "Symbol of Salvation" stripped of its remaining metal ham...Alice in Chains with some bombast...I can still catch a faint whiff of "Persistence of Time"-era Anthrax on a couple of tracks ("Packaged Rebellion" in particular) but I'd say there's very little classic Anthrax left in this, which I actually consider to be a smart move...You just can't compare this to previous Anthrax material...It's apples and oranges...You cannot imagine Joey getting all moody and Twin Peaks-y on "Black Lodge"...You can't imagine Joey yarling his way through the creeping "This is Not an Exit"...You cannot imagine Joey riding the tidal wave of grunge on "Only"...
Trouble was, Anthrax tried so hard to outdo themselves on this one that they were never able to recapture this high...
I remember hearing the Stomp 442 album by Manasses and being so underwhelmed by its boring dryness that I swore off Anthrax for a great many years...Friends would occasionally show me the latest Anthrax which similarly fell flat to me...I hear Joey came back in recent years, but I haven't gotten around to any of those albums yet...
So, I'll continue to remember "Sound of White Noise" where it seemed for a moment that Anthrax would be able to successfully navigate the 90's and all its unwashed flannel-ness...A band reinventing itself to keep up with the trends and actually pulling it off...I'm docking a star for the use of that overused, "This is a Juhhhh-ney into sound..." sample, but I still say it's a far cut above most other post '91 metal, which to me, was one of the saddest, most barren landscapes in pop music history...I still have nightmares about this stuff...
BLAHH!!!
BLAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, let's not dwell on what lied ahead...Let's take "Sound of White Noise" on its own merits...Here's "Packaged Rebellion" by Aunt Thracks...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Milk (Ode to Billy) 2. Bring the Noise 3. Keep It in the Family (Live) 4. Startin' Up a Posse 5. Protest and Survive 6. Chromatic Death 7. I'm the Man '91 8. Parasite 9. Pipeline 10. Sects 11. Belly of the Beast 12. N.F.B. (Dallabnikufesin)
Oh, Man...I still remember the day I bought this album...I went up to
the Drug Store (which doubled as the CD and Cassette store in my small
town) and was half-assedly looking through the cassettes when I noticed
an unfamiliar Anthrax title..
My eyes just about popped out of my head... I was not expecting this...I promptly bought it and I can still recall scanning the lyric sheet and liner notes on the ride home (as I sat in the back of the truck)...
I played that tape within an inch of its life that summer...Not only was it new Anthrax (well, new to me anyway) but the album was perhaps their most fun and interesting release...As I recall it, Anthrax were known for their sense of humor, but this was mostly relegated to television appearances, interviews and merchandising...There was actually very little in the way of humor in their discography at this point...The album is basically broken down in the following categories:
Cover Songs: The majority of the album consists of covers, and these are probably the most entertaining portion of the album. It functions as a pretty good breakdown of the various elements that constitute the band's sound: Metal (a cover of Trust's "Sects"), punk (Discharge's "Protest and Survive"), hard rock (Kiss' "Parasite") and rap in the form of a collaborative cover of "Bring the Noise" with Public Enemy that was a huuuuge hit, as I recall...The only wild card is a cover of the surf instrumental "Pipeline"...I guess you could argue that instrumental surf shares some DNA with metal shred...I dunno...
Originals: To be honest, this is the spottiest part of the album...There's a beyond pointless remake of "I'm the Man." We also have "Startin' Up a Posse," which is one of those old anti-PMRC tirades that (along with anti-televangelist tracks) were mandatory back in the day...I recall thinking it was beyond hilarious when I was a zit-faced teenager, but nowadays I can't even take 30 seconds of it...That orgasming chick has a horrible wheeze that makes me want to claw my ears out when I listen to this on headphones..."N.F.B" highlights how great Joey Belladonna would have made a great
hair balladeer in the mold of Jani Lane. He's so good at it, it's
probably my favorite original on the album...
S.O.D Covers: I don't know if I should classify the two S.O.D tracks as covers or originals, since Scott Ian and Charlie Benante wrote the songs...I really don't like these any more or less than the originals honestly...They're a bit more presentable, so I feel like I should hold that against them, but I don't...
Live Stuff: There's also a couple of live tracks from the then-recent "Persistence of Time" tour...These are nice, I guess..."P.OT." is still my personal favorite Anthrax album, but the band isn't exactly known for their radically different live interpretations...So I can't really imagine someone going out of their way to search these out over the studio versions...
I still consider this a really entertaining listen...Due to all the different approaches, the 45 minutes fly right by...Despite (or because of) its flaws, I'm saying get this and "Among the Living" for a shorthand overview of what Anthrax was all about..."Among the Living" for the serious side and "Attack of the Killer B's" which elucidates their humor and their influences...
Let's listen to some heavy ass metal...Here's "Sect" by Anthrax...
