BAD BRAINS: LIVE AT CBGB 1982 (1982/2006)
1) Big Takeover; 2) I; 3) Jah
The Conqueror; 4) Supertouch/Shitfit; 5) Rally Round Ja's Throne; 6) Right
Brigade; 7) FVK; 8) I And I Survive; 9) Destroy Babylon; 10) Joshua's Song; 11)
Unity Dub; 12) The Meek; 13) Banned In D.C.; 14) How Low Can A Punk Get; 15)
Riot Squad; 16) I And I Rasta; 17) We Will Not; 18) The Regulator; 19) All Rise
To Meet Jah.
And, I suppose, a representative account of Bad
Brains would not be quite complete without a few words on this archive release — the only official live album that captures
Bad Brains at their glory day peak, sometime in December 1982, playing their
guts out to an enthusiastic CBGB crowd with Rock For Light still to come and the unfortunate metallic
reinvention of I And I still way
beyond the horizon.
The immediate bad news is that the sound
quality, particularly on the hardcore ultra-fast stuff (the reggae grooves end
up a little less blurry) is abysmal. Allegedly, the recording was professional,
since Bad Brains were also captured on several cameras that evening — the
official release is doubly precious, since it comes in both audio and video
form. But either they used really cheap audio equipment, or the mikes were set
up all wrong, in any case, the sound is so seriously messy that I would never
have guessed on my own that it did not originate from an «audience quality»
bootleg tape. So heed this warning.
The other news is that there are no news — as I already said in the
review of Live, at their most revved
up, Bad Brains offer little difference between the psychopathic thunderstorm in
the studio and the psychopathic thunderstorm on stage. Watching the spectacle is an entirely different matter, although
not necessarily a pleasant one (I, for one, would definitely not want to find myself at CBGB on that particular
evening, judging by the erratic behaviour of some of the audience) — but listening
to it post-factum in garbage-pail sound quality is sort of superfluous, at
best.
You do get to hear them play more classic
super-fast shit and more of their good
reggae numbers than on any other live release, and there are a few tracks here
that did not make it on any studio record, either (mostly also reggae stuff
like ʽJah The Conquerorʼ). But these are tasty bits for big fans: overall, Live At CBGB is more of an important
historical document — and, for some people, also a potential energy / vitality-charged
battery, if they get it together with the accompanying DVD. As a piece of
music, it is nearly worthless; as a source of inspiration for those who agree
that H.R. and Dr. Know did embody the
genuine spirit of 1982 — it may be priceless.
Check "Live At CBGB 1982" (MP3) on Amazon
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