Live cover

Live

Released

DC hardcore outfit Bad Brains made quite a few live albums in the 1980s, but this one on the SST label is the best. It finds them touring behind I Against I, their most masterful album, and going all the way back to their old book: hardcore raveups like “I” and “The Regulator” (time: 1:15) prepare the way for more complex fare like “I Against I” and, especially, “House of Suffering.” And of course they slow down for a reggae number as well, the defiant “I and I Survive.” Magnificent.

Rick Anderson

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