Bad Brains' Live at CBGB 1982 is the audio counterpart to the recently released DVD of the same name, a sight to behold: The Bad Brains at the height of their power, HR shaking hands in the crowd, dancing like a madman, seething and stalking the stage. In the crowd are black folks and white; women and men; old and young; Rasta and otherwise. Vintage CBGB, vintage Bad Brains.
The audience for this kind of creaking document is clear: Those who wish they'd been there, those who were and want to look back, and those who just really, really love the Bad Brains. There are those of us who always wanted to believe there was something different about this band, that every show they played was like an army marching to war; that they really did play that fast; that there was so little quit in their sound you could believe the four of them were invincible. And the recording bares witness in spite of (or because of) a soundboard that is, as befits a raging punk rock show, barely functional. Drums are no better than banging on a desk; the bass sounds like the lower half is missing; vocals are barely pronounced, let alone pronounced into a microphone.
Some contest that Bad Brains were a hardcore band first and a second-rate reggae outfit second; with this release, those people may be in for a surprise. By 1982 the band had already become a full-fledged split personality, equal parts dub-reggae and searing punk rock, and the two sit aside one another with neither explanation nor any real effort to mitigate the shock of the switch. On the DVD, you see the crowd take the band's two heads in stride, but it's jarring. Robert Christgau wrote in the Village Voice in 1986, that, "As a reggae band, they were a hardcore band with a change-up," but that's understating it: Maybe a hardcore band with an eephus pitch?
Check out this site's own archives and you'll find this gem, which says it well: "By the time they released their artistic milestone, I Against I, and reggae influences had spread deeper and deeper into their sound, the Bad Brains had already forgotten more about hardcore than most of their successors would ever learn." Live At CBGB 1982 comes at the dead center turning of the tide, nearly equidistant between the masterpiece hardcore of their debut tape and the nearly full-on reggae of their most accomplished effort in that genre, 1986's I Against I.
The criminally under-compiled "Supertouch" appears here, three years after being left off their most recent best of; there's no "Pay to Cum", but "Banned in DC" and "Big Takeover" fill that gap. "I And I Survive", "Jah the Conqueror", and "Joshua's Song" step in as Bad Brains dub-reggae at its most evocative. In 1982, HR, their mercurial lyricist, was still looked upon as a prophet and near god, and his proclamations of "Real unity-not just talk about unity" get at the reason why.
Of course, those lines are also colored by the band's now known future, in which misogyny and alleged-homophobia, demons that dogged HR through clashes with gay hardcore bands, prison officials, and even the Beastie Boys, loom large. Soon "real unity" would be replaced by more esoteric loyalties; peeks at the past are complicated this way. These are not particularly intelligible versions of these songs, nor are they very well recorded. So what we're left with is the raw, screaming moment. And that, for all its discomfort, is best left for the many who would, when transported back in time, be happy to be there.
— Zach Baron, December 4, 2006
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9655-live-at-cbgb-1982/
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The Hives
This band is just fantastic. Most people who are hip to them only heard "Main Offender" which was featured on the first version on Rock Band. Unlike them, I've been a fan for a while now. The screaming, strained sounding (not screamo) vocals of Pelle Almqvist are genius, in my opinion. The way the band stays true to themselves in all their stuff is very admirable. Even in the song they collabed on with Timbaland -yes ,you read correctly,(Throw It On Me) you can hear how they still kept that fun, punk-y style that they are known for. Even if you only just heard Main Offender and call yourself a Hives fan, listen to some more, like "Try It Again," or "Tick Tick Boom" and you'll be a fan for realzzz.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sacred Trickster
Just found this gem on my youtube suggested list, and I'm so glad I clicked on it. Even though I think pretty much everything by Sonic is amazing, this is really good. The music composition itself is pretty basic and repetative (yes, I looked up the guitar tab already) but there's something about it. Maybe it's Kim Gordon's vocals, which I love. They're always so intriguing and have that uber cool experimental-y feeling, like in "Drunken Butterfly." Anyway, Thurston Moore's guitar playing is just God-like and I can only pray to get to his level one day.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Last night after getting home from the Princeton Record Exchange, I imported my new Sonic Youth album, "Dirty Boots," into my itunes account. Listening to it was truly an amazing experience, almost better than when I actually stumbled upon it in that stack of random "cheap cd's." There's only 6 songs, and there's 2 versions of dirty boots; live and the edit. My favorite of them all has to be the live version of "Eric's Trip." Ironically, I'm listening to it right now. Probably the reason I'm in such a great mood.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
The Princeton Record Exchange
I. Want. To. Live. There. Not Princeton in general, but the Record Exchange, more specifically. I love how obscurely the store is placed, like it's a hidden or something. It kinda makes you feel like you're in on some super cool secret. When you first walk in, you see rows and rows and rows of cd's and records. Their "Cheap CD" collection is pretty impressive. I actually bought a copy of Sonic Youth's 1991 album "Dirty Boots" for $1.99, but they basically have everything you could imagine. Going through those rows of vinyl after vinyl was really a spiritual experience for me. To smell the scent of old paper, to see the album artwork, and to actually touch the slightly frayed and damaged covers was just magical. It's like you could feel the history behind each and every record. The prices kind of shocked me. The first couple records I looked at were from $14-$25ish, then as I looked farther, I found $1 boxes of records that weren't very popular, and as I looked a little more avidly, I found a few up in the 100's. This was a big jump. There were probably ones that costed even more money than that, but I had a budget. I'm so going back next time I get some more money. Maybe I could take a trip there on my birthday. Maybe I should just get a job.
I Love You Mary Jane by Cypress Hill
This has been on my ipod for god knows how long, and the first time I ever listened to it throughout was just about 5 minutes ago. Oh the things I've been missing out on! This song is so chill, like you're floating on a cloud way up in the sky. I love that Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth sings the hook. Oh, jeez this song is fantasmical. Yes, I'm listening to it again. The fact that it's about marijuana can be overlooked...
"A Guide To Essential Indie Rock"
I just finished reading this article from Sound Recording Reviews, written by Vincent J. Novara and Stephen Henry, and I am proud to say that I am now enlightened. As a fan of rock in general and most of its sub-genres, it was interesting to say the least, to actually read someone try to define indie. Now, like most people who aren't dumb, I was aware that indie stood for independent, and with that information you can basically figure out what the genre's all about. Similar to the DIY era of punk, but indie soon turned into more than just independent bands who recorded, managed and produced for themselves, but a specific sound. I am a fan of things that go against the mainstream, but personally, I don't get to drastic with it. I dabble a little with alternative hipster type clothes, but where I really shine in that area is music. I have so much respect and admiration for bands and artist that make music that's against the mainstream. I think that they are so brave. The way I see it, mainstream artists know that they'll be accepted into pop culture, or it won't be that much of a struggle for them. But for indie and alternative artists, they are fully aware that it will be hard, or that it will take more than a one-hit-wonder to get them recognized. To go against the "grain," as some would put it, is always difficult since the majority of the population is not accepting of things that go against mainstream. The way I grew up was with top 40, rap and old R&B slow jams. I've always had a strong appreciation for music, and those were no exceptions. As I entered middle school, some of my new friends introduced me to bands like Pierce The Veil, Dance Gavin Dance, The Cab, All Time Low, and Cobra Starship. Others, like Sonic Youth, The Kooks, The Arctic Monkeys, Limp Bizkit, Sublime, the Misfits and Green Day (which ended up being my favorite band, still today) I discovered on my own. It was a real journey for me, since I did most of this on my own. It was hard because my family, especially my sister and mom, was not very supportive in my music choices, but I managed. I found that my taste for music expanded very broadly. Just about a year or 2 ago I started finding some metal and post punk outfits that I really liked, and after that, I had basically the whole genre covered. Once I started taking guitar lessons, that was the time in my life that I was really content with my itunes library. 1204 songs and counting :)
Arctic Monkeys Concert
On Tuesday May 24, 2011 saw the ARCTIC MONKEYS in concert at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. Freaking amazing. The crowd was crazy, and a couple mosh pits were organized. I didn't expect that people would seriously mosh to indie, but hey, anything is possible. When I moshed for the first time, my friend Emmy and I were tag teaming, defending ourselves from the sweaty teenage boys flying at us. It was actually pretty fun! The ironic thing is that I got hurt by a crowd surfer’s foot, but not the mosh pit… Anywho, they played alot of new stuff, but some old ones. Some of the stuff they played that was off of their upcoming album was "She's Thunderstorms," and "Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair." One of my old favorites, "Mardy Bum" wasn't played, even though I chanted it along with the crowd. But once they played “Cornerstone,” I was pretty content with life. Very good night indeed.
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