Raw: A Brainstorm Compendium

Description

Raw: A Brainstorm Compendium is a multi-artist compilation released on Brainstorm Artists International in 1994, distributed by Diamante Music Group. Raw was one of four Brainstorm samplers released. The others were entitled Rap, Reflections, and Rock, respectively.

Brainstorm Artists, recently established as an artist owned and operated cooperative, celebrates a new era by presenting an anthology of songs and miscellanea by all of the artists that have made such an important contribution to the faith and lives of so many.

RAW: From God Rules, which started it all over a decade ago, to the thrash-rap of XL and DBD. Highlights include songs by Deliverance, Nobody Special, Dig Hay Zoose, and Undercover. [Note from the album insert]

On the ‘Rap‘ collection, anything from the first J.C. & The Boyz album is conspicuous in its absence (though not much of a hip-hop album, it may be the closest ccm has come to the long-neglected Latin freestyle genre), all the other bases are covered. SFC’s first album was on the order of artistic simplicity as that of J.C. & TB’s set, but ‘A Saved Man (In The Jungle)‘ and the ambitious ‘Phase III‘ are well represented. The Dynamic Twins‘ takes on their Zapp and EPMD influences are highlighted from their two sets so far. Maybe because he plays bass on tracks by nigh everyone else represented, XL and his one man band, d.b.d., gets one lone track of his chaotic hip-metal-hop. There is too little of the donctrinaire-but-musically-vital IDOL King, but Freedom of Soul, on whose debut da King premiered, are amply showcased. Liner notes of the other comps in the series promise music from The Brainwash Projects, but you’ll have to taste their Zappa-via-Leaders of the New School flavour on the current Freedom Of Soul set. Making up for that glitch are an exclusive SFC/Freedom Of Soul duet, cut from the current SFC indie tape.

The ‘Raw’ deal is all over the place. Could have stood for more of that wide-eyed power-pop from the under-recognized Holidays, and the Undercover material with Gym Nicholson on vox doesn’t fit, if only because his instrument is too dang operatically epic. The goodies from the second Dig Hay Zoose joint balance on the precipice of “raw” for their structural complexity and often happy melodies. Getting further into the “raw” essence are Nobody Special‘s snot-nosed punk, more of XL & d.b.d. spit-out rap assault, and even an SFC metallic experiment («Hoods Of Good»). At only 50-some minutes, ‘Raw’ could have included the other SFC meta goodies («Idiot Box»), stuff from the first Nobody Special album and more, but for what’s here, the parent annoyace factor is sufficiently high to have made its point. [Jamie Lee Rake, Syndicate # 42, 1994 (Vol. 9)]

CD tracklist:

01. Undercover – God Rules – 2:25
02. Deliverance – Belltown – 4:39
03. Dig Hay Zoose – B.D.O.C. – 2:35
04. XL and DBD (with Mark Salomon) – Sodom And America – 3:13
05. Nobody Special – Heroes – 2:06
06. S.F.C. – Hoods Of Good – 4:30
07. Undercover – Tears In Your Eyes – 2:06
08. Nobody Special – Devil Metal – 4:31
09. XL and DBD – Brother To The Saboteur – 3:02
10. Dig Hay Zoose – Dancing In Concert With The Infinite – 4:44
11. Nobody Special – Finger Pointer – 2:41
12. The Holidays – Just Another Boy – 3:11
13. XL and DBD – Die (That Settles It) – 3:34
14. Dig Hay Zoose – Slatherage – 7:33
15. Undercover – Mea Culpa – 6:01

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Brainstorm Artists International.

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