3rd Bass - The Cactus Al/Bum 2xLP

Def Jam (2024, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

For its 35th anniversary, Def Jam finally reissued The Cactus Al/Bum as a double LP on vinyl.  3rd Bass' debut album was in dire need of this treatment as the original version, and all reissues, of the record tried to cram 20 songs clocking in at just under an hour onto a single LP.  As you can imagine, it certainly didn't sound its best.  The hype sticker on this new reissue says it was remastered from the original analog tapes and whether it's that or just having less music per side and stretching this out onto two LPs, the record sound better than it ever has.

I'm really happy that this record is getting this sort of treatment.  I've always felt that 3rd Bass never really got sustained credit for how good they were.  They hardly ever come up when other golden era greats are discussed, but both of their records are great and hold up to most others released around the same time.  I mean, no, they're not Public Enemy, but both records are much better than I think most people remember.

In particular, the production on The Cactus Al/Bum is top notch for 1989.  I would put it up against just about anything that came out that year.  And as far as lyrics go, Serch has always been kind of a goofball, but an entertaining one and Pete Nice absolutely is among the most under appreciated of the early golden era to me.  Hopefully this reissue shines some much needed attention on what is in my opinion, a classic album.  I have it playing again while I'm writing this and I really does sound great.  Absolutely worth double dipping if you have any of the earlier single disc pressings.

3rd Bass - The Cactus Al/Bum:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nHAZh4VPksh1NjCgvM7FeaDVgf4jJc0T0