Search - Bad Brains :: Banned in Dc: Bad Brains Greatest Riffs

Crunk and then some

david gingold | m-town | 08/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Man, see, I'm 27, and bad brains are one of those groups I listened to in my younger years, but all I ever owned was "Quickness," and everything else I heard was in friends' cars or on comps. But lately, I've been listening to a little bit of punk and hardcore from my heyday again, and so, when I saw that Bad Brains had a new greatest hits comp at the record store, I thought, "I like to spend money, and I've been needing a non-rap cd lately," so I bought it. Man, I just wasn't ready for how much I'd be into it. I been jumping around my apartment naked like a damn fool for the past two nights listening to this cd. I never realized that Bad Brains was this good. Not only is it musically interesting, but the songs make have a sort of serenity to them no matter how wild they are. Even though I haven't been smoking pot, it makes me want to, and the Rastafarian talk doesn't sound the least bit funny to me--that's how it is! For such a "simple" form of music, there is a lot going on."

A Truly exceptional Career overview of Bad Brains best work

fetish_2000 | U.K. | 04/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For those new to Bad Brains, which is a band I've only very recently discovered, and only knew about them after having listened to their furious "Pay To Cum" single, which completely captured my attention. This, a collection of their most popular songs mixed with some of their hardest most fiercely intense riffs Encapsulates everything that was so brilliant and massively influential about the band .There's something about their fusion of Reggae with volatile Hardcore punk, that makes their music all the more accessible, and this retrospective seems to pick songs from their two greatest albums, the self-titled "Bad Brains" & "I against I", as well as cherry picking the best from subsequent albums "Rock for Light", "Quickness". It must be said that for all the fiery guitar workouts, and rapidly delivered lyrics that defined their greatest work, there is are strange elements of melodic & Dynamic stylistic change here....the backing chorus of Saillin' On bring surprising harmonies to the song and impress immensely, and the dramatic rhythmic changes through most songs (sometimes dramatically changing several times in a song), neatly sidestep and criticisms of repetition, that is not only unexpected, but enthusiastically encouraged by the listener.But this wouldn't be Bad Brains without the reggae side of things taking centre stage, and ¾ quarters of the way into the 23 track album the band excel themselves with some well chosen & expertly played Dub/reggae that introduces itself into the track listing perfectly before the constant riffs becomes all a bit too much to digest in one sitting. And the surprising thing is how staggeringly accomplished the reggae tracks sound, making this no mere token effort with "I and I Survive", "I Luv I Jah", "The Prophets Eye" & a previously unreleased "Riot Squad" pure to be exceptional icing on the cake. For a person new to the Bad Brains, I strongly recommend you do what I did, which was to purchase this album, and then if it completely hooks you in the way it did me, seek out their studio albums, but I can't recommend a more excellent starting point than this career overview."

A great collection of Bad Brains material

Chris Stankis | Maui, Hawaii | 11/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This collection spans the best of the career of these DC/NYC reggae/hardcore musicans. Later stuff is OK....but Bad Brains aren't the same without HR's "throat".



If you have never heard the band before this makes a good primer, to get you into them (and they are counted as influences by lots of bands: Beastie Boys to Living Colour & No Doubt (the last two have covered Bad Brains songs both live and in the studio). So if you like what you hear on this disc....make the purchases to get yourself the rest of their library (especially the early stuff) !



My only complaint with this compilation would be that I prefer the SST label recordings versions of the "I Against I" era material. I am sure not having them on here is more a result of label infighting, so at least recordings from that era are still here for inclusion.



Other than that.....great, great stuff !!!"