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Bad Brains “Spirit Electricity”

sfilzen — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 18:10:21 +0000

Bad Brains “Spirit Electricity” 1991. SST Records. Six (or seven) song 10″ EP of live tracks recorded in 1987 at shows in Providence, Rhode Island and in L.A. while the DC punks toured for I Against I (an all-time favorite album of mine). Like most Bad Brains releases (and shows for the matter), the tracks vacillate between lightning speed and shredding hardcore punk and, in a whiplash move, mellow grooving roots reggae. The EP leads off with the apparently rare live recording of “Return to Heaven” which has H.R. at his vocal peak; Wiki states that this version of the song on Spirit Electricity is the only official live version. “Let Me Help” is just as raucous and then without a pause it segues into a mashup of the Beatles’ “Day Tripper” and The Rolling Stones “She’s a Rainbow” with a vibe so chill my eyes are red just listening to it. Side B has the Bad Brains classic “Banned in DC” and “Attitude,” two of the fastest, most insane punk songs ever both from their 1983 LP Rock for Light, followed by another chillllll reggae groover, “Youth Are Getting Restless” which H.R. introduces with a shoutout to the South Africans who were in ’87 actively fighting apartheid. It’s a great EP: the sound quality is fantastic and Bad Brains are at the top of their performance game.

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Bad Brains “Live at CBGB 1982”

sfilzen — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 18:22:54 +0000

Bad Brains “Live at CBGB 1982” 2006/2014 reissue on limited edition yellow vinyl. MVD Audio/Zia Records. An OK quality recording from the December ’82 show at CBGBs. The reissue takes (and edits down from 19 to 14) tracks from the 2006 DVD/CD release. The performance is a mix of reggae and hardcore punk, mostly songs found on Black Dots, Bad Brains and Rock for Light. Of the reggae selections I particularly like their performance of “Unity Dub” which is hypnotic and a bit psychedelic with electronic effects. Immediately after “Unity,” Bad Brains launches into a cacophonous “Banned in DC” – the energy is amazing even if the sound takes a muddied dip on the recording. The other hardcore tracks: the fast and short (like less than 30 seconds) “Joshua’s Song,” “Destroy Babylon” (which is just slightly longer and arguably faster) and “Riot Squad” also suffer from subpar recording equipment unable to keep up with Dr. Know’s shredding, which sounds extra-tinny unfortunately on “Right Brigade.” The quality is much better on the more mellow songs like “I and I Rasta.” That said, it’s an epic performance and absolutely worth listening to – and viewing – the insanity of a Bad Brains show.

You can watch the entire show here:

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Bad Brains “I Against I”

sfilzen — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 22:51:00 +0000

Bad Brains “I Against I” 1986. SST Records. Released just about 36 years ago (Nov. 21st, ’86), the third record from the pioneering hardcore 80’s punks is one of my favorite punk records of all-time and definitely one of my most listened to of 1987. This past week we caught Bad Brains’ singer H.R. perform at Shank Hall in Milwaukee and while he didn’t play any Bad Brains songs – it was all super-chill reggae – it was amazing to finally see the legend in-person. He looks great and sounded even better.

H.R. at Shank Hall

I Against I was Bad Brains most successful LP and is included in many underground/alternative “best-of” lists, including Alternative Press and Blender. I know this record backwards and forwards and back again so picking out top tracks is next to impossible. From the shredding, thunderous “Intro” to the funky “Secret 77” to the closer “Return to Heaven” that has H.R. growling, rapping and yelping, it’s just incredible. I guess if I have to choose, tops would include the burning title track “I Against I” (its video directed by American Hardcore‘s Paul Rachman), the slinky-punked and funked “Re-Ignition” and “She’s Calling You,” the hardcore-meets-metal-guitar “Let Me Help,” and “Sacred Love” which H.R. recorded over the phone from prison where he was serving time for selling pot. I’ve just listed pretty close to every track. It’s that good.

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Bad Brains “Quickness”

sfilzen — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 18:35:14 +0000

Bad Brains “Quickness” 1989/2022. Bad Brains Records. Originally released on Caroline Records, Quickness was the iconic punk/reggae/alternative funk metal band’s fourth studio LP. Re-released on their own label, the thrash-metal heavy album has been remastered and came out just days ago. Since their third album I Against I (1986) is one of my most-listened to records of the 80’s, I’m absolutely loving Quickness (we didn’t have it until just now). What is particular notable about the reissue is that it does not include the controversial track “Don’t Blow Bubbles,” a song that was homophobic and suggested that AIDS was a punishment sent by god. The band admitted to it years later. From Wiki, “When asked about the song, guitarist Dr. Know said that ‘We wrote that song as kind of an angry warning to homosexuals. We didn’t really mean to insult them, but a lot of people we knew seemed to be living with their eyes closed.’ In a 2007 interview where bassist Darryl Jenifer called their previous views ‘ignorant,’ he was asked about the song and the furor over the lyrics and replied ‘They don’t understand that we’ve grown. Just like anyone, I’m not ashamed to say, ‘Maybe I could have been…’ Damn right, I was a homophobe! I shouldn’t have to explain that to the world because everyone will do that. That’s wisdom. You have to grow to be wise.” “Don’t Blow Bubbles” is replaced on Quickness with “Instrumental” which seems to be the same track minus the lyrics. Favorite song: “Voyage of Infinity” – its main melodic guitar line is the exact same as “Intro” from I Against I which had me at first confused and then delighted that the thrilling and thundering riff is expanded to full realization. I also love the opener “Soul Craft,” the quick-change of brutality and impossible to mellow on “The Messengers” and the reggae groove of “The Prophet’s Eye.”

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Bad Brains “Black Dots”

sfilzen — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 22:49:48 +0000

Bad Brains “Black Dots” 1979/1996/2019. Limited edition (1500) on white vinyl. A collection of Bad Brains’ first studio recordings (at Inner Ear Studios which at the time was in Don Zientara’s basement) from ‘79, first released in ‘96 on Caroline Records. Crazy-fast punk from one of the original – and best – hardcore bands. The session at Zientara’s house (where, according to the liner notes, Dr. Know on guitar and Darryl Jenifer on bass got the main basement space, Earl Hudson wedged himself into the basement closet with his drum kit and H.R. was in the backyard doing vocals, along with some crickets and a little kid) includes infamous tracks that would appear, re-recorded, Bad Brains (1982) like “Don’t Need It,” “Attitude,” “Supertouch/Shitfit,” “Regulator,” “Pay to Cum” and “Banned in D.C.;” “Attitude” and “Banned in D.C.” also are on Rock for Light (1983). Other songs on Black Dots include “How Low Can a Punk Get?,” “Just Another Damn Song” and “Send You No Flowers.” While their later albums often contained a relatively balanced mix of lightning-speed hardcore and mellow reggae songs, Black Dots is pretty much all fast with a couple of exceptions: “Why’d You Have to Go?” is a sparse, practically acoustic bluesy number, same with “The Man Won’t Annoy Ya” which adds in a nice lilting reggae beat.

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Bad Brains “The Youth Are Getting Restless”

sfilzen — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 22:27:25 +0000

Bad Brains “The Youth Are Getting Restless” 1990. Caroline Records. Recorded live at the Paradiso Theater, Amsterdam on May 28th, 1987 while on tour for their album I Against I (released late ‘86, an album I had on repeat throughout most of ‘87). Hardcore punk mixed with alt-metal, reggae and a dose of funk, Bad Brains was one of the best and most creative punk bands in the 80′s. The Youth Are Getting Restless plays like a greatest hit LP with live versions of tracks from I Against I like “House of Suffering,” “Sacred Love,” “Re-ignition” and “Let Me Help.” From their ‘82 debut album Bad Brains (some also appearing, re-recorded, on their second LP in ‘83 Rock for Light, produced by The Cars’ Ric Ocasek): “I,” “Coptic Times,” “Big Takeover,” “Fearless Vampire Killer,” “Sailin’ On,” “Banned in DC” (about being banned from performing at almost all clubs in Washington, DC) and, of course, “Pay to Cum,” their 1980 debut single which is “one of the fastest, most furious songs ever recorded.” That song was also my gateway to Bad Brains: it’s on the ‘81 Alternative Tentacles punk comp Let Them Eat Jellybeans! which was one of my first punk vinyl comp LP purchases. The Youth Are Getting Restless has two covers: a mellow reggae’d mashup of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” with The Rolling Stones “She’s a Rainbow” and “Revolution (dub)” originally by Dennis Brown.

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Bad Brains “Rock for Light”

sfilzen — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 23:56:10 +0000

Bad Brains “Rock for Light” 1983. PVC Records. Rock for Light, produced by Ric Ocasek, is the second full-length album by groundbreaking hardcore punks Bad Brains and is just as brilliant as their debut self-titled album. Like Bad Brains, it’s stuffed with a blend whiplash-speed punk and kicked-back, highly political and spiritual reggae to create the most unique sound in the punk canon. The hardcore punk tracks are aggressively fast and short, some of which also appeared on Bad Brains and were re-recorded for Rock for Light. Best are “Coptic Times,” “Attitude,” “Right Brigade” (oh man, that one is great with virtuosic guitar licks and a killer head-banging beat), “Banned in D.C.,” “How Low Can a Punk Get,” “Big Takeover” and the anthemic title track “Rock for Light.” I’m totally partial to the punk tracks, but the mellow (and longer) reggae tracks like “Rally Around Jah Throne” and “I + I Survive” provide moments to breathe and absorb the glorious fury that is Bad Brains.

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Bad Brains “Bad Brains”

sfilzen — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 22:53:22 +0000

Bad Brains “Bad Brains” 1982. Reachout International Records (ROIR). Though the cover art was meant to convey Bad Brains being “Banned in D.C.,” the image remains timely for today’s political headlines. Bad Brains was their first full-length album, issued only on cassette at the time, and is considered one of the most important groundbreaking releases of the hardcore genre, and one of the best of all-time. Bad Brains intersperses breakneck punk tracks like “Sailin’ On,” “Supertouch/Shitfit,” “Fearless Vampire Killers,” “Big Take Over” and the punk anthem “Pay to Cum” (which was the first Bad Brains song I ever heard, on the 1981 Alternative Tentacles comp Let Them Eat Jellybeans!) with kicked-back Rasta reggae protest songs: “Jah Calling,” “Leaving Babylon” and “I Luv I Jah.” This blending of seemingly disparate sounds makes for a compelling listen. As Ira Kaplan (later of Yo La Tengo) writes on the back of the LP, “…Bad Brains have fortified the destructiveness of hardcore with the lazy determination of reggae. The result is a simmering anger that rarely bubbles over into outrage, and instead takes on an ominous quality of its own. It amounts to a realization of punky reggae ideas articulated but enacted upon – by the Clash and Bob Marley and maybe others. It’s loud (though not always) and it’s fast (though not always). And it pleases me very much. Movements come and go. The Bad Brains are real!”

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Bad Brains “I And I Survive”/”Destroy Babylon”

sfilzen — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 14:36:20 +0000

Bad Brains “I And I Survive”/”Destroy Babylon” EP. 1982. Important Records. Side A: “Destroy Babylon,” “Coptic Times” and “Joshua’s Song.” Confusingly, Side 1: “I And I Survive.” All four songs would be included on Bad Brains’ full length 1983 release, the eponymous Bad Brains LP. Rick Ocasek produced both that record and this EP. Side A showcases Bad Brains’ prowess at lightning fast hardcore punk (from Joshua’s Song” – We’re going to have to draw the line/We’re gonna have to free our lives/It’s time for us to fight and die/This time for us and you know why…”) tinged with Rasta spirituality (i.e. from “Coptic Times” – “…so I choose to read the Holy Bible, and take what Jah has given me/It seems that all through life one fact prevails, that the righteous all live on/These are coptic times…”). Side A’s “I And I Survive” delivers mellow reggae beats, an empowered yet gentle shake of the dreads at the violent and greedy nature of the world:

Why must all the people keep on shooting and robbing. Why? Why must must all the people keep on killing and fighting. No, not I. I and I will would never try. No, not I. I and I would never try. And why must the rich man keep on hoarding all his money. And why must the this poor man, my living ain’t very funny. No, not I. I and I would never try. No not I. I and I would never try, try to live that way. And what did Jah show them. I and I survive. They tried to stop this nation. But I and I survive. To chant down creation, I and I survive. And once again a nation.

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Bad Brains “Omega Sessions”

sfilzen — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:49:31 +0000

Bad Brains “Omega Sessions” recorded 1980, released 1997 on Victory Records. Demo versions of punk-reggae classics including the punkrocking tracks “i Against i,” Attitude” and “At The Movies” as well as slow beat rockers “Stay Close to Me” and “I Luv I Jah,” These early recordings are heavily roots reggae-tinged and with the sparse production of the tracks, the listener feels the hardcore revolution happening in the studio. Bad Brains’ ability to marry disparate underground sounds would have a significant influence on punk and alternative musicians in the 80′s and 90′s. Sacha Jenkins writes in the liner notes to “Omega Sessions” – “When listening to these jams, it’s clear to hear that the Brains could have been anything they wanted to be: from rude, skanky punks, to straight ahead rock & rollers, to pop tune-smiths, to skanky reggae rudeboys. Regardless of the on-again-off-again nature that dictated the ensemble’s every move, one can not deny the influence that Darryl, Gary, and the Hudson bros. have had on current-time, big dollar, bug budget, MTV sludge. The B.B.’s were revolutionary buffalo soldiers, dread-locked Rastas, who induced millions to harvest crucial tunes, including the Beastie Boys, Nirvana’s everlasting Kurt Cobain, Janes Addiction/Porno For Pyro’s’ Perry Ferrell, and the recently fallen, widely gifted guitarist/song-styler Jeff Buckley.”

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