Bad Brains – Quickness

Terrible album, dated boomy reverb-laden late 80's production is awful, perfectly matching the shitty music. I hearing it on WMMS mainstream rock radio in Cleveland when it was released, they can have it, sucks ass.

classic album. this pressing sounds so good, and it’s original in all its glory. no censorship nonsense. how do we learn from our mistakes if we erase history?

Such a sick pressing for last band masterpiece. Each sound on its place. And such a shame with Instrumental track. Same as cancel rock n roll nigger by Patti Smith. World goes mad.

This is not an especially important album to me. In fact, I never listened to it until tonight. However, it piqued my interest because the recent reissues are censored. That made choosing the alternate Punk Note cover variant an easy choice for me. If we're going revisionist, might as well get the one that looks nothing like the original.

So, what's censored? A song called "Don't Blow Bubbles" which includes the line: "Don't blow no Bubbles (that's the way we can stop the AIDS)"; the idea being that the spread of that syndrome could be reduced by not engaging in homosexual acts. In other words "Bubbles" is the person's name who should not be fellated. The censorship involves removing all vocals from the entire song and leaving just the instrumental in its place.

It's certainly an outdated sentiment and it's good that the band recognized it as such. Homophobia is something we should seek to minimize as much as possible.

However, what I find most offensive is the censorship. If we erase history, we are more likely to repeat history. And this is certainly an attempt to erase history because no mention of the censorship is made apparent on the packaging of the reissue. Not on the hype sticker and not in the essay provided on the back cover (the essay being a stylistic choice made to mimic the Blue Note jazz record sleeves). If the essay included a line about removing the vocals due to their homophobia, I'd be more on board because the producers of this product would be acknowledging the problematic nature of the lyrics and making a statement about their intention to minimize homophobia.

But, as it stands, it's an example of revisionism which actually stands in the way of progress due the covering up of one's wrongdoing in an attempt to rewrite the past. I also have to say that censorship is the least "punk" thing a person can do so there's that.

I purchased the original cassette off a Whatnot seller in an attempt to preserve history in all its ugliness. I don't agree with the sentiments of the song and I stand against homophobia. But, again, I firmly believe that erasing history leads to repeating history.

What a bunch of sellout’s for leaving the song don’t blow bubbles off of this

Got mine from Brooklyn Vegan with no issues. Good solid pressing of a good Bad Brains outing.

The re-master sounds great - nice and crispy, more detail, and BUMPING! HOWEVER, 'don't blow bubbles' has been made into a lame instrumental (WTF?!!) I'm guessing someone at Newbury Comics is to blame -
The end track is also slightly different than my older copy - sounds like a different take.
And...yes, the splatter makes an audible tick on the outro over the ending ! Bummer! Everything else was solid -

(retailers, record labels, etc. need to leave the artist's work alone - there's always someone who doesn't like something and feels the need to interject, or feel the need to put their name on it )

censored version, very lame. I wonder if it’s the band’s choice or the record company.

DON'T BLOW BUBBLES R.I.P. LOL...me and my meathead buddies have been giggling since the early '90s...STONE CLASSIC.

This album sure did age well! Upon release it lacked a bit of power to me due to the production, as compared to their brilliant live albums (as any hardcore band's studio albums did round that time).

The homofobic 'Don't blow bubbles' off course never was cool. Kudos for including the instrumental here. That being said: HR uses the word Batty Bwoi (the derogatory term for homosexual in Patois) on 'Yout' Juice'.