BAD BRAINS: THE YOUTH ARE GETTING RESTLESS (1990)
1) I; 2) Rock For Light; 3)
Right Brigade; 4) House Of Suffering; 5) Day Tripper / She's A Rainbow; 6) Coptic
Times; 7) Sacred Love; 8) Re-Ignition; 9) Let Me Help; 10) The Youth Are
Getting Restless; 11) Banned In D.C.; 12) Sailin' On; 13) Fearless Vampire
Killer; 14) At The Movies; 15) Revolution (dub); 16) Pay To Cum; 17) Big
Takeover.
A good setlist can work wonders. This is not brand
new stuff — the recordings were taken from the same support tour for I Against I that gave us the Live album (recorded just a wee bit
earlier), so it could formally qualify for «archival» status, except in this
case, it worked more like a stopgap while the band was busy sorting it out
with H.R. — eventually replacing him with Chuck Mosley from Faith No More.
Hilariously, the «stopgap» turned out to be far better than the original
official live album, though...
...for an obvious reason — the setlist here is
more intentionally targeted at the band's punk legacy than the metal one. Only
three out of seventeen songs are from I
Against I. The rest generally stem from their two first and best studio
albums, which means speed, excitement, and, overall, a better application of
their crunch than the slow, lumbering, and generally wasted metal riffage on
that album. Furthermore, the recording quality at that particular show at the
Paradiso Theater in Amsterdam was well on the level, and so was the
inspiration.
Obscurities include the title track — a reggae
number that did not make it on any studio album and is well worth knowing,
mainly because of its clever integration of a smooth funky bassline into the
general reggae structure, so that you never really know what it is you are
listening to; and the unexpected synthesis of Beatles and Stones — a reggaeified
medley sewn together from bits of ʽDay Tripperʼ and ʽShe's A Rainbowʼ, with
additional lyrics from H.R. By all accounts, this is a novelty number, but the
very fact of making a reggae medley of a Beatles and a Stones song counts as a
novelty number that may just as well turn out to be unforgettable — even if,
ultimately, you just find it a stupid idea.
And overall, since we do have fabulous live versions of ʽRock For Lightʼ and ʽBanned In
D.C.ʼ this time around, The Youth Are
Getting Restless, with its high production quality and energy levels, may
be a pretty damn good introduction to the band. What else is there to say?
Absolutely nothing, so a fast, but firm thumbs up to it and let us move along.
Check "The Youth Are Getting Restless" (MP3) on Amazon
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