Fact #171122
When:
Short story:
Big Audio Dynamite release their second album, No. 10 Upping Street, on CBS Records in the UK.
Full article:
Johnny Black : In certain circles bad is good and in this case B.A.D. is baaaad! Got that? No? Ok, start here.
Actually this, the second album by ex-Clash man Mick Jones’ new crew, starts out badly (in the original sense) with the appalling, weak and dribbly C’Mon Every Beatbox, an ill-conceived homage to Eddie Cochran that never gets up off its back. Happily, things pick up from there on in, and B.A.D. show a clean pair of heels to most of the other punk survivors (Siouxsie, Sham et al) who’re still clogging up the system with outmoded thrashings.
Mick Jones describes B.A.D. as ‘a funky rock’n’roll band’ but that doesn’t tell you anything about the generous helpings of reggae, stabs of beatbox, hip hop, computer sampling and pop that goes on in between the rock’n’roll.
There are, however, disappointments. Mick’s voice still isn’t anything to write home about, and there’s a lack of power in some tracks. If, for example, you compare B.A.D. with Sly And Robbie’s recent Rhythm Killers album you suddenly begin to realize who’s got the real elite beat.
Even so, there’s lashings of anarchic noise, whimsical musical references and a good time to be had by all.
(review first appeared in CD Review magazine, October 1987)
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Actually this, the second album by ex-Clash man Mick Jones’ new crew, starts out badly (in the original sense) with the appalling, weak and dribbly C’Mon Every Beatbox, an ill-conceived homage to Eddie Cochran that never gets up off its back. Happily, things pick up from there on in, and B.A.D. show a clean pair of heels to most of the other punk survivors (Siouxsie, Sham et al) who’re still clogging up the system with outmoded thrashings.
Mick Jones describes B.A.D. as ‘a funky rock’n’roll band’ but that doesn’t tell you anything about the generous helpings of reggae, stabs of beatbox, hip hop, computer sampling and pop that goes on in between the rock’n’roll.
There are, however, disappointments. Mick’s voice still isn’t anything to write home about, and there’s a lack of power in some tracks. If, for example, you compare B.A.D. with Sly And Robbie’s recent Rhythm Killers album you suddenly begin to realize who’s got the real elite beat.
Even so, there’s lashings of anarchic noise, whimsical musical references and a good time to be had by all.
(review first appeared in CD Review magazine, October 1987)