BAD RELIGION: BACK TO THE KNOWN (1985)
1) Yesterday; 2) Frogger; 3)
Bad Religion; 4) Along The Way; 5) New Leaf.
I do not normally review brief EPs — as
important as the format used to be for most of the «underground» artists with
no opportunity for / an aversion to serious record contracts, it usually provides
very limited grounds for a full-fledged review. But every now and then there
are vital exceptions. This particular release, for instance, although it
clocks in at a measly ten minutes (allegedly, Side A of the EP was left mirror-blank
for obscure artistic purposes), is one of the most important albums in the Bad
Religion catalog — and besides, isn't ten minutes sort of the ideal format for a self-respecting hardcore artist?
Basically, it is a bit odd to be reviewing Into The Unknown without saying a few
words on its quintessential antipode — Back
To The Known, released a year later and firmly returning Bad Religion to
its feet on familiar territory. Not only that, though: «back to the known» it
may be, but the songs do not sound much like the ones on Hell. In fact, they are seriously better.
First of all, they got themselves a cleaner
production style. All the guitars now sound like they belong on a major label
speed metal album rather than on some lousy bedroom tape. Does that compromise
the spirit? Hardly — because everything else, the speed, the riffage, the
lyrics, the vocal aggression all remain at the same level; should we blame the
recording engineer for a simple human wish to capture more of the frequencies
and cut down on the noise levels? Second, all of the tunes have clearly been
designed as «melodic songs» rather than «punkish rants» — not only do they try
to make the riffs more distinctive, but Graffin actually tries to sing, including attempts to sing poppy hooks, some (most? all?) of which
actually work. No limits to miracles!
In addition, there have been important lineup
modifications: in particular, Circle Jerks guitarist Greg Hetson replaces
Gurewitz as the new-look band's chief guitarist (although Brett is still credited
as the album's co-producer), and new bass player Tim Gallegos replaces Paul
Dedona. Not sure just how much of an influence these particular shifts had on
the overall sound, though, so let us just turn to the actual songs.
ʽYesterdayʼ, far from being a hardcore
deconstruction of Paul McCartney, could have easily been written by the likes
of The Easybeats two decades earlier — but it wouldn't have kicked so much ass
without this raging bull of a guitar sound, nor would it be allowed to contain
the classic line "kiss your ass goodbye with a shadow dream of
yesterday". ʽFroggerʼ inserts a fun lyrical and musical reference to the
1981 arcade game as a one-minute metaphor for life in general. The title track
is a «cleaner» remake of the band's anthem, originally released on their first
EP (Bad Religion) in 1981 — and I
think it improves on the early take, due to a clever use of the stop-and-start
technique and somewhat more restrained (and hence, more subtly dangerous)
vocals.
ʽAlong The Wayʼ slows down the tempo for a
«hard-folk» anthemic march, spiced up with a healthy dose of wah-wah blabber
and a less healthy dose of moralizing, including Tommy, of all things, as its point of reference ("Like Tommy,
you are free, and you will not follow
me"). Finally, ʽNew Leafʼ goes as far as to feature some wannabe-melodic
backup vocals (and a barely audible guitar solo to wrap things up). Neither of
these two songs is a real smasher like the title track or ʽYesterdayʼ, but they
do inject a nice shot of diversity.
Not all the fans loved this — most were pleased
to see the band drop its heretical «progressive» attitudes, but many would have
loved to see them really get back to
the actual «known», that is, release a clone of Hell: these five songs, in contrast, were seen as too «tidy» and
poppy. But, like I said, the whole thing still sounds completely authentic and
credible, and it takes talent and hard work to make a «clean hardcore» record, kicking
your ass in not just a brutal, but a subtly
brutal manner. I wouldn't hesitate to count this among their very best
offerings, and a thumbs up is firmly guaranteed.
No matter how punk or hardcore you are, craftsmanship counts. Good stuff indeed.
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