Track Listing

1. Give Thanks and Praises
2. Jah People
3. Pure Love
4. Natty Dreadlocks 'Pon the Mountain Top
5. Build a Nation
6. Expand Your Soul
7. Jah Love
8. Universal Peace
9. Roll On
10. Until Kingdom Comes
11. In The Beginning
12. Send You No More Flowers
13. Peace Be Unto Thee

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30967 in Music
• Released on: 2007-06-26
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
These African-American Rastafarians didn't just originate DC hardcore in the late 1970s with their incredibly fast and brilliant "Pay to Cum" single; they set the bar impossibly high. That the group is not hugely millionaires-with-jets popular is one of the music industry's travesties. But they've always had as much a penchant for pissing off the shaven headed moshers at their shows (playing lengthy dub songs) as for giving them what they want (supersonic riffage). Much of the album employs the metal-tinged sound the group's been flirting with since they were on SST in the late '80s. A third of the tracks are reggae numbers, and while you're not going to sell off all your Culture LPs after hearing those, they are definitely serviceable. Build a Nation is not as great as the ROIR cassette, but it's the best album they've made in years, and shows the band in awesome form. This is thanks in no small part to the production efforts of the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch. As this is their second best-sounding proper album--the first being 1983's Ric Ocasek-produced Rock for Light--it's clear that the band should work only with their celebrity musician-fans at the helm from now on. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Not a disappointment...Great album!
I first heard the Bad Brains years ago in the metal/punk "crossover" years, and "I against I" was a favorite. Over 20 years later,the Bad Brains are even more powerful than ever,and they are still capable of delivering a heavy slammer like this, amazing! I really enjoy the reggae tunes also, and "Build A Nation" has a great hardcore edge, still with the metal influence. Most of the newer bands today just can't match the intensity of the Bad Brains. Hope they keep going for a long time!!!

The Big 3
There are three things you should know about the Bad Brains before listening or not listening to this album. Those three things are Rock For Light, I Against I , and Quickness which are all essential to any comprehensive music collection. I think there are two kinds of music, good and bad. Sadly, this Building a Nation falls into the bad category. It sounds like a band that has lost any form of relevence or cohesion. The Bad Brains burned bright when they were a band, as a revival they just don't cut it.

Eh.
After a dozen or so listens, I'm pretty much convinced that I will never truly 'get into' this album. Compared to hardcore/dub-littered classics like Bad Brains, Rock For Light, and the archetypical Black Dots, this simply lacks the raw, punchy energy that made them so revolutionary (not to mention entertaining)in the first place.
H.R.'s legendary vocals are afflicted with similar symptoms; indiscernible, low in the mix, and effect slathered. I wouldn't call it a colossal failure of a comeback, as their have been far worse - it just doesn't measure up, and certainly lacks relevance today.
Hell, the best Build A Nation offers this time around seems to be the reggae. If the guys chose to reamp their I Against I sound (which I've never been a fan of, even), they'd probably flip a few more wigs than 'resurrecting' a sound that has been built upon and revived with relative consistentcy for the past 20 some years.