File revised on Dec. 12, 2009 for far superior sound quality on all the studio tracks. Trust me, it's worth the download.
I figured i'd finally put together a collection of all the best sounding Straight Ahead recordings i could find. First off is the entire 12 song demo. 9 of these 12 songs were released on the End the Warzone compilation 7" on One Step Ahead Records in 1986, alongside some other great bands (Larm, Pillsbury Hardcore and Attitude Adjustment). The entire demo included here sounds great and has a nice loud, full sound, and is by far my favorite material by this band. Fast and chaotic, short but memorable songs. Just perfect, no bullshit hardcore. Also included is a nice sounding rip of the classic Breakaway 12" ep released in 1987 on I Risk Records (and bootlegged countless times since), and a set recorded live at CBGB in March of '87. Of all the live sets i've heard by this band, this is my favorite. Good sound quality, great performance, and they play just about every song they ever wrote, including 3 unreleased songs, Knockdown, The More Important and Take Control. There's also a couple of songs from the NYC Mayhem days (actually, most Straight Ahead songs are just modified NYC Mayhem tracks), and Amount to Nothing is a re-working of Nothing Song. To top it off there's a cover of Agnostic Front's "Friend or Foe" with Vinny Stigma singing along on stage. Ending the collection is an interview with the band recorded live on WNYU's Crucial Chaos. Enjoy.
Straight Ahead Collection
Tommy Carroll - vocals
Craig Setari - bass
Rob Echeverria - guitar
Armand Majidi - drums
According to various sources, Tommy Carroll played drums on the Straight Ahead demo (credited as XXX), and Armand played on the Breakaway 12". I've also seen Gordon Ancis (NYC Mayhem) credited for playing guitar for Straight Ahead. Maybe the demo?
Besides NYC Mayhem, members of Straight Ahead also played in Youth of Today, Sick Of It All, Rest In Pieces and Agnostic Front. Probably many more as well.
Supposedly there is a session recorded live at Don Fury studios from 5/20/87 with the unreleased songs. For reasons i'll never understand, it seems nobody is allowed to hear it, as it's under "lock & key".
There are many other recordings of live Straight Ahead shows. The ones i know of are: CBGB 3/16/86 (first show), Albany 6/22/86 (i have 3 songs from this one, it sounds ok, but the bass is very overpowering), CBGB 7/20/86 (there's video of this show as well), CBGB 3/21/87 (possibly the set i posted although mine was labeled 3/1/87), CBGB 5/3/87 (last show). If anyone has any decent quality rips of these shows, please get in touch. I'd love to make a second collection.
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