Search - Bad Brains :: Black Dots

We can do most anything, we've got that supertouch

Zachary V. Sunderman | Youngstown, OH United States | 12/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the Bad Brains as early as you can find it - 1979, recording a live demo at Don Zientara's (who later became the legendary producer/engineer of Minor Threat, Fugazi, and just about everything important to come from DC) fledgling Inner Ear studios. The band members all set up in different rooms, leaving H.R. having to stand outside to prevent track bleeding. You can hear crickets from Don's yard coming through his microphone between tracks. It doesn't get any more real than this.



Before Rastafarianism, dreadlocks, metal, and even reggae (for the most part), this is the Bad Brains SLAMMING through a full set list of TOP NOTCH hardcore punk of a quality that has scarcely been achieved by ANYONE - in fact, one of the few who DID manage to best it were the Bad Brains themselves on their 1982 self-titled album.



There are some classic Brains tracks on here that you may know already, but they're not the same. They're slightly slower (don't take that as "slow") which is sometimes good and sometimes bad in retrospect. If you're used to "Don't Need It" from the first album being the fastest song in the world, you may be a bit disappointed by its more "free" sounding pace here. However, if you're a guitarist, this may be your only hope for finding out what the riff actually IS. (I know it's been a blessing to me.)



Some songs are much better in their versions here, though. Prime example---"How Low Can A Punk Get." It's "just-right" fast on here, not the overly thrashing version on "Rock for Light," and sounds a thousand times more menacing and convincing than that version ever could hope to. "Don't Bother Me," which was later re-worked on the "Quickness" LP, is contained here in its original, ULTRA-raw version, and will certainly have your eyes bulged in amazement by the end with the heavy realization that you just heard what might be the greatest punk song ever (that no one has ever heard). Also, the way-ahead-of-its-time sludge breakdown on "S***fit" may sound even HEAVIER here than it does on the self-titled!



It's also cool to hear some of the stuff on here that the Brains later dropped - there are some bluesy, Jimi Hendrix-to-the-bone parts that show up for fractured moments of time; the reggae on here sounds more like lovers' rock than dread or dub; and "Redbone In The City" finds HR doing a hilariously unexpected Johnny Rotten impersonation.



If you're a fan of punk rock or the Bad Brains to any level or degree, you cannot go wrong with this demo. Pick it up and get a mind-numbing history lesson from the best in the game."