Bad Brains Album: “Live in San Francisco”

...This is a well-mixed album (much better than The Youth Are Getting Restless, which, strangely, suffered from Ron St. Germain's pompous, hair-metal style), but a generally middle-of-the-road performance from a legendary band. Much has been made of H.R.'s completely-incomprehensible babble between songs on this album--while it's true that he's pretty far out at this point (read: insane), it doesn't negatively affect his performance. To be sure, his singing is far more sedate than it has been on prior recordings (virtually gone is his hardcore growl), but that's not entirely unexpected from a bunch of fortysomething guys still playing hardcore punk.

Performance issues aside, there are some gems here--the crazy dub freakout of "The Youth Are Getting Restless" is easily the best recording of the song to date, and "Attitude" and "Pay To Cum," while less-hardcore than versions past, still rock out. Darryl Jenifer, Dr. Know and Earl Hudson are still the baddest, fastest mofos on the block. While this live album isn't for everyone (the SST Live album is, by far, the best chronicle of the band's live energy), it's still worth picking up and taking a look at.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH,THE BRAINS FIRST BAY AREA VISIT LASTED ABOUT A MONTH.THEY STAYED @ BARRINGTON HALL(ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME!),& PRACTICED DAILY.I CAN SAY THAT I'VE SEEN THEM LIVE MORE TIMES THAN I CAN COUNT,& I SAY THIS IS ONE OF THEIR BEST RELEASES,A MUST HAVE FOR ANY FAN.I'VE ALWAYS FELT THAT THE BAD BRAINS NEVER GOT A FAIR SHAKE ON THE MIXING BOARD WITH TREIR EARLY RELEASES,WITCH HAPPEN TO BE MY FAVORITES.LIVE IN S.F. HAS AN EXCELLANT BOARD MIX,EQUAL TO THE "YOUTH ARE GETTING RESTLESS"RELEASE.WHY DO I GIVE "LIVE IN S.F.THE EDGE? BECAUSE THE SET LIST IS LESS DEPENDANT ON SONGS FROM "I AGAINST I".LIVE IN S.F.FEATURES MORE SONGS FROM MY FAVE BRAINS L.P.'S(BANNED IN D.C.,ROCK FOR LIGHT,COPTIC TIMES).IF THESE ARE THE BAD BRAINS YOU LIKE THE MOST,THEM THIS IS THE LIVE BRAINS FOR YOU!-----SPECIAL ED

I was there, too!

Listen for yourself. Dr Know is playing perfectly. Hr is jovial and singing like on Black Dots. Darryl mixed the record as only the bass player could (this is normally a Reggae label-so you think they can record bass tones?). Earl is a god with drumsticks. I've seen this band 5 times, in all, and onless u have an early 9:30 Club show, you have here a winner. makes the major release St. Germaine recording sound like a toss off.