5 out of 5

Label: Touch and Go

Produced by: John Golden (mastered by)

I don’t know that I could ask for anything else as a Brainiac fan. Upon lead Tim Taylor’s death, while the group had more output than some longer running bands, it certainly felt like we were left with so little testament to Taylor’s and the band’s talents – but moreso it was that everything they put out was of varying degrees of greatness, and demanded relistens. So I wore out those albums; everything became very familiar.

Why it took so long to come around to putting together a compilation of the extras – the singles, some unreleased material – is likely due to it needing time for it to be done, and to feel right. Would I have appreciated this so much had it been released closer to when the band was active?

From Dayton Ohio essentially plays out like a chronological review, from Smack Bunny Baby-era material on the A- and B-side to a live set that covers Bonsai through Internationale, and if I want to snip at the sound quality at certain points throughout as a possible criticism… in the case of the early material, that goes back to the source, and in the case of the live show, while every high and low may not be captured, the songs definitely arrive intact – vocal distortions, keyboard squiggles, pounding drumming and jamming guitars and all – and more importantly the energy is there.

Rounding things out is the presentation, which is straight-forward, but gives you what you need: full-bleed photos that capture different times for the group, and credits that outline where and when all this material comes from, and who played on what and who recorded what and etc.

So, again: I don’t know what else I could ask for. Even down to the album title, which, as the Touch and Go press rightly underlines, suits the band, who were proud of being Daytonites. So this isn’t just a compilation; not just a live show; it is kinda that testament I sought, summarizing the band across their evolution and underlining what they were about.