new classy dress old classy hardcore

tapewise probably the master of them all is the debut cassette by former fusion rock band the bad brains from washington d.c. which is the capital of the us and a. therefore lightning hits its capitol where still those are ruling that deny fundamental rights to my brothers and sisters in most other parts of the world.
the lyrics deal with what is everyday stuff for me inna zero 9: having a positive outlook on life, recognizing the evil plans by a government fulla fascists, fighting against the big whore babylon trying to bring me down, and finally the only thing that keeps us going inna long run: the love and devotion to my holy emperor, king of kings, his divine majesty, the lion of judah ...and if you still don't know who i am talking about now: ras clot on ya!
anyway back to the tape: it was released inna 1982 and when it came out among others it got a real good review inna german sounds who tried to compare them to the only thng they knew back then, motörhead & exploited. but the bad brains were on a higher quality level - not only was their hardcore fast as lightning and faster than anybody elses' but even better all the songs they did were in a different speed. well at least they sound like.. interrupted only by three tracks of fresh roots reggae. but you can hardly make a classic out of a cassette tape. probably the recording wasn't regarded as good enough for a band who always had ambitions to play in the top league. so they recorded "rock for light" with ric ocasek as the credited producer inna 1983. but onna "rock for light" the sound is very very clean, really too clean... ... ana dis sound terrible onna three reggae tracks on there but still more than halfway o.k. for the rest of the record. but the real good reggae songs they recorded you get onna tape: e. g. you have "leaving babylon", one of my favourite songs. plus I and a ripping version of Big Takeover - much better than on the LP. ....but then you will find "at the movies" onna rock for light, and that's even better than the solo and the last part in rock for light! with I against I my affection for the bad brains slowly faded away. I&I only like the first two songs on this album the rest was all too much the same - except for sacred love which apparently has been vocalized over a phone line from out of a jail. later somebun who called himself I joseph I took over vocals from HR and the bad brains did a funny cover of "hair" when you look at the backcover of the album it's on. HR put out some solo records - first one is great the others I&I do not fancy this much

deeply buried in the past, yours haselore kohl