In defense of Big Audio Dynamite

carbon/silicon

oh is that still going? Resiliance!

certainly seems to be an ongoing concern.
they have just launched a new c/s website, with promise of new material this year.

Would anybody be interested in a T/S poll pitting Big Audio Dynamite against Joe Strummer solo? I'm really interested to see where consensus comes down on that

I'd be interested to see the outcome, but I'm not sure how I'd vote. BAD > a lot of Strummer solo but then again Johnny Appleseed > everything

I'm on the fence myself. The first two Mescoleros albums were great, but Big Audio Dynamite may have the more impressive body of work overall.

Saw them 3 times on the reunion tour. Consistently pleased - I enjoyed the live show far more than the albums (which I couldn't really get into).

Also, there's talk of a reunion album. What do you guys think of the new song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fAFmu0EOw

Nothing sonically about it ~feels~ like a BAD song -- especially not the original lineup -- and the title and themes make it seem very likely it was a Carbon/Silicon song that Mick had sitting around. But there are some vocal melodies, mainly in the first verses, that have a very classic Mick feel, both Clash-era and circa BAD II.

far more than the albums (which I couldn't really get into).

Most of the albums are OK-ish with great singles to ... actively bad with occasional gems. But Megatop Phoenix and Kool-Aid both work as entire LPs.

(actually the devolvement of the new song into repetition and fey terrace chanting probably does make it a fair approximation of standard BAD songwriting tbf)

Love everything up through The Globe, but am thinking they should now change their moniker to Big Audio Mistake.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, April 4, 2003 3:10 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark

would have been better linking to that noize post

http://www.amazon.com/Chrysalis-Years-1973-1979-UFO/dp/B0053V5Y20/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330920528&sr=8-1

This thing rocks serious mullet, has all of the key Schenker UFO recors and get it delivered to your house in the US for like 20 bucks.

I've been giving it quite a few spins on the old Cd player over the last few weeks.

also: Basement 5

1) There's a deluxe 2Cd edition of This is... is is great but missing a couple of mixes that really should be in there (the original long version of Bottom line for one)

2) There is also a cheapie 5cd set of the first 5 albums (ignoring 'kool aid') for those who want to explore other albs.

Yeah, I almost bought that This Is "legacy edition" in London the other year until I checked the tracklisting vs price and decided it wasn't really polishing the legacy. It probably is the original 12" of Bottom Line, at a guess, just not the 12" remix... but to include demos at the expense of the Rick Rubin mix, the Super 8 mix of This Is BAD, and the first ever opportunity to press the Dust Head mix of Sudden Impact decently...

(though IIRC I actually taped the latter off my chainstore giveaway-only French 7" around 1999 for the US photographer bloke who'd done the remix, as he'd not heard it since turning it in to CBS in 1985, so the chances Sony even know it exists, let alone have a master, are perhaps slight)

wow, now I really wanna hear Mike Mills write a song called "Down At The 40 Watt" to a loop of "Radio Free Europe".
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, April 4, 2003 4:08 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It probably is the original 12" of Bottom Line, at a guess, just not the 12" remix...

Trust me, it's not.

I have those 12" singles, the original BL 12" took some finding (the remix one came free with e=mc2 normal 12")

There was a great remix of e=mc2 ("70mm widescreen remix") that came free as a part of the "Medicine show" 12" double pack (OK, it's confusing) that should have been on there, but I know why..

They basically tried to do an 'alternate' version of the album using all-remixes. (one was just a 'rough-mix', hmm...)

e=mc2 ("70mm widescreen remix")

yeah this is p much the touchstone version

And the truly bizarre thing is, it starts off exactly like "Life is a Rollercoaster" by Ronan Keating! (which came some years after)

Say what you want, but "Rush" is the jam. Except for all those weird interruptions, which are interesting but ruin repeatability

Some of my favorite guitar chords ever are the ones that begin "The Bottom Line".

Thread revival...

Mick always clearly had great taste. But his interpretations of cool were always borderline corny because he insisted on merging really blase pop with the flavor of the day. Take "Contact" - goes all acid in the end but before that it's like the most standard 20th century pop. Discuss!

What I didn't like about the latter BAD was how all the vocal were 'everyone sing' like a bad blokey bananarama.

all the vocal were 'everyone sing' like a bad blokey bananarama.

Megatop Phoenix : still totally works as an album.
also, pre-loudness wars, so, an album you can really crank and enjoy the space in the mix.

At sixty minutes on one record, loudness wars were the least of its problems on vinyl

this album was available on one slab of vinyl !?
for me, this is an album that needs the full uninterrupted 60 minutes listening experience.

yeah, basically sounds like it was pressed on paper.

this guy knows what's up:

when I ripped (it from CD for ipod) years ago, I split it into side one and side two, because not only did I get to know it so well on vinyl, but it is so totally designed for the two sides - from the "Start" intro, every track flows into each other (usually via interstitial sample jams) until taking a breath at the end of the first side - then the guitar tyre squeals at the beginning of James Brown kick off another uninterrupted side, running through to the TV closedown.

Think that’s bad?

My copy was one of those “Portugal” cheapies...

Following me reviving this thread a few weeks ago,
I ended up with a FLAC version of the unreleased album, 'Entering A New Ride', which I had but in scrappy lo-fi mp3 form.
All cliches aside, it's a massive return to form if you like the BAD thing.

I hadn't heard it before, and am definitely enjoying it - some shades of later Carbon/Silicon tracks in there, too.

Hey where can a brother get a copy of the unreleased BAD album? They are hugely underappreciated.

N.B. a new cleaner mix has recently been discovered of Rat Patrol at Fort Brag (only one G apparently) and it is great. I love Joe of course but Mick gets so much undeserved criticism.

broom air : the old semi official fan website provides all the information you need.

Thanks, Mark -- especially if you're also the Mark who cleaned up that Rat Patrol on the Clash site.

did you find relevant page?
i meant to post a link.
and no, sorry, i am not that mark.

Really feeling “C’mon Every Beatbox” right now.

The rose garden is already littered with my victims.

The promoter didn't book no undertaker

looks like the semi-unoffical website with links to the 2cd zip of 'entering .. ' has been taken offline.

should anyone still be interested then my ilX email is still good to go.

The Planet B.A.D. compilation is pretty enjoyable. Could be better - it kind of falls apart before the end, and I would have preferred the full-length album tracks for the wonderfully strange bits that were chopped out of the singles - but if you take the best moments and put them together, it does feel like a good extension of what the Clash accomplished on Combat Rock. Not on par but it does get to places they hadn't reached yet.

Tweaking the tracklist to my tastes, I would've been good with:

1. The Bottom Line
2. E=MC²
3. Medicine Show
4. C'mon Every Beatbox
5. Beyond the Pale
6. V. Thirteen
7. Sightsee M.C!
8. Just Play Music!
9. Other 99
10. Union, Jack
11. Contact
12. House Arrest
13. Free
14. Rush
15. Can't Wait/Live
16. The Globe

imho : BAD were one of the few bands of that era who were actually all about the album as opposed to single tracks.
hence i dont have any of the comps.

I like "Free" though - it's nice having that on a compilation instead of hunting down the Flashback soundtrack. (Prescient sample: "Once we get out of the '80s, the '90s are gonna make the '60s look like the '50s.")

bugger.
i guess i need to track that song down then.
i.e. i had no idea there were non-album tracks out there on soundtracks etc ..

It’s a fun movie - if you’re bothering to track down the song, might as well watch the flick first to hear it in situ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh4b4c-RzE8

I loved BAD. Was fortunate enough to see them once at a small venue in Denver in 1987. Along with the Mescaleros, they successfully continued some of the experimentation begun in the Clash. Mick's almost complete lack of productivity in the past couple of decades is kind of baffling.

not sure if I ever noticed Neneh when watching a 1980s VHS on a 1970s CRT in the 1990s.

I didn't notice! But now I see!

I'm kind of fascinated by a certain line

A certain line of movie dialogue sampled in "Hollywood Boulevard."

Also can't figure out who that Beastie Boy looking guy is at 2:45 in the "C'mon Every Beatbox" video is.