Monday 7 March 2011

Abbie Someone

With a residual smattering of dub; this is the best of the live Bad Brains' albums.
Timeless stuff; and never more pertinent than now: for the youth are indeed getting restless - I blame sun spots - those who aren't plugged into Facebook or mainlining silicone, of course.

It should never work.
It certainly doesn't on paper; in theory.
A marketeer's nightmare.

But by Jove, Bad Brains not only proved that black guys could play hardcore, they mixed it up with some dub and roots' sounds; and you know what: no one went to the bar: everyone just dropped a gear: the mosh bowed down and we skanked and we swayed.

All three styles Bad Brains incorporated are included here: their faster than fast hardcore delivery (and they go even faster on this recording: the opening 'I' is spat with such rapid staccato it sounds like it's sung "in tongues"); their later metal, note warping period; and their wonderfully idiosyncratic take on dub. Excellently exemplified here with some well chosen covers.
Never has 'Day Tripper' sounded so druggie, or 'She's a Rainbow' so horny.
They also turn Dennis Brown's 'Revolution' into a true polemic; ideologically supporting their own 'The Youth are Getting Restless', a persuasive rallying cry to all.
Rastafari!

So the odd bed fellows made for the perfect marriage.
The punky reggae party continued.
Long may it do so. Long may it reign.

Bad Brains - The Youth are Getting Restless, Live at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 1987 (1990)

I
Rock For Light
Right Brigade
House of Suffering
Day Tripper/She's a Rainbow
Coptic Times
Sacred Love
Re-Ignition
Let Me Help
The Youth are Getting Restless
Banned in D.C.
Sailin' On
Fearless Vampire Killer
At the Movies
Revolution (Dub)
Pay to Cum
Big Takeover

Excellent vinyl rip @320kbs
Get Restless here

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