Attempting to explain why an album that you’ve listened to at maximum volume at fairly regular intervals for the best part of thirty years should be on everyone’s “must hear before you die” list is actually kind of difficult. And not just because it suddenly makes you realise that you’re old and far closer to the eternal sleep of the grave than you’d like to be. It’s difficult because, it’s become such an entrenched part of your life and something that you’re so used to, you almost take it for granted that everyone should already own the damn thing. Which is the case with A Mind Is A Terrible Thing, by the seminal and long departed California wrecking crew, Christ on Parade.

When people bandy the term “classic” around, they usually do so with an ease that ensures that they don’t know what they’re talking about and they’ve simply latched on to the word and used it because they don’t know how else to describe what it is they’re discussing. But in this case, it’s entirely appropriate to use it because A Mind Is A Terrible Thing really is a “classic” Hardcore record in every sense of the word. It’s old, it’s intelligent, Dead Kennedys influenced UK82 meets Crossover sound is timeless and retains a vitality and energy that at least half of the today’s scene would be hard pushed to match or even come close to emulating. And what’s more, before this re-issue turned up, I was still playing, and enjoying every second of my battered and worn copy on a regular basis. Add it to your before I die list and get it. Get it now. Tim Cundle