HR - Its About Luv [OTR LP 101]

HR - Its About Luv [OTR LP 101]
Label - Olive Tree Records (DC)
Released - 1985
Style - Reggae/Dub/Punk/Hardcore/Metal

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Tracklist:
1 Roots
2 It'll Be Alright
3 Were Gonna Get You / Heaven Forbid
4 Lets Have A Revolution
5 Who Loves You Girl ?
6 Its About Love
7 Happy Birthday My Son
8 Free Our Mind

Again taking the non-traditional route with this 'review' - The record is classic HR style, so if you don't know what that means then use your imagination. You can hear elements of Bad Brains but I think this album is more metal + weed smoking. Plus the band is a totally different lineup than BBs. I love it. Originally I had the SST tape back in high school, but lost it long ago. Found this on vinyl a few weeks ago off the Olive Tree label (original pressing! DC PO Box address on label) and it sounds just as awesome as it did to me in high school.

Here's the interview, which isn't really a record review at all but I don't give a fuck. Still in FTW mode from the Rock For Light review...




Suburban Voice Interviews Bad Brains

Probably the most unusual interview I've ever encountered in my 4 years of doing this 'zine. In a haze of marijuana smoke, surrounded by several moribund hangers-on, a dialogue with HR aka Paul Hudson aka Joseph I, dynamic vocalist for the Bad Brains. Most people know the Brains' story by now, including their explosive comeback in '85 and the recent release of their album "I Against I." HR is also involved in a band bearing his nickname and the reggae band Zion Train. The rest of the band includes Dr. Know (guitar), Darryl (bass) and HR's brother Earl on drums. What can be concluded form this interview? Beats me. Read on...

SV: What led you guys to get back together?

HR: Mostly, I and I was missing each other, still missing the vibes that we was cultivating.

SV: What's "I Against I" all about?

HR: Basically, that's about the continual battle of good against evil where you have man and man or even a man fighting against himself, even self-hatred, which we feel is going on a lot in these times and when you investigate and do research into the lyrics you can see a man saying, "him have this, him have that" but he's still not happy, even for his family and he still don't have it, like I against I. Do you see it?

SV: So how do you find this happiness?

HR: Well, you know the answer to that.

SV: I think I know the answer, but why don't you tell me, anyway. What is it for you?

HR: Each man has to find God.

SV: Are Zion Train and HR still going?

HR: Yes, Zion Train is moving forward. We've just released I and I first LP on Olive Tree Records. We're hopefully going into the studio real soon to record. The lead singer and leader of Zion Train is named Julius Selassie and he lives in Washington, DC and he's a very positive brethren and he's working very hard still for Zion Train to move forward and we really appreciate the people that are checking for I and I because it means a lot to us. We're really hoping that Zion Train can move forward in due season, just as you see I and I move forward with the Bad Brains at this present time.

SV: So does each different project serves a different function for you?

HR: Well, each project is definitely a different arrangement of ideas, but it's all one function because we all have the same goal, which is basically, simply to spread Jah message near and far.

SV: So that's your prime motivation for playing music.

HR: Yes, for everything and yes, for me.

SV: Could you tell me a little more about Rastafarianism?

HR: Rasta is not no black nothing. Rasta is a function of the heart, it's the first law. Now, we have the first nation, which is Africa and we give credit to the dynasty of the Solomon lineage so this is the only reigning diplomatic credited Christian Orthodox function today but we do not function for blackness. I and I live for humanity. A man can be any color and be a Rasta. (gives me a pamphlet on Rasta which also contains info about HR's recent police troubles).

SV: What's all this about "Joseph has recently suffered a heavy burden"?

HR: I just came out of jail after 4 months incarceration for possession of marijuana with intention to distribute, so, in Babylon, I man is a criminal and they lock I man up for this.

SV: There's a lot of anti-drug mania in the US right now.

HR: Well, I man is against drugs, too. I man is an anti-drug mania, too. But herb isn't a drug and that's where they make their mistake. Now, when we get a brave, credited politician to stand forward and tell these people that they're wasting their time and their energy and making things harder on themselves by locking up innocent victims who use herb just like they use caremelle, mullein, peppermint, golden seal and the list goes on and on and on. Nobody has to take the marijuana and put it in a machine and process it. If we was to do that, regulate it, then. But we don't do that, so how come they want to restrict I and I from smoking it. It's not true and from God, in the Bible, Genesis 2, verse 7-11, I could be mistaken, but you can see where God give man herb and vegetation and he saw that it was good and in Psalms, Jah show I and I that he give I and I herb for the service of mankind. So if we have this herb in the bible, why is there going to be a contradiction to I and I. So we're ready to suffer the penalty for marijuana to the bitter end. We love I and I herb and we will never stop smoking it, ever.

SV: What made you decide to record "Sacred Love" over the phone?

HR: I and I record "Sacred Love" through the suggestion of a producer, Ron St. Germain, who produced "I Against I." After I man's second month of incarceration, this man asked I and I if I'd be into it, so I and I say yeah. I really didn't have much to lose being in I man's position. So when I heard about it, I was a little odd, a little astounded. However, I love to sing, in jail, out of jail, it don't matter.

SV: Where do you see the Bad Brains going from here?

HR: I and I don't make no plans so I really couldn't tell the future. I only know the present and what I hope I live to do which is live to dwell another day in Jah temple. So I couldn't tell you what's going to happen. Only Jah know. I just give thanks for the people here tonight, to the youth that support I and I near and far, and I want to encourage all the youth that are just starting out in the world today, whether they be musicians or carpenters or maybe nobody, still I want to encourage them to live up and not to let people discourage them, that they do have an identity and that they are what they're going to live up and they're going to make it, regardless of what these negative ones may say to them and I want to tell them to keep moving forward. Don't fall to that temptation...

Printed in Suburban Voice #21 (1987)
http://www.operationphoenixrecords.com/suburbanvoicebadbrains.html


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