Rock For Live

So I never really wanted to get into collecting Bad Brains records. Until recently, all I had was some 90s repress of the first record (originally a cassette). I remember like twenty or so years ago someone had a Bad Brains collection listed on HYE, and it just went on and on and on. At this point I realised that there were a lot of Bad Brains records, and my overriding thought was 'do not go there'. I have most of their records digitally, and figured that this would be ok, especially as there are so many different pressings of their records. Heck, a lot of them were pressed on different labels to, so it always felt like just too much to get into, and even twenty years ago I felt like I was too late to the game. But all it took recently was Dave Byrd posting a copy of 'Rock For Light' for sale on instagram for my brain to immediately think 'I want that!'... and here we are.

So this is a Caroline Records pressing of 'Rock For Light' on gold vinyl. One of the reasons that I wanted this one is that it has two differnt hype stckers on the intact shrinkwrap. I figured I would be highly unlikely to see another one of these is such pristine condition, so if I was ever going to consider wanting this, it had to be this copy.

To the left is a white 'Limited Edition Colored Vinyl' sticker, and to the right is a sticker which proudly announces 'Remixed & digitally remastered by Ric Ocasek, contains 3 bonus tracks'. Probably if I had seen this for sale back in 1991 when it came out I would avoid this like the plague for being a dirty reissue (actually, that's not quite true, as in 1991 I had never even heard of Bad Brains, but you get the point). But in 2026, this feels like a cool version to own.

Only a few days after receiving this, I did a search on eBay for 'SST colour vinyl' and chanced across this green vinyl copy of the 'Bad Brains Live' LP. It was for sale in the UK and it felt like it would sell for a good price. In the end I won it for a little less than a new release costs these days, so I definitely got a good deal. This was put out by SST Records 1988, although this colour pressing is more likely from the early 90s, when SST rerpessed a lot of their records on colour vinyl.

To me this is a more typical live record. It's ok, but doesn't add enough for me to be likely to revisit it very often.

Interestingly, this live LP was reissued a couple of weeks ago for Record Store Day 2026 on a different label and on a yellow/red swirl vinyl, which actually looks ok. If I wanted one of those (which I don't) then I couldn't get it for less than I paid for this green copy, so this helps reinforce that I got a good deal, which is satisfying.

I'm not sure where to go from here. I think I'll try to get other Bad Brains records, but one copy of each will probably suffice.