This band should have 12 live albums out by now. The greatest live rock & roll band of all time has made but one studio LP that reflected this ungodly ferociousness, and that was cassette-only. Frankly, if you don't have that tape -- the self-titled ROIR tape, still the biggest seller in ROIR history -- don't think, buy, and be blown away. This is the second record that will astonish even their oldest of fans. Strangely, this documents the 1987
I Against I Bad Brains (doesn't say where it was recorded, but it sounds like the Ritz), when they were at their nadir as a live band. The 1979-1983
Bad Brains were so vastly superior it's too bad, but
Live is still such a sonic wonder, an aural pasting that could turn even Nobel scientists into stammering ninnies, that it's not to be missed. Clearly one of the hot live albums of all time, it manages this with a bass mixed so low as to be faint, and a guitarist (the great
Dr. Know) who'd monkeyed around with his sound so much he'd completely lost the wicked edge he was known for. With all these faults,
Live is such a stunner because the basic inimitable qualities are still here: the unbelievable overload attack, the crashing power riffs, the stop-start precision marveled at by every casual listener who ever came across them, the explosive surges, the awesome musicians, the breathtaking exhilaration rush, and most of all, the irreplaceable singer
H.R.