Christ On Parade - Loud And Live

From Oakland, CA., and Bremen, Germany, Christ On Parade... Holy fuck did hearing those words at the begining of this CD give me goose bumps! I literally shit a brick when I saw that this was available for purchase. A live recording from the Tour I was salivating to see, and alas, I never did. Doesn't matter. I saw them more than enough back in the days to last me a lifetime, and this CD is more than enough to bear me through the rest of my days. Yeah, Christ On Parade is one of the many cashing in on the whole 'reunion' thing but gawd damn, I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone I'd rather see back together again, with all original members, and sounding just as good. A blistering, powerful performance captured live at some college radio station, Christ On Parade just shred through a treasure trove of songs from their amazing back catalog, playing with the Passion and Integrity that is sorely missing in so-called Punk bands today. The live sound is amazing, with the guitars sounding like razor blades scratching on fat hunks of steel, the bass just throbbing and pounding inside of your brain, with the drums propelling it all along at not quite the same break neck speed of their earlier, classic material, but who fucking cares? It's in the songs, man, and this shit is just fucking amazing. Riding The Flatlands has been stuck in my head for days now. If you've ever been then you know why. Fucking incredible. Original singer Barrie is aboard, and him and Noah (guitar) do a great job singing all the classics from Sounds Of Nature, as well as The Mind Is A Terrible Thing LP. This band holds a near and dear place in my heart, as anyone who has ever hung around with me knows, and there's no way that I'd ever slag off this CD, even if it sucked, which, thankfully, it doesn't. Pick this up immediately and listen to what Punk Rock was about, circa 1986 or so, and see why I laugh at most bands who call themselves "Punk". Christ On Parade is Punk. You're not. Deal with it.

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