Customer Reviews

Black Dots

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't know how I missed this one when it was first released! I had just figured it was the newer line-up who brought us "Rise". I must not have looked very close.

This album really rocks... but not in the Bad Brains punk way--more like Stooges... call it pre-punk. Some of the arrangements here almost sound like another band covering Bad Brains. Not that different, but it's really odd for me to hear these tracks having listened to their other stuff for so long. It's sort of like if you only heard "Rock for Light" and then years later heard their first release ("Bad Brains"). But in that case, the difference is subtle... here it's a big jump into the roots that I didn't even know existed.

The recording quality is quite good. Not only because you wouldn't expect much from a 4-track early Bad Brains. It's definitely better than "Bad Brains".

I can't stop listening to this--so many great versions: "Supertouch", "Banned in D.C.", "How Low Can a Punk Get?"... and "Don't Bother Me" is cool because it was reworked later. I will say that H.R. is just a tad reserved. Instead of just off the wall wild screams it's closer to "yeah yeah yeah" in-between the main lyrics... where, in later recordings, he's inserting yells from another world. But that's a pretty minor nit-pick. As an aging punk maybe I'm not hard to impress--but this is the best music purchase I've made in a long while. I had to wait a few weeks before writing this review because I'm often suspect when I really dig a CD on the first listen--but this one hasn't worn off at all.

The first thing they ever did, HR and the boys don't come up short with this one. With classics like "Pay To Cum", and "The Regulator", along with never released sonic crusades like "You're a Migraine", the Bad Brains show that they were the masters of hardcore punk two years before their debut album turned everybody else into believers. If you like the Bad Brains but don't own this, you better save your pennies and start practicing your air guitar.

If you are unfamiliar with the Brains, buy this record and all of their others will follow their way into your collection. If you are already a fan, you already own this record - and if you don't, buy it now and I'll promise not to tell!

This was my first Bad Brains album ever bought and remains to be my favorite. While later work has influence on me as a musician this early work has influence on me as well. It makes me imagine how different things were then. It paints this image in my head of a new, outrageous, unified, and true music scene that we seem to lack today. This is where it started for four broke, black, ex-jazz musicians who were set to leave a mark in music and did. How awesome would it be to go back to those days when shows were held in basements? Well this c.d. is no guarantee to all but is a great start for the most, to go into the past and see where the Brains came from. Great tracks include Regulator, Pay To Cum, Redbone In The City, Send You No Flowers, Banned In D.C., and the Man Won't Annoy Ya. Get this c.d. if you love the roots of punk music. Get this c.d. if you love the Bad Brains. While still harsh sounding this album is still great and will not dissapoint!

If a guy only had this and nothing else in "HAWDCORE" or whatever other lame title for a genre that could be dreamt up this is it period. If a guy didn't ever listen to any other music lumped in this genre he'd be fine and really wouldn't be missing all that much except maybe Flipper or maybe Cro-Mags first album but even they drew heavily from the Brains. This album kills and makes the Bad Brains stand out amongst the wannabes that invaded later on. Unfortunately even for Thee Mighty Bad Brains their demise was that they kept on going and not in the right direction. These guys drew inspiration from Mahavishnu and Return to Forever just as much or more so than "punk" and just compacted it into two minute songs. The recording is raw for the right reasons (not cuz it was "indie" or "lo-fi")--they had no money and were breaking new ground without any support from some bigshot producer/label/studio. That came later unfortunately. If you even could attempt to have any street cred this would be playing 24/7.

Despite the fact that this was recorded in someone's house, the sound quality never deters the intensity. This is a rocking album!

I remember picking this album up in 95 when I first got into punk and it was one of the best albums I had ever heard. I still listen to it today and the bad brains remain one of the few punk bands that I can still stand to listen to. The Bad brains burst on to the scene in about the early 80s combining hardcore D.C. punk rock with a unique reggae sound. I personally feel that this there first album and IagainstI are there best works but this album has a certain punk rock quality to it in the recording and in the music and lyrics that I just love. It really is sad that bands dont make music like this anymore back in the 80s it was all about your local scene and going to shows and supporting the music you loved. Now its about slick record executives trying to make a quick buck off of the latest trend or fad. This music takes me back and reminds of what it was like in the good old days if you were there you will dance around your room just like the old times. If you werent youll wish you were. CLASSIC

This review is wrong. The band is from Washington DC.

"Recorded in June, 1979, these 16 tracks comprise the first-ever sessions by the seminal New York hardcore band. The sound quality is excellent, the band trashes mightily, and the style hasn't dated in the least. --Jeff Bateman"

Please don't post this review, just letting you know...

A must have. This bad thrashes mightier than Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock combined (and is infinitely more talented). Fun to listen to by yourself, or with someone whose mind you want to blow.

I love all of Bad Brains stuff, and I'd say that they are one of the most intense group of musicians ever to grace hardcore punk. While later Bad Brains albums went more towards heavy metal and reggae, this album exemplified good hardcore and reggae. Possibly the best Bad Brains album, but it doesn't really sound like a Bad Brains album.