Bad Religion - The Gray Race (1996) RESTORED

With their ninth album, this Los Angeles-based hardcore band continue their distinctive recipe of slashing, frenetic guitar, inviting vocal harmonies and socially-conscious lyrics. THE GRAY RACE showcases Bad Religion's chaotic, two-guitar punk, which is driven by an intense, high-strung urgency; each track provides just the right amount of unapologetic melodicism along with Greg Graffin's rough-voiced yet lucid vocals. The band's sound is loud, fast, and basically simple, in contrast to the broad, complex themes they tackle. Many songs are a variation on the "think for yourself" motif, including "A Walk," a defiant rant against the system ("Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?/You can't even tie your own haggard shoes/Your closet is a mess, and your backyard's falling down"). There are also brilliant feats of multisyllabic rhyming here, betraying Graffin's striking intellect as a lyricist, as on "Them And Us": "Despite that he saw blatant similarity/He struggled to find a distinctive moiety/All he found was vulgar superficiality".

This was the band's first album not recorded with original guitarist Brett Gurewitz and is their first release with Brian Baker (ex-Minor Threat, many others), who replaced him during the Stranger Than Fiction tour. It was also the first album since How Could Hell Be Any Worse? that the band recorded as a group. Part of the reason for this was financial, but frontman Greg Graffin also wanted to foster a sense of unity following Gurewitz's jarring departure. This was also the first album with which Graffin solicited the opinions of other band members before recording. Graffin said that collaboration significantly improved the sound and quality of the album. Although not as successful as Stranger Than Fiction, The Gray Race achieved modest success when MTV ran a commercial for the album during its release. Many consider this to be Bad Religion's last successful album, until 2002's The Process of Belief.




It's a testament to a band that their weakest work is still this great. There's no question that the loss of guitarist Brett Gurewitz hurts the band. Gurewitz had a hot, edgy sound, and wrote half the songs, including all four singles off 1994's stunning Stranger Than Fiction. Losing such an awesome talent would cripple most groups. Fortunately, the other writer, extraordinary vocalist Greg Graffin, remains. He too has penned so many of Bad Religion's most memorable songs, and one can now add a bunch from Gray Race to this list. Moreover, this LP shows why it's an enormous relief this band survives and still prospers – there's no better punk rock band in the world. Not even close. No one else can mix such high octane tunefulness, the most thought-provoking lyric sheet around, and Graffin's still ungodly, powerful voice. Hell, does anyone in America deliver better harmonies than this bunch? No! The standouts are the mid-tempo chuggers – "Pity the Dead" is so catchy it hurts, with a knockdown bridge that stops the heart as Graffin strains for a dramatic high note. Likewise, "Spirit Shine" and the radio hit "A Walk" show the kind of melodic gifts a band should have to beg Lucifer for. The only reason Gray Race is even remotely weaker than their other LPs is because sympathetic producer Ric Ocasek (the Cars) smoothes out the firepower a tad. As well, without Gurewitz's half, a couple of songs seem so-so by past standards, and there's less variety. But make no mistake, Gray Race is one of the finest LPs any American band released in 1996; may they make records 'til the title of this LP refers to their hair.

~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover

Tracklist:

01. The Gray Race
02. Them And Us
03. A Walk
04. Parallel
05. Punk Rock Song
06. Empty Causes
07. Nobody Listens
08. Pity The Dead
09. Spirit Shine
10. The Streets Of America
11. Ten In 2010
12. Victory
13. Drunk Sincerity
14. Come Join Us
15. Cease

all songs written by Greg Graffin
except "1, 7, 9-10" co-written with Brian Baker


Produced by Ric Ocasek & Bad Religion. Engineered by Bruce Calder
Recorded & Mixed at Electric Lady Studios, NYC, October-November 1995.
Mastered by George Marino, Sterling Sound, New York City.

• Greg Graffin – vocals
• Greg Hetson – guitars
• Brian Baker - guitars, backing vocals
• Jay Bentley – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Bobby Schayer – drums, backing vocals

Release Date: February 27, 1996
Format: Original Recording
Label: Atlantic Recording Corp.
Catalog No.: 82870-2