Helmet recently released a live album on the German label Ear Music called Live And Rare. Side A is a set from CBGB's on January 27th, 1990 and side B is a portion of a set from the Big Day Out festival in Melbourne, Australia on January 24th, 1993.
The songs on the LP were from the Meantime era of the band and earlier. Live And Rare is a snapshot of Helmet in their young, angry prime and when a proper response to their music was to break the closest inanimate object or punch the nearest person in the back of the head for absolutely no reason.
One of the things this record did was made me really miss Helmet's original drummer, John Stanier. He held that music together and was the driving force behind all of those songs.
When Page Hamilton put together a new version of Helmet in the mid-2000s, it definitely sounded like something was missing. That something was John Stanier who went on to play drums in Battles, Tomahawk and Mark Of Cain.
The newer Helmet records aren't bad records. I listen to those records regularly and always pick them up on release day but they don't feel like complete Helmet records to me. It's almost like Page Hamilton held onto the band name because of the recognition or he had several boxes of leftover merch in his garage that he needed to get rid of. That's perfectly fine to do because trying to introduce people to something new is such a pain in the ass. I can certainly hear people saying, “Oh, that's the new band from the Helmet guy? Well, why didn't he just call the band Helmet?”
In my obsessive fanboy head, all of the songs from the Born Annoying collection through Aftertaste were damn near perfection for not just heavy music but music in general. Those records are in my DNA and form a legacy that should be protected. The reformed Helmet records (Size Matters, Monochrome, Seeing Eye Dog and Dead To The World) don't diminish that legacy but they do make me look at it differently.
Live And Rare also scratched my nostalgia itch. Listening to that early lineup tearing into those songs live felt like home. When I first put the record on, I kept flipping it over to listen to it again and again. I couldn't not listen to it for about three days. Every chance I had to put a record on, I reached for Live And Rare.
This record also stirred up memories of a trip to California to visit family in July of 1997. In support of Aftertaste, Helmet was playing two nights at The Troubadour, with the Melvins and Regurgitator. I had somehow convinced the powers that be to drop me off on Santa Monica Blvd. for one of the shows. That show was a much needed reprieve from a week of family fun time.
There were no hidden unreleased gems on Live And Rare. All of the songs were previously released and readily available except for the second track, “Impressionable.” “Impressionable” was available as a bonus track on the Japanese CD version of Strap It On and the Dope, Guns And Fucking In The Streets comp from Amphetamine Reptile. As far as I can remember, I had never heard that song before.
Live And Rare does provide a live version of Helmet's cover of “Oven” from the Melvins. The studio version that I first heard on Born Annoying was my introduction to the Melvins and I had never heard Helmet play it live in the numerous times that I had seen them.
The album, without question, does accomplish the task of capturing Helmet at their most sonically dangerous. Legendary status aside, as much as CBGB was a shithole, the club was smart enough to provide multitrack recording capabilities to any band that wanted it, and could afford to pay for it, which is how side A of this record exists. I am curious to hear what was cut from the Big Day Out set. Was it mostly duplicate songs from the CBGB recording or were the songs cut for time? I for one wouldn't have minded two releases but that's just me being a completist. My wishful thinking would have had the CBGB set as a 10-inch for Record Store Day and the Big Day Out set could have been it's own release.
If you've ever so slightly bobbed your head or put your fist through a sheet of drywall while listening to Helmet in the 1990s, then Live And Rare would definitely be worth investing your time and money into. The album is available on most streaming platforms but check your local store for the vinyl. They may or may not have gotten their copies in due to supply chain issues but we all know they could use the sale more than Amazon.
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