As We See It

In the August issue's As We See It, Tom Fine and I encouraged readers to hold on to their physical media—those black and silver discs—even if they're stashed away in a closet or attic, replaced by hi-rez streaming. An important reason we gave is that with physical media (in contrast to streaming), you know exactly what you're listening to—or at least you can know, with a little work.

Also if you want to, you can do a lot of work, since there is much to know and to learn, especially about vinyl records (and shellacs), and learning about them—about the labels and those arcane codes in the runout groove area—is a big part of the music-collecting hobby. Serious record collectors are likely to have several pressings of favorite albums and to know the provenance of each one. With streaming, you're limited to whichever version they end up with, and usually they don't bother to tell you which version it is. An example is Rock for Light by Bad Brains, which is considered by Robert Baird in this month's Aural Robert.

Punk has never been synonymous with high fidelity—on the contrary. Punks rebelled against a lot of things, including what they considered soulless sterility in mainstream early-'70s music and an obsession with pristine sound. In recording and playing, punk promoted a "DIY" aesthetic.

Many punk rockers could hardly play their instruments. Bad Brains could. As for the sonic quality of their recordings, it improved over time.

Bad Brains started out as a jazz-fusion band—think Return to Forever—so it's no surprise that they had chops. Even after they named themselves after a song by The Ramones, they still couldn't quite decide if they were punk, reggae, hardcore, or metal. Eventually these elements blended to make a unique sound that I find approachable; think hardcore reggae with virtuosic guitar. As for the recording quality, it got better over time.

Their self-titled first album was released in 1982, only on cassette. The recorded sound was primitive. Their 1983 second album, Rock for Light (available on vinyl and cassette), was a big sonic improvement, but the band didn't have many fans then, so not many copies were pressed; only lifelong aging punk rockers and longtime music geeks (like Robert Baird) own a 1983 pressing. As Robert wrote in his piece, most people, if they know the record at all, know the '91 reissue, which was remixed in 1990, remastered, and messed up.

In 2021, Dave Gardner reissued Rock for Light for ORG, part of a project to reissue the Bad Brains catalog. He worked from a digital safety copy of the '83 session tapes. The most recent release, from earlier this year, is on 180gm burnt-orange vinyl. For the rest of the story—or all of it that anyone remembers—see Aural Robert.

What's the connection between Rock for Light and streaming vs physical media? Search for "Rock for Light" on any of the streaming services. You'll find a single version each on Spotify, Qobuz, and Tidal. The Spotify version is lossy, of course, like everything else on that service (though it's possible that by the time you read this Spotify will finally have introduced its lossless tier). Spotify provides no clues to provenance other than the sound itself and the fact that it has 20 tracks—same as the '91 reissues, which added three bonus tracks to the original 17. (The post-2020 reissues also have 17 tracks.) Qobuz offers one version, with 20 tracks. It comes accompanied by a review that suggests (without quite saying it) that the version presented is from the "1990 CD." The version on Tidal has 20 tracks and adds a 1983 copyright date, a contradiction, since, again, the 20-track version is from '91. No other information is offered.

Accessing this music in Roon adds another layer of confusion. In addition to the short review from Qobuz, which Roon presents even when you play the Tidal version, Roon adds credit information, including an acknowledgement of Gardner, who wasn't involved in '83 or '91—yet, again, the Qobuz and Tidal versions can only be from '91. To those who read credits, as I routinely do, Gardner is being blamed for the bad 1990 remix.

I love that with streaming, readers who don't know Bad Brains can read this and in no time at all, cue up the album and explore this new-to-them music. (Though, if you're looking for an entry point for Bad Brains, I suggest 1986's I Against I, a more polished album and a purer distillation of the Bad Brains sound and sensibility.) It's regrettable, though, that those who stream Rock for Light have no alternative to the inferior 1990 remix, when three versions now exist, in very different sound. I also regret the misinformation.

All is not lost. You can access Gardner's remaster of the original mix on physical media at ORG's Bandcamp page, on cassette, on CD (for a mere $10), or in any of three LP versions. There is no digital download. I Against I is also available on Bandcamp, remastered by Gardner from the original mix. The first Bad Brains album, Bad Brains, is also available.

We need a better model of music streaming, one that presents several (ideally all) digital versions of important albums, with accurate credit information for each one. To make this happen will require cooperation—indeed, serious effort—from record companies. Is this a pipe dream? Probably. But at a minimum, streaming services—and especially Roon, which is hardly free and purports to provide a rich informational ecosystem—have an obligation, moral if not legal, to provide accurate information.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to stream but keep my physical library. For music I don't own, which of course is most of it, I'll continue to buy LPs and occasionally CDs, as long as they're available, new or used.

So maybe you should sell your physical music after all. That way, there'll be more of it for me.