BAD BRAINS Vinilo y CD

Review: The Youth Are Getting Restless serves as much as a Bad Brains greatest hits collection as it does live album. Recorded at Amsterdam's iconic Paradiso Theatre in 1987 whilst touring, 'I Against I'; this legendary performance wouldn't be officially released until 1990, arriving after Quickness. The collection of material here is crafted from the band's first three (and arguably most definitive albums), with several classic cuts from the self-titled and, 'Rock For Light', such as, 'Sailin' On', 'Banned In D.C.', and, 'Pay To Cum', played at blistering pace with their trademark incomparable energy. There's also, of course, some space made between the hardcore punk chaos for more chilled-out reggae-indebted sequences, including a cover of Dennis Brown's, 'Revolution', as well as a rearranged medley of 'She's a Rainbow' and 'Day Tripper', by The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, respectively. While the ensuing decade and projects that came with it would be steeped in line-up shifts and internal strife, this live collection is a flashback to a simpler time when H.R. was the frenetic frontman at the top of the hardcore food-chain.

Review: 'The Omega Sessions' is a five-song EP recorded by Bad Brains in 1980 and released in 1997. The tracks were recorded and mixed at the original Omega Recording Studios in Rockville, Maryland, and overall, the EP contains early versions of songs which eventually appeared on later releases, including a revamped reading of 'I Against I.' This reissue marks the seventh release in the remaster campaign that is now upon us, re-launching the Bad Brains Records label imprint. Just five incendiary originals screamers, all the way through to the inimitable sass-monster that is 'Attitude', are enough to turn our brains mushy once more.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record sleeve damaged, product in working order***


An album that requires little to no introduction, but we'll give it a stab anyways: Both essential and alien to the scene, the self-titled debut Bad Brains LP will forever be heralded as one of the cornerstones of the hardcore punk movement. While originally honing their skills as funk/jazz group Mind Power, it wouldn't be until guitarist Dr. Know attended his first hardcore shows that an intense reinterpretation of punk tropes would be conceptualised within his madcap mind, leading to an incomparable collection of speedy, energetic and most important of all, musical compositions that would reshape the very foundations of a scene many stagedived from. Crammed full of raw, scuzzy classics such as 'Sailin' On' and 'Pay To Cum', yet interspersed with reggae and dub numbers including the tranquil 'Jah Calling', the Rastafarian hardcore ethos the band would coin on their seminal debut sent ripple effects still felt throughout the scene today. Not only their definitive work, but one of the most vital, pioneering and representative projects of the era.