This Is Big Audio Dynamite 180G LP (Out of Stock)

In 1985 Joe Strummer failed at stripping The Clash down and taking it back in time with Cut the Crap while former band mate Mick Jones leaped forward with the visionary, genre-crossing Big Audio Dynamite. BAD’s debut This is Big Audio Dynamite is a multi-layered and sample-driven whirlwind of musical influences, including house and hip-hop, rap and reggae, electro-pop and more, with movie dialog and sound effects thrown in just for fun!

While the music has to be called out as experimental for its day, Jones’ gift for rhythm, melody and catchy hooks makes it an eminently listenable and utterly cool affair that on each listen will have you humming and singing to yourself for days.

The influence this album and band would have on rock and rap in the following decade can’t be understated. It’s impossible to listen to 80s and 90s classics like The Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique or Beck’s Odelay without hearing echoes of the beats and samples from This Is Big Audio Dynamite all the way back in 1985.

For This is Big Audio Dynamite our friends at Sony scoured the US and UK vaults and secured the best analog tape currently available, a beautiful 1/4” 15-ips “cutting copy” from 1985. This tape was used for the expanded Sony Legacy 2010 CD reissue, and as it’s either the only remaining or the best usable analog tape it would be tempting to call it the “master tape,” as it would be advantageous to IR to market it as “from the master tapes.” However, as an avid record collector I always want to know exactly what the source is for every LP I buy and am continually frustrated that so many labels are so coy about this (or outright misleading).

The tape boxes pictured here have a box checked “copy” and I’m telling it like it is. Most important, these analog tapes sound great, and we’re delivering the definitive version of this CLASSIC LP! Ryan K. Smith’s cut for Intervention has much greater bass punch, a much more expansive soundstage and greater inner detail that reveals all the nuances in this utterly unique and densely-layered production. The dynamics are greatly improved as well adding immensely to the fun and drama of the movie samples and sound effects.