What are fans of rock and roll music thankful for this Janky Fresh Black Friday after Thanksgiving? They’re thankful for hardcore punk music and psychedelic rock, both genres owing debts to bands that released music today in the later eras of their iconic careers.
The first is Bad Brains, out with Live at The Bayou, a lost recording from a Washington D.C. show on July 14th 1980, while the second is another lost recording in the form of legendary Zamrock band WITCH’s Fool’s Ride, released for the first time in the United States. Both were rediscovered as further evidence that the world is reaching some kind of spiritual completion on the other side of these turbulent birthing pains.
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For those unfamiliar with these bands, they have something in common besides the fact that both of these releases were once difficult to attain in America. There’s something that connects them beyond their positions as seminal bands in their genres, breaking new musical ground and inspiring numerous musical offspring. Whether you’re a pilgrim or an Indigenous native on this Black Friday after Thanksgiving, give thanks to our brothers from another mother.
WITCH: Fool’s Ride (released November 28, 2025): Teal Record Company
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Let’s begin with WITCH’s Fool’s Ride. This album oozes authentic psychedelic vibes and feels like a literal time capsule back to 1970’s Zambia during the Zamrock explosion spearheaded by W.I.T.C.H, an acronym for We Intend To Cause Havoc.
The album’s tracks bounce between chaotic and rhythmic on “Talking Universe” but cruise seamlessly into mellow jams with “Evil Woman”. On a song like “Evil Woman”, you can hear exactly why a band like WITCH was able to cross over into underground scenes around the world. They are skilled storytellers, connecting their Zamrock to themes universal to humanity. Many bands have tracks about baddies, from Black Sabbath to Santana, but this one might be the sleeper nominee for the best of all, with exotic, seductive arrangements that marry tone and narrative, capturing the feeling of being lured into downfall by a shadowy figure of the opposite sex.
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“Sweet Sixteen” sounds like it could have been Southern rock in another dimension, tapping into an American sentiment that showed up throughout 70’s and 80’s music, whether through Iggy Pop or Kip Winger. Unlike those artists though, WITCH deliver the story of a sixteen-year-old with unparalleled depth and sensitivity within the psych rock framework. With the heavenly inspired but oh so cool strumming that introduces “Up The Sky”, WITCH express transcendental and spiritual lyrics in everyday poetry, pouring their hearts into their connection to God in resonant terms. On every track of Fool’s Ride, the singing, lyrics, guitar work, drumming, and storytelling weave together like a tapestry, each element dancing with the others to tie the album together cohesively.
“Toloka” is a lo-fi, speedy track with smoky blues guitar wailing that you can’t help but move to, even as it breaks your heart. The track isn’t in English, but it makes you feel something regardless of the sounds you arrange in your head to create meaning. From the scale and delivery of the vocals in each verse, you sense he is painfully professing love for someone or something.
With a grand return to psychedelia on “81st Crowd Confusion”, the track may remain in an African tongue, but the guitar speaks a universal language of epic riffing. The song illustrates a moment near the end of the hero’s journey, where one last obstacle remains. That’s how emotive and verbal the guitars are here.
The album’s title track, “Fool’s Ride”, is a rocking, headbanging romp where English makes its return in certain segments, sometimes in an almost pidgin form. The track often explodes with feeling through the guitar erupting with pent up emotion.
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“Chifundo”, the last song on the album, is an exotic, oddly timed jigsaw of Zamrock sound and poetry. At first the body and mind struggle to latch onto the vibe, but eventually it pulls you in and takes you on the album’s final ride. This is Fool’s Ride’s most psychedelic expression, drawing from planets and dimensions beyond our own to wrap up this strange Zamrock tale. Fool’s Ride isn’t just an album; it’s a Zamrock epic, telling a story not through the traditional conventions of the hero’s journey but through a new archetype all its own that can only be called “The Fool’s Journey”. Whether that fool is a fool in the eyes of their community, their lover, their God, or the universe, the fool’s story is just as powerful a tool to learn from as any hero’s. My advice is to pick up this once-lost treasure in America and spark a joint to take this ride with WITCH.
Bad Brains: Live At The Bayou (released November 28, 2025): Time Traveler Recordings
Early era Bad Brains is a whole different animal from the Bad Brains many know. This era was so raw and pioneering, that the scene they created hadn’t even formed around them yet to truly appreciate and uplift the music. It was like the era where a comedian is still in their open mic days, except Bad Brains already had the skills, songs, and mojo to hold any audience in the palm of their hand, even when those audiences at first were made up of everyone but punks. Footage from this era shows people wearing ties to the show, not because it was punk fashion but because Bad Brains shows were for everyone before the audience refined itself into a scene. Back then, HR was in a suit and tie too. He didn’t have his signature dreads yet, but he still did the backflips.
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Live at The Bayou isn’t available to stream on any platform. You’ll have to buy the vinyl to experience the joys of early Bad Brains in your living room. And in case its status as a Janky Fresh pick of the week hasn’t grabbed your attention and made it a must-buy, check out the tracklist:
1. Supertouch (4:29)
2. Attitude (1:25)
3. 1-2-X-U (1:10)
4. The Big Takeover (3:06)
5. The Man Won’t Annoy (2:45)
6. Right Brigade (2:35)
7. Redbone (1:59)
8. Paranoid (1:25)
9. Stay Close (2:38)
10. Pay to Cum (1:34)
11. Suck Sess (1:59)
12. Banned in DC (2:35)
13. I Love I Jah (5:51)
14. I (2:39)
15. At the Movies (3:17)
There are so many bangers here. Songs off Banned in DC performed in DC before they got banned. This is a slice of punk history on vinyl that shows you why their raucous sound had to be censored in the nation’s capital.
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So do yourself a favor on this Black Friday. Now that two lost albums are available to crate diggers in America, pick up these releases from legendary Black artists and show thanks to the musical geniuses that gave us punk and psychedelic music.
Words: Rob Shepyer
H.R. photo: Jessica Moncrief
