I just couldn't do it. Bad Brains, despite the gross misrepresentation in
, were ALWAYS a thrash AND reggae band--although they liked to think of themselves as gospel, a category I will always accept. And man, they ROCKED!! "Pay to C*m" is probably one of the thrashest tracks ever recorded.
Now, this may seem like an unfair start of a review, to go over the heyday of the band as though I'm going to evaluate this solely by their past acts and not allow them to grow and change, but this album very much WANTS us to be sure who the Bad Brains are (though they are recording sans HR)--aside from the Enhanced CD extra, with blurbs from Perry Farrell and others, the way they offer dub redos of Brains songs from their reggae catalog (like "Rally") and thrash (like "Gene Machine," "How Low Can a Punk Get") very much makes it obvious that they want us to remember the Brains of old. Know, Daryl and Earl can definitely lay down some nice, low, heavy dub, but the little, teasing snatches of HR samples seem almost underhanded or mean-spirited, and the "I & I Survive (Shiner Massive Mix)" at the end is painfaully bad. There are brief snatches of some hard Know strumming, but while the old Brains were predominantly thrash with a little less reggae, this Brains incantation is mostly dub with too little thrash.
I'm going to keep this one around for a little while and see if it grows more on me, but legends who carry their legendary status on their sleeves seem to cut their own legend branch a little short. This disc might be good to mix in with some classic Brains track, but it doesn't seem to hold itself together for a good, solid listen.
This is strictly Dub work and is a very laid back piece that is listenable almost anywhere at anytime check it out homes.
Well if anyone knows anything about music you know about Bad Brains. You know the influence they had on countless popular bands of today and of the recent past. You know these guys are gods, you know these guys were the damn best rock and roll band ever. Hardcore originators... alternative pioneers. Well you also know then about Soul Brains... the reincarnated Brains with HR and the promised new album... the shows you've seen etc. If you were lucky enough to see them live in the recent years you know they still are thunder and lightning in a bottle. Raging, intense monolith style hardcore jams then barreling down into a slow and smooth reggae jem. The dub styles these legends have been showcasing us at recent shows only overlooked by the fact that the energy isn't there as it is with the hard numbers. Well... these reggae/dub styles I know that when I've seen them I have been FLOORED in amazement! Here they are (minus HR) shining with the uniqueness and intensity that they had in their inception and prime. And what do we have here!? It actually says BAD BRAINS the album. Wheres HR? Wheres soul brains? Who knows... as usual the mystery goes on. They do classic re-do's of classic reggae songs from their past as well as new ones, remixes... intertwined with HR'S vocal samples... WOW. It really is absoultley amazing what is on this disc... sound quality dub quality like you've never heard before. And wait untill you hear the little interludes of blazing hardcore that only makes you wonder what it could be like when HR decides to include himself... do you realize? The Bad Brains are here. They never went away. You better pay attention.
