Bad Religion: the Gray Race

Bad Religion: the Gray Race

1996

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Gray Race  2. Them and Us  3. A Walk  4. Parallel  5. Punk Rock Song  6. Empty Causes  7. Nobody Listens  8. Pity the Dead  9. Spirit Shine  10. The Streets of America  11. Ten in 2010  12. Victory  13. Drunk Sincerity  14. Come Join Us  15. Cease

I never knew what to make of this one. This was Bad Religion's first album after Mr. Brett (who wrote half the songs on the previous albums, and a good number of the really great ones) left the band. The remaining members hired Ric Ocasek of the Cars, who had recently become a hot producer again after working on Weezer's hugely successful 1994 album, to produce the Gray Race. After hearing about this I didn't know what to expect really. Would Bad Religion finally just go power-pop? Would there be New Wave touches? Would it be raw and aggressive like "Rock for Light?" Nobody knew, so my excitement levels were off the chart when this album was released.

I remember putting the CD on the big gaudy six-disc CD changer we used to have back then...

 I sat back and listened to it. The first time it just kind of flew rightb by  me.

So I played it again. The second listen  it just kind of flew by again, but "A Walk" and the insanely infectious folk-punk of  "Drunk Sincerity" stuck with me this time.

I played it a third time and the melodic urgency of "Parallel, " the grandiose "Streets of America," and stately closer "Cease"stood out.

And that was about it.

Then I played it a fourth time, and a fifth time and a one hundredth time...and to this day "the Gray Race" hasn't ever grown on me. I mean, it seems like they're doing everything right. The recording is punchy and powerful, the harmonies are glorious as usual, Everything was played with proper conviction and new guitarist Brian Baker (of Dag Nasty, Minor Threat and ....gulp...Junkyard) sounded indistinguishable from Mr. Brett...But the songs just aren't there this time...

It's not bad by any means, if you've heard "Suffer" or "Stranger Than Fiction" one too many times and you need to pogo in your bedroom, this does the trick just fine. Like I said, the band is slamming, and Greg Graffin is in great voice, and there's some incredible tracks here...but some of their prior consistency has been sacrificed...

On that note, let's pogo in our bedrooms to "Drunk Sincerity..."