Big Audio Dynamite II
Album: Class Of 92 - Live At The Town & Country
Label: Retroworld
Tracks: 8
Website: http://www.floatingworldrecords.co.uk

Back in the days was Fatea was a paper magazine and more focused towards punk and new wave as well as the emerging post-punk acoustic scene, one of my favourite venues was the old "Town And Country", now the Forum, it had an atmosphere that maybe only the Borderline matched at the time. The reason I mention it is that the subtitle for "Class Of '92" is 'Recorded Live At The Town & Country" a new series of releases on the Floating World Records imprint Retroworld.

By 1992 ex-Clash member Mick Jones had already rejigged the line-up of Big Audio Dynamite significantly enough to feel the need to add the II to the moniker, a line-up that included Hakins, Stonadge and Caustance, the latter on keyboards and decks, highlighting the fact that BAD II were bringing in elements of hip hop, beat box and sampling into their sound.

This was not a gig I was at and having heard the cd, I have to say I'm absolutely gutted to have missed it. This is an album that is immediately evocative of the time. There is an energy about the cd that captures the musical essence of the gig, though fortunately not the sweaty smell and feeling of getting crushed, I don't think I could take that anymore.

The thing that I find interesting looking back and I admit that this might be because of rose tinting nostalgia, but listening to this it does seem that the use of samples in the songs was more imaginative, an embellishment to the songs rather than a focal point.

As with any good gig, this isn't just a run through of the album, though album tracks are here, this is the tracks performed live, they sound different to their album equivalents. If this is an example of what the Town & Country Series is going to sound like, I'm a convert, I think this is the best I've heard BAD II, gutted.

Neil King