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Quickness

Bad Brains

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Album Review

This is an interesting, if not entirely successful detour into funk-metal for the band that pioneered Rastafarian hard-core punk. Everything is slowed down here, and the sonic textures have thickened considerably. Drummer Earl Hudson delivers both ponderous, stomping metal rhythms and funked-up grooves, while Dr. Know gets to show off his chops a bit more than he has in the past. The religious messages have, if anything, gotten more mystical and less coherent — song titles like "Soul Craft," "Voyage into Infinity," and "Messengers" give you an idea of what to expect. "Don't Blow Bubbles" may or may not be a slightly homophobic cautionary tale for the age of AIDS, and "Sheba" appears to be a paean to King Solomon's wife (a perennial favorite subject for reggae musicians). As on I Against I, reggae is given short shrift on this album. In fact, the only reggae rhythm to be found at all is on "The Prophet's Eye," an awkward tune that feels tacked onto the album's end. Fans will defend it, and Quickness is by no means a failure, but it's also far from being Bad Brains' best work.

Customer Reviews

With the Quickness

If you like Bad Brains then this is a must own album.This is when they were still at their best,all the songs on this album are great!

Takes a little time

When I first heard anything from this album, it was when I saw the music video for Soulcraft on HavocTV a few months ago. I didn't enjoy it at all and felt like it wasn't Bad Brains. So I bought the album and listened to it a couple times, now I'm loving the living daylights out of it. It's more metal-oriented than their past few albums, as they don't speed through it at blistering paces like the s/t album and Rock for Light, yet it provides its own headbang-able jams that almost any BB fan will dig. Definite buy.

The album rages mightily

The follow up album to "I against I" stands up well, which is hard for a band to do.

One glaring factual error on the "official" review is that all the drumming is done by Mackie of the Cro Mags, as noted prominently in the liner notes of the original vinyl. So, yes, the drumming is a bit heavier than the incredibly deft and smooth Earl Hudson. Mackie is another (amazing) African American punk drummer, and had already recorded the whole album during one of HR and Earl's many prolonged absences playing exclusively with Human Rights. Earl likely was appreciative of the job Mackie had done, and, showing great class and respect, decided to leave it .

This also explains the (relatively) long lapse from the former LP. At the last minute, they all mended fences and HR applied vocals to the album. .

All of the comments about the lyrical content are spot on. The Doctor continues to expand on his solos, as on "I against I". I will differ with the reviewer in noting that "Gene Machine" dips into a clear and deft reggae clip towards the end of the piece (as opposed to eschewing the style completely on the album), after also nodding to their punk roots, and interspersed with the metal chugging style they established with the previous effort.

Mostly, though, the "official" review is correct and well written.

-Ted Offensive 11/2/11

Biography

Formed: 1979 in Washington D.C.

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

By melding punk with reggae, Bad Brains became one of the definitive American hardcore punk groups of the early '80s. Although the group released only a handful of records during its peak, including the legendary cassette-only debut, Bad Brains, they developed a dedicated following, many of whom would later form their own hardcore and alternative bands. As for Bad Brains themselves, they continued to...
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