[kj] OT: New Bad Brains LP

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

B. Oliver Sheppard wrote:

> http://mrmagoomc4.blogspot.com/2007/06/pure-love.html


New Bad Brains album w/ original lineup leaked (free) at that URL above. 
Decibel Magazine review below. I agree w/ the Decibel mag review about 
HR's vocals tho' I think I liked it better than the writer does. It has 
a lot of old-style Bad Brains thrash riffs w/ slow moshy NYHC parts here 
and there, but HR's vocals aren't as into it as in the 70s/80s Bad 
Brains stuff. He sounds like he'd rather be singing reggae, and the 
reverb/echo effects on his vocals get old. Anyway, if you like Bad 
Brains I think it's a pretty decent album.

-Oliver


http://www.decibelmagazine.com/reviews/jul2007/badbrains.aspx

Bad Brains
Build a Nation
Megaforce
How high

In 2001, I saw “Soul Brains” in Fort Collins, CO. (Madonna owned the Bad 
Brains’ name at the time.) H.R. wandered onstage in pajama pants and a 
heavy parka, and spent most of the set singing into an arm’s-length 
Handycam instead of acknowledging the crowd. For an encore, he sat 
behind the drums and played a half-assed reggae beat for a few minutes. 
The end. That stuff could sorta be forgiven, but way worse was H.R.’s 
total lack of interest in any of the hardcore songs. Shit was more 
phoned-in than “Sacred Love.” He was feeling the reggae jams, though! 
The loooooong reggae jams. Better than a mic stand to the skull (hello, 
Lawrence, KS!), but it was still a bummer. These guys are unquestionably 
one of the greatest couple of bands to come from hardcore, with one of 
the all-time best frontmen, and he was not into it at all.

It’s with that show still in memory that I’m listening to Build a 
Nation, which purports to be a return to ROIR-era hardcore glory. And 
almost right away, the reason that this is a terrible idea is spelled 
out: The fast riff in “Jah People” would sound amazing with H.R. 
spitting a classic hyperspeed vocal over it. He doesn’t—he croons over 
the mid-tempo verses. “Universal Peace” has a vicious intro, a great 
fast verse and a totally half-assed vocal. You can practically hear the 
rest of the band (and Beastie Boy Adam Yauch in the producer’s chair) 
trying their hardest to make a hardcore album and H.R. completely not 
giving a fuck. Yauch gives them an overblown recording (in a good way!) 
with extra emphasis on Darryl Jenifer’s bass and lots of weird reverb 
effects on the vox. Being professionally obligated not to skip past the 
reggae songs this time, I can report that H.R. sounds a little bit like 
the Beasties’ pal Q-Tip when he’s in mellow mode, and 
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… huh? There are some cool moments here and 
there, like the solo that opens “Pure Love” and the sick NYHC mosh at 
the end of “Send Me No Flowers.” But “Flowers,” an update of a Black 
Dots-era song, really just serves as a reminder of how completely 
essential Black Dots is (if you don’t own it, you need to), and how 
inessential Build a Nation is. —Anthony Bartkewicz